Jesus was crucified to save mankind, but to also save the world. This is a tremendous truth that often gets overlooked but should be embraced. In this article I’d like to show how Jesus’ crucifixion saved the world.
Romans 8:18-25 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Did you read that carefully? ”the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” Isn’t that amazing? Jesus not only saved mankind (all who choose to confess him as Lord), but he also redeemed the planet we live on, God’s creation.
It boils down to this. God created the earth for man. God created man for himself. He gave angles and man free will which includes the choice to walk away from God and to do those things that are not ‘good.’ When man walked away from God in the garden of Eden by disobeying his express command, the entire earth was put into bondage. “Thorns and thistles” ensued, showing an invasion of something that was not originally intended.
The Original Sin
The Original Sin by Michelangelo
The earth was cursed because of man’s transgression.
Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because you have listened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life;
What was this original sin and why was it so great that it introduced death into God’s perfect creation and caused the earth to be cursed? It must have been highly significant to result in those consequences. Frankly, if I have a child and I tell him not to eat any cookies from the cookie bowl, and he does, would I give him a death sentence and curse the house because of it? We have to look deeper to see what could have caused these repercussions.
What Law Was Broken in the Garden?
There is more to this than meets the eye. Yes, Adam was commanded not to eat from one specific tree. He was responsible to pass this knowledge on to his wife. He obviously did because she made reference to it when confronted by the serpent. But she was deceived by the serpent’s reasoning and ate anyway. Adam followed, fully knowing he was disobeying God.
Genesis 2:15,16 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Now uthe serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
Genesis 3:1-7 He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
So what was this grievous sin and why did it cause such a catastrophe?
God had given Adam dominion over the entire earth. Adam was earth’s King in that sense, it’s landlord, it’s top ruler below God. God made Adam royalty and instructed him to “have dominion” over every living thing.
The serpent was the fallen Lucifer who had been cast to the earth because of his attempted usurpation of God’s throne in heaven. Lucifer wanted God’s position and felt he was powerful enough to overthrow God. He convinced a third of the angels to side with him, but they soon found out they were no match for the Omnipotent. They were cast to the earth, but for what reason?
Lucifer was the top spiritual being, perfect and most beautiful. He had been made ruler of the earth. I won’t get into all the details in this article, but he was made the spiritual head of planet earth.
I believe the reason Lucifer, now called the devil and Satan, were cast to the earth was because God gave it to man to defeat him. All Adam had to do was to say ‘no’ to the serpent and the devil would have been defeated right then and there. Adam, by obeying God, would have defeated the devil in the garden of Eden and there would have been no ‘fall of mankind’ and subsequent curse of the earth.
I believe the original sin, in legal terms, was what we call ‘high treason’ today. Instead of obeying God’s command, Adam succumbed to the devil’s temptation through his wife. Because of this, Adam’s dominion over the earth was suspended, returning dominion of the earth to God’s arch-enemy, the devil. That is high treason, punishable by death.
Definition of High Treason
God entrusted Adam with dominion over the earth. Lucifer had that responsibility before he attempted to overthrow God. Adam was to replace Lucifer as earth’s sovereign, below the Creator, God Almighty. Adam betrayed God’s trust, breached faith and was therefore committed an act of high treason against God’s government. The penalty for treason is death.
Romans 5:19 For as by one’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Jesus Died In Adam’s Place
Fast forward to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, his sinless life (by choice after choice) and his voluntary sacrifice. God accepted one perfectly obedient man’s self-sacrifice in substitution for one man’s voluntary act of high treason.
The result of Jesus’ death was the redemption of man as well as the redemption of the entire creation. If Jesus chose not to lay down his life, or if he sinned beforehand, salvation would not have been possible and the entire creation would have been forever cursed. I believe God would have destroyed the earth entirely had that happened.
Jesus was crucified to save mankind and the world.
Thank you Jesus!