Have you ever been involved in a Product Recall? Often we hear of such cases for cars, children’s toys and equipment. Some part has malfunctioned because of a mistake in the design or engineering of the product. Or perhaps an employee has mistakenly, or purposefully, constructed the implement so that it fails.
I searched a website that lists current product recalls. I only read the eleven pages for vehicles—cars, trucks, buses, etc. The long list included the names, descriptions, problems, and dangers, in the use of each product, and the manufacturer’s resolutions for the products that are returned.
Even if these problems are corrected and the product is replaced the products will eventually end up in a junk heap somewhere on this earth, if not recycled, melted down, and put to some other use.
Man’s Problem
“By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Romans 5:19
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 2:10
Our Creator’s design for humanity was for man to live in dependence, fellowship and communion with Him; to desire His presence and power in all of life. The heart that He created was to love Him above all things. The mind was to be His instrument whereby He would teach us about Himself and to bring us, as His children, to maturity.
“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man ws great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5
In God’s design and creation of the heavens and the earth it may seem that He failed to achieve what He had purposed. He “created man in His own image.” Why did He prepare for, and issue a “product recall” for humanity? And how are we supposed to know about this “product recall?”
The Product Recall that God has issued is for the human heart and soul that never dies, but lives on through eternity. This Recall has been sounded since the beginning of time, even in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Even after they failed to meet the test for all humanity, and placed the blame everywhere but where it should be (with themselves), God’s promise for a Recall, and correction, was put into effect. (Genesis 3:15)
The Manual
What happened is revealed in the Bible, and those who read it decide for themselves if these things are true. Whether or not one of His angels is responsible for the malfunction of the heart, or that God, Himself, planned all things exactly as they happened, is not all that matters. What truly matters is that He has issued and proclaimed worldwide, for centuries, the Recall of humanity to return with broken and contrite hearts to Him.
“Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” Jeremiah 3:21
Most people won’t understand what we mean when we refer to this Product Recall. And even though He has given us a manual, and the warnings of the defective products have been given over and over, most who have heard it don’t listen. The majority is deceived into thinking that they are okay, doing pretty well with what they are and how they function in every day life. God’s own people, the Israelites would not return.
“Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
” Jeremiah 8:4-6
Most have never seen the original design, the model from which they were created, partly because ministers are leading them astray, saying there is peace, where there is no peace. They are led to believe that there is an easy fix to their problems, giving false hope with modern ideas that seem palatable; or that they can fix themselves.
Many, who have seen Jesus Christ in the manual, don’t like what they see. And though God’s Word teaches us that He “is the visible image of the invisible God” they much prefer their own perception of what man should be. The basic idea in this kind of thinking seems to be that “if everybody could be like me, then the world would be okay.”
(Tomorrow—PART 2–The Resolution and Warranty)
