"God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him in the midst of loss, not prosperity." --John Piper

Friday, January 1, 2010

Mercy through Death

One of God's first acts of grace was to bring death to the Garden of Eden.


Genesis 3:22 "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (NIV)


Adam and Eve had chosen to sin. This put a barrier up that not only affected their relationship with God, it caused them to feel shame and affected their relationship with one another. Imagine an eternity of this! So God made it so that they would not live forever.


Mercy through death. More specifically through the shedding of blood. Another of the acts of God's grace is found in Christ, the second Adam. Only this death restores what was destroyed by the first Adam's chioce.


I find that amazing.


God could have just given up. He could have turned his back on humanity. There is nothing we bring to the picture to merit his grace. And that is exactly what makes him worthy of worship and praise.