Broken Curse
Stooping over the garden, the farmer hangs his head in immense heartbreak. Sweat drips down his brow. His calloused hands ache as he draws produce out of the compacted ground. Wincing in pain, he jerks his fingers back. Thorns had pierced him. It isn’t the first time…looking over the field, he sees rows and rows of them, choking the life out of a field that had at one time been overflowing with life-giving harvest.
His mind drifts off to recent days of unimaginable bliss. . . .
He and his wife walked hand in hand. Animals of all kinds gathered together to drink at the water hole. Willow trees swayed in the breeze, and wind whipped flower petals into the air.
While looking over their shoulders, the couple noticed a flock of sheep bending down on their front knees. Husband and wife smiled at each other as they knew who had come into the field.
Creator.
They quickened their pace and joined the sheep in the reverential posture.
Blinking his eyes and shaking his head back to the present, the farmer remembers that tree…that cursed tree. “Why did we do it? Why did we eat that fruit? Why did we ever listen to that wretched serpent?” Tears well up in his eyes. Dust mingles with water, and mud streaks his weary face. He winces again as dirt enters the thorn-piercings on his hands.
Now the scene flashes forward to a Shepherd, His head hanging low; His whole body writhing in pain. Blood streaks down His face as thorns pierce His brow. His heart aches, and He cries, thinking back to a time in His Father’s house when everything was perfect and beautiful, everyone there bowing and praising.
Blinking His eyes, the Shepherd winces in pain as the splintered tree wounds His back and as the nails pierce His hands and feet. Gasping for air He remembers why He is doing this…that farmer, his wife, that serpent, the people looking up at Him, the mockers laughing at Him, the ones who aren’t even born yet, the Jews, the Gentiles. Yes! That is it! His lungs bursting like a runner giving his all, He shouts, “It is finished!”
The scene flashes forward one last time to a King. This is no ordinary king. He is the King of all Kings. Holding His head up high in royal majesty, His heart soars in triumphant victory, His eyes shining as bright as flames in a fire. Upon His head a crown to signify that His dominion has no end. The curse of the thorns—broken. The pain of the cross—over. Everything wrong has been made right.
Oh, reader! Have you felt the curse of sin upon you? You are not alone, for we are told in Romans that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” It all began in the Garden when Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Thorns were his curse, but worse than that was the sin which passed to every person from then on, except for the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ. It is He who lived a perfect life and died a sinless death in our place. He suffered the wrath of God so that we would not have to.
Our hope lies in the fact that He did not stay dead. The eternal debt was paid with an eternal payment! Then He did what no other spiritual leader has ever done —He rose from the dead. And it is on this truth that our entire foundation has been laid. We serve a risen Savior!
The question for you then is this: What will you do with this knowledge? Will you only think about it once a year at Easter? Will you believe it? Will you meditate on it? Will you let it fill you with joy? Will you share it with your unbelieving neighbor? Will you encourage your discouraged brother or sister in Christ with it?
Our hope also lies in the fact that He is coming again. The pierced Savior rose from the dead. He also rose from this earth to return to His throne in Heaven. He is at this very moment seated at the right hand of the Father praying for His children, and at the appointed time, He will return to the cursed earth to once and for all make all things right, and we will dwell with Him forever in a new heaven and a new earth. Time without end.
What will you do with this knowledge?
Oh, may it transform the way we think and live.
May it fill us with such hope that we cannot help but be joyful!
May it fill us with such praise that we cannot help but be thankful!
May it fill us with such love that we cannot help but be witnesses!
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12)
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)
“And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
(I Cor. 15:4)
“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Rom. 8:34)
”And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev. 21:1-4)
Paula Ehmann was born in Georgia to a ministry couple. She went to Bible college to study Elementary Education and Biblical Counseling. After getting married she and her husband ministered for nearly a decade at churches in Nevada and Idaho. From there the Lord led them to North Carolina to minister to churches around the world through the organization Positive Action for Christ. During that time Paula served as the Children’s Ministry Director of her church. She also directed a homeschool co-op that served families in her community. After a decade of serving in North Carolina, the Lord led her and her husband back to the West to minister to their parents. Paula’s passion is counseling, teaching, and discipling children, teens, and women. She homeschools her children, teaches Sunday School, and speaks whenever the Lord gives opportunity. She has four children who, along with her husband, are the loves of her life.
