The Day the world changed for the worse....
I hope all of you are having a wonderful week. In this third post I would like to talk about the reason that conditions on the earth radically changed. Recall that the first 2 chapters in the book of Genesis show a caring, compassionate, creating God. The book of Isaiah tells us what kind of God created all things and gave life to all things.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
God lives in eternity. He is perfectly and utterly holy. He dwells in a place that is high and holy. Yet, this same God is full of compassion and cares about us.
Returning to the scene in Genesis, please recall that God created everything and as each day of creation concluded, He said it was "good." After the 6th day when man was created, God said it was "very good."
Man was created and given the instruction to populate the world and care for the garden that God created. The creation teemed with potential and the circumstances were perfect. Adam and Eve were permitted to eat of all the trees in the garden except one.
God did not make robotic beings. He created man with a will and the moral aptitude to make choices. Obedience to what God says is always the point of test in all generations and certainly was true for Adam and Eve.
To be very simple, Adam and Eve failed to obey what God asked them to observe and they ate of the solitary tree that God told them not to eat of. Note in the text below that Adam was to keep and dress the garden. In that newly created environment, it would have be a labor of love tending to what God had made and it gave mankind a purpose in life.
God was also very clear in communicating what the consequences of disobedience would be. They would die. The idea is not that of immediately being struck down by death. Rather, it is a picture of having their relationship with God severed and when they passed from death into eternity, they would be separated from God forever.
Genesis 2:15-17 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
What happened? Well, let's take a look at Genesis 3. This first thing that the scripture tells us is that the serpent came on the scene. The serpent is another name for the Devil or Satan. The first thing he did was to probe Eve to see if she really believed and understood the word of God. When Eve responds by telling the serpent what she understood, he directly impugned the word of God, suggesting that somehow, God had selfishly withheld something very good from them.
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Eve listened. The serpent said that if they disobeyed and ate the fruit, they would be like God. He also contradicted the word of God and said that they would not die if they ate it.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
At that point their fellowship with God was ruptured and their conscience convicted them about the reality of disobeying the Holy God of eternity. They knew that something was very wrong and attempted to cover themselves with leaves. (Genesis 3:7)
I ask that you consider the huge impact of these events. First, obedience to what God has said is always best and we will always encounter problems and difficulties when we fail to obey.
Second, we see that there is a willful enemy of God, the serpent. He opposes all that God is doing and he wants all people to disobey God so that they pass into eternity separated from God and without hope.
Third, man has a tendency to try to cover up sin, as seen by the leaves that Adam and Eve tried to hide behind. The story is not over yet because Adam and Eve went into hiding.
Genesis 3:8-10 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Note that even though Adam and Eve had sinned and tried to cover up and hide, God sought them out. Let that sink in a bit. God is the One who has been sinned against and as Creator He is sovereign over the universe. He sought them and called them.
Also note, that when God called to Adam and asked where he was, God is omniscient and knew what had happened and where they were hiding. He sought to draw them into the open in order to deal with the issue of their sin.The daily sweet communion that they enjoyed with God was broken. This was a dark day for mankind.
What happened next should encourage all of us. God questioned them so He could help them see the gravity of their sin. He led them to confront their sin and they did confess their guilt. This is no less true today. This is what God did. He confronted Adam and Eve about their sin and they confessed. Confession is truly beneficial for the soul but that confession is first and foremost to God in heaven.
King Solomon was the wisest person in his time and he wrote the text below.
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
What happened next is amazing. First, after they confessed their sin, God pronounced judgment. There will always be consequences we face when we sin. The serpent received his sentence first because he twisted the word of God into a lie and managed to deceive Adam and Eve. God told him that at the appointed time a Redeemer would come from the seed of the woman and destroy him. It is the first promise of a redeemer in the Bible.
God was very specific in His judgment. Eve's sin meant that all women would now endure agony during childbirth. Also, she would want to govern her husband but God placed Adam as the one to lead the family, so there would now be some degree of marital conflict upon this very point.
Adam would now have to work harder because a curse was upon the earth. Now, weeds, thorns and thistles would grow and enjoying a harvest would take much more effort. And the sober reality of death was reinforced. They would return to dust one day.
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 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: 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. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The state of things at this point are like this. Sin entered the world and so did death. In addition, a willful enemy of God is seeking to cause mankind to doubt the word of God so that they die in their sins, separated from Holy God. The beautiful institution of marriage would potentially be beset with conflict. The fellowship with God has been broken and Adam and Eve would be driven out of the garden (Genesis 3:22-24).
Do not miss the point, dear reader. God graciously made a provision for Adam and Eve to have a renewed relationship with Him, although not like the one they enjoyed prior to sinning.
Remember, God is omniscient and knew before He created the universe and mankind, that man would sin. He was not caught off guard by any of these events. Rather, He already knew what needed to happen to restore fellowship with mankind.
In the short term, man would need to kill an innocent animal and apply its blood in order to approach Holy God. In the longer term, the Son of God would be born and He would be the perfect, spotless Lamb of God offered for the sins of all.
Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
There is much truth we can glean from this text. First, a payment was required for the sin. Second, God provided the payment. He killed an innocent animal and covered them with its skin. This alerts me to the fact that a sacrifice is needed, and an innocent substitute must die in my place and its blood must be shed.
All of this points forward to the Redeemer God promised through the seed of the woman. Also, it is noteworthy that though Eve sinned first, Jesus Christ, the Son of God would be born of a virgin woman named Mary. But that is a post for another day.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
God lives in eternity. He is perfectly and utterly holy. He dwells in a place that is high and holy. Yet, this same God is full of compassion and cares about us.
Returning to the scene in Genesis, please recall that God created everything and as each day of creation concluded, He said it was "good." After the 6th day when man was created, God said it was "very good."
Man was created and given the instruction to populate the world and care for the garden that God created. The creation teemed with potential and the circumstances were perfect. Adam and Eve were permitted to eat of all the trees in the garden except one.
God did not make robotic beings. He created man with a will and the moral aptitude to make choices. Obedience to what God says is always the point of test in all generations and certainly was true for Adam and Eve.
To be very simple, Adam and Eve failed to obey what God asked them to observe and they ate of the solitary tree that God told them not to eat of. Note in the text below that Adam was to keep and dress the garden. In that newly created environment, it would have be a labor of love tending to what God had made and it gave mankind a purpose in life.
God was also very clear in communicating what the consequences of disobedience would be. They would die. The idea is not that of immediately being struck down by death. Rather, it is a picture of having their relationship with God severed and when they passed from death into eternity, they would be separated from God forever.
Genesis 2:15-17 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
What happened? Well, let's take a look at Genesis 3. This first thing that the scripture tells us is that the serpent came on the scene. The serpent is another name for the Devil or Satan. The first thing he did was to probe Eve to see if she really believed and understood the word of God. When Eve responds by telling the serpent what she understood, he directly impugned the word of God, suggesting that somehow, God had selfishly withheld something very good from them.
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Eve listened. The serpent said that if they disobeyed and ate the fruit, they would be like God. He also contradicted the word of God and said that they would not die if they ate it.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
At that point their fellowship with God was ruptured and their conscience convicted them about the reality of disobeying the Holy God of eternity. They knew that something was very wrong and attempted to cover themselves with leaves. (Genesis 3:7)
I ask that you consider the huge impact of these events. First, obedience to what God has said is always best and we will always encounter problems and difficulties when we fail to obey.
Second, we see that there is a willful enemy of God, the serpent. He opposes all that God is doing and he wants all people to disobey God so that they pass into eternity separated from God and without hope.
Third, man has a tendency to try to cover up sin, as seen by the leaves that Adam and Eve tried to hide behind. The story is not over yet because Adam and Eve went into hiding.
Genesis 3:8-10 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Note that even though Adam and Eve had sinned and tried to cover up and hide, God sought them out. Let that sink in a bit. God is the One who has been sinned against and as Creator He is sovereign over the universe. He sought them and called them.
Also note, that when God called to Adam and asked where he was, God is omniscient and knew what had happened and where they were hiding. He sought to draw them into the open in order to deal with the issue of their sin.The daily sweet communion that they enjoyed with God was broken. This was a dark day for mankind.
What happened next should encourage all of us. God questioned them so He could help them see the gravity of their sin. He led them to confront their sin and they did confess their guilt. This is no less true today. This is what God did. He confronted Adam and Eve about their sin and they confessed. Confession is truly beneficial for the soul but that confession is first and foremost to God in heaven.
King Solomon was the wisest person in his time and he wrote the text below.
Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
What happened next is amazing. First, after they confessed their sin, God pronounced judgment. There will always be consequences we face when we sin. The serpent received his sentence first because he twisted the word of God into a lie and managed to deceive Adam and Eve. God told him that at the appointed time a Redeemer would come from the seed of the woman and destroy him. It is the first promise of a redeemer in the Bible.
God was very specific in His judgment. Eve's sin meant that all women would now endure agony during childbirth. Also, she would want to govern her husband but God placed Adam as the one to lead the family, so there would now be some degree of marital conflict upon this very point.
Adam would now have to work harder because a curse was upon the earth. Now, weeds, thorns and thistles would grow and enjoying a harvest would take much more effort. And the sober reality of death was reinforced. They would return to dust one day.
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 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: 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. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
The state of things at this point are like this. Sin entered the world and so did death. In addition, a willful enemy of God is seeking to cause mankind to doubt the word of God so that they die in their sins, separated from Holy God. The beautiful institution of marriage would potentially be beset with conflict. The fellowship with God has been broken and Adam and Eve would be driven out of the garden (Genesis 3:22-24).
Do not miss the point, dear reader. God graciously made a provision for Adam and Eve to have a renewed relationship with Him, although not like the one they enjoyed prior to sinning.
Remember, God is omniscient and knew before He created the universe and mankind, that man would sin. He was not caught off guard by any of these events. Rather, He already knew what needed to happen to restore fellowship with mankind.
In the short term, man would need to kill an innocent animal and apply its blood in order to approach Holy God. In the longer term, the Son of God would be born and He would be the perfect, spotless Lamb of God offered for the sins of all.
Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
There is much truth we can glean from this text. First, a payment was required for the sin. Second, God provided the payment. He killed an innocent animal and covered them with its skin. This alerts me to the fact that a sacrifice is needed, and an innocent substitute must die in my place and its blood must be shed.
All of this points forward to the Redeemer God promised through the seed of the woman. Also, it is noteworthy that though Eve sinned first, Jesus Christ, the Son of God would be born of a virgin woman named Mary. But that is a post for another day.
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