Who will rescue us?

Cursed is the ground for your sake…Genesis 3:17

This God spoke to Adam: Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded, saying, “You shall not eat of it.” Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread… Genesis 3:17-19a

We notice God did not curse Adam nor did He curse Eve. God did curse the serpent (the deceiver) and the ground (the earth). Because of their sin, what was a garden paradise became a field of thorns and thistles. What was ‘take and eat’ became toil by the ‘sweat of your brow.’ What was supposed to be a life of ‘having dominion over’ (1:1:26-27) and ‘tending and keeping’ (2:15) is now a life of servitude. Because of the consequence of their sin mankind would be born into a world of war. Instead of ruling over the animals, they become like animals.

This is what happened when those created in the image of God thought they could become God. Instead of living in a world of blessing, we live in a world that is cursed. Because of their sin the world returned to its original status: darkness and chaos. 

As a poet once wrote: God said to man, “The earth will bring forth thistles.” Man replied, “I’ll weed them out. I’ll develop weed killers and make my garden a paradise.” God said to man, “You will work by the sweat of your brow.” Man replied, “I’ll invent tools that will make my work easier: the plow, the hoe, the tiller and the John Deere tractor.” God said to the woman, “You will have pain in childbirth.” Man responded, “Yea, so be it, let her suffer so my quiver can be full. It is God’s will. My work was made hard because of her.” (The world said, “We will invent medications for childbirth”)

But with God there is hope. In the curse upon the serpent God reveals His reversal of the curse: Jesus. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. Genesis 3:15 To bring about this blessing, God chooses to bless Abraham and Sara with a child who will bring forth sons who will bring forth the promise of Messiah. Jesus will come to submit to the cursed tree to reverse the curse and bring life where there was only death. Jesus is our rescue.