Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
Should doom to death a universe,
Hast found the healing, full of grace,
To cure and save our ruined race.
(LSB 351 st. 2)
Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
for the Lord has spoken this word.
The earth lies defiled
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
(Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5-6)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and God saw that it was very good. Yet sin entered the world through the disbelief of one man. Thus all creation was put under the ancient curse, brought about through one man’s actions. This curse grieved God. Yet because He is a God of justice, He promised destruction to all, as we see in Isaiah 24, and thus He must enact it. Yet he is also a God of mercy, and thus sent his Son to live the perfect life in our place since we could not, to suffer and die the death which we deserved. In this work of Christ Jesus, Son of God, is the cure for our sins and salvation for our fallen race, given by gift of God to all who believe.
Let us pray: Almighty God, You sent Your Son into our fallen race to save us from the curse placed on all creation. Grant us faith in Your Son our Savior; through the same, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
(Written by Raymond Doubrava, Sem IV)