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The God of Diversity

The Creator God was and is a God of diversity.

Scientists estimate that there are between 3 million to 100 million of species on the planet, of which just 1.2 million species have been registered.

There are 7.77 million species of animals, 298,000 species of plants and 611,000 species of fungi, among others.1 The world population as I've seen recently in the US Census is pegging at around 7.2 billion individuals alive.2 There are about 196 countries in the world,3 and there are more than 5,000 ethnicities counted.4 

The Word of God is true when He says "And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place," (Acts 17:26). He is a God who created diversity. 

The first human being was created by the work of His hands:

"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being...Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.'...Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals." (Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17, 19-20)

The Taal Volcano in the Philippines

Ever since man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, culture, no matter where it is, needed to be "redeemed" or brought back to God.

In the times of Moses and Joshua, God had admonished the Israelites not to follow certain practices of the people living around them – child sacrifices, worshiping other gods, witchcraft, occult and sorcery, etc.

Because when God called their forefather Abraham, He was choosing a nation that He would call His own, the nation that will attest to the true glory of God, abide by His will, and in doing so, demonstrate to other nations what and who the true God was like.

In the Old Testament, the Bible recounts instances when non-Israelite men and women would live with the Israelites or travel to and visit their Temple to pay homage to Israel's God. God was careful to give the Israelites His laws because it will show to the nations around them that He is the true and real God. "You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." (Leviticus 20:26)

In the New Testament, God became man by the promise of the prophets in the Old Testament to redeem not just Israel but the rest of the world (Galatians 3:8-9). We already know the story. Jesus had to be born in history, and he died on the cross 2,000 years ago taking on the sins of every culture, tribe, language and nation, so that through His blood, they may be redeemed ('redeem' means to be brought back to the Lord).

After Jesus gave the message of the gospel of salvation through faith in Him to the Gentiles (non-Jews) by the works of the Apostles Peter, Paul and the disciples, they then began redeeming people for God wherever they went (e.g., ancient Turkey, Syria, Rome, Greece and Asia, etc.).

We see in the Early Church that as people were being added from different nations, God did not impose a single culture to His disciples/church. Paul did not impose on the non-Jews the practice of circumcision which the Israelites adhered to (mentioned in Leviticus in the Old Testament).

The Apostle Paul said to Peter when the Israelite and non-Israelite church were being combined in fellowship (sharing life together) "I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you have been living like a Gentile, not like a Jew. How, then, can you try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Galatians 2:14).

"Neither circumcision [a sign of adherence to cultural practices] nor uncircumcision [or non-adherance to traditions] means anything; what counts is the new creation [a new life that has been redeemed by the blood of Christ]." (Galatians 6:15, explanation mine)

I can just as easily worship God with a fellow believer from a different country, or a different ethnicity, background, assignment, or denomination because we all have the same access to God – Jesus Christ. That was what Paul was pertaining to in Galatians 6:14-16.

 Even God's church was built for unified diversity (versus uniformity): "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many." (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).

Here are now some summary points I would like us to takeaway:

 God is a God of Diversity.
He created diversity so that we may know Him.
As culture is in its fallen state, it needs to be redeemed. As it is, no culture is perfect because man is not perfect. Man is sinful.
God wants to redeem culture, not destroy it.
God had to be born man and die more than 2,000 years ago to redeem man by His blood.
People are redeemed through Jesus Christ alone. (Acts 4:12)

 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." 
Acts 4:12

Cultural norms/mores (observations of what is right and wrong) can change but God's Word will not (Isaiah 40:8, Matthew 24:35, 1 Peter 1:25, Psalm 119:89).

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

God wants to preserve a remnant from every culture. God will resurrect them during the resurrection, which is why the gospel has to be preached to every nation – to give people who have not heard of Jesus a chance to repent and attain salvation in His Name.

"And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Revelation 5:9)

 "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands." (Revelation 7:9)

 "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people." (Revelation 14:6)

 "He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." (Mark 16:15)

 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14)

The observance of Christmas can vary per culture or family background. No matter how we choose to spend it, I pray that we celebrate knowing that Christ has redeemed us (we are His, we belong to Him and He will give us what we need), we have a place in heaven, and just as what He promised long ago was fulfilled, He will fulfill His promises to us faithfully in His time.

Sources:

1. Wall, Tim, "8.74 Million Species on Earth," Discovery News, Aug. 23, 2011
2.  "U.S. and World Population Clock," United States Census Bureau, www.census.gov, accessed Dec. 11, 2014
3. Rosenberg, Matt, "The Number of Countries in the World," About.com, accessed Dec. 11, 2014
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