A Tarnished Crown, A Bloody Cross, An Empty Grave

 

Man: the crown of God's creation (see Genesis 1:26-27). But the serpent was crafty and sly. In his deceptive ploy, he came to the woman and caused her to question God's word.

"You will not surely die," he hissed. "Rather, you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Eyeing the fruit, it looked pleasing to the woman. She saw that it was good for food, pleasant to behold, and desirable to gain wisdom (see Genesis 3:6; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14; James 1:14-15; 1 John 2:16). She took it and ate it, and gave it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. All of a sudden, shame attacked their very souls. They sewed (perishable) fig leaves together covering their nakedness (see Genesis 3:1-7).

Hearing the LORD God walking in the Garden, they hid from him (but quickly learned the impossibility of such an attempt.  See Jeremiah 23:24; Psalm 139). They were deceived, desiring worldly pleasures more than God's purposes for them.

As disobedient children, God disciplined them. Creation's crown now tarnished, they were put out of that Garden to manage their way; they had chosen to live a life, struggling to "make ends meet."

A gulf was fixed between God and humankind, invoking misconduct, immorality, and terror throughout the earth. It continues today, humans still with that rebellious nature inherited from the "first Adam," the sentence of death being the final payment (see Genesis 3:22-24).

Even still God loved his human creatures. He provided for their physical need, a more durable covering  (see Genesis 3:21).

But then the time had fully come when God sent His one and only Son, Jesus (Yeshua), the Christ (Messiah); He was born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, and adopted as His children. (See Galatians 4:4-5; cf. Mark 1:15; Romans 5:6; Ephesians 1:10).

He had been born to die, however, from the manger to the cross, paying the price in full for all humanity– from the poor as the shepherds to the wealthy as the Magi. He bloodied a rugged cross on a hill, effective to those who believe, receiving Jesus as Lord.

Buried in a borrowed grave, but he didn't stay there. On the third day, as the Scriptures had promised, he rose from the dead. With the tomb empty (of Jesus' body, the clothes that wrapped Him remained) He appeared first to Peter, then to the Twelve, and then to more than 500 others at the same time — evidence indeed of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

Then, as his disciples stood watching Him ascend into the sky, returning to his Father, two men in white apparel appeared with them, and spoke, "This same Jesus, as you see him go into the heavens, will so come again in like manner, at the Father's will."

Until then, as Jesus has commanded his disciples (and us), we're to proclaim this Good News, like a shining beacon of God's glorious truth to all peoples of the earth.

For further reflection, consider –

Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 2:8-20; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1-5

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