A friend of mine and I are challenging each other to develop a concise, 20-30 minute presentation of the Gospel. As part of that exercise, I was reminded of something very important. There are TWO issues that humans have with regard to their relationship with God. The first thing, that none of us has a problem remembering, is sin. We are sinful and God is Holy. Sin is the thing that causes the fracture in the relationship. With that being said - there is a second thing that is just as critical. The second problem is the CURSE. Adam & Eve sinned (problem 1) which precipitated a curse (problem 2) from God.
God says in Genesis 3, "Because you [the serpent] have done this (deceived, circumvented), cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life" (Gen 3:14) and then later on to Adam and Eve, "To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten (sinned) from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Gen 3:16-19).
One thing that occurred to me this past Holy week: we often say that Jesus 'died for our sins' which, Hallelujah and Amen, is true. But do we think about why He had to come back to life? We have no problem understanding his death as sacrificial, but it seems like we just lump the resurrection into that equation as well, without realizing that the resurrection is, in itself, a unique element. Stay with me - Jesus could have lived a sinless and perfect life, have died for our sins and atoned for them perfectly, but stayed 'dead', just as the saints who had gone before him had. Would that have made the actual sacrifice any less effectual? I would argue 'no' - that the resurrection was not necessary in the sin/forgiveness equation.
In my reading of it, it seems like the resurrection addresses that second problem...the curse. The curse pronounced by God himself was/is on all of the world and on all of mankind. The curse was meant to cause us suffering, which would in turn cause us to grope and reach for God. Without the release or 'reverse' of that curse, we are doomed to suffering forever. Not only that - but these bodies we live in are bodies of death because of the curse. A little later on in Genesis 6, God says, "So the LORD said, "My spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years." First God curses man with toil, struggle, pain and death and then with short life. Without a promise of a lifted curse, what good would forgiveness of sins be to us?
Jesus' resurrection on the third day is all about the lifting of the curse itself. Obviously the curse is still in place currently, but Jesus' resurrection is proof that God is ABLE to resurrect life from death and to give us a body that is free from the curse. If He is able to do that, we could also logically assume that He is able to lift the curse from Creation as well. We know that Jesus had a new body - one that in appearance is similar to our own, but which has some obvious differences. I think for us, the key difference will be that in the new body, we will no longer be able to sin. Paul has this agonizing cry in Romans 7 that speaks to this. He says, "But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:23-25)
Jesus' resurrection is technicolor proof that God is not only able to do what He said He is going to do, but that He is actually going to do it. I guess I find that pretty exciting, hope you do as well!
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