THE FALL
Genesis 3
Let me begin by stating that the actual
historicity of this chapter is of paramount importance. What we are reading is
not a myth or legend as so many would claim. This is history just as it is
described here in Genesis 3. The trustworthiness of all of the rest of
scripture, not to mention the whole of the doctrine of sin, rests upon the
historicity and authenticity of this account. As you have it in
Romans 5:12-14...
"Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through
sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned; (For until the law
sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of
the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come."
And again, in
Second Corinthians 11:3...
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
3:1-3
"Now
the serpent was more cunning
than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the
woman, ‘Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree
of the garden?’"
And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the
garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’"
At the creation, God made the serpent
to be the most intelligent of all creatures in the animal kingdom. It was
more clever than dolphins or chimpanzees. I believe that it was or that
reason that Satan chose it for his disguise. Later in this chapter, we learn
that at that time the serpent did not exist in its current form. I suspect
that it was a creature that was prominent and beautiful. Notice that Eve didn’t
question the serpent’s ability to speak. No doubt, that was because she was so
unsophisticated and naive herself and very much in the process of discovering
the intricacies of her world and all its creatures. It is apparent to us, however,
that when the serpent spoke it was actually Satan speaking through it. As you
have it in Revelation 12:9...
"So the
great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him."
Now, we need to keep in mind that Adam
and Eve began their existence in a state of innocence. As such,
they were neither righteous nor unrighteous. Innocence is an untried state.
Also, they had been made in the image of God and, as such, they possessed
free will. God allowed the serpent’s temptation to test Adam and his
wife to see if they would obey his command. If they obeyed, they would become
righteous. If they disobeyed, they would become unrighteous. In either case,
after the temptation and the decision they would make, neither of them would
ever be innocent again. They would either progress or they would fall. It is
still so today, by the way. Someone has said, "temptation
will either develop you or it will destroy you." As you have it in
James 1:12...
"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him."
Coming back to our text, the first
words out of the serpent’s mouth were couched in an interrogative of surprise
aimed viciously at Eve's trust in God. You could paraphrase it this
way, "REALLY! … GOD WON’T LET YOU EAT ANY OF THIS BEAUTIFUL FRUIT IN THIS WHOLE
WIDE GARDEN!?" The implication was clear. True to form, Satan had launched an
attack on the character of God. He implied that God was stingy, arbitrary,
unreasonable and uncaring. Nothing could have been further from the truth. God
is in fact a generous, wise, reasonable and loving God. Satan, the father of lies, often comes
leveling an attack at God’s Word and God’s character. One of his greatest tools
is slander. Here, right out of the box, he slandered God. Are you familiar with
Satan’s tactics? As you have it in
Second Corinthians 2:11...
"... lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices."
Eve answered, "No, we can eat from them all ... just not from the tree in the midst of the garden. God said we can’t eat of it nor touch it or we will die." Some have suggested that Eve was adding to God’s words here because, back in 2:17, it doesn't say that Adam was told not to touch the tree. I would just point out that Eve was not yet a sinner and was utterly incapable of stretching the truth or lying about what God had said. Therefore, I take it that it was true that God had said not to touch the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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3:4-5
"Then the
serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For
God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’"
Did you notice that Satan called God a
liar there? As Jesus put it to the Pharisees in
John 8:44...
"You are of
your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."
But, Satan's lie also had a twist to it. He also added a half truth. It was true that if Eve ate of the forbidden fruit she would come to know good and evil. But ... would she know it like God does? No. Therein lay the lie. God has never practiced evil in order to understand and know it, you see. If Eve disobeyed God, she would know evil alright … but she would know it by having practiced it and the end result would be the exact opposite of being "like God!" Satan was setting Eve up for both spiritual and physical death; a death that would occur by her own hands. As a result of eating the forbidden fruit, she would instantly die spiritually and then physical death would follow later completing the picture.
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3:6-7
"So when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and
he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves coverings."
There were three things that appealed
to Eve about the fruit of the forbidden tree. They are the same three broad avenues
that tempt men today. As you have it in
First John 2:16...
"For
all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh
(good for food), the lust of the eyes (pleasant
to the eyes), and the pride of life
(desirable to make one wise); is not of the Father but is of the
world."
At this point however, these things
were a mere temptation for Eve. For us sinners, they are deeply ingrained in our
nature. There is a very important theological distinction to keep in mind here.
The Bible says that Eve was deceived. Adam, however, was not deceived. As you
have it in First Timothy 2:14...
"And Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression."
Adam knew the serpent was lying and he deliberately sinned when he ate the fruit. Adam was not deceived. Thus, Adam became the original progenitor who polluted and passed down the sin nature to the entire human race. Our sin nature was not passed down by Eve. It came from Adam.
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3:8-11
"And they
heard the sound 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
among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him,
‘Where are you?’ So he said, ‘I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not
eat?’"
May I suggest to you that what Adam and
Eve heard were actual footsteps, parting of plants and the swish of garments? The
description here is of a physical manifestation of the pre-incarnate Son of God.
Adam and Eve heard him coming and they hid themselves. This is
immediate evidence, by the way, of the spiritual death they had suffered. Their
desire for God was gone. Adam and Eve were now closed to God … cut off from him
because of their sin. So it was on that fateful day and so it is for all of
mankind to this day. As you have it in Romans 3:10-11...
"As it is
written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God."
Man was now a “runner” from God … no longer a “seeker” of God. But, praise God, true to form, Eloheem came into the garden seeking man! Notice he called out to Adam, "Where are you?" Notice the immediate effect of Adam's disobedience in his reply. "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." The moment they had disobeyed and eaten the forbidden fruit they had been changed. They had experienced a fundamental change in their spirits. They died. The outward manifestation of it was shame and guilt which they couldn’t even define themselves. They said to themselves, "We are ashamed because we are naked!” But, the problem was not nakedness; far from it. Shame comes from guilt, brother. And, like all guilty sinners, they attempted to resolve it, first and foremost, by covering it up and placing the blame everywhere but where it belonged! No fig leaves would ever cover up what they had done. Their naked bodies were not the problem; not at all. Their shame came from a source far deeper than their skins. They had sinned and they had died to God ... spiritually. They had disobeyed and cut themselves off from God leaving behind nothing but the bitter fruits of guilt, evasion, self-deception and isolation.
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3:12-13
"Then the
man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I
ate.’ And the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The
woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’"
Typical, is it not? Sinners are masters
at evasion, cover up and denial. When asked about his own sin, Adam simply
pointed his finger at Eve. Then, when it came to her sin, Eve simply pointed her
finger at the serpent. May I say to you, dear sinner, the only way you and I can
deal appropriately with our own sin before God is to be brutally honest about
it? As you have it in Psalm 32:5...
"I
acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will
confess my transgressions
to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah For this cause
everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found..."
A sinner's prayer can only be, "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner, and save me for thy great mercies sake." How much better it would have been for the original pair had they answered the Lord in that way.
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3:14-15
"So the LORD
God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than
all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On
your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your
life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.’"
Notice here that:
1. The first of the Lord’s judgment fell upon the serpent that Satan had
used as his tool.
God judgment began at the creature itself,
forever changing its physical nature. What its original form was, we are not
told. I suspect it was a large and beautiful creature. But, it was immediately
taken down to the ground by God and physically changed so that it and its descendants would
forever eat dust and crawl about on their bellies. This was not because the
serpent itself had done anything wrong. It was because
Eloheem reveals truth through his creation and it creatures. The serpent
is the lowly and loathsome creature that it is today because of the role it
played as Satan’s instrument in the garden of Eden as the tool that Satan used to
help bring down the human race.
2. The Lord's second
judgment fell upon the one who was behind the serpent.
This was directed at the spiritual
being and fallen angel, Satan. As you have it in Revelation 12:9...
"So the
great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil
and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him."
The Lord's words to Satan could be summed up this way. “One day, I will send a man into the world who will destroy you!” This is an extremely important Messianic prophecy from God. Let's break it down:
a. God said, "I will put
enmity between your seed
and her Seed"
I believe this refers to the animosity that would exist between Satan’s children (Eve’s seeds to come) and Jesus Christ himself. Satan's seed then, refers to men in general. Her Seed (capital S) refers to the Christ yet to come. This enmity (animosity or hatred) was illustrated in the clash between the Pharisees and Jesus in John 8:43-44a. There, Jesus says...
"Why do you
not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of
your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do."
This is why the same crowd that
applauded Jesus on Palm Sunday were screaming, “Crucify him” three days later. Apart from
Christ, all men and women fall under the category of Satan’s seed.
They are his children. He owns them and does with them as he pleases. Consider
the following scriptures and see if it is not so.
"And a
servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach,
patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will
grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may
come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken
captive by him to do his will." Second Timothy 2:24-26
"I
will deliver you (Jesus, speaking to the
Apostle Paul)
from the Jewish people, as well as from
the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are
sanctified by faith in Me." Acts 26:17-18
" He has delivered us from
the power of darkness
and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love..." Colossians 1:13
b. God
said, "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel".
The Hebrew word here used for bruise means "crush." The picture is one of a coming Seed who would one day kill the serpent (Satan) like crushing the head of a snake. The Bible says that Christ will destroy Satan at the end of the Millennium in the last days (Revelation 20:10). The rest of this statement, “you shall bruise his heel” refers to the day when Satan would wound Christ at the cross by means of his Roman and Jewish minions. Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion, vividly portrays that bruising of Christ's heal.
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3:16
"To the
woman he said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In
pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he
shall rule over you."
3. The Lord’s third judgment fell upon Eve. It is a greatly misunderstood one. The entire context relates to women and their childbearing.
The Lord’s punishment to the woman related to her conception, painful childbirth and sexual attitude towards her husband. My dear wife and I have had five children. Her pain in bringing each one into the world was sobering. After each one, I was left shaken and mystified. During her ordeal, I thought, "Boy, she will never want to sleep with me again!" But, you know what, she always did. God had made it so, you see, by his Word. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you (sexually). This passage is not talking about a man being the "boss" as is so commonly taught.
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3:17-20
"Then to
Adam he said, ‘Because
you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I
commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': Cursed is the ground for
your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust
you are, and to dust you shall return.’"
4. The Lord’s forth judgment was aimed at Adam. It had
two parts.
a. First, God said, "Cursed is the ground for your
sake.”
Enter,
the curse. From that day forth, the earth became resistant to yield
its fruits to man. It would henceforth fight man. Sweat and toil would become
the norm in order for man to coax the earth to produce a living for him. No
longer would the earth's priority be to yield her fruits to man. Henceforth, her
priority would be to resist him and to give him briars and thorns for his
efforts. Ever notice how difficult it is to get a garden to produce? But the
weeds, why they just spring up like crazy, don’t they?
It’s the curse. It will be lifted one day during the
Millennium, by the way. As you have it in Isaiah 55:12-13...
"For you
shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; The
mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn
shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall
come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off."
This will also be the case in the New
Heavens and New Earth. As you have it in
Revelation 22:3a...
"And there
shall be no more curse..."
b.
Second, God said to Adam, "to dust you shall return."
Enter, physical death. Adam's
beautiful body would one day simply rot into dust again. And, not just Adam, I
might add, but you and I as well. As you have it in
Romans 5:12...
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..."
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3:20-21
"And Adam
called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all
living. Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and
clothed them."
Eve's name means "life." Adam
named his wife so, as the NIV reads, "because she would become the mother
of all living." I take that to be the correct rendering. After the fall,
did you notice how lovingly our Lord began to minister and to meet Adam and
Eve’s immediate needs? He himself made them clothing and put it on them. The
first animal blood that was spilt was by the hand of God in order to clothe Adam
and his wife, Eve. Isn’t our God thoughtful and gracious? His
loving kindness
endures forever. I am reminded of his promise to you and me, in this regard, in
Philippians
4:19-20...
"And my God
shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now
to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."
Isn’t he wonderful? He knows our ever need and looks to it regardless of what we have done or failed to do. My, how faithful he is to his children.
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3:22-24
"Then the
LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of
Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand
and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’;
Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground
from which he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed
cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to guard the way to the tree of life."
You will remember that in the midst of the garden there were still those two very special trees. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the one that was forbidden and had been violated. The tree of life was not forbidden. I take it that the tree of life would have perpetuated the life span of Adam and Eve indefinitely had they been allowed to keep on partaking of its fruit. Therefore, our original parents were ejected from the garden. And, notice that the garden had to be guarded now. Once sin had entered the heart of man, he could no longer be trusted. God’s spoken word and will for man was no longer sufficient for Adam. Enter, the cherubim and the flaming sword. Cherubim are awesome creatures, by the way. You can read about them in Ezekiel, the first ten chapters. They are large enough to make one airsick by merely looking at them. They are swift as lightening, all seeing and move from place to place with thunderous noise that Ezekiel likened to the voice of God! We also find them in Revelation 5. In addition to Cherubim stationed to guard the Garden of Eden, there was also a flaming sword that moved in every direction to block out intruders. No doubt, Adam and Eve and their offspring got the message ... although I’m sure they also probably tested it. I suspect that one try was enough though.
One last word here; the question is
often asked, “What became of the Garden of Eden?” Well, it was destroyed in the
Flood along with the rest of that original Earth of which we have been reading.
As you have it in Second Peter 3:5-6...
"For this
they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then
existed perished, being flooded with water."