Genesis 3

How is it possible that this world is so beautiful and yet at the same time harbors such ugliness? Why are moments of goodness interrupted so frequently by bad things happening? Why are there so many pleasures and yet so much pain? Why do so few people feel good about themselves? Why are we so often estranged from one another? Why do we lie and steal and kill? Why is it that this planet has rarely been free from war? How could something like the Holocaust take place? Why is it we know what is good to do and yet have such a difficult time doing what we know is right? Why must we die? Is redemption possible? Is it possible to be reconciled to the Creator? How? Is it possible to live again after we die? Is it possible to have a meaningful life in this chaotic world? Genesis 3 helps answer these questions.

In chapters 1 and 2 we observed the Lord’s creation of the Earth, sun, moon and stars; the wondrous and varied species of animals and plants forming an intricate and exquisite ecosystem; the culmination of creation with the first man and woman, whom God placed in a magnificent garden called Eden. Adam and Eve were made lords of the Earth and given authority over everything, and given the responsibility to cultivate that special garden.

“But into this paradise came, uninvited, an extra-terrestrial being of superhuman powers and intelligence. This “angel of light” had already brought sin and rebellion into Heaven and corrupted a third of the angels with him. Now he intended to spread the rebellion and extend his evil empire to these newly created human beings. Satan had already rebelled against the Most High and become His Adversary. Now he would become the Adversary of man as well. This powerful, intelligent, yet consummately evil spirit was able to control a snake and speak through it. His first attack was directed against the younger human” (unknown quote).

It is extremely important that we understand the head fallen angel’s method of attack, since he still attacks humanity in the same way. Since choosing to obey the Word and will of God is the essence of what is good, the Adversary tries to get us to disobey the Word and will of God, and choose our will above God's will - thus destroying us.

The serpent asked the youngest human, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'"? Did God really put a restriction on eating from a tree in the garden? That doesn't make sense! The question was calculated to cause Eve to begin to question God's Word and will.

Eve's response shows that she knew God’s command that they were not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But Satan, emboldened by the fact that Eve was willing to enter into dialogue with him, now proceeds to directly contradict the Word of God, telling her that what God had warned would happen, wouldn't happen. They wouldn't die if they ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree.

How’s that for boldness, deception and irony? The father of lies calls God a liar! In addition, using subtle lies and innuendo to attack God's character, Satan insinuates that the real reason God forbid them to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was because the Lord didn't have their best interests at heart. He was keeping them from their full potential; He was keeping them in ignorance because He didn't want them to be morally and spiritually mature, knowing good and evil.

In essence the serpent was saying, “The Creator is withholding good things from you. Don't listen to Him. Don't trust Him. God isn't really good. Listen to me. Trust Me. I will help you. I will bring you good. I will be your god”.

Eve was tempted in three major areas: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life (see 1 John 2:16). “The lust of the flesh” refers to physical appetites, particularly for those things considered off-limits. Eve wanted to taste that forbidden fruit. “The lust of the eyes” refers to the desire to possess, to acquire that which you don’t have the right to acquire. The tree and its fruit looked good to her. It inspired her with desire. It was beautiful and she wanted to possess it. Finally, it appealed to her pride; she thought it would make her wise. It would enhance her - the boastful pride of life.

Eve was deceived by the serpent, and she ate. Adam also ate, but he wasn't deceived. He ate knowingly. He knew what he was doing. Rather than follow God, he made a decision to follow his wife - who followed Satan.

By the way, the Scriptures never say that the fruit was an apple. Neither do the Scriptures say that the original sin had anything to do with sex. This original sin was the parents of the human race’s decision to defy the Word and will of God and follow the lies of the Adversary. At that point sin, like a deadly spiritual virus, entered the human race. Immediately there were horrific consequences. Something terrible and deadly happened. They died spiritually. They were alienated from the God who had breathed His Spirit into them. Their soul, their will, their mind, their body were corrupted. They had always been naked, but there had never been shame associated with it. Now that changed. They felt naked, inadequate, guilty, shameful.

They made coverings for themselves out of fig leaves. This was their own feeble man-made attempt to cover over their new-found embarrassment and guilt. But man-made coverings will always be inadequate to cover and atone. How could fig leaves cover our guilt, our shame, our nakedness, our sense of inadequacy, our alienation from God? All of our own efforts, however cleverly conceived or skillfully made, can never cover our sin which permeates our entire being. All of our best efforts to atone for ourselves will always be just as inadequate as those first fig leaves. Mankind needs a covering, but it is a covering that only the Creator can provide.

The Lord God came to the garden in the late afternoon. Adam and Eve were able to hear Him walking, which implies that the Creator manifested His presence on Earth in some physical way. God is able to manifest Himself in physical form, and did so at various times that are recorded in Israel special Writings; and He did so ultimately in the person of Messiah, who is Immanuel - God With Us - the physical incarnation of God in human form.

For the first time, Adam and Eve ran away from God. Sadly, this orientation to avoid God has become the way that Adam and Eve's children relate to their good Creator. Adam and Eve ran away from God, but the Lord did not avoid them. The gracious and merciful Lord took the initiative to seek them out. And He is still taking the initiative to seek lost and dying human beings to restore them to Himself.

To avoid the Lord, Adam and Eve hid in the trees. The descendants of Adam and Eve are still trying to hide from God - not in literal trees, but in the trees of man-made religious systems and philosophies. Some try to hide from God by filling up every moment of their lives with various activities - hiding in the trees of work, relationships, drugs, alcohol, sex, music, sports, gambling - anything that will occupy their time and attention so they don't have to be alone with their thoughts and risk encountering the quiet voice of God calling to them, “Where are you?” Are you trying to hide from God? Are you avoiding Him? Don’t. It’s useless and it’s not worth it.

The Lord called to Adam with the first of three questions. “Where are you?” Of course the all-knowing God knew where Adam was. Then why ask? His question was intended to prompt Adam to ask himself, “Where am I? Why am I hiding from God?” The purpose of the question was to help Adam confess that he had done something wrong, take responsibility for his actions, return to God, ask for forgiveness, and with the atonement provided by God, be restored to a proper relationship with his Creator. This is way of redemption.

Adam answered by admitting that he was hiding because he was naked and afraid. Adam's solution to his broken relationship with God, and his disobedience, and fear, and guilt, and shame was to hide from God. But that was the wrong solution. Things do not get better by hiding from God. We need to deal with our broken relationship with God, and our disobedience, and our fear and guilt and shame by seeking redemption; by coming to God on His terms, and by admitting our sins, taking personal responsibility for them, seeking the Lord's forgiveness, accepting His provisions for atonement and cooperating with Him to change.

Then the Lord asked Adam two more questions designed to help him take responsibility for his actions and head toward redemption: "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

But, instead of admitting his guilt and taking responsibility, Adam tried to shift the blame to others. He blamed his wife and he also blamed his Creator. The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.

The Lord questioned Eve and she followed her husband’s example. She attempted to shift the blame to the snake. The lesson for us? Admit when you have done something wrong. Don't blame others when admitting your mistakes. It makes your confession shallow and insincere, and negates your apology.

The Lord didn’t ask the snake any questions. There is no possibility of redemption for the Adversary. Instead, God placed a curse on the snake. Because the reptile was the instrument Satan used to corrupt the highest of creation, the snake will from then on be part of the lowest order of creation. He will crawl on his belly and eat dirt.

And, the Lord also addressed the evil spirit who was speaking through the snake. From that moment on, there will be hostility between Satan and Eve. There will also be hostility between the seed of the serpent - wicked people, and Eve's seed - righteous people. The wicked will persecute the righteous.

One special descendant of the woman is singled out - the Seed of the Woman. The Savior of mankind will come into this world and be born to a woman. The Redeemer will be a human being in order to redeem human beings. Since the woman was the one who sinned first, it is appropriate that from woman the Redeemer will come who will undo the damage done by her sin. This is the first hint of Messiah's virgin birth.

The Redeemer will crush the head of Satan, which is a fatal blow. But in the process of destroying the evil that Satan has done, the Messiah will Himself be bruised on the heel. That is a painful, but not a fatal blow. When He comes to redeem ruined humanity the Redeemer will be hurt but will survive His encounter with the Adversary.

God is so gracious and so merciful. Although He had the right to kill Adam and Eve for their rebellion and their having corrupted His beautiful world, He didn’t. Nor did He leave them without hope of redemption so that they would despair. He graciously gave them the promise that He will send a special Human Being who will undo all the evil that they had unleashed. And, in the meantime, until the Messiah comes, the Lord will provide a measure of atonement through death and the shedding of the blood of other innocent beings.

But, though there is forgiveness, there are consequences for sin. The consequences for the woman is that she and her female descendants will have the amazing ability to produce new human beings made in the image of God, but there will be pain in childbirth. That pain will be a reminder that they are part of a fallen race, and they have brought another sinful being into the world. And, the Fall does not negate God’s order in the family. Husbands are to be in control of the family unit. The man was the leader of the family before the Fall. The man is the leader in the family after the Fall. The man is the head of the family before the coming of the Messiah. The man is the head of the family after the coming of the Messiah. Yet, God promises that in spite of the pain in childbirth and having to be submitted to their husbands, women will still want to be married and have children.

There are consequences for the man as well. The Creator had entrusted Adam with authority over everything in creation. So, when the lord of the Earth fell, the Earth fell with him. And, not only Earth was affected, but Adam's sin affected the entire universe - the sun, moon and stars that were created on the fourth day. Adam’s rebellion set in motion what we today refer to as the second law of thermodynamics (the Law of Entropy). Left to itself, creation will run down. It will go from more order to less order.

Work, often tedious and hard, is another consequence and reminder of the Fall. Living in this world is no longer like life in Paradise. We have to work much harder to survive. But work is also redemptive. It enhances. It keeps us out of trouble. Idle hands become the devil's tools.

Death is another consequence and reminder of the Fall. Whenever we contemplate death we should remember the rebellion of Adam and Eve that brought death into the world.

Our wise Creator graciously left us with frequent reminders of the Fall, so that even though men and women are hiding from God, they can't escape the overwhelming evidence that something is terribly wrong. These reminders help us be aware of the reality of sin, and the need to be reconciled to God.

Adam is Eve's lord and had the right to name her. He named her Chava, which is related to “chai” and means “life”. She is the mother of all human beings who have lived in this world. We all come from one mother. Every human being comes from this same mother, which is why there is no place for racism in the Kingdom of God.

In this chapter we have the God-ordained, God-instituted principles of atonement. Adam and Eve had made garments from fig leaves, but they were inadequate to cover their guilt, shame and nakedness. After Adam and Eve returned to the Lord, the Lord made garments of skin for Adam and Eve. That implies the death of at least one animal - and maybe more.

An innocent, living being needed to be killed, and its blood shed in order to provide an adequate covering. But the blood of bulls, goats and lambs, and garments made from their skin, can never fully atone for the lords of creation or cover their nakedness. The lords of the Earth are higher on the Scale of Being than the animals. One human being, created in the image of God, is more valuable than all the animals in the world. Beings who are lesser in value can never fully atone for a being who is higher in value. They can only bring temporary atonement, not permanent and full atonement.

These garments of skin and the death of an innocent animal point us to the ultimate clothing - the garments of salvation and robes of righteousness provided by the sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua. He is the Seed of the Woman, but He is also fully God, and therefore higher on the Scale of Being than ordinary human beings and able to bring full and final and permanent atonement for all human beings.

Chapter 3 concludes with other consequences for the rebellion of mankind. Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. This was punishment, but also grace. God graciously banished them from Eden for their good. To eat from the Tree of Life in their sinful state would be terrible. They would live forever as fallen beings, which would be like living in an everlasting Hell.

Cherubim, that special class of angels that surround the presence of God, were stationed to prevent human beings from returning to Eden, where the Tree of Life stood. The fact that the Tree of Life needed guarding tells us something about our fallen human nature. Mankind is untrustworthy. We are capable of trespassing, of breaking and entering and stealing, even things belonging to God Himself. But, with the gift of the Holy Spirit that fallen human nature can be transformed into something good.

Someone made the following beautiful observation: “Even though Adam and Eve are banished from Eden, all of us carry within us a vestigial memory of Eden. Deep inside we want to return to Eden, to be at one with nature, the animals, to grow things, to have the perfect companion, to know God, to eat from the Tree of Life, to be wise. Eden calls out to us over the ages: ‘return to me my banished children’. The good news is that a new Eden awaits us in the future. Redeemed mankind will again be allowed to eat from the Tree of Life in the New Jerusalem”.