Good News - December 2019

en GAGE 44 DECEMBER 2019 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition ner that recalls Eden. Eden was a garden with two trees in the midst, the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life (Genesis 2:9). In the Gospels, we are told of two gardens, Gethsemane and the Garden of the Tomb, and one tree (the cross) in the midst (John 19:18) of these gardens. The cross of Jesus recalls the Tree of Knowledge and the disobedience of man that brought death . On the cross, Jesus, who knew no sin, was made sin for us.Acquiring that knowledge of imputed sin, Jesus suffered death . In the emblem- atic world of the Gospels, the cross is called a tree (Galatians 3:13; Colossians 2:14). To show that Jesus took upon himself the sin and judgment that was due to Adam, all the wounds of Jesus on the cross recall Adam’s judgments. Adam’s sin brought judgment on the ground. Man would work the ground, and by the sweat of his brow he would earn his bread. The same earth would bring forth against him both thorns and thistles (Genesis 3:18-19). Jesus takes these two judgments upon himself when his brow sweats blood in Gethsemane and then when the crown of thorns is pressed down upon the brow of the Savior (Luke 22:44; John 19:2). Adam sinned by the Tree of Knowledge and so became shamefully naked (Genesis 3:7). The Savior was brought to the Tree of the Cross where he was stripped and so suffered shameful nakedness (Matthew 27:35). Adam was told that his sin would mean that the heel of the Seed of theWoman would be wounded (Genesis 3:15), foretelling the nails of crucifixion that wounded the Savior’s heels (Matthew 27:35). Adam himself suffered a bloody wound in his side in order that the Lord God might give him a bride (Genesis 2:21). Jesus suffered a bloody wound in his side made by a Roman spear, all that he might give life to his bride (John 19:34).[2] The Redemption of Jesus Reverses the Judgments of Genesis Jesus suffered the judgment of death that Adam deserved on the Tree of the Cross. For Jesus, it was a tree of cursing (Galatians 3:13) by which he removed the curse against us. The Tree of the Cross was the Tree of Knowledge that brought death to Jesus. But the Tree of the Cross ironically brought forth fruit, the broken body as bread and the outpoured blood as wine. As such, for all who partake by faith of the fruit of the Tree of the Cross, the Cross becomes the Tree of Life! Adambrought the curse of death upon all, but Jesus came forth from the tomb, bringing life to all (1 Corinthians 15:22). Adam’s sin separated us from the presence of God in the pleasant garden. Jesus came forth from the grave and greeted the Galilean women, having restored the presence of God and mankind in a pleasant garden. The sin of man increased after Adam, and the world was inundated with the waters of judgment in the days of Noah. But Jesus commissioned his disciples to take the gospel into all the earth, that the world might be covered with the word of God even as the waters cover the sea. The sin of man at Babel brought about the judgment of tongues. Jesus poured out his Spirit on Pentecost and the judgment of tongues began to be reversed. Through these andmany other means, the light is gradually overcoming the dark- nessand life isovertakingdeath. TheCreator in thebeginning is likewise theRedeemer, who will accomplish all things at the end. What a Savior has been given to us! Dr. Warren A. Gage, Th.M., J.D., Ph.D. is president of The Alexandrian Foru m, which provides life-changing Biblical teaching. To learn more, visit alexandrianforum.org [1] (Princeton Press, 1949). [2] These are but a few of the emblems of the redemptive work of Jesus. We hope to identify a number of them in our forthcoming book, The Story of the Bible. What is True Religion? (Continued from page 42)