Hope

Imagine the beauty of a newborn world clothed with the joy of Heaven and bathed in the light of God, suddenly replaced by a hideous deception. The woman and the man turned from God to their own way and the tapestry of love was ripped to pieces as humans replaced the wisdom of God for the lies of his enemy.

God had warned them that if they disobeyed, they would be trading  in life for death. The words sunk in deep as Eve held the lifeless, broken body of her son Abel in her arms. She remembered standing before the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and reaching out to take of its forbidden fruit. The scene must have flashed before her eyes when she ate of the fruit and handed it to her husband Adam. They stood together next to that tree guilty and filled with shame and fear. As Eve gazed down at her murdered son, the weight of her choice bore down on her soul. A darkness closed in that threatened to swallow her up, yet hope pierced the darkness with a beam of light. The light of God's Word held Eve secure in the darkest moments. For God had made a promise and planted hope deep in her heart. This hope welled up inside her now giving birth to FAITH that God would keep His promise. Yahweh would make right all that she had made wrong. He would resurrect and give life to what she had sentenced to death by her choice to believe the serpent's lie instead of the Holy God who loved her and made her. One day she would no longer run from the thing she had embraced in the Garden of Eden. Death would not pursue her and destroy all that she held dear. Her sin would no longer swallow up all of her joy and peace; but most of all, she would no longer be seperated from the very one who made her, and designed her to walk with Him. One day a rescuer would come and he would come to crush the serpent's head. This is what God had promised.

Eve saw from Heaven's window her hope fulfilled. For surely all of heaven rejoiced and wept the day that the Son of God humbled himself and said goodbye. He entered His fallen, scarred  and rebellious world into the womb of another young woman whose name was Mary. She said yes to God's way---for she held Eve's hope dear deep inside her heart. She too longed for the rescuer to come---the one who would end death and sorrow. She was to bear him in her body and hold the promised one in her arms.

The Fall of man marred Mary as it had all human beings, but all of Eve's daughters faced a pain so deep---the pain of giving birth to life and longing to protect and nurture the life yet realizing the truth unfolding that all sinners must die. Love had been traded for selfishness and God for self. The world had fallen apart, but God came to save. God the Son was wrapped in human flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit. He came to give us his perfect righteousness in exchange for all of our filthy sinfulness, and the miracle happened. The darkest day of history dawned, and the Light of the world was lifted high upon the cross. Indeed, Jesus was nailed to the tree and bore the curse for our sin in his own body and endured God's righteous wrath.

Mary watched as she stood at the foot of the cross and perhaps Eve watched from Heaven as the promised one---the Almighty God come in the flesh---died and faced the punishment for our sin. What rebellion had purchased, GRACE covered for the price was too high for us to pay. Eve's heart broke afresh as the Son of God died and Mary's heart was pierced as the Son of Man took all the sin of His people upon His shoulders and breathed his last. The bitterness of the curse stung deep in Mary's soul. For she could see what her salvation required. In order to take away the curse of sin and raise dead souls back to life, Jesus had to die, and in death Jesus wove the broken world back together. He poured out grace and mercy through his blood and stitched  them into the split fabric of our soul and bound up what was broken. Jesus swallowed the punishment for sin. If we will only believe in him, and hope in God's Word just as Eve and Mary did. If we will, then we too can embrace the HOPE of life after death---the joy of salvation from sin by our merciful God! The hope of our fear forever destroyed as God takes back the Throne of our hearts and reigns supreme in the place where self was once exalted---the place that only ever belonged to our Creator.

Sorrow lasted through the night, but a glorious morning dawned! On the third day death  was forever defeated as the Son of God rose from the grave! Because Jesus lives so shall all who believe in him and hope in his word. Though we live in a broken world and we ourselves  face our own brokeness and sinfulness, the hope that we hold deep within our hearts is Jesus Christ, and his light burns brightly in the midst of our sorrow and sin pointing us to the promises of his Word.

Now there stands another bride at the foot of the cross with her gaze fixed upon another tree. She is the Lamb's spotless bride, clothed in his beauty and righteousness. The Bride of Christ is the church, and we stand eagerly awaiting the day when we shall eat from the Tree of Life that Jesus' sacrifice has purchased for us. Until that day, we hold tightly to the hope found in God's Word---the same hope that Eve and Mary clung to---the hope that God rescues sinners and one day soon will welcome us HOME!