I bought a new pair of shoes yesterday and put them on this morning for the first time. They were as perfect as only something new can be. As I started down the stairs my dog promptly stepped on one with her 80 pounds and one of her nails gouged into that fine finish. I think I had them on less than five minutes. Alas. It also seems that way when I buy a new car. That first ding seems to occur in the first few days and months go by before the second one appears.
Can we even begin to imagine God’s reaction to Adam and Eve’s disobedience? Eden was perfect. Genesis one finishes with God critiquing His own work. He said, “That’s very good.” We have no idea how many millenniums of thought and planning went into this magnificent planet. It was here that He prepared a perfect home for a perfect couple made in His image. Angels must have been overwhelmed with the artistic design and scientific balance for life. Surely there were tears shed all over heaven when the news spread regarding the now flawed paradise. This was not a gouge mark. This was not a ding. This was destruction. Death had come to Earth.
God Himself would offer that first sacrifice as He explained to them what it represented. As graphic as that was I doubt if they really got it. No one really got it until that night in another garden. Jesus clung to earth begging His Father for another way and if there was no other way to give Him the strength to do it. He did it. Now we know. But do we? Surely we would be more motivated if we really understood.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 18, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org