The God of Life and Death - Part III

 

God warned Adam that if he ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, he would die. When Satan, who before sinning was created by God as Lucifer, came to know this, he was very happy. He thought in his heart, what could be a better way to destroy the creation of God? He accordingly was constantly and vigilantly on the lookout to achieve his goal. The opportune moment came when he found Eve alone and used all his skill to entice her to eat the fruit so that she would die. He succeeded eventually, and Eve did eat the fruit. Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.” 

A Great hush fell over the entire creation. The Immortal creation slowly groaned its way to mortality. The immortal man became mortal, and the elements of decay set in to slowly rot away and end in the death of not only humanity but the entire creation. Satan was delirious with joy. He never thought that he could destroy the entire creation with so little effort. He, however, was sadly mistaken. Can a created being be greater than the Creator? Can the Uncreated God tolerate such insolence? On both counts, the answer is no. Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Lord GOD!   behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:” The Lord answers in verse 27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:  is there anything too hard for me? “ 

The Plan of redemption was already in gear. Substitutionary death was introduced by God, which ensured that sinless Jesus would pay the penalty of sin, which is death, and thus redeem man from eternal death. By virtue of this ingenious plan of God, known as “The Plan of Redemption”, the wages of sin would be paid, and thus the plan of salvation would be opened to the Human race.

Jesus came to this world as an infant and was born in the family of Joseph and Mary. Joseph was by profession a carpenter, and accordingly, Jesus learned the trade of carpentry. When His time came, Jesus began His ministry. His ministry revolved around repentance and the kingdom of God. Jesus is described as a) the Lamb of God and b) who takes away the sins of the world. When Jesus is called the Lamb of God, it refers to Him as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin. And as a “guilt offering”, the death of sinless Jesus shut the mouth of sin, as the wages of sin, which was death, were paid in entirety by the death of sinless Jesus on the cross. At the same time, satan was defeated once and for all. But the best thing was yet to come. The resurrection of Jesus on the third day defeated death as well. Thus, proving that He was and is the Lord of both life and death.

I Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?  56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Dr Ashwin Drummond

laddertoheaven.co.in