For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. -Romans 5:19 (NASB)
When we think of Easter, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, His victory over death, and granting us a direct relationship with God by tearing the temple veil. But He also made a bridge to the final Eden.
In the beginning, when God made the world and the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve in it, the Garden was heaven on earth. There was no disease or illness or death. There was no shame or guilt or hatred or murder.
But the very free will gifted to Adam and Eve–the same free will to choose walking in obedience and faith with God, or the disobedience to walk away to follow what someone else (like Satan) tells us is true and better–changed the course of events forever for all mankind. Sure, God could’ve just made mindless robots programmed to love Him, but He wanted children who would make the conscious choice to lovingly follow and obey Him. To this day, we as a race continue to be splintered in our walk with God.
So Jesus, like Jacob’s ladder, and like God in the wilderness the Israelites wandered for 40 years, made a way where there seemed to be no way. In a terrible, dark time where God’s own creations nailed Him to a cross in hate, He used that for good. He used it to make a way to heaven by releasing us from and cleansing us the sin that plagues us from birth.
The Garden of Eden was said to be like heaven on earth, but to be reunited with the Father in heaven, to walk with Him as Adam and Eve did in Eden, is incomparable. Thank You, Lord, that Your finished work on the cross, and your ascension to heaven, made a way to live with You forever. There is no better place to be. Happy Easter.
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