“So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.”
1 Corinthians 15:21-23 NLT
We know from the Genesis account that Adam and Eve were expected to live forever, sustained by the fruit from the Tree of Life located in the Garden of Eden. We can only imagine what this place was like, but it would have contained all the space, vegetation and animal life that we know and enjoy, and probably much more. The Garden of Eden was a biblical paradise created by God for the benefit of the human race that He had created. The Garden would have featured abundant, beautiful, and edible fruit from trees (including the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge), fresh water from a river, and harmonious animals, all existing in perfect peace, innocence, and provision before humanity’s disobedience led to expulsion and hardship. Genesis 3 tells us that after sin entered the world through Adam, a marked change happened as we read in Genesis 3:17-18, “And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains”. In other words, life for Adam was going to get very hard, and his previous idyllic existence was about to be replaced by sweat and toil.
“all creation [has been]
subjected to God’s curse“
We tend to restrict our thoughts to the impact sin has had on mankind, but what about everything else that God created? We read in Romans 8:20-22, “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”. It is a graphic thought that what we see around us is the world under a curse, restricted and unfulfilled in every way. So, we look at a lily or a kingfisher, a valley, lush and green, and a sunset vibrant with pinks, reds and yellows, and wonder, because this is the world under a curse. We wonder, if we allow our imaginations to do so, what our world would have been like without a curse restricting all that God originally intended.
Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned”. We are all sinners, and Paul agonised over this condition, as we read again in Romans, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (Romans 7:21, 23). If we pilgrims stop to think for a moment, we too can cry out Paul’s lament. But Paul didn’t finish with Romans 7:23. His next verse reads, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? …”.
“So now there is no
condemnation for those
who belong to Christ Jesus.
And because [we]
belong to him,
the power of the
life-giving Spirit has
freed [us] from the power
of sin that leads to death.”
Romans 8:1-2
We thank God for Jesus. All the damage caused by sin in the hearts and minds of human beings was at last redeemed by God Himself, through His Son, Jesus. That is, if we turn to Him, away from our sin in an act of our will and in true repentance, and believe in Him for our salvation. There is no other way to escape the curse of Adam’s sin. And all around us, the consequences of that sin are expressed in the groaning of the world. The misery, the wars, the famines, the hate, the evil, the list is endless. And all because of sin, bringing a curse to our world. But Jesus redeemed us when He came to the world He created. Romans 5 again, “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18-19).
“Thank God! The answer
is in Jesus Christ our Lord“
But we can’t just leave things there. If Jesus had just died on that cross, finally ending His visit to earth, then we would have no future as His followers. We would suffer the same fate and would be left mouldering in a grave somewhere. But as we know, Jesus only borrowed that tomb for a few hours. That first Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead, and appeared before many witnesses. Think about the impact of that. Quotation from Max Lucado in his book “Fearless”. “If one person claimed a post-cross encounter with Christ, disregard it. If a dozen people offered depositions, chalk it up to mob hysteria. But fifty people? A hundred? Three hundred? When one testimony expands to hundreds, disbelief becomes belief. Paul knew, not handfuls, but hundreds of eyewitnesses. Peter. James. John. The followers, the gathering of five hundred disciples, and Paul himself. They saw Jesus. They saw him physically. They saw him factually. They didn’t see a phantom or experience a sentiment”. He continued, “Jesus experienced a physical and factual resurrection. And—here it is—because he did, we will too! “Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Cor. 15:23).
Through Jesus, God has given everyone a choice. We can continue in Adam’s sin, or we can embrace the Good News about the Resurrection of Jesus. He has provided a way to escape the consequences of sin because He is the Way. And there is no other way.
Dear God. Thank You for Jesus, and all that He has done for us. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 