Curse and the Blessing

By Nick Bibile

Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Curse Genesis 2:16-17 - Physical death. Image of God deformed Dead in Sin (Eph 2:1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins) Lost righteousness (Rom 3:10 None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands) Heart is corrupt (Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?) (1 Cor 2:14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.) Slaves to sin John 8:34 The Law of God (Exod 20; Lev 19, 20) The Law Exposed our sins – (Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Rom 7:8 I would not have known sin except through law) Law was our school schoolmaster (Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.)

Separation from the Holy God Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, (James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.) Guilty before God Wrath of God Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Dead in Sin (Romans 7:23-25 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ^25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord) Image of God deformed Unrighteous Adam’s disobedience (Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned) (Romans 5:19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, Lake of Fire (Rev 20:15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.)

Alive in Christ (Eph 2:1-5 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ^2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ^3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[^a^] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[^b^] ^4But^[^c^] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ^5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved Image of God Renewed. (Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Righteous 2 (Cor 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.) Jesus obedience (Romans 5:19 even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous Eternal Life (John 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.) Heaven (Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place^[^a^] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[^b^] and God himself will be with them as their God.^[^c^] ^4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”