The irony of Good Friday ran so deep that we must start at the very beginning. Jesus sat down in the garden of Gethsemane, praying to God, knowing He would die. Do you remember that all of life and human flourishing began in a garden? Adam despised God, but Jesus perfectly loved and followed God. Adam acted in his in own authority, but Jesus walked every moment in step with the Father. Adam failed to walk faithfully through the garden, but Jesus sat alone in Gethsemane as the only faithful man!
Irony was in the air
Adam was allowed to go free, but Jesus Christ was crushed. Adam did not suffer justly for his garden defeat, but Jesus suffered unjustly for His garden victory! Because of Adam's defeat, he forfeited his right to rule as garden king, while Jesus was anointed king in a garden tomb!
As king, Adam was supposed to crush the serpent's head and banish him from God's Kingdom, but now Jesus was doing that in the most unexpected way. He was being crushed to crush the serpent. He was banishing Satan by being banished. He was killing death by being killed! What great irony is this! While Adam carried crimes for which he was guilty, Jesus was going to die for crimes He had not committed.
The irony continues…
From the womb to the tomb, his coming signaled a redesign for humanity. No longer patterned after the sinful flesh of Adam, but made in His own image!
Adam's sin affected the entire creation, causing thorns to come out of the earth. But, on Good Friday, Jesus took those same thorns upon His beautiful head! While God made Adam's clothing, the Romans stripped Jesus and auctioned off His garments! The only one who knew no sin, no nakedness, no shame was now publicly shamed.
Just a few days prior, Jesus had made a whip of cords to purify God's temple, but now, a whip of cords was slamming again the flesh of God's true temple! Adam brought judgment on the entire world through one tree – the tree of knowledge and of good and evil. Now, Jesus was being crucified upon a tree.
Jesus, with His last breath, spoke those words:
IT IS FINISHED!!
He triumphed so visibly over the areas where Adam failed; He offers forgiveness to sinners; In Jesus Christ, the very serpent who deceived the man was now being crushed at the foot of the cross!
Jesus' victory was not just in being the better Adam. Jesus' death on the cross was not only to offer forgiveness of sins! Even more incredible is that His death signaled the death of the entire old world system and began a process whereby the entire heavens and earth will be made new! Like the plants that broke through the earth on the third day of creation - the very first fruits - Jesus broke out of the ground on the third day as the first fruits of a new creation. His death forgave us our sins, made us into a church, and signaled the re-creation of the entire cosmos!
By this man Jesus, all that Adam lost will soon come back through Him alone!
Yes, irony was in the air!
Revelation 22:1-5
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Amen!
