Not Just a Wooden Symbol: Amazing Grace Retold

I'd like to tell you a story. You may have heard it before- I know I've heard a thousand times. I even thought I knew it by heart.

How wrong I was.

Part 1- The Screw-up

This story starts way back- and I mean way back- literally, to the dawn of time. Genesis chapter 3, to be precise. Let me catch you up: God created the heavens, the earth, and all creatures big and small (for those of you who are more into the “Big Bang Theory”, allow me to let you in on another little “theory”: when God said, “Let there be light” and then there was light, I'm pretty sure there was a *Big Bang*). God created man, Adam, from the dust of the earth and woman, Eve, from the ribs of the man. The man and the woman were living in perfect happiness and harmony in the Garden of Eden with God, their loving Creator and Father. Life was good- it was very good.

And then along came a snake.

I hate snakes. I hate them so much that I even had an agreement with Tom, one of the guys I work with: if we ever go to a e-call and there is a snake in the home or business, I get to drop everything and go screaming out the door as fast as I can and Tom will take care of the patient and call for back up to replace my sorry ass. On the flip side, I am to protect Tom from hair. Yup, hair.

I really feel like I got the better part of this dealio.

Any-who...

This was no ordinary snake. This snake was Satan. And he was tramping around, out for the kill. And kill he did. The one and only rule that God had in the Garden was that Adam and Eve not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That's it. Just one simple rule, but one with severe consequences: death. Satan, the snake that he is, convinced Eve to eat the fruit and her hubby, who was there the whole time, watching this whole thing go down, chose to follow in his wife's footsteps.

Worst. Decision. Ever.

As you've probably noticed, this world is not the perfect, beautiful Garden of Eden. Oh, this world is beautiful alright- as a traveller and someone who lives in one of the most beautiful countries in the world, I can attest to that. But Eden this world is not. It is full of heartbreak and headache, violence and victims, lies and manipulation, sickness and hunger, war and death. And this is the world that became consequence for Adam and Eve- for us. But I want to rewind a bit and focus on how clever and great God is. His ultimate plan- His ultimate wisdom- was revealed with His words in Genesis 3:14-15 to Satan:

“... you will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 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.” (NIV)

Most Christians and theologians agree that in this passage, the woman's offspring is referring to Jesus, and it is He who Satan will attempt to destroy and it is Jesus who will defeat Satan. What I failed to notice in this passage was the reference to Satan eating dust all the days of his life. In essence, Satan was given ownership over everything of the earth (dust)- which included us, and everything else that comes from the dust: our possessions, our finances, our health, our families... the list goes on and on. During the temptation of Jesus in the the wilderness in Luke 4:5-7, Satan talks about his ownership when he tempted Jesus with the kingdoms of the world saying that “... it has been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want” (NIV).

But ownership of this world was transferred back to the One who created it with the most amazing, most preeminent act of sacrificial suffering this world has ever seen...

Part 2: Redemption

Let me state the obvious: God is not a moron. He did not need to read “Defeating Evil for Dummies”, “Seven Habits of a Highly Effective God” or even “The Secret”. In His supreme wisdom and love, from the moment that Adam and Eve chose to disobey Him, He had the ultimate, perfect plan of redemption for those He created, those He loves passionately- a covenant. A covenant is like a legal deed of sorts between God and his people signifying a relationship of commitment.

Wait a minute.

A legal deed is how God expresses His love, passion and heartache for His lost children? This is how “our Father who art in Heaven” is going after the enemy to get His kids back safely? Hmmm. This doesn't sound like a Hollywood blockbuster or very bad ass... unless maybe you're a lawyer...

Before I lose you all together, let's fast forward, to a time long after the Worst Decision Ever. To the time of a man named Jesus- the man whose birth we celebrate at Christmas (I always figured there had to be more to it than just turkey and the Sears Christmas catalogue) and whose death and resurrection (I'll get to that in a minute) we celebrate at Easter (it's not just for bunnies). If you haven't heard of Him, let me give you the run down of His incredible, but short life. It sort of reads like one of those weird tabloids you always eye up while you are waiting in line at the grocery store (don't play innocent with me, you know you do it, I know you do it).

Jesus was born to a young, virgin girl named Mary who had recently married a nice guy named Joseph, who was a carpenter.

Uh, what?!?

A virgin... had a baby?

Huh?!

Seems kinda fishy, doesn't it? The weirder thing is that there was this famous, old Jewish guy named Isaiah, and God often gave him visions of the future and Isaiah actually predicted Jesus' birth and that His mom would be a virgin- like, 800 years before Jesus was born (Isaiah 7:14). Crazy, eh?! But there's more: when Jesus was baptized, God actually spoke from the Heavens and said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, NIV). What God said, and what Jesus claimed, was that Jesus was God's son. And, when Jesus was only 33 years old, He fulfilled the one vision His Dad had for Him: to be falsely accused, condemned, mocked, beaten, whipped, and then literally nailed to a wooden cross to hang there until He died (for those of you who are medically minded like myself, Dr. C. Truman Davis wrote an article on the physiology of the crucifixion. Click HERE to read it. The Mayo Clinic did a similar analysis, click HERE to read that one). Three days later, His body went missing from the tomb it had been put in and Jesus Christ appeared- in the flesh- to more than 500 witnesses (Acts 15:6).

Did you catch that?

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, allowed himself to be falsely accused, dying in one of the most horrific ways that has ever been recorded, and then rose from the dead 3 days later.

Why?

He said it was His Father's will- God's will- that He die for every mean thing, every hurtful thing, every wrong thing, every despicable and lowly thing you and I have ever done and will ever do. Although He is a King and he is 100% blameless, He made Himself lowly and responsible for the sins of you and I, and He completed it all on an old rugged cross.

Part 3: The Old Rugged Covenant

The cross is not just something you wear around your neck or see in a church. The cross is the centrepiece, the turning point, of human history- it is the covenant, the legal deed, the declaration of ownership of you and I. No more do we have to yield to the darkest, most evil of owners. We now can yield to the Father who loves us more than our puny, itty bitty brains could ever imagine. We can yield to the One who gave Himself- His Son- to the throws of the earth, to live a perfect life of love among us, only to then die the most brutal, physical and emotional deaths, all for the wrongs you and I have caused one another.

Before Jesus came to die for our sins, covenants were definitely no pinky promises. A covenant required 2 parties (God and His peeps) agreeing to something and it required the shedding of blood- a loss of life. In the old testament, God allowed His people to enter into covenant with Him and use the blood and life of their most perfect animals. The new, and really, the last covenant- the cross- was an agreement between God and His Son Jesus, that Jesus would take the place of you and I, that He would bear the brutal responsibility of all of our sins. And it was the shedding of His perfect, innocent blood on the cross that made this covenant complete.

Part 4: Dust to dust

So here we are. The covenant is complete. Relationship with God can be restored. Ownership is no longer under evil management. But yet our world is still full of lies, sadness, famine, disasters, hurt, war, abuse, wicked people, even good people who aren't always good... if the covenant is complete, how can this be?

“you will... eat dust all the days of your life”

Right.

That guy is still around. Oh brother...

Did I mention I hate snakes?!

God told us, way, way back in the Garden of Eden, that Satan would try to destroy Jesus and fail (imagine it: Satan thinks he's killed Jesus, only to find out 3 days later that Jesus rose from the dead... gee, that's gotta be embarrassing... *awkward*). God promised us, way, way back in the Garden of Eden that Jesus would destroy Satan. Well, that hasn't happened- yet. Don't worry, it's definitely coming (if you are one of those types that can't wait to see how the story will end, you are in luck! Check out the book of Revelation to see how Jesus will pop a cap in Satan's ass... or, uh, something similar to that). In the mean time, it's time to sit up straight and pay attention to what's happening around us.

Remember when I said that the dust Satan will eat is the earth, us, our possessions, our finances, our health, our families... Remember? Roughly 1155 words ago (I know, this is a long one... thanks for hanging in there)? Well, how's our earth doing? What about us- any illness or injury you've seen? How are we managing our finances- are you broke? In debt? Are you giving and sharing with others? Is everyone in your area fed with a roof over their head? What's the divorce rate around you? In your family? How many people are you angry with? How much time are you spending on your computer or on your cell phone, remodelling your house, dreaming about a nicer car, thinking about what your next burger is going to taste like, wondering if you are better looking than Jessica Alba or Ryan Reynolds (BTW, no, you're not)? In comparison, how much time are you spending with God?

What I am trying to say is Satan is hungry. He has an insatiable appetite that will never, ever be full. He wants the world back. And he definitely does not want God to reign over it. So, he consumes us. He consumes our possessions. He consumes our finances. He consumes our world. Anything to distract us from remembering the sheer awesomeness and love of the last covenant.

But, there is a way, Friends. There is a way to avoid being consumed. There is a way to avoid just being dust. There is a way to matter. There is a way to finding acceptance, peace and an unimaginable love from a Father who is always, actively, relentlessly pursuing you.

But the choice is yours.

Thanks for reading... and stay tuned, I'm not quite done with this one yet!

Christy