If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.
1 Corinthians 15:13-14
April 12, 2020 is celebrated by Christians the world over to commemorate the day Jesus rose from the dead. Why is this important?
The answer begins with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were made in God’s image, enlivened by His very breath and Spirit, and walked daily in perfect fellowship with Him. They had everything they needed in a magnificent paradise. With a God-given purpose to have children and care for the garden and all living creatures, the pair had only one restriction. They could not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would die.
Well, they did eat, and this disobedience started a snowball that affected every human being since then. It began with shame, fear, and desire to hide from each other and God. Then, Adam blamed God and “the woman”, while she blamed the serpent. God dealt with all of them, starting with the snake.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”” Genesis 3:15
The offspring of the woman is a reference to Jesus Christ and the conquest He will one day have over the serpent who is actually Satan.
Adam and Eve didn’t die that day, and in fact, Adam lived 930 more years. But, something died, and that was the living spirit of God inside them. They no longer could walk and talk freely with their loving, wonderful Creator, and they were right in hiding from Him so they would not be destroyed.
God, however, knew all of this ahead of time and the Trinity had planned the ultimate rescue that would be needed for creatures with a free will. By God’s design, sin required a death to put us back on speaking terms with Him. So He killed an animal for each of them and made a proper covering of skins for their nakedness instead of fig leaves and then sent them out of the garden. This was also a symbol of Jesus being the covering for our sin which was one part of the redemption plan.
Once the couple was dead in their spirits to God, all of their offspring were born with dead spirits and the DNA of sin. The very next sin described in Scripture is Cain murdering his brother Abel, even directly after God warned him. Within 1600 years from creation, evil was so rampant, God needed to start over with a world wide flood.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
Mankind proved over and over again that humans were not capable of fully following God’s ways on their own, and yet, God kept reaching out and inviting them to come into fellowship with Him. He sent those who knew and honored Him to teach the others the way God had established for life to work well, and He intervened in history with countless demonstrations of His power, goodness, love, grace, and purpose. He valued the freewill He had given to humanity, even though He knew it would lead to sorrow and destruction. Throughout the centuries, God continued to give pictures of the Redeemer to come, who would be born of God’s Spirit and of woman.
(c) 2020 Holly Craw
Designed to Draw Near 
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