Although the Fall was the great tragedy of the cosmos, God did not fail to show grace even then. After giving us the account of the Fall, Genesis 3 quickly moves into Yahweh’s pronouncement of judgment upon the man, woman, and serpent. He first curses the serpent with eating dust and a life of enmity with the woman until her seed crushes the serpent’s head. Humiliation, strife, and ultimately defeat. God’s judgment upon the man and woman is notably different. The consequences are still devastating, but they are not without hope. Death would surely come for them, just as God warned, but it would come according to God’s measure of time rather than their own.

Furthermore, God did not curse the man and the woman directly; instead, He cursed their labor. For the woman, childbearing and childbirth were cursed with great pain. Fruitfulness would now be mingled with tears, agony, and (not infrequently) death. For the man, whose work was to subdue the earth, the ground itself was cursed. God notably did not strip man of his dominion over the earth and its creatures; however, the work of subduing was greatly multiplied. No longer would the earth gladly yield its fruits but would bring forth thorns and thistles instead. Because man was God’s steward over the whole earth, the whole earth became cursed by his sin.

This is still our present world. Modern comforts and conveniences give a temporary illusion that all is right with the world, but that illusion is eventually and inevitably shattered. Thankfully, very few parts of the world have infant mortality rates as high as once was common everywhere, but death still comes, to both the young and the old, the rich and the poor. Because of hospitals and funeral homes (plus the decline of multigenerational households), many today have not dealt with death up close and personal, yet make no mistake, it still comes for each and every one of us. Despite our attempts to ignore and sanitize the world around us, the curse is still firmly embedded within the very ground beneath our feet.

Yet as much as we may try to ignore the curse, our hearts testify against us. Why do we feel personally wronged by natural disasters, famines, and pandemics? Why does death feel so wrong, even though we intellectually know that every one of us will die? We each know deep down that creation is under the curse of sin, that it is broken and in need of repair. This is also why beautifully cultivated gardens capture our hearts in a way that the most exquisitely designed buildings simply cannot do. This is why we cannot help but smile at a video of a man rolling on the ground with his pet lion or of a fish repeatedly swimming into man’s hands to be tossed into the air. Indeed, I am convinced that man’s present relationship to dogs and horses is but a gracious reminder of what our relationship with all animals was like before the Fall.

All of this should stir within us a desire to see the garden reclaimed, to see the curse purged from creation itself as well as from us. Thanks be to God that is the scope of the gospel! Yes, Christ came specifically to redeem us and to bring us back to God. Amen! But just as He has reconciled us to God, so also is God through Christ reconciling “to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). Indeed, just as all of creation was cursed through Adam’s fall into sin, so will God’s restoration and glorification of His people lead to the restoration and renewal of the entire cosmos. As Paul says in Romans 8:19-23,

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

With every ache and pain of our bodies, we ought to long for the redemption of our bodies, for the day when sin and its effects will be put away for good through the triumph of Christ. Creation is also yearning for a similar redemption. Just as we will receive new resurrected bodies, the heavens and the earth will also be remade in Christ. The death of Christ was the beginning and the assurance of that glorious work that shall indeed come to pass. As we rightly sing, “He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found!” Every part of fallen creation shall be restored through Christ. Amen and amen!