Genesis 3:17-19 To Adam God said, “Because you listened to your wife and
ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“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, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

This was more important than most realize. Up to this point, God walked
with man. God loved man and man loved God. Sin and pain were not
present in the Garden of Eden, God’s garden. But then man chose to listen
to the words of Satan instead of the words of God. What happened next?
Once man sinned, he suddenly feels compelled to hide from God! Why?
Because now guilt, shame, condemnation and fear entered the relationship
between man and God. But what fear entered? Man suddenly became fearful of God! Man, Adam, suddenly knew he was separated from God because of his own doing. Fear which God never instilled into man was now present in man. Not just that but when God said, “Why are you hiding?” man replied, “I am naked.” He was now clothed in shame! But even more happened. When God asked, “Did you eat of the tree I told you not to?” now the spirit of accusation appears! Adam blamed God, “Yes, God. But it’s not my fault—it’s because of that woman You gave me!” Now the lying spirit shows up! “God, I was righteous, but it’s now Your fault I am no longer sinless!” God asks the woman and again, accusation, “It’s not my fault. It’s because of the snake. It’s his fault.” The Lord says, “I did everything for you, and I gave you everything. Now you are going to have to work for it. You are going to sweat your head off to provide for your food. The ground will be full of thorns and thistles to make your work even harder!” So for centuries, man suffered the consequences of his sin through the sweat of his brow from the ground that was cursed, causing the curse upon man. This lasted for centuries!

But did the curse remain? Has it ever been broken? Yes, it was. In the
Garden of Gethsemane. How? Luke 22:44 “And being in anguish, Jesus
prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the
ground!” Before He went to the cross, Jesus sweat blood! Where? On His
brow. And where did it fall? On the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The blood of Jesus took the curse placed upon man’s brow and it then fell on the ground, breaking the curse of the ground which cursed man. Jesus broke the curse set upon all mankind. Then His blood was shed upon the cross, where He took upon Himself the sin of the world. Jesus didn’t forgive our sins and leave the curse. He reversed the curse by taking away the original sin of rebellion and disobedience which caused the curse! You might say, “But wait! The Bible says His sweat was like drops of blood.” The blood of Jesus was mixed with the sweat in His own body, so it was watery blood. Jesus’ anguish of sin produced blood mixed with his sweat, just as man’s anguish as he worked the ground through “blood, sweat and tears,” as the old saying goes. Remember the thorns the cursed ground produced? A crown of thorns was placed on Jesus’ head, and the soldiers pushed it into
his head producing more blood on his brow. Now the thorns were covered in
the blood of Jesus and the curse was officially broken! Remember the Bible
says, “Cursed is He who hangs upon a tree” (the cross).

1 Timothy 2:6 The Message “Jesus…offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free.” Now the curse is broken, sin is forgiven, and there is no longer a separation from, or fear of, the Lord! Is it now time to make Jesus your Lord?

-Emil Liko 7/3/26