God's Very Good Plan

Paradise was lost in the garden, but that was not the end of the story. It was just the beginning. God would come in flesh as his Son, Jesus, and bring a redemption unlike anything anyone has ever seen. He would redeem man's sin by his death on the cross, but Jesus didn't just die. On the third day, he rose again, defeating sin AND death. 

You see, when Adam and Even first sinned, they were cursed. Adam's work was cursed and Eve's relationships were cursed. Work would be hard for Adam, and childbirth and her relationship with her husband would be hard for Eve, but that was not all! They once had eternal life, but their sin led to death. They were made to live forever, but their lives would one day come to an end. 

That was not how God originally made things, which is why death affects us so much, because we know that it's not how things should be. But that's not the end of the story. 

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon reminds us that God "has put eternity into man's heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and we know this to be true. It's why we go to great lengths to live longer, to avoid death. It's why we live as if we will live forever until this world disappoints us or our body fails us and reminds us that we are dust and we will return to dust. 

But that's not the end of the story. 

The story continued when Jesus rose from the grave, proving that God himself is Master over death. The resurrection is at the heart of the Christian faith, and it is because when we are united with Christ in life, we will be united with him in death. If we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, not only will we join in in eternity, but we too will one day rise from the dead.