Directly after Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible records certain "first words", words that were never heard before. Here are a few of them:
Naked-- “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths" (Genesis 3:7)
Pain--"To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain, you shall bring forth children" (Genesis 3:16).
Cursed--"And to Adam, he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life;'" (Genesis 3:17).
Thorns--"thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field" (Genesis 3:18).
Sweat--"By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).
Sword--"He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24).
Death--"Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died" (Genesis 5:5).
These words indicate the extent of the curse that it not only rested on Adam and Eve but also on creation itself.
What a horrible condition we would all be in had God left us under this curse. We would still be under satanic deception, in bondage to sin, under the wrath of God, and would spend our eternity in hell.
The curse under which every person is born is alienation and separation from God. Jesus will speak to those that stand on His left side in the day of His power: "Depart from Me, you who are cursed" (Matthew 25:41). This alienation from God because of the curse is also taught in the Old Testament. Several illustrations show this:
The first example is the bull killed on the annual Day of Atonement; after its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, it had to be taken to a place "outside the camp" (Leviticus 16:27), and there its carcass was to be burned up. The presence of God dwelt at the center of the Israelite camp. The removal of the bull outside the camp symbolized the bull taking the curse and wrath of Almighty God for the people. The bull was removed from God's presence so that the people could remain.
Second, the leper in the Old Testament was a type, or personification, of sin and its curse. Notice the requirement for lepers, as stated in Leviticus 13:46:
He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. Leviticus 13:46
The leper was required to be outside the camp, away from the presence of God. The curse of sin (symbolized by leprosy) alienates people from God.
How amazing then, that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the bull on the Day of Atonement, as He suffered outside the camp (see Hebrews 13:12) under the curse of God. Jesus took upon Himself the leprosy of our sin; He bore our curse as He was taken outside the camp to die in our place.
Thankfully, God did not leave us under the curse, but instead sent Jesus Christ to take the full punishment of the curse, that we might receive the full blessing of God:
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"- so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:13-14
Question 3. According to Galatians 3, why did Jesus have to die on a cross, rather than receive the traditional Jewish method of capital punishment, stoning?
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.
God taught this truth of the tree and the curse throughout the Old Testament. Here are a couple of examples:
"And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. Deuteronomy 21:22-23
“So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day. 29 And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.” Joshua 8:28-29
Question 4. What do the above two passages teach about one who is hung on a tree?
Log in / create an account to enroll or continue where you left off.