Cursed

Far as the Curse is Found

          The Bible tells us all we need to know for a right relationship with God. It does not tell us all there is to know or even all we’d like to know. For instance, I’d like to know how long Adam lived in the Garden before getting the boot. How long did it take him to go from fellowship with God to rebellion against God? The Bible doesn’t say. It only tells us it happened and that as a result death was unleashed on the entire world. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men…”

          I often hear people say, “If God exists, why is there war, murder, disease?” The list goes on ad nauseum. On this subject the Bible is clear; death, war, famine and pestilence are in the world only because sin is here. Though death takes many forms, but it has only one cause---sin. Besides Adam’s spiritual demise, the immediate effect of the curse was a physical death inflicted to cover Man’s nakedness. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Now, I’ll admit God could have made skin coats out of nothing and it’s possible that He did so. It’s possible, but not likely; “without shedding of blood is no remission.” Sin leads to bloodshed and death. Atoning, if only symbolically, for Adam’s sin cost an animal his life. We’ve been paying ever since.

          James outlines the progression of yielding to temptation. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” This is exactly what happened in the Garden. We will come to a list of sins soon and when we do it will sound like a list of the world’s woes. Man has always been his own worst enemy. Man was made for fellowship with God and sin separates us from Him. That’s why separation from God is the true death. God doesn’t send people to hell, they choose to go there to be away from God; it’s a choice they have made all through their life.

          Here’s the thing many people either forget or do not understand. Christians are forgiven their sinful nature by the death of a substitute. They are reborn into eternal life free from Adam’s death. They have God’s fellowship through this physical existence. They are not free from the effects of the curse. They are tempted and enticed; they battle lusts; they get sin; they succeed and they fail at the trials of life. Bad things happen to good people. The opposite is also true; good things happen to bad people. This is the result of the general existence of sin in the world and not necessarily the effect of personal behavior.

          Job is a case in point. God, as He will sometimes do, prospered Job for being a good man. The disasters that befell him, while prompted by the devil, were things that happened in everyday life of that time. Thieves, rustlers, tornados, and painful disease can, and do, happen to faithful Christians just because sin is in the world. Sometimes rather than shield us from trouble, God chooses to walk through trouble with us. Job’s comforters were right to attribute calamity to sin; they were wrong to assign that sin to Job.

          Of course, this is not always the case. There are times when Christians are guilty of sin. This does not make them less Christian any more than a sinner’s good works make him a Christian. However and here some will argue with me, the Christian who sins must seek forgiveness for this sin.

          This would be a good place to talk about a doctrine known as eternal security. This doctrine says that once a person is saved from sin by Christ; he can never lose his salvation. The Christian is “eternally secure” in Christ. It is fair to say that not all Christians accept this idea. The other extreme are those who look at Christianity more as a type of parole. Sin is a violation of parole and an automatic return to condemnation. There are strong arguments on both sides. Then, there are those live in the real world.

          When a Christian sins, the Holy Ghost confronts him with his sin. This happens in a multitude of ways from the still, small voice of conscious to a prophetic announcement from the housetop or a shouted sermon. This is a certainty. The ball is then in the believer’s court. He ideal solution is that, confronted with his faults, the believer repents and seeks God’s forgiveness. If he does, he is forgiven, restored, and rescheduled to face that temptation again. This is God’s version of taking us to the woodshed.

          Should the believer resist or ignore the Holy Ghost’s repeated warnings, a type of callus or hardening of the believer’s heart takes place. The sin will then return like plague on that person’s life until God gets the believer’s attention. God does not give up; however, He does not take captives either. If a believer wishes to be free of God, his further rejection of God and returning to sin will win his release. God will let the prodigal go his own way and wallow with the pigs. He will also forever await his return. 

          Sin is woven through the entire fabric of our cursed existence. Without divine intervention the end of sin never varies—it means death; separation from God for eternity.