Last month's article explored the intentional curse found in the closing sentences of The Revelation of Jesus Christ and why the Bible ends with a curse. In summary, the Bible ends that way to lead us to dig a little deeper into its overall plotline. In this follow-up article, let's explore a few scriptures that show how Providence always planned to turn this curse into a blessing.

As stated in the previous article, the first obvious curse mentioned in the Bible appears in the creation narrative in Genesis chapters 2 and 3. What we didn't have space to look into last time is that in Genesis Chapter 1, God first blessed humanity.

Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [28] And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

In today's American secular English language, we use the word bless and all tenses of the word very loosely. If someone gives you something, many of us Southerners might say “Bless you”, which is just another way of saying “thank you”. One might say, if somebody sneezes, “Bless you”. I’m not even really sure what saying "bless you" in the context of a sneeze really means. Are we acknowledging that they are blessed because they sneezed, or are we saying it to offer them thanks because they shared their germs with us?

The definition of “God blessed them” is defined by the Genesis creation narrative itself, when God gives them dominion over everything created by God, including choosing to trust God or go their own way. The writer of Hebrews explains the creation blessing thusly: Hebrews 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

So when God originally blessed man in the garden, it means he gave humanity access to everything he owned, just like a loving father would do to his children.

The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 2:9 are metaphors for blessed and cursed. When Satan comes to Eve and Adam in the form of a serpent, they choose the knowledge of good and evil over the tree of life; they are cursed and removed (cast out) from the garden for their sin. However, Providence had a plan to bring humanity into fellowship with God and ultimately allow God's crowning achievement back into the Paradise Garden.

A clue to God’s hidden plan can be found in Genesis 3 when the serpent, “called the Devil, and Satan” ( See Revelation 12:9), is also cursed. Genesis 3:14-15 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: [15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

In Moses' time, God's Law for redemption or restoration of the blessing was formally written as the 10 commandments. The commandments specify God's standard for holy perfection. In Deuteronomy 28, Israel is told that if they enter into a covenant with God and keep these commandments, they will receive the blessing. However, if they cannot, the curse will continue to be poured out. Reading the rest of the OT, we find that no one can keep these commandments. Revelation 5 verifies that not one OT character was able to keep God's commandments and deliver the blessing.

In Deuteronomy we find the cost of sin: 21:22-23 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: [23] His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

In Galatians 3:13, Paul uses the verses from Deuteronomy to show how Jesus saved both jews and Gentiles by paying for sin: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:.”

In Romans 5, Paul details how Providence turned a curse into a blessing for anyone who has faith in the work of Christ. Romans 5:14-21
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. [15] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. [16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. [17] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) [18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. [19] For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. [20] Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: [21] That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.