Have you ever struggled with sin? Fallen
to temptation? Attempted to cover up your shame? Have you ever been hopeless in
your pursuit of holiness? The third chapter of Genesis explains the root answer
to all these questions. The Fall is the Second Act of God’s story. I pray that
in a close study of this text, you will better understand how we are tempted to
sin and to see God’s glorious grace, even in the midst of judgment.
The Tempter in the Fall
We
are introduced to a new character at the beginning of Genesis 3. A character
that will play a prominent role in the rest of the story of the Scriptures.
Genesis 3:1a, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the
field the LORD God had made.” The serpent was a creature that was made by the
Lord. Although he was a creature, he was different than the other beasts of the
field, for he speaks. Genesis 3:1b, “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say,
‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” His opening lines reveal his
craftiness is directed against the Lord as he questions His command. Scripture
reveals to us that this serpent is not a mere serpent, but the Devil.
The Devil is
given many names in Scripture. Jesus speaks of him in the New Testament as the
father of lies for, “When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he
is a liar and the father of lies.” (John8:44) Revelation 12:9, “And the great
dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and
Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” He is the Accuser of God’s people
(Rev. 12:10). The prince of the power of the air who leads the sons of
disobedience, the god of this world who blinds the minds of unbelievers and the
adversary who roars around like a lion seeking someone to devour. From his
introduction we see a creature who is crafty and who stands against the Lord.
It is
important to note that the serpent knows the commands of the Lord. The evil one
knows the Word, but he twists it for his own purposes and for the destruction
of God’s people. Before we examine his tactics, we must first believe that
Satan is real and active in God’s world. The narrative does not explain why the
serpent is in the Garden, but simply states that he is there. The serpent is a
creature of God, but the passage does not explain the nature and origin of
evil. The passage explains the origin of human sin and guilt, but does not
attempt to answer all the questions of evil. We know that the Bible never
attributes God as the author of evil, but as One who uses evil to bring about
good (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28).
The Temptation of the Fall
The tempter begins his temptation by questioning God’s Word.
He wants to cause God’s people to doubt his word. Satan loves half-truths. He
presents truth mixed with lies. Genesis 3:1-5,
He said to the
woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the
garden, 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.’” But the
serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when
you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
Satan twists God’s word, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall
not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
If you remember God said, “You may freely
eat of any tree in the garden.” The beginning of the temptations starts
when Eve start to question God’s word. The tactics are still alive today.
The voice of
the evil may not be from a serpent, but may be from a friend, or a news
article, or a preacher. Did God actually say, “marriage can only be between a man or a woman?’ One mark of false teachers
is those who twist the scriptures for their own benefit. We were promised that
in last days there will be false teachers and false hearers. “For the time is
coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they
will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will
turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy
4:3-4) Temptation begins with doubt, but it leads to denial.
The woman’s
response to the half-truths of the serpent reveals how she has already been
subtly deceived,
First, she omits
those elements in the command, “any” and “freely,” which placed the prohibition
in a context of liberality. At this point she still is thinking collectively
with her husband, from whom, as the narrator implies, she received the command:
“we may eat” (v. 2). Second, Eve
identifies the tree according to its location rather than its significance; and
third, she refers to “God” as the serpent had done, rather than “the Lord” (v.
3). Fourth, she also adds the phrase “you must not touch it” (v. 3), which may
make the prohibition more stringent. Yet to her credit the fear of touching the
fruit may have been out of deference for God’s command. For Israel “touch” was
associated with prohibition and death or with consecration to God. Finally, she
failed to capture the urgency of certain death, “You will [surely] die” (v. 3).[i]
The woman appears to fight temptation, but she has already
begun down the path of doubting God’s Word.
The serpent picks up his attack by
outright denying God’s Word and questions his character. Genesis 3:4-5, “But
the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.” The serpent denies that death will happen and then questions God’s
motives. The serpent tells the woman what she will gain, but nothing of what
she will lose. Satan told the truth. The man and woman’s eyes would be opened
and they would be like God knowing good and evil, but he does not what that
will mean. The serpent intentionally focuses on all the positives while
obscuring all the negatives. Doesn’t temptation begin the same way today? It
holds out the promises of happiness, pleasure and comfort without showing the
heartache, the emotional guilt and the people hurt in walking in sin.
We see the
crafty serpent’s trickery deceiving the woman into the first sin. Genesis 3:6,
“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.” The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food
like all the other trees and a delight to the eyes like all the other trees,
but this tree would make her wise. She would be like God, so she took of the
fruit and ate. The root sin here is pride. The man and woman usurp their roles
as creatures and put themselves in the place of Creator. They did what was wise
in their own eyes. Beloved, the root of our sin will always begin with pride.
The Bible
speaks of the woman being deceived, but her husband was right there with her.
The language of the passage always uses the plural “you” implying that the
husband was there during this entire conversation. He could have at any point
stopped his wife. He could have spoken up and defended the Lord, but instead he
was silent. The Bible said that woman was deceived, but it never says that Adam
was deceived. Adam’s silence leads to destruction of the garden. How many times
does our silence lead to the destruction of people’s lives? Adam will be the
one who is held primarily responsible for this breach of God’s Word.
The
temptation in the Garden is still the pattern of temptation today. The apostle
John writes,
Do not love the
world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and
the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from
the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever
does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
The desires of the flesh…our appetites…good for food. The
desires of the eyes…our lust…pleasing to the eye. The pride of life…to be like
God. Nothing is new under the sun. The best way to overcome an attack from an
enemy is to know where he will attack. What are your appetites that can lead
you from the Lord? What are your desires of the eyes that tempt you? How are
you tempted to make a name for yourself rather than for the Father? Know your
weaknesses and plan accordingly.
The Try after the Fall
Immediately
after the fall, we see how man and woman tried to cover their shame. They first
make their own coverings. “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew
that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
loincloths.” (Genesis 3:7) Their eyes were opened and they realized (became
aware) that they were naked and they covered themselves. The first reaction to
being exposed in their sin was to try and deal with it themselves. Don’t we do
the same today? We are exposed in our sin and try to cover it up ourselves. And
yet we know that our coverings are insufficient.
Man and
women covered themselves because they had become like God knowing good and
evil. Genesis 3:8, “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.” They lost their
innocence and immediately hide from God. They fear God. Their perfect communion
with God is broken and they are spiritually separated from him. All sin breaks
fellowship with God and with each other.
And although
fellowship is broken, the Covenant continues to pursue his people. He knows
what has happened, but he calls out to his people giving them the opportunity
to admit their guilt. Genesis 3:8-13)
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. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are
you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man
said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree,
and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have
done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Neither the man nor the woman take responsibility for their
actions, but pass blame onto another. Adam blames God for giving him the woman
and the woman for giving him the fruit. The woman blames the serpent. The Lord
graciously calls out to his people, but instead of turning to him they justify
their actions. They both admit their sin as they both said, “I ate,” but never
confessed their guilt in the transgression.
Beloved, the
sin of the man and the woman in the garden is why sin. We are all spiritually
dead and separated from God because of sin. Romans 5:12. “Therefore, just as
sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men because all sinned.” We are all sinners. This is the doctrine
of original sin. The core of every human being is no longer good, but evil. We
are born in sin and our hearts are inclined to evil because at our very core we
are sinful. We all know this to be true. We all have our ways of trying to
cover up and blame others, but we all know that we are at fault. We cannot deny
our guilt. Sin brings judgment.
The Trouble because of the
Fall
The
Lord responds to the rebellion in the garden with the pronouncement of judgment
towards the rebels,
The LORD God said
to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you
shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply
your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire
shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” 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; thorns
and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the
field. 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 3:14-19)
In Genesis 1, we see God three times call out his blessing:
God blessed the animals, God blessed human beings and God blessed the 7th
day. And here we see God issue the first of three curses at the beginning of
the fall by cursing the serpent and cursing the ground (He will later curse Cain).
The judgment
that God gives is directly related to the purposes in which man and woman were
created. The woman was created to bear children and to be a helper fit for her
husband, so a woman will now experience pain in childbearing and will have a desire
to rule or dominate her husband in marriage. The desire to criticize and
control one’s husband has its beginning in the fall. The New Testament teaches
that women are called to submit and respect their husbands’ leadership, for
those desires are not natural to a fallen world. Adam was placed in the garden
to work the land, but now the land will work against him and it will be
difficult for him to exercise dominion over it. Work will become hard and the
ground will eventually rule over man as man will eventually return to dust. The
ultimate punishment of sin is death. Sin brings judgment.
God
completed his judgment against Adam and his wife by sending them out of the
garden, banishing them from his presence and guarding the way to life.
The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the
mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments
of skins and clothed them. 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—” therefore
the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which
he was taken. 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. (Genesis 3:20-24)
Sin brings judgment. Genesis 3 is clear reminder of the
consequences of sin, but it is also full of the glorious hope of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
The Triumph over the Fall
Adam
and Eve tried to cover themselves after the fall, but their covering was
insufficient. Only God could provide a covering. Genesis 3:15 has been termed
the protoevangelium, the first gospel. “I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” There is going to come one from a woman who is
going to crush the head of the serpent. Genesis 3:20, “The man called his
wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.” Despite the
pain of childbirth, woman would still fulfill her purpose. Eve would bring
forth a son. Genesis traces the seed of the woman, Seth to Noah to Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob and Judah. And the rest of the Bible traces seed of the woman the
line ultimately to One who is going to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3:15,
Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the seed of woman. Jesus is the
New Adam. Jesus would face the temptation of the serpent, not in a Garden, but
in the wilderness. After forty days without food, Jesus would stand against the
crafty deception of Satan by trusting in the LORD God. Where Adam failed, Jesus
succeeded. Jesus was tempted three times and each time overcame temptation with
the Word of Truth.
The LORD God made a provision to cover
Adam and Eve in the garden. He covered them with the skin of an animal. Blood
was shed to cover their nakedness. This covering was only a sign of how the
seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent; he would first have to
be bruised and bleed, taking the curse of God on a tree. Matthew 27:45-46
speaks of Jesus as he hung on the cross, “Now from the sixth hour there was
darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We know why Jesus was forsaken on the
curse.
We
know why he was cursed. He was cursed because he loved us. And Jesus was the
only way to get us back to the presence of God. Genesis 3:24, “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.” A Cherubim
was a symbol for God’s people reminding them that they could not enter God’s
presence. The cherubim was placed on the curtain in the Temple that separated
the Holy place from the Holy of Holies. Matthew 27:50-51, “And Jesus cried out
again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of
the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the
rocks were split…” “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping
watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with
awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54) Through the shed
blood of the Son of God, the curtain was torn and the cherubim no longer
blocked the way to the presence of God. Jesus triumphed over the fall through
his death.
Jesus died to pay our curse, but was
raised to give us new life. Salvation only comes through judgment. We were
saved because our Savior was judged. We celebrate the victory of the Lamb who
was slain by enjoying a foretaste of the meal to come. We feast on the bread of
life and the fruit of the wine by faith in what Christ has done in his death
and what awaits us in the promised coming resurrection.
[i]
Mathews, K. A. (1996). Genesis 1-11:26
(Vol. 1A, pp. 235–236). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
No comments:
Post a Comment