“Creation of Woman from the rib of man:
She was not made of his head to top him;
nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him;
but out of his side to be equal with him;
under his arm, to be protected;
and near his heart to be beloved.”
So the
Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all
the wild animals! You will crawl
on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your
offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis
BACKGROUND:
The third chapter in Genesis is one
of the most important in all the Word of God.
What has often been said of Genesis as a whole is peculiliarly true
of this chapter: It is the
“see-plot of the Bible. Here
are the foundations upon which rest many of the cardinal doctrines of our
faith. Here we trace back to their
source many of the rivers of divine truth.
Here commences the great drama which is being enacted on the stage of
human history, and which well-nigh six thousand years has not yet completed.
Here we find the Divine explanation of the present fallen and ruined
condition of our race. Here we
learn of the subtle devices of our enemy, the Devil.
Here we behold the utter powerlessness of man to walk in the path of
righteousness when divine grace is withheld from him.
Here we discover the spiritual effects of sin – man seeking to flee
from God. Here we mark the
universal tendency of human nature to cover its moral shame by a device of
man’s own handiwork, Here we are taught of the gracious provision which God
has made to meet our great need.
Here begins that marvelous stream of prophecy which runs all through the Holy
Scriptures. Here we lean that man
cannot approach God except through a mediator.
~from GLEANING IN GENESIS
by Arthur Pink
GOD AND WOMAN DISOBEY GOD
– The serpent questions what God has said, then calls God a liar.
The woman has to set the enticing fruit, the desire to have knowledge
like God himself, against God’s plain command.
The decision is deliberate, and fatal.
Man has disobeyed God, rejected His authority, chosen to go his own way
and become a ‘god’ himself.
The results is inevitable.
A holy God cannot live with sin.
The serpent is sentenced first.
The woman is to experience suffering – in childbirth, the most
fundamental human process. She is
to know what it means for her husband to ‘rule’ over her.
From now on Adam’s work is to be sweat and toil.
Because of sin, access to the tree
of life is now denied them. They
are to leave the garden, and there is no return.
Spiritual death, being cut off from God, is immediate.
Physical death follows in the course of time.
God’s warning was true. Yet
follows he continues to care for them, and clothes them before they go.
A.
A Guilty Conscience
1.
Adam and Eve’s Eyes Are
Opened.
Immediately Adam and Eve knew they had eaten no ordinary fruit.
They knew they were naked.
Why? Because they had been
stripped of God’s glory. In the
Scriptures God is often pictured as being clothed in light.
Before the fall, perhaps, Adam and Eve were also clothed in a godly
light:
Read:
Psalm
104:1-4
Covering Thyself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.
Psalm
104:2 (NIV)
Adam and Eve had fallen short of the glory of God. They were in their nakedness – exposed!
Note that
Satan used a serpent, meaning “bright and shining one” to deceive Eve.
The light had given the serpents a look of holiness.
Now Adam and Eve were laid bare – stripped of God’s glory and light.
2.
Adam and Eve Make Themselves
Coverings.
Adam and
Eve sewed fig leaves together in an effort to cover themselves.
When they received the knowledge of good and evil, the guilt-ridden
couple tried to adjust, to cover up, to solve their problems by using their
own wits.
Adam and
Eve decided to clothe themselves by sewing coverings.
In Hebrew the verb to sew also means “to take two things that
are apart and put them together.”
Within their spirits Adam and Eve felt separated from God and tried to repair
that separation by themselves.
They felt the shame of nakedness.
Notice
that Adam and Eve were working on their outward appearance – it was an attempt
to make everything look right on the outside.
This was the first act of legalism.
It did not work then, and it doesn’t work today.
3.
They Hide Themselves From the
Presence of God.
In the
cool of the evening, God came walking in the garden as usual.
Recognizing the sound of His footsteps, Adam and Eve ran and hid!
Sin does devastating things to people.
God was Adam and Eve’s answer, yet they ran and hid from Him.
No man can hide from God.
Notice
that God had to seek out Adam and Eve.
He called to Adam “Where are you?”
The sinners ran, but God went after them.
Likewise, Jesus came into the world to seek out and to save the lost:
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10
Natural man does not seek God; rather, man often runs and hides from his
heavenly Father:
“No one understands—no one intelligently discerns or comprehends; no one seeks
out God.” Romans
God called Adam for three reasons:
1.
God created man
to fellowship with Him.
2.
Adam had been
given the job of guarding the garden, but the enemy had come in and had not
been expelled. Adam was
responsible for this trespass; he had not guarded effectively.
3.
Adam had
disobeyed God and needed to face the fact before God.
4.
Adam and Eve Hear
God and Are Afraid.
Adam and Eve’s security was gone.
Would they really die? What was
death? Like a flood, fear came
rushing into their hearts! This
first sin initiated mankind’s slavery to fear:
Read:
Hebrews 2:9-18
And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through
the (haunting) fear of death were held at bondage throughout the whole course
of their lives. Hebrews
5.
Each Blames the
Other
When God confronted Adam with his sin, Adam responded by putting the blame
elsewhere. First he blamed God:
“It was the woman You gave me.
It’s Your fault, God! If
only You had not given me this woman, all would still be a happy paradise.”
Have you ever blamed God – even when it was you who had disobeyed?
It is so easy to shift the blame.
Then Adam tried to blame Eve:
“She was the one who gave me the fruit.
How could I say no?”
Notice that God did not argue with Adam.
His excuses bore no weight with God.
When God questioned Eve, she blamed the serpent.
How easy it was for her to pass the blame rather than admit her guilt!
If God had left them with their accusations, there would have been no
way out of the situation. Excuse,
blame, and rationalization never take care of sin!
Notice that the serpent offered no excuse for his sin – there is never
any excuse!
Let’s learn from Adam and Eve’s mistakes.
By following five simple steps, you can find your way back to the Lord
after you have sinned:
1.
Accept
responsibility for your actions.
2.
Respond to God’s
call – don’t run.
3.
Get into the
presence of God – don’t hide.
4.
Accept Christ’s
robe of righteousness. Don’t cover
up – let Jesus cleanse you from the inside out.
5.
Receive God’s
peace and forgiveness. Your guilt
will be washed away!
B.
Judgment
1.
The Serpent
From that day forth the serpent would no longer be brilliant and clothed with
light. He was to be cursed among
the animals; he was condemned to crawl on his belly and eat dust:
“And the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are
you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your
belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life; and I
will but enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heal.”
Genesis 3:14-15 (NAS)
We know, however, that God was not only judging the serpent, but also Satan,
who was inhabiting the serpent.
The serpent, or Satan, was to receive a fatal bruise on his head.
2.
Eve
Because of Eve’s sin, child-bearing became a mixed blessing: the joy would be
mingled with pain. In addition,
Eve now became a subordinate to her husband.
3.
Adam’s Judgment
Is Threefold.
First, he lost control over the lower creation – weeds and thistles now grew
abundantly. Second, he would have
to work and earn his living by the sweat of his brow.
Third, he would die.
C.
Mankind
As we have already learned, death for all mankind was the most serious result
of the fall. Spiritual, physical,
and eternal death was willed to all men!
A guilty conscience and God’s judgment were the results of disobedience.
Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves and their sins and to hide from
God, because they had become afraid of Him.
Finally, when confronted by God, they blamed others for their sin.
But God knew He must keep His Word; they were judged, and a curse
came into God’s creation.