on 23 June 2021
Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
This is the lowest and saddest point of the catechism. We’re shown the desperate results of sin. God had walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden but by their sin they lost the fellowship and friendship of God. They knew the presence and favour of God but in its place they find themselves under God’s anger and cast out from his presence. Instead of blessing they find themselves cursed.
The ground so fruitful and friendly in Eden is now full of thorns and thistles. They will survive by the sweat of their brow. Illness, disease, disunity enters into this world and the result is frustration and sadness. Pain and poverty. This life is marred by sadness and misery.
Then there is death, this unnatural intruder that has now entered this world because of sin. Death is never natural, it is right to be angry at death as it doesn’t belong here. It is not as things were meant to be.
The final result of sin is that without God and without hope we face the pains of hell forever; the punishment of God which is eternal. The scriptures describe it as a shutting out, an exclusion, a departing from the presence of Jesus. As Hebrews 13 teaches, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.