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Pastor’s Desk: A tale of two trees

Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 12:03 pm

By Pastor Marcus Blair, Grandview Baptist Church

It’s the backbone of what we believe: that God loves humanity so much that he gave his Son as a payment for our sins and a reversal of the curse that fell on us in Eden. You know, WE should be the ones paying the price for the sins we have committed, shouldn’t we? But instead, the sinless Son of God paid that penalty. The love we find in this is astounding.

Galatians 3:10-14

Cursed is anyone who does not keep the whole law. In that case, who is under that curse? Well, we all are. The law was given in the Old Testament to govern our behavior and show us how to live, but because of the sin nature we inherited from Adam and Eve, we all fall short of the glory of god. All have sinned. All of humanity is in the same boat.

Christ is our redeemer. And how did he redeem us from the curse of the law? By becoming a curse for us. Here is where I have to just stop and marvel at the depth of the Bible. From Genesis, all through the ages, to the New Testament, we have this wonderful agreement of scripture that shows God had a plan the whole time, and it was realized in Christ. He became a curse. And as he was destroyed on the cross, our curse was destroyed. He stood in for us. A substitution.

V.14 says he did this to reverse the curse and instead turn it into blessing in our lives. Through faith in Jesus, we don’t have to be dominated by the curse any longer. Instead, we can receive the promised Spirit and become a people who live by faith. “The blessing of Abraham” has now come to us, thanks to the Son of God. The blessing of a life lived in faith, the blessing of being Spirit-filled.

For the complete column, see this week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard