CURSE COMPENSATION
Part seven of fifteen devotions in Heaven Enchantment Series
Genesis 3:14-19
Genesis 3:17-19: “To Adam He said, ‘Cursed is the ground
because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your
life. It will produce thorns and
thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your
food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you
are and to dust you will return.’”
Compensation
[com-pen-SA-shon] means payment for damages done.
Why
is the “Curse” sin? There was only one
tree from which Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat; the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil—or God says in Genesis 2:16-17 that they would die. (Did eternal beings even understand death?) Check out Genesis 3:1-9:
Satan,
disguised as a snake, asked Eve if she could eat from every tree in the Garden. Eve confessed the one tree in the middle of
the garden from which she may not eat.
The
devil challenged what God said, insisting that she wouldn’t die! Instead, she’d be like God, knowing good and
evil. Eve decided that she would like that. The fruit looked good. She bit into it, and didn’t “die.” She handed the fruit to Adam.
Creation
held its breath. Adam ate the
fruit. Eden perfection vaporized.
The
sin exposed naked bodies as the Curse began infecting everything. Their “death” was now certain (Romans 6:23). The Father called to Adam, who was busy
making fig-leaf clothes. God patiently listened
to Adam and Eve’s finger-pointing explanations.
“She said he said, so she did…she said, he did…”
God’s
attributes—characteristics that make Him God—never change. God is just. That means that God is fair and
always correct. The Father expected
that sin would eventually infect Earth. For
Jesus witnessed “Satan fall like lightening from heaven.”
(Luke 10:18).
Genesis
3:14-19 showed that the Father was prepared:
He
cursed the snake. It must crawl on its belly and eat dust its
whole life.
He
judged Eve. She must endure pain in childbirth, and
desire only her husband, who’ll rule over her.
He
cursed the ground. It must make man work hard through thorns and
thistles, by the sweat of his brow he’d grow food.
He
judged Adam. He must work hard to support his family, and
then die.
God did not curse His children. Our heavenly Father already had a plan to
compensate for the Curse. It was
perfect.
Take
Home Nugget
God’s
plan for Curse compensation was to offer His kids eternal life! First, death had to be defeated, then
Paradise restored. See the lesson
linked below that supports God’s Son Jesus’ divine ancestry.
God
does not curse you, but offers Jesus to overcome the Curse.
This devotion is adapted from Heaven.
Chapter 10, “What Will it Mean for the Curse to Be Lifted?” Alcorn, Randy. © 2004. Tyndale House of Publishers,
Inc. Illinois.
J.D. Griffith
Written
for http://www.Biblestudyforkids.com
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