Regret to Redemption--Crown of Thorns

 

Genesis 3--Regret

The fall.  Humankind's biggest regret.  The first humans, Adam and Eve, were the first to trade the truth of God for a lie, right in the middle of the perfection of the Garden of Eden.  The curse of sin left it's mark on us all--death.  But it also left it's mark on creation.  The very ground is cursed because Adam chose to listen to his wife who chose to listen to the deceiver. 

 "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."  Genesis 3:17-18

Thorns and thistles.   It reminds me of the castles in "Sleeping Beauty" and "Beauty and the Beast".  As soon as an evil decision is made, the kingdom and the castle are cursed.  You recognize the curse in animation because everything becomes dimmer, grayer, and is surrounded by thorns and thistles.  The Kingdom of God, however, did not grow dimmer because of our evil decision; our view of it did.  Our noses have been to the ground since, struggling to scratch a living from it.  

Matthew 27--Redemption

Good Friday.  The day Jesus died for us.  He carried our sins to the cross.  He bore our shame.  He bore the curse of the ground from Genesis 3 on His head.  

"Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before Him.  They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand.  And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying 'Hail, King of the Jews!'" Matthew 27:27-29

The ground was cursed with thorns and thistles as a punishment for the sin of Adam. These thorns have been choking out the seeds of the Kingdom since the garden ("As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." Matthew 13:22)  Jesus knew when He taught this lesson that He would have a crown of curses placed on His head.   Although the soldiers would not have known what they were doing, ("Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!") Jesus knew that these thorns have been blocking the view of the Kingdom.   So  He is Prince Charming, plowing His way through the thorns and thistles to make a way for us back to the castle, back to God.  He doesn't just cut a path through the thorns, He wears them.  He pays for them,  makes them His own, so only then can He completely eradicate their effect.   It is finished.  

Isaiah 65--Already and Not Yet

I am not outdoorsy enough to speak to the fact that, although it's been 2,000+ years since Jesus redeemed and reversed the curse, there are still thorns and thistles in our midst.  Mike spends lots of  time in the woods, and he has often born the effect of a thorn and/or thistle bush on his skin, so I know they still exist.  We  still see the effect of sin.  People still die, WE will die.   Yet Good Friday was not a failed attempt at redemption.    Jesus conquered sin by taking it to the cross, bearing God's wrath.  He conquered death by rising from the grave by His own power.  Those who have accepted His paid-in-full gift still live in a world plagued by the effects of sin.  We are remade, a new creation, by faith in the One who gave Himself for us.  But still we long for the day when our faith will be sight, when we will see the undimmed-by-sin Kingdom of God for ourselves. 

"Look! I am created new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind...  [My people]shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isaiah 65:17, 21-22

Humankind still has to work for what we have.  Our noses are to the ground, daily scratching out a living.  And because God is so kind, He has turned the curse into a blessing so that work CAN be for our good if we do it for His glory.  But one day, because of the sacrifice Jesus made on Good Friday, our redemption will be final forever.  We will lift our noses from working the sin-cursed ground, we will stand and look up, and see our Redeemer!!

"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.  For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is 

 near." Luke 21:25-28

No more will sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground;  He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found!  Far as, far as the curse is found!

Joy To The World!!