The death of Christ was necessary…
This may seem like a generally trite statement, but it is profoundly and absolutely foundational to understanding not only our world, ourselves, those around us, but how these all fit together and where it’s all going. This necessary act is implied throughout the entire Bible, and the bottom line reason for His feat: the creature has rebelled against the Creator. The consequence? Severed fellowship with its Creator. The implications? Sweat, work, thistles, thorns, pain, strife, sin, and ultimately death. This death–this horrendous and monstrous ending of life, this stopping of a heart, this ceasing of drawn breaths, this shutting off of energy and functionality of organs, this terminating of relationships, this stopping of laughs, of cries, of shared experiences, of future hopes, of all that makes us human, and all that embodies the image of God–is a direct result of one man’s action…
“For since by a man came death…”
1 Corinthians 15:21a
One simple word–death–has entered God’s glorious world. This awesome earth–with its buds and blossoms, with its seas and the teeming life within, with its fluttering and flying whistlers and winnowers, with its grandeur and its glory, with its erudite journeymen, and with its seasons and shapes–now groans for renewal. This simple, yet profound word is full of a potent poison of puss that has arisen off the cancer of one man’s action…
“…in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die…”
Genesis 2:17b
The ending of this Hebrew sentence literally reads, dying you shall die. The hebrew verb for die is used twice, which would serve as a superlative statement. In other words, this death is not a possibility or a trivial matter, but is a matter of utmost and foremost importance. This was the instruction that the man received in regards to not eating from a certain tree in God’s created and glorious garden.
Then came the day, the day that is forever known for its ignominy, shame, and immediate consequences. The swiftness of exposure was without fail, and it was extreme…
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked…”
Genesis 3:7a
A covering was sought, and a covering was found, but it was not from their Creator. They engineered fig leaves to serve as their covering–man’s genius at its finest. The organ of propagation, procreation, and pleasure was protected. Man now serves as the captain of his own ship, the master of his own fate, the vice-regent of creation has now become its enemy. The world is turned upside down, and man is now his own lord. He serves himself first by protecting himself…this is his first experience as a dead man. It doesn’t get any better, nor will it ever, until another Man dies, but that won’t come until later. In the meantime…
“…they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden at the windy time of day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:8
Their second act? Hiding. Why? They were exposed (their covering was gone), their leaves were insufficient, and their disobedience was crying out against them. Judgment is imminent. It will be swift, it will be violent, and it will be forever…until another Man dies, but that won’t come until later. But for now, they are being called to account. After a discourse that this man has with his Creator, the third act of their downward spiral ensues…
“And the man replied, “The woman whom You gave to be with me…”
Genesis 3:12a
This third act is one that man has related to since this infamous day…the blame game. The woman (target #1), and You (target #2) are who receive the blame from this man. He does not take responsibility for his actions, but rather sends it whirling back at his wife and to God. This death has now wreaked havoc upon the horizontal relationship between this first man and first woman, as well as the vertical relationship between God and His image bearers. But it doesn’t end there…
“So he drove the man out, and placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming, turning sword to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Genesis 3:24
Man is no longer welcome in the garden that God had prepared for him. He is a foreigner, a stranger, a pilgrim full of pride. His journey is marked, and his end? Death. His spiritual death happened the instant he disobeyed, and now his physical death will be a lingering and lurching decay of his stature. He will know pain, he will know separation, he will know agony, he will know heartache, he will know sweat and toil, and he will know this most acutely as one of his sons hastens the death experience through his own pride and willful expression of protecting himself. This is just the beginning…
But there’s hope! Yes, there is another Man who comes…who had His garden, as it were, and His cultivation was perfect. For now, it serves us well to marinate on the magnitude of this first man’s action…death is here. It’s known, and we can’t escape its consequences. We have felt its impact, and we know its power. It’s irreversible, and it’s forever. But, we can’t stay there…no, we move on, and we’ll see where next time…
— April 29, 2016