Rest for Those Who Fall Away
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between her offspring and hers; he will crush your head, but you will strike his heal." Genesis 3:15
Look around the world, and you’ll see some common themes: sorrow, hurt, pain, and frustrations persist.
Why? Because human beings mess things up: Relationships. Communities. Governments. The planet itself. People hurt one another and betray one another’s trust as they pursue their own self-interests. Look around, and you’ll see things are not as they should be. Things could be better. They should be better. This world is not the perfect place it was intended to be.
Adam and Eve messed things up. They heard the devil’s lies and bought into the claim that God was hiding something from them—that God hadn’t told them the whole story—that they should take matters into their own hands to get something more than the peace and perfection that was already theirs. And so they ate the fruit, pursuing their own self-interests. They quickly realized that this didn’t empower or enlighten them; on the contrary, they were filled with fear and shame. Through their disobedience, they’d propelled all Creation into a mess of greed, mistrust, brokenness, and sorrow that persists to this day.
But God gave Adam and Eve rest.
He didn’t tell them to fix themselves. He didn’t pile on guilt and shame. He didn’t give them a checklist of things to do to make it up to Him or to prove that they were really sorry; they didn’t even have to speak the words.
Instead, he told them—as he tells us today—I will fix this. Sin brings only pain and sorrow, but I will make you garments and clothe you in them to cover the shame and guilt you feel (Isaiah 61:10). I will come down to earth as a woman’s child, as Immanuel—“God with Us,”—and I will crush the one who deceived you, rendering him powerless (1 John 3:8). And I will destroy death itself (1 Corinthians 15:26), endure sin’s punishment in your place (Isaiah 53:5), and restore the peace and perfection that you threw away (1 Corinthians 15:57). All that is necessary to make things right, I myself will do, checking all the boxes as your substitute.
Life in this sin-sick world isn’t easy, but we can find rest—even now—in what God has done on our behalf.
Restful Reflections
Think of the things you’ve said or done that have given you the deepest feelings of regret and shame. How does it affect your attitude about them—and about yourself—to know that, to God, they are gone forever?
Words in the Word: Satan
from the Hebrew word meaning “adversary,”
In the Bible, this refers to a fallen angel, also called the devil (“accuser”), who rebelled against God and now stands in opposition to God and His people.
Further Reading
Read Romans 5:12-21 to see why the apostle Paul describes Jesus as the “second Adam”
Read 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 42-49 for another picture of Jesus as the “second Adam,” regarding the resurrection of the dead
Read Ephesians 2:1-5 to hear how this first sin has affected our very natures and how Christ has saved us from that
In Christ Alone,
Pastor Paul Krueger