Resurrection Sunday: The Curse Is Reversed (Gen. 3; John 20:1-16; Rev. 21)

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Resurrection Sunday: The Curse Is Reversed (Gen. 3; John 20:1-16; Rev. 21)

Prepared and preached for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH, on Sunday, April 20, 2025

Tim Keller writes:

Edgar Alan Poe’s most famous literary production, The Raven, is a very strange poem. It’s about a man who is bereaved and away because he’s broken up with a girl, a woman named Lenore, and he’s trying to figure out, “Can I get her back? Do I have to move on? Will I ever be happy again?” And this raven comes in and sits on the bus [my source said “bus” but it is “bust of Pallas just above my chamber door… Pallas is a symbol of wisdom and reason. ] and keeps saying one word over and over again. You remember what the word is? Nevermore. And you know what that is? That is getting across with frightening pithiness what life is about, at least what it seems to be about, and that is the irreversibility of life. When things are gone, they’re gone and it’s seemingly irretrievable. When you’re young and then you get old, your youth seemingly is gone forever. When people die, they are irretrievable.[1]

Is that true?

From the Christian worldview, that is not true. The resurrection gives us hope that this world is not the end.

My theme is:

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection reverses the curse. Reversing the curse gives us fullness of life and life that is everlasting.

  1. Why death? Let’s look at the first garden, the Garden of Eden.
    1. I will summarize much of this passage, but the first garden was the Garden of Eden.
    2. God created man and woman and placed them in the Garden of Eden. He placed man in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8, 15), and then He created woman (Gen. 2:21-23).
    3. Adam and Eve were in paradise. They were told they could eat of any tree, but not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they will die (Gen. 2:17).
    4. Sometime later, the devil disguised as a serpent (Gen. 3; Rev. 12) tempted Eve and then Adam to take and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
    5. This brought death, disease, and separation.
    6. The rest of Genesis 3 shares that the ground is now cursed (Gen. 3:17-18). It will be harder to work. The world is cursed. They will die.
    7. Genesis 3:19 (ESV)
    8. 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.”
    9. The first garden was paradise, but with the curse means they were cast out of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:22-24). They could no longer take from the tree of life, which would allow them to live forever.
    10. This brought on the fallen, depraved state.
  2. Let’s look at the second garden.
    1. The second garden is a cemetery.
    2. John 20:1: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
    3. Jesus has been crucified; the disciples are in mourning. But they do not realize that Jesus cannot be kept down.
    4. Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb to see Jesus.
    5. She was the first to go to the tomb, and she saw the stone rolled away.
    6. John 20:2: So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
    7. Mary did the logical thing; she went to Peter and John. This is likely John; when we read, “The disciple whom Jesus loved,” we believe it is John. She runs to Peter and John. She was in a hurry.
    8. John 20:3-4: So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
    9. Peter and John ran to the tomb, but John ran faster.
    10. John 20:5–10 (ESV) 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
    11. They get to the tomb and see the tomb empty.
    12. John saw and believed.
    13. Verse 9: They had not understood the Scriptures that He must rise from the dead.
    14. Now, why did I say that this was a garden?
    15. John 20:11–16 (ESV)
    16. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
    17. She thought Jesus was the gardener.
    18. It is possible that she was so distraught, so overcome with grief, that she did not recognize Him.
    19. Remember the last time she saw Jesus, He was beaten and crucified.
    20. So, the first garden brought death. This second garden brings everlasting life. Why? In the second garden, we see that Jesus has been resurrected.
    21. She is seeing the resurrected Jesus.
    22. She sees that through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, the curse is reversed.
  3. The third garden leads to the final city.
    1. The final city is in Revelation 21 and 22. This is the New Jerusalem.
    2. In the Garden of Eden, there were many trees, but two were specified. One was the Tree of Life (Gen. 2:9), and the other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:9).
    3. They were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because that would bring death.
    4. They were to eat from the Tree of Life, which would give life (Gen. 3:22).
    5. Ever since they sinned in Genesis 3, we have not had access to the Tree of Life, but in the final city, we will have access. In the final city, the Tree of Life will be on both sides of the River of Life (Rev. 22:2).
    6. Because of the second garden, because Jesus died in our place and rose again, we have abundant life now and eternal life later.
    7. Because Jesus rose again, the curse was reversed.
    8. Sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3).
    9. God is holy. He is set apart, perfect. Ps. 66:18: If we withhold sin in our heart, the Lord will not hear our prayer. Hab. 1:13: God is too pure to behold iniquity.
    10. The Bible even says that we have separated God from ourselves because we have sinned (Isaiah 59:2).
    11. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
    12. The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23).
    13. The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says that God will not let the guilty go unpunished (2 Thess. 1:8-9).
    14. Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16), Which is a dilemma.
    15. God can’t tell a lie, or He wouldn’t be God (Numbers 23:19).
    16. God doesn’t change His mind (1 Sam. 15:29).
    17. That is why God sent Jesus. The guilty must be punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. The penalty for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
    18. God is holy, so we need a way to take care of our sins.
    19. Throughout the Old Testament, bulls and goats were sacrificed, but they were just types. They could never bring salvation, but instead, they pointed to the day when God would come in the flesh, live the life we could not live, die the death we could not die, and rise again.
    20. Jesus did that.
    21. Jesus lived a sinless life.
    22. Jesus took the wrath of God in our place.
    23. Jesus rose again.
    24. Why?
    25. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Jesus took our sins upon Himself.
    1. Tim Keller: The illustration of a friend of mine comes from the movie The Sixth Sense. Okay, you can only see that movie twice, actually, because the first time you see it and then you get to the end and you find out, “Oh my goodness, there’s this big shocking ending.” The second time you see it you can’t possibly see any part of the earlier passages of the movie without thinking about the end. Right? I don’t want to spoil it for you but Bruce Willis is dead, which is sort of the opposite of the gospel, isn’t it? The Sixth Senseis sort of the anti-gospel, you know. You get to the end, the hero’s dead. But at the end of this gospel, the hero is alive. I’ll take this gospel. But my point is once you know the ending you go to the earlier scenes of the movie and you say, “Ah, here’s Bruce Willis and here’s a woman, they’re in the same room, and the first time I thought they were talking to each other, now I realize she doesn’t really look at him.” And you can’t not look at every scene in light of the ending. It’s impossible.
    2. John Piper says the same thing: You can’t not—when you know how the story ends—look at that particular passage and say, “But wait a minute, Jesus is the ultimate example of that, whether or not the actual author at that moment was trying to get across a Messianic prophecy or not.” You can’t help it.[2]
    3. People today think like The Lion King, you become part of the fertilizer and out of that come plants that other living things eat. You become part of the world, there’s no reason to be afraid of death.[3]
    4. This is not true.
    5. The resurrection shows the curse is reversed. Jesus gives fulness of life and life eternal. Applications

What Edgar Allen Poe wrote is incorrect. We will get it back. Because of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, we will have life everlasting. Jesus gifts us with the fullness of life now and life everlasting.

Jesus is going to make all things new.

Further, no one is too far gone for the Lord. There is always hope. In the gospel accounts, the battle-hardened Centurian says, “This was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). Later, we see the Apostle Paul saved (Acts 9).

No one is too far gone.

God is going to make all things new. He is going to restore all things. Be encouraged! The resurrection gives us hope.

What does this mean?

If you have lost loved ones who knew Christ, you will see them again. They will not be in a disembodied state. No, we will have an embodied, physical, eternal existence.

What about suffering now? God knows what we go through, and He is preparing is to reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12).

If you have lost babies whom you have never met, you will meet them in heaven.

If you have had children or grandchildren with special needs, they will be restored in Heaven. They will be able to talk, and walk, and run, and understand and so much more!

If you are dealing with a disability, you will be restored in heaven.

If you are dealing with pain, or having trouble walking, or with sight, or hearing, you will be restored in heaven.

God is going to get rid of cancer. God is going to get rid of Alzheimer’s. God is going to get rid of sickness. God will get rid of special needs, everyone will be special, and there will not be any needs. God is going to get rid of aging. God will get rid of viruses, infections, parasites, and poisons. God is going to get rid of death. God is going to get rid of sin. There will no longer be hate. There will no longer be murder, or violence, or any other sin.

Everything will be made new. Everything will be restored. We will be reunited.

Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection reverses the curse. Reversing the curse gives us the fullness of life and life that is everlasting.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Confess, Believe, trust, commit: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

Prayer

[1] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today, accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

[2] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today. Accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

[3] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today. Accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

[4] Keller, Tim. Article on Preaching Today. Accessed on 03.17.2025. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/preaching-on-easter/jesus-vindicated.html

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