“To the woman [God] said,
‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.’
“And to Adam he said,
‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
“You shall not eat of it,”
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.’” [1]
What a dark account of the sin that plunged the race into ruin is given in the text chosen for this Advent message! Even to refer to this dark evil as the text for an Advent sermon seems strange at best, and positively outlandish otherwise. Shouldn’t the message for this Advent service be marked by gaiety? Shouldn’t those who share our services during this season be encouraged by the message to think pleasant thoughts? Perhaps the preacher should be speaking of the excitement and the anticipation of the season? Why should those attending the services of the congregation ever be compelled to listen to a message that speaks of our sin and of the consequences of our sin, especially during the Advent Season?
Tragically, contemporary church goers appear to have forgotten the reason Christ was born. We have lived in such a way that we neither wish to reflect on how our world arrived at this present situation, or how we ourselves may have contributed to the condition that now prevails. Neither have we remembered the grace of God revealed in sending His Son to present His life as a sacrifice for our broken condition. Christmas has become an excuse to focus on fulfilling our own desires rather than serving as a joyous remembrance of the love of God demonstrated through giving His own Son for us.
It will benefit each of us to recall why the Lord was compelled to intervene in human history. I suggest that we need to pause so we can recall the neglected truth that history is a continuum from the Creation until now. And what lies ahead in the history of mankind is determined by what has preceded. In other words, the history of mankind is one long, dark story interrupted by the Living God to reveal His love and His grace; and that interruption was so that the Son of God might be presented as the perfect sacrifice to restore our broken fellowship with the Living God. The story of man began in fellowship with the Creator before moving into darkness that grows ever darker until hope is born and light begins to shine as a Child is born, and we move toward full light again.
HOW WE ARRIVED AT OUR PRESENT SITUATION — Let’s go back in our minds to a time when the world was new, when our first parents had just entered into life before their Creator. Let’s allow our minds to transport us once again to a time that seems to exist as a mere memory of and yearning for a halcyon time when the world was fresh and there was no death, no pain, no sorrow, no sin. Let’s think once again of what it must have been when all the world was a paradise. Though I recognise that the passage is extended, it will be to our benefit to refresh our memory of the divine account of the creation of our first parents.
In GENESIS 2:5-25, we read, “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’
“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’ Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So, the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.’
“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”
Even reading this description leaves us misty eyed as we think of what might have been. When the man and the woman had no pretence, when they felt no need to hide themselves from the pure gaze of love, when man did not attempt to lord it over woman, and woman did not struggle for supremacy over man—such a time seems a dream to us. We speak of that first blush of man’s existence as the time of innocence. The memory of what was meant to be flits through our mind as though a gossamer will-o’-the-wisp.
But Paradise was invaded; peace was disrupted. At some point in the prehistory of this present world, even in the presence of the throne of the Lord GOD a rebellion broke out. The covering angel, the being created to be next to the LORD exalted himself. Isaiah, recording the words of the LORD, laments,
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.”
[ISAIAH 14:12-15]
When he was cast out of Heaven, this anointed cherub drew a third of the angels of Heaven down with him. The Revelator saw this happen, and thus he has written, “Another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth” [REVELATION 12:3-4a]. Daniel also witnessed this sensational cosmic event [see DANIEL 8:10]. The angels that were drawn into this grand cosmic rebellion became the demonic powers of which we read in the Word of God. Some are so malevolent, so vile, that they are incarcerated in the dark hold referred to as the abyss [see REVELATION 9:1-11]. Both Peter and Jude describe these powers, noting that they are held by “eternal chains” and “chains of gloomy darkness” [see 2 PETER 2:4 and JUDE 6].
We cannot imagine how beautiful this anointed cherub was. We are given a cursory description of this beautiful being who would become the vile creature we now know at the moment of his creation when Ezekiel writes, “Thus says the Lord GOD:
“You were the signet of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was your covering,
sardius, topaz, and diamond,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle;
and crafted in gold were your settings
and your engravings.
On the day that you were created
they were prepared.
You were an anointed guardian cherub.
I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God;
in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created,
till unrighteousness was found in you.”
[EZEKIEL 28:11-15]
We must remember that God does not trade in the ugly, or that which is repulsive. God’s work is always beautiful and attractive. As an aside of great significance, you who hear me at this time are beautiful in God’s sight. And whether mere mortals see you as beautiful does not change the reality that your beauty is beyond anything mortal eyes are capable of seeing. If we could see what we shall be when the metamorphosis comes, we would be struck down in wonder at the transformation God shall shortly bring to pass.
The Apostle Paul speaks of Satan now disguising himself as “an angel of light” [see 2 CORINTHIANS 11:15]. No wonder, then that the advocates of wickedness make the evil they promote appear so attractive! They are energised by Satan who presents himself as a beautiful creature. Therefore, Paul cautions us that his servants “disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” [see 2 CORINTHIANS 11:15].
And this once beautiful angel who was now cast down to the earth became the archenemy of God upon His throne. When the LORD created the man and the woman, it is as if the devil seized upon this crowning act of creation as an opportunity to strike what he anticipated would be a stunning blow against the Living God. Satan, for that is who he has become, determined that he would take control of God’s creation, seating himself on the throne as the ruler of this world. The man and the woman whom God had created would be compelled to worship and serve Satan rather than obeying the Lord GOD.
The malevolent plan was simplicity itself. Satan would deceive the woman and the man would follow her, being led into rebellion. That way, this wicked spirit would deny God the worship that was His due while corrupting the man and the woman so that they would be estranged from the Lord GOD. Thus, God would be compelled to destroy what He had created, and Satan would have thwarted the will of the Living God.
We look at life as we know it, never imagining that the sorrows we experience, the trials we are compelled to endure, the unrelenting challenge, are the result of a rebellion in Heaven when one of the most powerful angels grew proud and thought to usurp the place of the Living God. We have difficulty believing that one of the holy angels would rebel, much less that one-third of these august personages would ever seek to dethrone the Living God, the Creator Who gave them their being. Yet, God cast this powerful angel from the heights of Heaven. Cast out of Heaven, that angel drew a third of the angelic hosts with him. Having witnessed what the LORD God was doing in creating man and the universe into which man would be placed, Satan thought to pervert the will of God by corrupting the creation the LORD had made. You and I have never known a world without brokenness, a world without ruin, a world without death.
IGNORED CONSEQUENCES OF SIN — “To the woman [God] said,
‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.’
“And to Adam he said,
‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
“You shall not eat of it,”
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.’”
[GENESIS 3:16-19]
We need to understand that every action has consequences; for good or for evil, the choices we make reverberate long after the act has passed into history. Our first parents surely could not have comprehended what they would unleash on God’s creation through their choice to violate the express will of their Creator. They would distort the freedom God had given them, turning that freedom into vile rebellion against the God Who gave them life, and their rebellion would inevitably lead to the ruin of creation. Our first mother, Eve, was deceived; she foolishly believed the lie that Satan told her that the Lord was not good, that her Creator did not want her to be fulfilled.
How disappointed Eve must have been when for the first time she realised she was naked and for the first time she experienced fear upon meeting with her Creator! Shrinking back in the presence of the Creator was something Eve had never experienced.
Can you even imagine not being ashamed of your naked body? I understand that the question is rather personal. No doubt the question may even cause some discomfort for some who listen at this time. I’m not speaking of those times when the body is used as a sexual instrument in an attempt to manipulate others, but I am speaking of being so comfortable with who you are that you don’t need to hide from the gaze of your spouse. A woman prostituting herself must train herself to not feel self-conscious about displaying her body in a provocative way in order to attract the interest of a prospective client. It requires overcoming modesty to act in such a way. We aren’t able to imagine a world where no one has had, even for a fleeting moment, a salacious, lascivious thought about another person, because we know such thoughts are part of our fallen nature.
Then, though having been comfortable with yourself throughout your lifetime, imagine suddenly experiencing a feeling that was utterly foreign—shame? Actually, none of us can even imagine what Eve experienced that first time she knew she was naked because none of us have ever been free of the ever-present feeling of shame when we are naked since we became conscious of our bodies for the first time. I’m speaking of our sense of propriety when we have reached that age at which we are accountable before God because we understand we are living beings created in God’s image. I’m not speaking of the innocence a small child might exhibit. Neither am I speaking of the false innocence of those who deliberately deceive themselves by joining nudist colonies, imagining that they can somehow return to that innocence that has been forever lost.
And what was Adam thinking? Adam wasn’t deceived; he chose to rebel against the will of the Lord GOD. Did he imagine that there would be no consequence for his choice to defy God? Was Adam like so many in this day who imagine that God won’t do what He has promised He will do? Can we really speculate that Adam convinced himself that God wouldn’t really do what He had promised He would do? Since there had never been death, was our first father actually so ignorant that he couldn’t anticipate what it would mean to be separated from the One Who had given him his being? What must Adam have thought the first time he witnessed a mountain lion kill and eat a mule deer? Or what did he feel the first time he saw a sparrow fall lifeless to the ground?
There are consequences to the reign of sin in our world, and each person living in this world knows that these consequences apply to each one alike. However, we generally manage to ignore these consequences, and thus we ignore the underlying cause of our griefs until they can no longer be ignored. Eventually, we must visit our family doctor for relief from the physical pain that saps our energy, or we must experience the emotional pain of unresolved family conflict, or we hit the end of the rope as our financial distress overwhelms us. Even if none of these things happen, the inevitability of death compels us to acknowledge that sin has indeed intruded into our life. Every funeral we attend seems to shout into our soul that sin reigns, dogging our steps until we die.
I will remind you of the words written by the half-brother of our Lord. James has written, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” [JAMES 1:13-15].
James’ words mirror Paul’s view of the origin of sin and the impact sin has on us. “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” [ROMANS 5:12-14].
The thing that is forgotten about sin, though it is undoubtedly known and ignored, is that sin always has a wider impact than we ever thought it could. Our sins, though we imagine them to be secret, have ramifications far beyond what we ever thought possible. I will remind you of the warning penned by Solomon, who cautions us,
The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper,
but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy.
[PROVERBS 28:13 NET BIBLE]
Attempting to cover over sin leads to disaster—the impact of our choice reaching far beyond the immediate than anything we might have imagined. There is another of the Proverbs that should be memorised, since it flows from the foolish thought that one can sin and hide the sin from God, or even from others. Again, the Wise Man has written,
“Good sense wins favor,
but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.”
[PROVERBS 13:15]
Let’s think through some examples to illustrate how this works out in life.
The man or woman who fills his or her mind with pornography, assuring himself or herself that the habit is a harmless diversion is deceiving himself or herself. Through filling the mind with the images, they diminish the stature of their spouse in their own heart with the consequence that they lose intimacy. Because intimacy is lacking, their children are taught to disrespect those of the opposite sex and are themselves desensitised to degrading their own lives. Because of these unanticipated consequences, this man or this woman become even more susceptible to justifying an adulterous affair. With the proliferation of scantily clad individuals throughout the various entertainment vehicles, and with the multiplication of situations demonstrating approval of risqué or suggestive activities in the visual entertainment industry, should we be surprised at the general acceptance of salacious situations throughout the society in which we live?
The man or the woman who cheats on their taxes, holding back information that would require them to pay a little more to the wastrels who parade as government servants, set in motion events over which they have no control. They lose confidence when they must interact with various agents of government. They may lose sleep worrying about the consequences of being caught in their deliberate lie. Be assured that the force of moral certitude will be lost when they attempt to encourage others to do what is right and honourable. There are always consequences to sin that reach far beyond the moment. Indeed, the Word or God is giving fair warning to all when we are cautioned, “Be sure your sin will find you out” [NUMBERS 32:23b].
What draws us as away from God as does sin? Paul wrote a powerful letter to the Roman Christians. Opening that missive, he writes, “[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools” [ROMANS 1:20-22]. We learn that the hearts of lost people are darkened!
Societies are composed of individuals, and when many within a society are turning away from acknowledging God and refusing to be grateful to Him, the result for that society is that their hearts are darkened. We forget that we can’t blame lost humanity for their failure to seek God because they are suffering a total eclipse of the heart. If you cannot see the glory of the Living God, it is because you have a darkened heart.
The Apostle elsewhere contrasted the life of those identified as belonging to this unbelieving world with the life expected of one who follows the Christ. The Apostle speaks of the lost as “Gentiles,” a euphemism indicating that they neither know God nor seek Him. In Ephesians, the Apostle has written, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” [EPHESIANS 4:17-24]. Take special note that the lost are “darkened in their understanding.” The lost may know about God, but they do not—indeed, they cannot—know God because their understanding is darkened!
The heart of the lost is darkened; the understanding of the lost is darkened. Here is the great tragedy—Satan seizes the advantage, ensuring that they remain in the darkness until the light of the Risen Lord of Glory shines on them. And that light is brought by redeemed people. Paul speaks of this in his Second Letter to the Saints in Corinth, writing, “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” [2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-6].
As is true with Paul, Peter also speaks of the contrast between Christians who are redeemed and those condemned souls who are lost when he writes in his first letter, “It stands in Scripture:
‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,'
and
‘A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do” [1 PETER 2:1-8].
Then, the Apostle to the Jews contrasts the character of us who are now standing as free people in the presence of the Lord with those who are lost. He testifies, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” [1 PETER 2:6-10].
We who are redeemed by the Saviour, have been called out of darkness and into the brilliance of His divine light, the light which Peter identifies as “His marvellous light.” Of the twice-born people of God, you will remember that our Apostle has testified, “You are not in darkness, brothers” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:4a].
I want you to recall how in the Christmas story, angels appeared to the shepherds who were keeping watch over the flocks destined for sacrifice in the temple ceremonies. When the angel of God appeared, casting a brilliant light all around, he delivered the message of Messiah’s birth. And we read, “In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”
[LUKE 2:8-14]
Just as the glorious light shone around the shepherds who received the angelic announcement of the birth of God’s Messiah, so the light of Christ has shone in the heart of each one who believes. And now that holy light shines forth through us so that lost people see the light even when they are reluctant to credit us as light bearers.
Indeed, the contrast witnessed between us on whom the light of the Gospel of Christ has shone and the darkness in which the world gropes about is witnessed in the words penned in that most well-known verse and those following. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” [JOHN 3:16-21].
THE CURSE LIFTED — “The LORD God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.’”
[GENESIS 3:14-15]
When the Lord GOD pronounced judgement upon the serpent, the hope that the curse of sin need not be permanent was born within our hearts. I live with the knowledge that no matter how long I may live, I must one day set aside this body and leave this mortal coil. I now occupy this life always hindered by the effects flowing from the sin of our first parents, just as you live with the downward pull of those same effects. As mortals, we are born dying; entropy exerts the inexorable downward pull that leads to death. However, we should not imagine that the curse of sin must be permanent. To be certain, we are all infected with the same virus that can never be cured, though the effect of that sin can be rendered ineffective.
Of course, you will realise that I am speaking of the virus that infects the entire race, the virus of sin that ensures that we each must die. Oh, yes, sin is terminal. This is the basis for that dark assessment recorded in the Word, “The wages of sin is death” [ROMANS 6:23a]. However, the words which the Apostle penned are not the final word, for the verse continues, “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” [ROMANS 6:23b]. The curse brought ruin and death, but God, Who gives life to all, promised immediately after the rebellion of our first parents had plunged the whole creation into ruin and despair that He would transform the ruined creation into a new creation where death and ruin would no longer hold sway.
Exiled to Patmos, God showed the Revelator what human eyes cannot now see, and he was commanded to tell us what he saw as the Lord God showed him what is yet coming. John wrote, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away’” [REVELATION 21:1-4]. I read this passage at the interment of the saints of God, those who have died in the Faith of Christ the Lord. I want God’s people to look forward in hope to what is coming. God has told us what we now read just to encourage us so we will not be overwhelmed by grief.
And we are not given the full revelation of all that God has planned. Surely, because it comes from the mind of the Living God, it will be even more than we could imagine. Paul, writing to the saints in Corinth, recalls the words of Isaiah, and he writes, “As it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” [1 CORINTHIANS 2:9-10].
The whole of creation was ruined because our first parents rebelled against God Who gave them their being. And creation continues in a ruined state to this day. However, God promised He would crush the head of the serpent. Though we do not see it at this time, it is yet true that Satan is a defeated foe of all that is good and righteous. All the powers of hell were defeated at the cross. We read of that defeat when Paul writes, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” [COLOSSIANS 2:13-15].
The Lord God judged the devil, informing him that though he would bruise the heel of the One identified as the seed of the woman, that One would crush the head of the serpent. And that is what was accomplished at the cross. This is the meaning of the statement that informs all who follow the Christ, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” [HEBREWS 2:14-18].
At this present time, the creation mourns. As the Apostle has stated, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” [ROMANS 8:18-25]. Our final adoption will soon be accomplished. This is the promise God has given, a promise which we witness beginning to take shape with the birth of Christ.
We who are saved, we who have received the Christ as Master over life, have received the Spirit of Christ and the redemption that God alone can give. For us, the death of sin is a reality because we are made alive in Christ Jesus the Lord. We know the redemption of the creation will soon take place, and we will be gathered with all the redeemed of God to meet our Saviour in the blessed realms of glory. Christ our Lord has accomplished this through His sacrifice.
What is often neglected in our observance of Christmas in contemporary western culture is the high cost of sin. When we allow ourselves to reflect on the birth of the Christ child, we know that He was born for the one great purpose of giving His life as a sacrifice because of the sin of mankind. Before the story has played out, the sinless Son of God would taste death for every person that would ever be born into this sinful world. What a dark mystery lies obscured in the words the Apostle has written in his second letter to the saints in Corinth. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:21]. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
