Between Ruins & Redemption: A People Searching for Truth

In this final post inspired by my recent mission trip to Greece and Turkey, I want to write about a message that came to me my very first day in Athens and continued to ring true throughout the entire trip.

We are a people searching for truth, and we always have been.

When you travel through Athens and the Greek islands, you are surrounded by ancient ruins. Unlike many cities with historic districts, the entire city of Athens is historic. This is a city, a country that was ancient (well over one thousand years old) during the time of Jesus. And every corner of it still holds remnants of its past. While this is incredibly cool to see, these ruins aren't just pretty old houses or cobblestone streets. These ruins are what's left of ancient temples to gods and goddesses.

The ancient Greeks, like all of us, were trying to make sense of the universe. They were trying to make sense of creation, of how they came to be. And they were searching for a higher power than themselves to believe in.

At our core, we are seeking understanding and we are seeking someone to worship.

Imagine a world where there wasn't a God at all. Imagine a life in which you had only yourself to rely on. Imagine an existence without a promise of purpose or an eternal destination. How hopeless is that? How overwhelming is that?

It makes sense that ancient cultures sought something or someone to believe in. But where we lack understanding, the devil presents a lie--a counterfeit faith, a counterfeit god, a counterfeit gospel.

On that note, I think it's worth acknowledging that as prideful as Satan is, he never created a fake religion in which he was the only one to be worshipped. It was always gods and goddesses, multiple beings to drive humans away from the idea of one all-powerful, almighty God. Even witchcraft promotes the worship of different demons rather than just Satan. And yet, there are traces of biblical truth found within the counterfeit religion. Traces of truth that represent both how far the enemy will go to make his lie seem valid and how impossible it is to erase God's truth.

Every lie that the enemy thought would prevail eventually is left in ruins.

As we walked through the Acropolis museum on that first day, we saw specific artifacts and heard specific stories that felt like a distortion of truth, or perhaps a grasping at truth. For example, one of the statues had a rod that turned into a snake, which we know to be taken from the story of Moses. A story from Greek mythology, depicted with artifacts in the museum, revealed the belief that giants are the children of the earth goddess and the sky god. We know this to be true, except we know from the Bible it was the fallen angels (from the sky) that procreated with human women that bred the giants known as nephilim.

In many ways, the ancient Greeks were so close to understanding, but two things kept them from it. The first, the Bible tells us that the mystery of God was intentionally hidden until the Son of God revealed the truth.

"...the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:26-27

"...was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed." Ephesians 3:4-6

Second, we know the devil's influence was at play. The worship of false gods is not new. The desire for truth, for understanding, to believe in a higher power, and to worship is not new.

Our hearts long for truth and understanding, because God has always sought to reveal the mystery of Himself to us.

And now that the mystery has been revealed, I can't help but think of how many people still haven't heard the good news? How many people are left searching for truth and understanding? How many people are grasping at the devil's lies thinking they are the only option?

In Acts 17:16-21, we see Paul preaching the gospel in Athens. Surrounded by all of the symbols of idol worship, he was enraged and yet, he also recognized this people's desire for understanding when he came across the altar to the unknown god.

"And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." Acts 17:19-21

"Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us..." Acts 17: 22-27

It is surreal to have walked the very streets that Paul walked, to have visited both the acropolis in Athens (the place where the false gods were worshipped) and to have stood on Mars Hill, or the Areopagus, where Paul preached the truth of THE UNKNOWN GOD.

As you can see, there is no temple where Paul preached, because God does not need a temple built by human hands to be present. He has created His own temple--us--in which He dwells.

With the grand temples of Athens in the background, Paul preached on a rock--a natural rock created by the Creator, about a God who needs nothing from us, but seeks to give us everything. This image resonates with me today, but I imagine it resonated with those Athenians seeking truth thousands of years earlier in a much more significant way.

They stood amongst nothing except each other to hear of the God who created everything and seeks to give everything to those who seek Him.