Creation – God created everything perfect. In the garden of Eden, there was no illness, pain, sorrow, or death. Adam and Eve enjoyed complete satisfaction and communion with God.
Genesis 1:31-2:1
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
Fall – When Adam and Eve sinned, all of creation fell into corruption. Illness, pain, sorrow, and death came into the world as a result of sin. We have all inherited a sinful nature from Adam, and we can feel the effects of sin upon our bodies, our minds, and our hearts today.
Romans 5:12-14
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Redemption – Whereas sin brought destruction, Jesus brings restoration. No matter how great and how numerous our sins might be, Jesus saves every person who repents of their sin and believes in Him.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
New Creation – Jesus is making all things new. He turns spiritually dead sinners into new creatures with eternal life. Jesus is reversing all the effects of the Fall. One day soon, He will restore Creation to the way it was before sin entered the world.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
