Sermon by Pastor Peter Faugstad
Redeemed from Adam’s Curse
Gate of Paradise: Paradise Closed; Paradise Opened
In Nomine Iesu
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Genesis 3:22-24
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—“therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (ESV)
St. Luke 23:39-43
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at [Jesus], saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (ESV)
Prayer: O Savior Christ, who on the cross, and by virtue of the cross, accepted the faith of the penitent thief and assured him of a place with You in paradise: Remember us too, O Lord, unworthy as we are, and open to us the kingdom of Your grace, that hereafter we may be with You in the kingdom of Your glory, where You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Parish Prayers, ed. Frank Colquhoun, p. 75)
In Christ Jesus, who has prepared a glorious home for you in heaven, dear fellow redeemed:
“You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.” We hear people talk that way about their carefree childhood, about the jobs they left for better opportunities that weren’t actually better, about the days before so many health concerns and doctor visits, about loved ones who die and leave a bigger gap than expected. “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.”
But nobody felt the pain of loss more sharply or deeply than Adam and Eve. They had every good thing they could ever want. They had perfection. They had blissful communion with their Creator God who loved them. And the devil convinced them that they should desire something more, that they should have their eyes opened, so they could “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).
Ignoring the tree of life for the moment, they reached for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when they ate, “the eyes of both were opened” (v. 7), just as the devil said they would be. Now man and woman knew the difference between good and evil, but this knowledge came at a tremendous cost. Now they knew the difference, because they were no longer good, enjoying all things in perfection. Now they were filled with sin and separated from the God who made them.
You know what happened next. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves to hide their shame. They hid from God with the devil. They played the blame game. Today’s reading indicates that they may have also thought they could fix what they had broken, that they could undo what they had done. If they had corrupted all things by eating from the one tree God told them to leave alone, perhaps they could make everything right again by taking fruit from the other special tree God had planted in the garden, the tree of life.
We can hardly criticize their idea. On a human level, it makes sense. When we mess up, our first thought is usually not to throw ourselves at the mercy of another and beg forgiveness. Our first thought is often, “How can I hide this or fix this, so I can avoid having to fess up to it?” So if we break something, we might try to hide it or quietly repair it and hope no one notices. Or if we hurt someone, we might try to win them back with extra sweet words or with gifts.
Sometimes we might succeed in getting ourselves out of trouble. But sometimes our efforts to avoid responsibility or blame only make things worse. The LORD God shut the door on Adam and Eve fixing things on their own. He would not let them eat from the tree of life anymore. We don’t know what would have happened if they did. Could the curse of sin have been reversed? Would they perhaps have been doomed to live forever in their sin?
It was not for them to try to undo what they had done. They had sinned, and for that sin they deserved to die. But the LORD had mercy on them. He promised to send His only-begotten Son to be born of a woman, so that He could crush Satan’s head and destroy his power over sinners. They could not save themselves; God would save them.
So the LORD drove them out of the beautiful Garden of Eden, a paradise on earth, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. He posted a guard at the garden’s entrance, the cherubim—angelic beings with “a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” The cherubim did their job as long as the garden remained, probably until the waters of the flood destroyed it.
No one on earth tasted the fruit of the tree of life after the fall into sin. Just as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden before the fall, now the tree of life was forbidden after the fall. The first man and woman did not know how good they had it until it was gone. But even though they could no longer eat the delicious fruit of the tree of life, they could cling to the sweet promise of salvation that God had made.
We hear how that promise was fulfilled in our second reading. Jesus is hanging naked on the cross bearing Adam and Eve’s shame and the shame of all who descended from them. As Jesus suffers there through no fault or crime of His own, the religious leaders mock Him, the people passing by jeer at Him, the soldiers laugh at Him. And if that weren’t bad enough, even the criminals hanging on either side of Him railed at Him (Mat. 27:44). “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
But then one of them began to see things differently. He heard Jesus pray for forgiveness for those who tortured Him. He saw how patiently He took the abuse, how His eyes were filled not with hatred but with love. The criminal also knew that his own death was fast approaching. There was no getting out of this one, no escape, no last minute pardon from the governor. He rebuked the mocking of his fellow criminal. “Don’t you understand that we deserve this! We are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
The repentant criminal was done making excuses. He was done blaming others. He knew his sin. Through teeth clenched in pain, he breathed out, “Jesus! Jesus, remember me!” “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” If the religious leaders heard this, they would have turned their jeers toward him. “Kingdom! What kingdom? Is this thorn-crowned loser your king? What can He do for you?” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Imagine if Adam was this criminal hanging next to Jesus. No more excuses; no more attempts to fix things. Entrusting his life to his Savior Jesus even as death approached. Imagine if that criminal were you. “I have sinned! I deserve death. I deserve hell. Jesus, remember me.” Jesus’ words are for Adam and for you and for all sinners who repent of their sins, “You will be with Me in Paradise!”
The gate that God closed in Eden now stands open in heaven. The way that was barred to the tree of life is barred no more. Jesus took the sentence of condemnation for sin in your place. He paid your debt to God. He was declared guilty, so you would be declared righteous. His blood cleanses you from all your sin. St. Paul writes, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17).
By faith in Jesus, you will not die but live. By faith in Jesus, you will not be kept outside the gates of heaven; you will be ushered in. And what will you see when you enter heaven? One of the few descriptions of heaven is in the Book of Revelation, where the apostle John writes, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month” (22:1-2). So in heaven we will get to eat from the tree of life, a tree producing twelve kinds of fruit! John continues that even the leaves of this tree have beneficial qualities, leaves “for the healing of the nations.”
With our sinful minds and mortal flesh, we cannot comprehend or appreciate how wonderful the Paradise of heaven will be. Just as it is true in this life that “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone,” so it is true of our future eternal life, that “You won’t know what you will have till you’re there.” God’s kingdom is beyond anything we can know here. The criminal learned this. He died in tremendous pain, but then his soul was taken to the bright light and glory of his Lord.
So it will be for you. You will leave the wretchedness of this world behind and will enter the gates of Paradise. Washed in Jesus’ blood and covered in His righteousness, no cherubim or flaming sword will keep you out. “Blessed are those who wash their robes,” writes John, “so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (v. 14).Thanks be to God. Amen.
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