Advent Hope Far as the Curse is Found
November 28, 2022 • by Lainee Oliver
Things in this world are not how they’re supposed to be, and the Christmas season often shines bright twinkly lights on that reality.
Maybe you feel that reality acutely this season?
Perhaps this Christmas you've been confronted by your own sins (often this time of year the sins of materialism and discontentment) or the stain sin leaves on the world around you. Maybe your Christmases are marked by seasons of missing loved ones, dysfunctional relationships, or health issues. Maybe, in this season more than any other, you can’t help but notice that things are just not yet perfect.
Yes, during Advent we look back to Jesus’s coming to earth, for which Israel waited thousands of years. But during Advent we also look forward with great anticipation to future redemption—to a sin-stained world made new and whole. My pastor likes to draw attention to verse 3 of the hymn, “Joy to the World” written by Isaac Watts in 1719: “No more let sins and sorrows grow / nor thorns infest the ground; / he comes to make his blessings flow / far as the curse is found, / far as the curse is found, / far as, far as the curse is found.”
So what is this curse? And what hope do we have in the midst of this life?
“During Advent we look forward with great anticipation to future redemption—to a sin-stained world made new and whole.”
Sins and Sorrows Grow and Thorns Infest the Ground
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate the only fruit that was forbidden to them by God, and we read the ramifications of their sin in Genesis 3:
“The Lord God said to the serpent . . . ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’ To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.’ And to Adam he said . . . ‘cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you . . . till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’” (Gen. 3:14–19)
This curse plays out in many different ways in our lives. It is an unmet desire for something we know is good. It is wounding those we love and getting hurt ourselves. This curse is difficulty in getting pregnant and pain in childbirth and wayward children. This curse is back-breaking work and hatred and addiction and disease.
This curse is death, and it touches everything.
Sin is seeped into our very beings; we are born with death in our bones. This curse reaches every corner of the earth, and most of us don’t have to look far to see what it has touched. What can we do to escape this curse? We need the promised Deliverer who will crush the head of the serpent—Immanuel, God with us.
Israel, the people of God, waited with hope and great expectation for a Deliverer. They clung to God’s promises that one day a Messiah would come from the line of David who would deliver them from this curse and reign as their true King forever. Israel waited thousands of years—and he came!—the agony of their waiting was pierced by the sound of a newborn baby crying in a dirty manger in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–21).
Jesus, God Incarnate, came to earth as a man and took the punishment on the cross we all deserve—death—and conquered it. He brought us life and light, and in his death and resurrection, he crushed the head of that deceiving serpent.
“And you were dead in the tresspasses and sins in which you once walked . . . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our tresspasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:1–8)
Christ has defeated death, but we still live under the curse. We can’t go one day without remembering that things aren’t how they’re supposed to be.
So what now? We continue to wait. And we can wait well while clinging to what we know is to come.
“We can wait well while clinging to what we know is to come.”
He Comes to Make his Blessings Flow Far as the Curse is Found
One day, Jesus will come again—his second advent. And we will dwell with God in the new heavens and the new earth where there will be no more stain of sin in and around us.
We can hold on to the promised blessings of God:
“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isa. 25:8–9)
His blessings will flow like a raging river over our tears. We won’t have to wait any longer for our tears to be wiped away in totality.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He 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.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” (Rev. 21:1–5a)
The curse of sin touches everything and everyone everywhere. Our bodies ache, our minds deteriorate, our hearts hurt. There is not one person or thing on this entire planet that can escape death and decay. But just as this dark curse is found in every corner of the earth every day of our lives, so will restoration be fully and forever found. He will bless us with his very presence in a new city—a new home. And we can trust that every inch of that new city will be free from the curse of darkness and sin and death.
“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Rev. 22:3–5)
This Advent season, let us wait together with great expectation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us live in the light of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection and set our hope on his second advent—when we will dwell with God and he will wipe away every tear and death will be no more. Let us fix our eyes on the promise of his blessing that every single thing will be made new and whole and perfect and beautiful—far as the curse of sin and death is found.
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)
Lainee Oliver lives in North Alabama with her husband and two children. She studied Public Relations and English at Auburn University and currently serves as the Blog Editor for Deeply Rooted Magazine and an Associate Editor for Gospel-Centered Discipleship. Lainee cares deeply about the local church and enjoys playing the piano, reading, and writing in the margins of full days at home with her children.
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