The Curse Lifted

The city of Amarna in Egypt seemed cursed. When Pharaoh Akhenaten built Amarna, he switched to a monotheistic religion and worshiped one god, the sun. Akhenaten then moved his people from Thebes to Amarna and tried to destroy all references to other gods. But archaeologists discovered something interesting: Every building in Amarna had been deliberately destroyed. Letters reveal that Akhenaten’s wife, Nefertiti, and his daughters died due to an illness. Akhenaten later died as well, and people decided the city was cursed. So they destroyed everything and left in a hurry.

Today’s text tells us that in the New Jerusalem, “there shall be no more curse.” This is a reverse of the curse that came upon Adam and Eve’s Eden home when they sinned. It first fell upon the serpent and then upon the earth (Genesis 3:14, 17).

The word “curse” in today’s verse is katath?ma, a noun indicating a “thing” that is cursed, not the act of cursing. Eden, once lost and cursed because of sin, is now Eden restored; the curse on our home has been lifted, removed, and forever taken away.

All things are new. No flower shall fade. Crops will no longer be plagued by pestilence or insects. “I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations” (Ezekiel 36:29, 30).

Not one thing in the holy city is touched by the curse, for “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.” Satan is no longer the earth’s prince, for “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Such love freely given causes us to respond with devotion: “His servants shall serve Him.” The word “serve” (latreu?) can also mean “to worship” and suggests a spontaneous reply from the heart.

Lord, I want to worship You in the New Jerusalem, where I will forever be free from the curse of sin.

For Further Study: Deuteronomy 28:15; Zechariah 14:11; Matthew 11:21

Key Bible Texts

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Revelation 22:3 KJV)