Man chose the path of sin, death and distance from God. Adam & Eve were given a wide road to life and a narrow road to death, but they chose to eat of the tree of death.
All future generations of men were born eating only of this fruit and knowing only this existence. Yet, God so loved Man that He enabled a way to pin this curse on His one perfect Son, Jesus. By choosing Jesus , you access the life he once again made possible.
In the last chapter, we visited the Fall of Man and the grievous consequences that following the Devil inflicted upon mankind. Through one man, sin entered the world and death began to reign the world over. Only Man was “bitten in the heel” by the serpent, but the poison of death had spread to all creation, which he managed. Through the power of death and the principality of Hades, the devil became ruler of this world: the prince of the air, the accuser of mankind, the head of all rebellious spirits and dominions, and the tormentor of Man’s soul and flesh.
War, famine, diseases, and all forms of evil forces began to permeate the creation that God allotted to Man for his happiness, bringing about devastation and terrifying wickedness. We became powerless against sin in our life, and we lived a decaying existence as the evil one and his agents torment us. While living the abundant life in the Garden of Eden, Man always had the choice to eat from either the Tree of Life or the Tree of Death. Man chose this tree of death and thus put an end to the abundant life in God as His sons. In this series, we’ll look at this choice and the consequences that lead us to a new choice in Christ to walk the narrow road back home.
Man is a creature without rest and hope, full of pride, shame, ignorance and foolishness. What happened? With all our best knowledge and intelligence, endless labor and persistent effort, we couldn’t even get close to a culture of love, peace, and goodness.
Where then is the solution to our fatal disease?
This post is _Part 1_ in a series about The Cross. To continue with this series, click on Part 2. To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series.
Photo credit: hanneorla