GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
PSALM 96:11-13
11 Let the heavens rejoice,
let the earth be glad;
let the sea roar,
and everything that fills it up.
12 Let the fields be triumphant,
and everything that is in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples fairly.
When Adam was cursed because of his sin, the whole world was cursed. God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (Genesis 3:17). And again: “My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground” (Jeremiah 7:20). Paul said, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” (Romans 8:19). But no one subject to sin can approach God. All creation– man, animal, tree, lake, stone, flower, snowflake– is cursed by sin of mankind. Animals suffer pain and tear each other apart (Ezekiel 19:3). They pant for lack of water and lack of pasture (Jeremiah 14:6). Trees and fields crack and burn in raging fires (Joel 1:19). The stones of the earth, which ache for the presence of God (Luke 19:40), are abused by foolish, sinful men and worshiped as if they, the stones, are gods (Deuteronomy 29:17). The flowers “blow away like dust because people have rejected the law of the Lord of Armies and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 5:24). Heat and drought snatches away snow the way the grave snatches away those who have sinned (Job 24:19). The curse rolls on and on.
In the midst of all this suffering, the result of all of mankind’s sin, how can the world around us be called on to praise God? They sing “because the Lord comes.” They rejoice and exult because the Lord God himself came into the world to rescue us all, even the natural world we give hardly a thought to. The rivers are spoiled with our sins, but the Lord came to redeem all creation from the curse of our sins. Nothing in nature fell into sin except man, but all of God’s creation was spoiled by man’s sinfulness. Now Christ has come, and everything will be restored “the way it used to be” (Amos 9:11). What object in creation will have more reason to rejoice than the trees? Trees were set apart as special objects to hold curses, for “cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree” (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). But it was Christ who bore our curse on a tree, and the trees will praise God, not for their honor, but that their dishonor has been lifted and that Christ is honored above all. And man? Because of Christ, “though you used to be slaves to sin, you have been set free from sin” (Romans 6:17,18).
So now, if the seas and fields and trees are glad, how much more glad shouldn’t we be? Our sin was picked up and carried by Christ all the way to the cross, and there it was destroyed. Sin itself died to God, and there is no resurrection for sin. But there is rebirth for mankind. Reborn in the love of Jesus and the washing of his forgiveness, we live for him. When we stumble into temptation now, we know that we have a Savior. When we try to praise God and know that we are still guilty of wrongdoing, that guilt is lifted by God’s love, and our praise is welcomed by our Creator, all for the sake of Jesus.
Praise Jesus, who took our sins away!
Praise the Father, who sent his Son to rescue us!
Praise the Spirit of God, who gave us faith in Jesus!
When he comes to judge us on the last day of all, he will judge us in his own fairness, having covered over our guilt. The Father will judge us by the merits of his Son, and we will sing his praises forevermore with all the noise of joy and delight.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
A blessed Christmas to you!
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Psalm 96:11-13 Far as the curse is found