John 3:16 (RSV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
It is the most recognized verse in the Bible, the one that almost everyone knows.
And yet, John 3:16 tells us something profound about God and the purpose of Easter.
God Is Pleased With What He Made
God created the heavens and the earth, and His assessment of His creation is “good” and “very good.”1 God is pleased with His creation – pleased that it exists, pleased at its creativity, pleased at its beauty, pleased at its functionality. God loves what He made, and He wills it to continue to exist.
But what about the fall of humanity and the development of sin?
The Severity of Sin
The rebellion of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden brought a curse upon creation (cf. Genesis 3). Working the ground would become toilsome; childbirth would be difficult; the serpent would be on its belly and eat dust; humanity is denied access to the tree of life; Adam, Eve, and their future descendants are cast from the garden of Eden and God’s presence. Humanity and the rest of creation are left in a broken state, a state they could not fully comprehend and were not meant to experience.
Enmity and conflict now exist between creatures. Animals distrust humans;2 humans abuse and resent animals. Instead of caring for creation, humanity exploits it for his own gain. The beauty, functionality, and creativity of creation still exists, but it is marred at every turn by the distortion of sin. Instead of existing in a state of peace, all of creation longs for redemption (cf. Romans 8:22–23), where it will finally return to peace, where predators lie down with prey and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God (cf. Isaiah 11:6–9).
For God So Loved The World
Sin has marred God’s good creation. Worse yet, creation was marred because of the rebellion of creatures. The very creatures God created turned on Him and broke the good peace that characterized what He had made.
But God loves what He made.
God wills for His creation to exist, but He does not will it to exist in a perpetually corrupted state. He is jealous for His creation, meaning that He wants creation to exhibit the goodness He imbued it with. He loves His creation, and He wants His creatures to experience His intention behind their existence.
This is the purpose of Easter.
Christ came, was born, lived, ministered, suffered, died, and rose again so that creation could be liberated from the corruption of sin. The message of Easter is bigger than the ramifications for individuals. It pertains to all of creation. God’s will is to have His creation shine with the glory He designed it with. Such a task is brought about by the redemption of humanity through the atonement of Christ.3 Humans, God’s image bearers within creation, rebelled against their creator. But God so loved the world that He entered it Himself as an incarnate human so that humanity may be redeemed, and, along with them, the rest of the world.
This is the message of Easter.
The loving, creating God heals, redeems, and restores. Starting with humanity, God is making all things new. He is restoring individual lives for the broader purpose of restoring His entire creation.
There is hope for humanity.
There is hope for creation.
Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and His tomb is empty.
Hallelujah!
Footnotes
- cf. Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31. ↩︎
- The is a slightly later development after the flood. See Genesis 6–9 for the larger story. For animals distrusting humans, see Genesis 9:1–2. The flood was in response to the wickedness of creation, and so the distrust of animals towards humans is a trickle-down effect of sin. ↩︎
- Carini, Joel B. “The Effects of the Fall on Creation.” In Lexham Survey of Theology, edited by Mark Ward, Jessica Parks, Brannon Ellis, and Todd Hains. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018. ↩︎
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