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Previous Challenge Entry (EDITOR'S CHOICE)
Topic: WOUND( 11/26/20)

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TITLE: The First Price | Writing Challenge By Anne Warden 12/03/20

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The pain of this wound was intense. Tears clouded Abba’s vision. He knew this day would come. He’d seen it beforehand.

Nevertheless, He’d had such high hopes for Adam and Havah. These were His image, His own beloved children. Adam had been born from the earth, Havah from Adam’s bone. He had kissed His ‘babies,’ breathing into their bodies His own spirit, so they would live.

For months He taught them, their relationship growing with ease. They walked through Eden by day, sharing fruit from the trees, hearing Adam’s reasons for each creature’s name, watching in awe the birthing of baby animals. Abba, in turn, pointed out the constellations at night, explaining to His children how, strung together like pearls, the stars’ names told His plan of salvation.

But when He tried to explain the need for salvation, that there would be sin, disobedience, they just gazed at Him, bewildered.

Now, here they stood, trembling before Him, trying desperately to hide their shame. They had sinned. The consequences had already begun.

Watching them struggle with this new ‘normal,’ compassion outweighed His own pain. The curses had been spoken. It was now time for teaching, so they would remember. Their daily walks and talks had come to an end. With a deep sigh, Abba began shakily. “Do you remember I said the blood of any creature contains its life?”

They nodded.

“Sin’s penalty is death. You will die. It will happen before the first thousand years have ended. In the meantime, you can atone for your sins and it will cover those sins from My sight, so that you can walk blameless before Me. The blood of what you call lambs, Adam, must be shed for that atonement, until which time I present My own Self as the Lamb of God, the final Atonement.”

Calling two male lambs from a meadow nearby, He checked them over carefully. “These two are firstborns of the flock, without any blemish. They are suitable.” Grimacing at what He must do, He drew a knife across their throats, emptying their blood onto the ground.

Havah cried out in horror. It was the first time they had witnessed death. “No, no, Abba,” she wailed. Her eyes, which had before held only joy, now spilled tears. “No-o-o-o-o!” She gripped Adam’s arm fiercely. “Husband, what have we done?”

Adam fell to his knees, his mouth open and his face devoid of color, looking as though it was his throat which had been cut. Havah was brought down with him.

While Abba skinned the lambs, washed the blood from the hides in the stream and blew them dry with His breath, Adam and his wife cried and pleaded. Often, He glanced at them compassionately but forced Himself to stay silent. They must truly feel the consequences for their sin.

Fashioning tunics from the hides, He tried to dress Havah. But she shrank back as if the thing was cursed. So He handed her the lambskin, knowing she would cover herself in due time.

Adam, on the other hand, allowed his loins to be wrapped.

Abba seated them on a large stone. “To recall My plan for salvation, look at the star constellations, and remember what is written there. And practice what I have just done, each spring when the lambs are a year old and every time you enter the autumn harvest season.” He handed Adam the knife.

“Oh no, we can’t,” cried Havah.

But Adam covered her hand with his own. “We will obey You, Abba.”

His heart breaking, Abba continued. “And teach these precepts to your offspring, and their offspring, so they will follow My ways.”

Havah was still shaking her head, stunned. But Adam asked, “Won’t You teach them to our children Yourself?”

Taking a shuddering breath, Abba declared, “You must leave Eden. Lest you eat of the Tree of Life. Your sin has separated you and Me.”

Havah gasped. Adam nodded, resigned, his gaze lowered.

To reassure them, Abba placed a hand on each of their heads. “You will not see Me, but I will watch over you. If, at the end of your lives, you are obediently walking in faith of all I have taught you, and have diligently passed on this sacrificial law – for the atonement of all your descendants – then You will see Me again.”

His eyes filling, Abba pointed the way out of Eden. His voice broke when He had to utter, “Go.”

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Psalm 19:1-6
2 Peter 3:8

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