There is one thing that we can talk about with anyone we meet in this world and know for sure that it's an experience we have in common: loss. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin wisely and famously wrote in 1789 of two certainties of this world, and they both in their way entail loss:
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
Since loss is something we are all certain to experience, it seems important to understand it from a Biblical perspective. We're going to focus in this and the next few posts on "loss" that is negative and painful (such as the loss of a loved one, or a valued possession), rather than on any form that may be considered positive (like a loss of weight, or "losses" that may arise from self-denial). Here are some of the questions we'll want to consider along the way: why is there such a thing as loss? What forms does it take? Who suffers loss and for what reason? Are we stuck with loss forever, or is there hope for a different future?
The obvious first question to tackle is "why does loss exist?" We'll begin at the end of the 6th day of the creation week, as God surveys all that He has made:
Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
If loss is a negative and often hurtful thing, we have to conclude that it had no part in a creation that God declared to be "very good." Therefore, we are driven to conclude that this kind of "loss" must have arisen as a direct consequence of our sin (the remainder of this post will amply confirm this). To underscore this, let's review the account of the fall and see how many losses Adam and Eve experienced even in the first moments following their rebellion against God:
Genesis 2:15-17 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 3:3-11 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Genesis 3:16-19 To the woman he [the LORD God] said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:22-24 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
We have highlighted sections in bold that enable us to construct the following "loss-list":
1. Loss of Innocency - Adam and Eve were created sinless and innocent. Thanks to their disobedience, they now acquired experimentally knowledge of evil and of the good that is its opposite. But the inclination of their hearts was bent towards evil. This change within them is exemplified by the shame they feel at being naked. We share the same awareness of good and evil and the same attraction to evil through the loss that Adam and Eve brought upon themselves and their descendants.
2. Loss of Love for God We are told that perfect love drives out fear (in particular, the fear of God's judgment - 1 John 4:17-18). So it is highly significant that Adam was afraid and hid himself from God as He walked in the garden. We can deduce that the perfect love that Adam and Eve had for God (and with it the lack of any fear relating to punishment) is now lost through their sin.
3. Loss of a painless existence Eve was told to expect pain in childbirth that clearly would not otherwise have been a consideration. Adam, for his part, will know pain in making a living as he has to work the ground to make it yield a harvest of food. We still know these pains today, and we should see them as a consequence of what Adam and Eve lost for us.
4. Loss of peace within the marriage relationship. The stage is set in God's curse of Adam and Eve for conflict in the relationship of husbands and wives, relating to the God-given authority structure in a marriage relationship.
5. Loss of fellowship with God. Adam and Eve hide from the God they had loved. They are thrown out of the garden where God was specially present to them. Their sin has made them enemies of God instead of friends, and we are born in the same situation relative to God because our first parents turned their backs on Him.
6. Loss of Freedom. Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve were free to enjoy the garden and all its delights - not least the presence of God. They were free to please God through obedience to His commands until they fell, and they were free to reject those things that displease God. They emerged from the fall having lost all these freedoms. They had, in fact, become enslaved to sin and now incapable of choosing to please God by their actions.
7. Loss of the God-given right to life - both physical (Adam and Eve, and all their descendants would return to dust) and spiritual (they were barred from eating of the tree of life - something which they had the right to do before they disobeyed God). They emerge from the fall as dead to God spiritually and as dying physically. As their children, we are born in the same, twice-dead condition.
We don't have to read much further into Genesis to see other losses making an appearance through Adam and Eve's sin:
Genesis 4:1-10 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
Here are the additional losses we can find in this passage:
8. Loss of the ability to worship God acceptably. Cain brought an offering that was unacceptable to God. We understand from Abel's offering that God had given instructions about the offerings He would accept, but Cain decided to do his own thing. God will not accept us either, unless we worship Him in the way prescribed, which involves the sacrifice of His Son in our place (pre-figured by the animal sacrifice Abel made).
9. Loss of humility. Cain was angry his offering wasn't pleasing to God but didn't correct his error by making an acceptable gift. Rather, He was jealous of Abel, his younger brother, and resented that he had found acceptance with God.
10. Loss of respect for the life of others, and loss of self-control. Cain was not able to master the sin that was at work in his heart, and was so angry with Abel that he killed his brother - having no respect for the life of a man made in the image of his Creator.
11. Loss of a loved one. We don't often think of the effect Abel's murder must have had on Adam and Eve, but they became the first people on earth to grieve over the loss of a beloved child. How this must have brought home the enormity of what they had done in disbelieving and disobeying God!
12. Loss of truthfulness before God and man. Cain tells God a bare-faced lie when asked about the whereabouts of Abel. He knew very well where the corpse of Abel lay but he nevertheless attempted to persuade the all-seeing God that he had no idea.
So it takes less than 30 verses of the Bible to catalog just some of the devastating consequences of the sin that Adam and Eve committed, and it isn't difficult to consider them in terms of loss. It's likely, then, that loss is often if not always a consequence of sin (whether directly or indirectly).
Now that we understand the origin of loss, we'll go on to consider in more detail what the Bible has to teach us on the subject so we can understand loss from a Christian perspective.
Some may see this as an interesting but perhaps rather academic study. However, it is intensely practical. We are very good at forgetting that many of the losses we face are due to sin (though God may make use of them for good purposes). Recognizing that fact reminds us of their root cause but it also furnishes us with a powerful weapon with which to face loss - Christian hope. As true believers, we have put our faith in a God Who, through the work of His Son at the cross, has made an end of sin. In other words, He has taken an ax to the root of the sin-tree from which much loss arises. He has opened our eyes to understand that we have a future in which there will be no sin and there will be nothing that is related to sin or that is caused by sin. There will be no loss for us, and none of the pain that loss can cause. So we only have to endure it for the few short years for which we live in this world. There are no losses in heaven, and looking at the "loss-list" above, we can see that all the things that Adam and Eve lost in the fall are restored or more than restored to us in heaven through Christ! All our losses in this life are, through the gospel and by the grace of God, turned wonderfully into gain.
As Isaac Watts so beautifully penned in his hymn of praise to our King Jesus:
