It was likely driven by my own personal spirit of Eyeore. Either that, or I just like being unconventional. Our class was asked what event in the Bible we thought was the most significant of all. Eighty percent picked the crucifixion of Jesus. A smidge less than twenty percent picked the creation. I, alone, picked the fall. My reasoning went like this. Creation, as glorious and astonishing as it is, as needful for the rest of the story, isn’t the story itself. It is the stage on which the story is told. Then, taking the opposite tack I thought that as important as the crucifixion is, it wouldn’t have happened, wouldn’t have been necessary, were it not for the prior fall of mankind. The fall of mankind is the very hinge of history, the reason for history. The world begins with man and God in joyful relationship. The world ends with man and God in joyful relationship. The whole of the in-between revolves around the sin of Adam and Eve.
The fall changed almost everything. The creation, which had enjoyed perfect harmony, now began to groan. Death descended on the animals like a curse. The ground suddenly became stingy, though prodigious in producing thorns and thistles. Man, who had been at peace with the animals, was now at war. Man, who had been at peace with each other, was now at war. Man, who had been at peace with God, was now at war. Virtually every positive became a negative. Death, sickness, danger, pain, decay filled history’s stage, opening a Pandora’s box of Pandora’s boxes.
The only thing left untouched, unchanged, was the untouchable, unchangeable God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit enjoyed an infinite blessedness before creation, before the fall, and indeed after the fall. They had no need to do anything about the fall, about the calamity of Eden. They would have been utterly just to condemn Adam, Eve and all their descendents to an eternity of their wrath. They would have rejoiced to exercise their wrath in just that way.
But they didn’t. Instead they covenanted together. Instead they determined not just to rescue us from Their just wrath, but to recreate all that had been lost. The Father would choose a people from all of humanity. We would become His children, and together, the bride of His Son. The Son would take on flesh and dwell among us. He would live a life of perfect obedience, and then suffer the wrath of the Father that was due to us. He would be vindicated, and would begin the process of recreating the world when He walked out of His tomb. Forty days later He would ascend to His throne and from there would brings all things under subjection. He would send the Spirit who would breathe life into the chosen, indwell and empower them. And as the bride of the second Adam, the church, the second Eve would be a help suitable to Him as He fulfills the dominion mandate.
It is a glorious thing that our sins are forgiven. It is a wondrous truth that we need not fear the wrath of our heavenly Father. It is a stunning reality that we will never suffer anger from on high. And it would be a terrible thing indeed to diminish any of these truths. It would in turn, however, be to miss the full glory of the gospel to stop there. It would be to cheat Jesus of the praise due to Him to stop there. What we need to come to understand is that Jesus changes everything.
My insecurities are grounded in Adam’s fall. The solution is embedded in the coming of Christ. My fears flow out of Adam’s fall. Courage breaks forth from the empty tomb. My temper spews out of Adam’s fall. Peace grows out of His ascension. Whether it is my failure here or discontentment there, always and everywhere the solution is Jesus. Not what I think about Jesus, not how I get close to Jesus, but what Jesus is and what Jesus is doing. When I say “Jesus changes everything” I do not mean that changing our perspective on Him will change our perspective on the world. I mean instead that Jesus is about the business of changing everything.
Jesus changes everything in my life. There is no Jesus-free zone that remains untouched, that will not be remade, or burned away. Every bit of my life, every bit of yours, every bit of our eternities will not merely be stamped, “Property of Jesus” but will be so stamped because they will also be stamped, “Remade by Jesus.”
When we seek to fence Jesus off from a part of lives, to maintain a “No Jesus” zone we are not setting aside a bit of freedom for ourselves. What we are doing instead is inviting another master into our lives. When Jesus is how we get our souls saved, but the American dream is how we make our earthly choices, we are serving two masters. And that is always doomed to failure. When we want Jesus to only change some things, we do not leave the rest the same. Instead we face the endless, wearying complications of syncretism. What we are called to is a simple life. Here we have but one master to please, one Lord to serve, one goal to pursue, and that is that we would be made more like that Lord.
What a glorious blessing that as we seek first His kingdom, as we labor beside Him to see all under His dominion, we know that He will win. His kingdom will cover the earth as water covers the sea. The nations will be discipled. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. Jesus is changing me, which redounds to my blessing. Ultimately, however, He is changing everything for His glory. Ultimately the Father, the Son and the Spirit rejoice over the recreation of all reality. Ultimately they rejoice together in the manifestation of their glory. The stars, the galaxies, the angels, and all the saints will sing that glory, forever and ever. His kingdom is forever. Because Jesus changes everything.