Reversal of Fortune

“What is this you have done?” Ge 3:13

Creation barely got going before perfection was spoiled.  This was God’s question to Adam and Eve after they had touched and eaten the forbidden fruit. What a short-lived reality, one that would put Plan B into motion.  Humanity’s decision to grab the fruit of the forbidden tree set up a showdown of what began in the garden as a blessing to what would end in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Adam and Eve, dressed only in their new-found awareness of shame hid themselves ‘from the presence of God.’ They heard Him approaching and quietly crouching, hoped He would walk on by…they certainly didn’t cry out to Him...they didn’t want to be found.  As they silently separated themselves from God Jesus on bent knees cried out to God in another garden.  The guilt of sin drove them into the garden’s seclusion while Jesus in desperation prayed for God’s presence.  Jesus would pour out the cup of sacrifice through His death that mankind had filled up with sin.  ‘What began in the garden ended in the garden.’ Determined, Heather Dixon, p. 183. “And while He was still speaking…Having arrested Him…Jesus cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.” Luke 22:54, 23:46.  Because mankind stole from a forbidden tree, Christ was sacrificed on one. 

‘What is this you have done?’  Each of us has felt the sting of conviction from this question in our lives.  We have all reached up to that fruit knowing it wasn’t good for us. We have moved away from God at some point in our lives.  We have felt the shame of sin and the guilt of our choices.  But this morning as I sit thinking about what Jesus did for you and for me, I find myself both humbled and grateful for the sacrifice He made for us.  Oh Jesus, what is this you have done?  You have loved us when we didn’t love ourselves.  You have found us when we were lost in our sin.  You have saved us when we were dead in our spirit.  You have done for us what we could have never done for ourselves.

The two gardens represent perfection that turned to the imperfect and the restoration of perfection through Christ.  He reversed the consequences.  Through the determined obedience and sacrifice of Jesus, He absorbed the full weight of our sin so that one day we might once again walk in paradise. ‘Oh Jesus, thank you for what you have done!’