"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" "A long time ago in a land far, far away…" "Once upon a time there were three bears…" Many of the greatest stories in history have very memorable beginnings. The story of our salvation—or rather I should say the history, because this really happened—the history of our salvation also has a very memorable beginning. Today we celebrate the first Sunday in the season of Lent and in the Lenten season we focus on Christ’s road to the cross, and yet Jesus’ road to the cross started a long time before was born. The history of our salvation started in a garden, with two people, the very first people, Adam and Eve and reaches its climax in the death and resurrection of Jesus. And so, today we are going to remember the history of our salvation, from its very tragic beginning, to its very happy ending.
I. The tragic beginning…
Our text for this morning actually starts a little after the beginning of history. Genesis 1:1 tells us, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" That’s a pretty memorable beginning, wouldn’t you say? We see in Genesis chapter one that God created all things in six normal days by the mere power of his Word, and Moses tells us that God saw that it was good. God had created a perfect world. And that’s where we pick up the story…
We see in our text for this morning that God created man differently, that he formed him from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
Man was distinct from the rest of God’s creatures. God made man and woman in his own image. Humans in the beginning were not sinful, but holy and perfect like God. To man God gave the whole creation for him to take care of. He gave a special gift to Adam and Eve, the very first people…he gave them a garden. They were to live and take care of this very beautiful garden and they could eat from any of its many trees except for one—the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
God said, "You must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil…for you will surely die." Why did God do this? Why did he give them an opportunity to sin? Well, it seems that God didn’t want robots…He gave humans a choice. God wanted people to serve him out of their own free will. Think about it, God had given them everything, they were allowed to eat from any tree, go anywhere, do anything. So God gave them an opportunity to serve and to obey him by putting this tree in the middle of the garden, so that they in their freedom of choice could willfully serve God. As Martin Luther said, "This tree of the knowledge of good and evil was Adam’s church, his altar, his pulpit…" This was Adam and Eve’s opportunity to thank, praise and worship God.
But now in this paradise, tragedy struck… The devil, an angel who had rebelled against God, took the form of a serpent to try to destroy God’s perfect creation and to condemn man to share eternity in hell with him. And we see how subtle the devil is, he asks the woman, "Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree of the garden." And Eve starts off well. She tells the devil that God allowed them to eat of any tree of the garden, except for the one in the middle, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because if they ate of that tree, they would surely die. Then Satan responds with a lie, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil." Hearing this lie, Eve then doubted God’s loving will for them, thinking that God was holding out on them. That he wasn’t really looking out for their good and so she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to Adam and he ate it…
And then they saw, they saw that the Devil’s lie, his deceit was a half truth. Their eyes were opened and they truly knew good and evil: They knew the good, the perfection and joy that they had lost, and they now personally knew evil, they felt the weight of sin and the pangs of guilt. And with this tragic fall entered death. The apostle Paul tells us, "The wages of sin is death." It was just as God had warned. Because of their doubt, because they ate from the tree of which God had commanded them they died. They died in three ways. First of all they died spiritually—their wills which were at one time in line with God’s were now alienated from him—they could do no good. Secondly they were both going to die physically—their bodies would get sick and wear out, their life here on earth would eventually come to an end. And because of their sin the would then be subject to eternal death in hell. This was truly a tragedy: God’s pride and joy was now condemned to hell eternally for their sin.
And they knew it. They knew what they had done. They felt shame. They realized that they were naked. They saw the world through sin-stained eyes and wanted to hide. The perfect creation of God was now forever tainted with sin…
And when we look around we see that not much has changed… We see evidence of sin all around us throughout the world—sickness, war, crime, hurricanes that kill thousands of people. We also the evidence of sin within us. We have the stain of sin which we inherited from our parents. We therefore also by nature are dead: by nature all we are dead spiritually, enemies of God and able to do nothing good on our own. We are doomed to die physically. Even with all the wonders of modern medicine, plastic surgery, exercise and good nutrition, all of us eventually will die. And when we do we will face judgement. And God doesn’t mince words, "the wages of sin is death!" The punishment we deserve is eternal death in hell.
And the thing is, we continue to sin daily, to give in to the temptations of the devil. We listen to Satan’s lies about how good and fun life will be if we follow our sinful desires. God doesn’t want us to have fun. The money and pleasures of this world is where its at. God wants to deprive you of sexual joy and drunken highs. BUT IT IS ALL A LIE. That is the road to death. And we know it, just like Adam and Eve, we too feel shame and guilt. We don’t want to admit it, we try to blame others, society or what have you, but we know…We have a problem…
Yes, we have a problem: we, just like Adam and Eve, are sinful. We deserve eternal death in hell and there is nothing that we can do about it. If our story ended here it would very much be a tragedy. But our story has a happy ending, for it is the history of our salvation…
II. The happy ending
And the happy ending started on that very day. God in Genesis chapter three, promised to Adam and Eve a Savior from their sins. And so the plot thickened as the time grew near. God prophesied about the coming Savior, of his birth, his life, his death, and even of his resurrection. God also controlled everything to make the plan come about. And at just the right time Jesus, the second Adam, came. That’s right, the second Adam. Our epistle lesson for this mornings told us, "Just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam), the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous." And we see a part of that obedience in the Gospel lesson for this morning. Jesus, though tempted by Satan with the same kind of lies that Adam and Eve heard, the same kind of lies with which he attacks us—Jesus never sinned. He didn’t give in to the devil’s attacks, but rather fought them off with God’s Word.
But that’s not all. As we will be seeing for the next six weeks, Jesus also came to suffer and to die. He went willingly to the cross to die the death that we deserve. But tragedy soon turned to triumph for on the third day he rose. Christ won the victory over sin, death and the devil. The end.
But no, wait, this story has no end…for with Christ’s victory on the cross we get to go to heaven. Death has no power over us. Yes, we will die physically some day. But with Christ’s victory he calms our fears. For we know without a doubt that he will take us to paradise where everything will again be perfect. We will never have to worry about problems, sickness and sin ever again. This happy ending will have no end.
So let’s remember the history of our Salvation…when tempted by the Devil and his lies, because he is going to come with his lies. Everyday without stopping he will seek to attack us where we are weak. So let’s follow Jesus’ example and use his Word. For only with his help can we withstand the devil’s attacks. And when we are scared, tired and in doubt, let us also remember the history of our Salvation. When you fall into Satan’s trap, and we all will—remember the history of your Salvation. Christ has wiped away that sin and has won the victory. When you can’t sleep at night, thinking about your sick grandfather in the hospital, because your afraid of death, or because you can sense the evil of the world all around you: remember the history of your salvation. Yes, it has a tragic beginning, but the ending is truly happy. Salvation is yours without end. AMEN
