Resurrection (1) - Beautiful World Messed Up

Easter is a time when many Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. However, when we think about the resurrection, we tend to look backwards and focus on the empty tomb. We celebrate the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead and rejoice in the new life that he has provided for us. The problem with looking back in this way is that we fail to understand the full impact of what the resurrection achieved for the present and the future. The resurrection was the pivotal event in history. When Jesus was raised from the dead, everything changed.

To understand the reality of the resurrection, we must understand what happened before. In the beginning, God created a beautiful world. He looked at his work and saw that it was good. God created man in his image and commissioned us to care for his world. To equip us for this task, he gave mankind full authority over the earth.

Once authority is given, it cannot be taken back, so giving humans authority over the earth was an amazing risk. God was willing to take this risk, because he had made us in his likeness. When a son is like his father, he behaves in the same way as his father. In the same way, God saw the people he had created on earth as his family. Because we were created in his likeness, he trusted us to care for his earth. His intention was to teach us to care for the earth, as a father teaches his sons or a master tradesperson trains his apprentices.

This wonderful association fell apart, when Adam and Eve were tricked into disobeying God. This did not just break their relationship with their father by obeying Satan, they surrendered to him their authority over the earth. God had given dominion over the earth to man, but man foolishly gave that dominion to the devil. This fall into sin gave evil full reign on earth. God’s beautiful world was corrupted by violence and disaster.

God the father does not go back on his word, so he would not take back the authority he has given to man. Only a human could take back the authority that was given to the devil, but because all humans are corrupted by sin, no human had the power to take back authority over the earth and boot evil out of the world.

For this full series, see the Resurrection.