September 30 – God Confronts Sin

 

 

 

Sunday School Lesson

September 30

God Confronts Sin

 

Devotional Reading: Psalm 51:1–12

Background Scripture: Genesis 3

 

Genesis 3:8–17, 20–24

8. 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.

 

9. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

 

10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

 

11. 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?

 

12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

 

13. 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.

 

14. 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:

 

15. 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.

 

16. 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.

 

17. 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.

 

20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

 

21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

 

22. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

 

23. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

 

24. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

 

Key Verse

The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

—Genesis 3:23

Lesson Aims

After participating in this lesson, each learner will be able to:

 

1. Relate the sequence of events that led to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

 

2. Identify elements of the story of sin’s origins similar to his or her own experiences with temptation and sin.

 

3. State an action that will be a step toward repairing a personal relationship damaged by sin.

 

HOW TO SAY IT

Augustine	Aw-gus-teen or Aw-gus-tin.
archetypal	ahr-kih-tie-pull.
beguiled	bih-giled.
Cherubims	Chair-uh-bims.
Euphrates	You-fray-teez.
Mesopotamia	Mes-uh-puh-tay–me-uh.
protevangelium	proat-ee-van-jel-ee-uhm.
Tigris	Tie-griss.

Introduction

1. The Perfect Marriage

When we think of the Garden of Eden, we have visions of perfection. We imagine perfect weather. We think of friendly animals. We envision pristine water and air. Oh, to return to the garden, we think! Plenty of space. No crowds. Direct access to God. How could it be any better?

Yet in Genesis the garden is both a place and a story, and the story has a tough ending. Any good story has the tension of a crisis that must be resolved, and Genesis is no exception. In chapter 3 we read of a series of deepening crises that end with Adam and Eve losing paradise. It is a drama that shakes the foundations of God’s created order and changes the trajectory of human relationships with the Creator, a change we still cope with today.

 

This story of the first couple and the first sins is archetypal, a pattern repeated many times in the Bible. First, an opportunity to violate God’s commands (temptation) seems a good thing. Then the violation occurs (sin) with short-term pleasure. The consequences of breaking God’s laws (punishment) that follow bring regret (repentance). But people don’t seem to learn!

 

1. Lesson Context

Genesis 3 begins a different style of presentation. Up until this point, the book has been largely narrative in format (a story told by a narrator). But in Genesis 3 we encounter a drama (a story told through the dialogue of the characters). By the time we arrive at today’s lesson text, two characters have already spoken: the serpent and the woman.

 

Earlier in Genesis 3, the serpent used the fruit to entice the woman by its visual appeal and the promise of wisdom. She ate and then shared her sin with her husband. So he ended up being a willing accomplice. Immediately they were overcome with shame and attempted to cover their nakedness with makeshift fig-leaf garments. Covering their nakedness was not enough, though, so when their regular time with the Lord God arrived, they attempted to hide.

 

1. Confrontation

(Genesis 3:8–13)

1. Avoiding God (vv. 8–10)
2. 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.

 

Our picture of what the garden looks like is far from complete. But we get a small insight here when we learn that Adam and his wife in their shame (contrast Genesis 2:25) attempt to hide from … the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Some think this implies a dense, lush forest with areas open enough to permit walking for pleasure. That’s a nice mental image, but ultimately it is speculation. It is reasonable to infer, however, that the two humans find what they think is enough foliage to block the Lord’s view, while still being close enough to a path to be able to hear God (next verse).

 

9. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

 

The Lord arrives at the customary meeting place, but His two human creations are not present. The Lord’s question Where art thou? does not indicate a lack of knowledge on His part; He is not fooled by the clumsy attempt to hide. His question, rather, is an invitation to meet. It’s been said that God’s search for people is a unique feature of Christianity, inherited from Judaism. In other religions, man searches for God.

 

Our “sanctified imaginations” tell us that the Lord’s Where art thou? pierces the hearts of the couple as it has the effect of asking “Why are you hiding?” or, even more so, “What have you done?” The Lord’s question implies an accusation of guilt, a conviction of sin.

 

God does not hesitate to show us our sins. He shatters delusions that ungodly behavior is acceptable or inevitable. As the Lord’s question pierces the hearts of Adam and Eve, so it pierces ours as well. Centuries later, David will acknowledge the impossibility of hiding from God (Psalm 139:7–12). Whether Adam fully realizes this truth in his day, we are obligated to realize that fact fully.

 

But what we hold as truth in terms of “head knowledge,” we do not always model in practice. We cannot hide from God, yet we do try. For example, we may have sins we are afraid to share with God in our prayers of confession, when in our minds we understand that God knows these sins already.

What Do You Think? What guardrails can you (and have you) put in place to help ensure that you don’t try to hide from God?   Digging Deeper What guardrails might work for you but not for others? How about the reverse? Why?

10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

 

Adam, within earshot of the Lord’s summons, does not simply come forth and say, “Here I am” (contrast Genesis 22:1, 11; 46:2; Exodus 3:4; Isaiah 6:8). Instead, he explains his hiding in an attempt to excuse it.

 

The explanation is true but misleading. Yes, Adam had been naked (Genesis 2:25), and his fear is self-evident in the fact that he has attempted to hide. He offers an explanation of the latter as being due to the former, but the explanation doesn’t hold water as we realize that his nakedness hasn’t resulted in hiding before now. He is afraid because of his disobedience.

 

The audacity and stupidity of the sin is amazing. As far as we know, there was only one rule in the Garden of Eden: don’t eat the fruit of one special tree (Genesis 2:15–17). Adam and Eve, given spectacular freedom from rules and laws, managed to break this one command.

 

1. Shifting Blame (vv. 11–13)
2. 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?

 

Again, the questioning by the Lord does not indicate a lack of knowledge on His part. He knows what has happened. But He gives Adam a chance to confess his sin. He does this in a way that confronts Adam with the obvious as God says, in effect, “Let’s talk about your discomfort with being naked. You didn’t feel this way yesterday when we met. What changed? Did you eat the forbidden fruit? That would do it.”

 

12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

 

When confronted, Adam seems to realize there is no hiding his sin. Yet he does not say, “Yes, Lord, I ate the forbidden fruit, but I regret it deeply. Please forgive me.” Instead, Adam attempts to dodge his guilt by redirecting the blame. In one of the saddest moments of all Bible accounts, Adam points the finger of guilt in two directions. First he points that finger toward his beloved wife. Then in the same breath Adam indicts the Lord as well with the phrase whom thou gavest to be with me. Adam’s admission I did eat comes with no acceptance of personal responsibility.

 

13. 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.

 

Following the model just set by her husband, the woman admits I did eat, but attempts to shift full blame elsewhere: to the serpent. There is no repentance, no asking for forgiveness.

What Do You Think? Which have you found more useful: to fixate on Satan’s role in tempting you or to ignore his role altogether? Or does the key lie somewhere between those extremes? Why?   Digging Deeper Consider contexts of occurrences of the word Satan in the New Testament.

Deflecting Responsibility

Bill would never cheat on his wife. But he maintains a “just friends” texting relationship with a woman from work. Bill would never hit his wife. But the way he belittles her appearance has a similar humiliating effect. Of course, Bill would never move out. But he refuses to connect on any emotional level with his wife.

 

Bill may think that any resulting divorce that his wife initiates will allow him to blame her for it, since he himself will not have created a biblical basis for divorce. But as our text establishes, attempts to shift blame are nothing new. God knows! Although the one through whom temptation comes is not let off the hook (Luke 17:1), the bottom line is that each person is held responsible for his or her sin (Ezekiel 18:4).

 

There are no victimless sins. Willful disobedience always affects relationships with God and others, even those sins committed in private or in the dark sanctuary of our minds. When looking for the promised way of escape from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), look first at how your decisions may damage someone else’s soul—then go in the other direction.

—D. C. S.

What Do You Think? What responsibility will you accept in helping others in your church to be free of blame?   Digging Deeper Consider 1 Timothy 3:2; 5:7; 6:14; Titus 1:6–8 in their contexts as you form your reply.

1. Judgment

(Genesis 3:14–17)

1. On the Serpent (vv. 14, 15)
2. 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.

 

God, knowing precisely what has taken place earlier at the tree, does not question the serpent. If the questioning of the two humans indicates opportunities to repent, we see no such opportunity being offered to the tempter. The Lord merely passes judgment and declares the penalty. The penalty reflects the categories of land creatures from Genesis 1:24, 25: domestic animals, wild animals, and creeping-on-the-ground animals.

 

The apostle John identifies “that old serpent” as being “the Devil, and Satan” himself (Revelation 12:9; 20:2). Because of his ability to speak and his intelligence (Genesis 3:1–5), he is more like the man and the woman than any other creature in the garden.

 

Whatever his form before God’s sentencing, the serpent is now to be included among the lowest and despised of the land animals: the ground-creepers. The description gives us the picture of a snake as we are familiar with today, that of a slithering, dust-eating belly-dragger. We assume this also includes the loss of speech and cunning intelligence.

 

15a. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.

This verse, sometimes called the protevangelium (meaning “first gospel”), is the first prophecy in the Bible about a future Savior. Until this story there has been no need for a Savior because there has been no sin. But now there is.

 

The pronouncement in this verse, given directly to the serpent, has three parts. First, there is a promise of enmity—fear and loathing—between the woman and her seed (descendants) plus the serpent and his seed. This reflects a coming battle related to the serpent and his agenda to undermine God’s authority and entice humans to sin (compare John 8:44; Acts 13:10; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 12:17). This is spiritual warfare, the struggle for the hearts and souls of men and women (Ephesians 6:10–12).

 

15b. It shall bruise thy head.

 

The coming Savior will strike some kind of blow to the serpent and his power. From this side of the cross, we realize that Jesus accomplished this when He rose from the dead and thereby defeated the power of death (compare Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 15:54–57; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18).

 

15c. And thou shalt bruise his heel.

 

The coming Messiah will be wounded by Satan’s efforts, but not defeated. He will experience death, but not remain dead (Revelation 1:18; 5:6).

What Do You Think? What Scriptures do you turn to when wrestling with temptation?   Digging Deeper How has the answer to the question above changed over the years for you? Why?

1. On Humanity (vv. 16, 17)

16a. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.

 

God’s pronouncements continue, now with regard to difficulties that lie in the future of the woman in particular and that of women in general. Childbearing and childbirth will become unpleasant and painful, something all mothers today can verify.

 

16b. And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

 

Furthermore, the woman will also be tied to her husband in ways that are not always joyful. She will fulfill her desire by marriage, but will also have a new master who will rule over her (compare 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22). This dependency has not yet existed in the case of the first man and woman, but it will haunt humankind in the future. The Hebrew behind the translation rule over is translated that way as well in Genesis 1:18.

 

17. 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.

 

The pronouncement unto Adam is the strongest and longest of all. First, God states the basis for His judgment. Yes, the temptation had come through his wife, but he still bears responsibility for his sin. As a consequence, the man will no longer have access to the blessed, perfect fertility of the garden. He will now have to scratch out a living from ground that is in some way cursed. Life will be difficult and tenuous.

 

The unpredictable nature of farming is still with us. Despite great advances in technology and methodology, we still have drought and famine. People die every day from malnutrition and hunger. There is no end in sight for this until we enter the New Jerusalem, where there no longer will be any curse (Revelation 22:3). This will be paradise restored, with direct access to both the Lord and the tree of life, access lost because of the sin in the garden.

 

III. Banishment

(Genesis 3:20–24)

1. Provision (vv. 20, 21)
2. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

 

The story ends with some final arrangements. The woman needs a name, and Adam served as the namer-in-chief earlier (Genesis 2:19, 20). He gives her a hopeful name, one based on the word for living. Adam understands that Eve will produce babies and multiply the number of humans (1:28).

 

21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

 

The garments provided by God replace the flimsy and temporary fig-leaf apparel (Genesis 3:7). The author presents this as a gracious and loving act by God. He knows that Adam and Eve will need more than mere coverings for their nakedness, once outside the garden.

 

1. Expulsion (vv. 22–24)
2. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

 

The author gives a divine detail at this juncture: the gist of God’s rationale for expelling the two from the garden. Things have changed, and sin has caused a loss of innocence for the man and his companion. God foresees that Adam has become as one of us. The “us” is not specified. Some see this as God’s addressing His heavenly council of angels (compare Job 1:6). Others see it as conversation between the three persons of the Trinity. Still others see it as the “plural of majesty” (see the commentary on Genesis 1:26 in lesson 3 on page 27).

 

To lose access to the tree of life signs the death warrant of Adam and Eve. Instead of living forever, they will age and eventually die. Another future feature of the New Jerusalem is year-round access to the tree of life, planted in or straddling the river of life (Revelation 22:2).

 

23, 24. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

 

The Lord takes extraordinary measures to prevent contact with the precious tree of life, posting a guard of heavenly beings known as Cherubims (compare Ezekiel 10:20). Although stated as guarding the east side of Eden, the implication is that the Cherubims prevent any approach to the special tree. This raises a question: Why didn’t God just destroy the garden and its location.

 

The Bible does not address this issue specifically. Given that the garden of Eden is not to be found anywhere today, God either did destroy it eventually or allowed forces of nature to overtake it. Traditionally, the garden is located in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. We search in vain, though, to find this exact spot. We will only see it restored as the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 and 22.

Self-Deception

In his Confessions, the early-church theologian Augustine told a story from his younger years. He and a group of friends snuck into an orchard to steal some pears—not to eat them, but for the mere pleasure of doing something forbidden. Centuries later, a young friend of mine felt a similar urge. So he wandered into a convenience store, took a ball of string, and put it into the back of his jacket. He didn’t need the string, but that wasn’t the point.

 

As he walked out of the store, he half expected to be tackled by the owner and held down while the police arrived. But nothing happened. All he could think was, I got away with it!

 

But his conscience began to weigh on him as he rode home on his bike. The thrill was gone, and all that remained was guilt. The next day, he snuck the ball of string back into the store and determined that he would never do something like that again.

 

Did Adam and Eve wrestle with dark desires before they made the first sinful decision in history? We don’t know. But we know all too well that we do. We would do well to question our assumptions and run our expectations by trusted people who will tell us the truth. Otherwise, like Adam and Eve, we can get caught up in a type of self-deception and blame-shifting that have lifelong consequences.

—D. C. S.

What Do You Think? What steps can you take to help keep sin out of your church?   Digging Deeper Under what circumstances, if any, would “more Bible study” not be the best way to keep sin from infecting your church? Why?

Conclusion

1. The Pattern Then as Now

Think about the pattern: First, one partner allows sin to enter the marriage. Second, the person involves the other partner. Third, the realization of the presence of sin causes shame. Fourth, the couple withdraws and tries to hide from God. Fifth, the shame becomes blame. Finally, God resolves these crises by expelling the couple from the garden. They lose their home. This is not the way we want this story to end.

 

The actions of the first couple is archetypical, a pattern repeated many times in the Bible. An opportunity to violate God’s commands seems a good thing (temptation), the violation occurs with short-term pleasure (sin), then the consequences of breaking God’s laws (punishment) bring regret (repentance). We see this several times in Genesis alone. Think of Cain and Abel, Judah and Tamar, and Joseph and his brothers.

 

1. The Solution Now as Then

The ideal is, of course, not to sin in the first place. But we do sin. And when we do, we have a choice to make: let shame lead to repentance, or let shame become blame.

 

We might reasonably infer that Adam and Eve would have been expelled from the garden even with immediate repentance, without having tried to shift blame. But we might also reasonably infer that the fact that they tried to shift blame caused tensions in their marriage down the road. Even so, they endured together and established a family. When tragedy struck again with Cain’s murder of Abel, they stayed together and had a third son, Seth (Genesis 4:25). Will we learn from the first family’s defeats and triumphs?

 

1. Prayer

Lord God, help us see our own weaknesses in the story of the first sin. We pray deliverance from daily temptations through the one who bruised the head of the serpent: Jesus Your Son. Amen.

 

1. Thought to Remember

Shifting blame delays repentance.^[

 

 

Kid’s Corner

 God’s Gracious Forgiveness

September 30, 2018

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

 

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

(Genesis 3:8) 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.

As the keeper of the garden, Adam had the responsibility to teach the woman (his wife, helper, and partner), not only about the animals and birds and their names, but also about the one and only law that God had given them to obey. When they both disobeyed God, they both learned evil by experience. For the first time they experienced pain, shame, and separation from each other and God. They lost their ability to reason clearly and thought they could hide themselves from God, their Creator.

(Genesis 3:9) Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

God loved the man and the woman that God had created in His image, and they communicated in an open and natural way until the man and woman sinned. Just as happy children will run to loving parents when they hear them come home, Adam and Eve had probably run to God, their heavenly Parent, whenever they heard God walking in the garden. Based on what the New Testament teaches about Jesus’ role in creation, the LORD God could be God the Father and God the Son walking together or the One or the Other (see John 1 and John 17). God knew perfectly well where they were hiding, but for the first time (to teach them a lesson), God asked, “Where are you?” His question would reveal to them more of the nature of evil and the death of a relationship that they had brought upon themselves when they disobeyed God and did evil.

(Genesis 3:10) He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

Adam answered God honestly and expressed his new feelings about himself, feelings of fear and shame. His new experience of knowing evil, and his knowledge that he had disobeyed God and his fear of the consequences (his fear of what death might mean for him) motivated him to try to hide from God. Death means separation. At physical death, our soul separates from our body, and our body returns to the ground (to dust) until the resurrection. The moment Adam disobeyed God, he separated himself from God and that had both immediate and lasting consequences, not only for him and his wife but for the entire human race that would follow them. He immediately experienced the spiritual death of his loving and open relationship with God and the woman. The process of death began in him, and someday his human body would die.

(Genesis 3:11) And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

God continued to ask Adam questions as part of helping Adam come to terms with and understand the consequences of his disobedience. No one told Adam that he was naked; Adam’s conscience that God had built within him accused him of being naked, of having something (his sinful actions) to hide, a pain that Adam thought he could cure himself by hiding a part of himself (his skin). Adam now experienced sin, shame, and guilt, but he transferred these feelings to now being ashamed of the way God had made him physically, and he covered himself. In some sense, Adam blamed God for having made him naked. If he had not sinned, he would have been open and totally honest before God. Because he had sinned, he hid and would not admit to God, “I was afraid of You, because I disobeyed You and ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree.” Instead, God had to ask Adam directly to take personal responsibility for his choices and actions by asking Adam in so many words, “Did you disobey me?”

(Genesis 3:12) The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

First, Adam blamed God for not making him “good,” for Adam said he was naked. Adam and the woman probably hid from one another too, because they were naked and tried to cover themselves in front of one another (see Genesis 3:7). He knew that when God saw him that He would see that he had disobeyed God, so he both covered himself and hid from God. God had made the man good and God had made the man naked. Though made good, Adam freely chose to disobey God and then thought his being naked was bad. Second, Adam blamed God for not giving him a “good” woman, for Adam said that she was the one who gave him the fruit to eat. However, from reading Genesis 1, we know that God made everything good, and God had made the man and the woman good in His image. The fact that Adam had misused his abilities and blamed God for not making him and the woman “good” in his opinion revealed something of the depth of the separation between Adam and God, between Adam and the woman, and the growing experience of evil in the lives of the man and the woman in their relationships. The evil that the woman experienced led her to try to deceive her husband into eating the forbidden fruit rather than warn him not to eat the forbidden fruit because she had eaten and had suffered damaging results.

(Genesis 3:13) Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

God knew all the facts in the situation, but He examined both Adam and Eve through questions because both the man and the woman were responsible for their choices, and as their Parent and Teacher, God needed to bring this awareness to their consciousness. When Eve learned what evil was by experience, she became morally and spiritually corrupted; therefore, she wanted to involve Adam, her partner, in evil too (this is unreasonable, but it is part of the nature of evil in people — they try to spread their evil infection to others: see 2 Timothy 3:13). Rather than take responsibility for her choices, Eve blamed the serpent. The New Testament reminds us that Eve was deceived, but Adam was not deceived (see 1 Timothy 2:14).

(Genesis 3:14) 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 you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;

We know from other scriptures that the serpent is Satan. Satan later tempted Job to sin, but Job did not fall for Satan’s tricks. Satan also tempted Jesus in the wilderness, but Jesus defeated Satan when He chose not to disobey God, His Father. God knew that Satan was not teachable, so God passed judgment against Satan immediately without discussion (there is no need for us to discuss anything with Satan, who is a deceiver). God judged that Satan would have a miserable life all the days of his life.

(Genesis 3:15) And I will put 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 heel.”

God declared that Satan with his demonic offspring and the woman with her children would forever be enemies (whether all the woman’s children would admit that Satan was their enemy or not). Jesus spoke about the characteristics of the children of the devil (see John 8:44). Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul called the magician Elymas a “son of the devil” (see Acts 13:8-12). Satan and his demonic offspring do all they can to destroy men, women, and children physically, morally, mentally, and spiritually. God declared this to warn men, women, and children not to make peace with Satan, who is evil and who would require them to be and do evil as a condition of peace with him. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is the only One who can bring true and lasting peace to people. Those created in the image of God must always fight against Satan and evil. In this verse, God speaks for the very first time of Satan’s ultimate defeat. Satan would strike the heel of the Messiah, Jesus, when Jesus died on the cross. On the other hand, Jesus would strike Satan’s head. Because Jesus defeated Satan and death when He rose from the dead, Jesus will someday decisively and publicly strike Satan’s head. One spiritual consequence of sin is people must never make peace with Satan; people must fight Satan whenever he or his offspring tempt people to do evil. This battle will last until Jesus Christ comes again.

(Genesis 3:16) To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

A physical consequence of sin was God’s direct punishment for the woman’s disobedience, and this consequence will have an effect on all women until Jesus Christ comes again. However, her desire for her husband would overcome her shame at being naked before him and her desire to avoid the pain of childbearing, so the human race would continue. These consequences serve as reminders to people not to sin again, because there are natural, spiritual, and judicial consequences when people sin. There are natural painful consequences to sin, because we have violated our human nature as created by God. And there are judicial consequences to sin, consequences that God judges we must suffer for our sins unless we repent and return to faith in God and in Jesus, Who suffered the judicial consequences of sin that we deserve.

(Genesis 3:17) Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

God did not curse the man or the woman; God designed suffering from sin to restrain the growth and spread of sin. The consequences of sin gave people a reason to fight against Satan’s temptations rather than continue to follow his suggestions to disobey God. Sinners will often try to mislead others into sin, as the woman misled her husband, so believers must think, pray, and rely on God to avoid being misled. God punished man for his disobedience by making his work difficult and tiring. To survive, people would now need to fight against weeds, and struggle and toil to make the ground grow food to meet their needs. With less leisure time and more effort needed to survive, some people would be less likely to waste their time in sinful activities and the misleading of others.

(Genesis 3:20) Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

Adam first called his wife “Woman” (see Genesis 2:23). Because she would bear children, Adam named her “Eve,” which can be translated as “Source of Life.” God drove them out of the Garden of Eden so they could not eat of the tree of life and live forever in sin and shame. Because Jesus came to save those who had died, or would die, with a biblical faith in the true God, believers now have access to the tree of life (see Revelation 2:7; and Revelation 22:2, 14, 19). Jesus needed to come and change people before they could truly enjoy eternal life now and also live forever.

(Genesis 3:21) The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Other than eating plants, Adam and Eve had never seen or experienced death, so they did not know what physical death meant until God taught them the meaning by experience. God graciously put an animal to physical death instead of Adam or Eve, an animal had to die for the LORD to cover them, and they saw what death meant for the first time. Their sin brought about the death of an animal (probably one of their friends or companions), and someday they would die too. They could not clothe themselves to cover their shame successfully, only God could do that with the sacrifice of an animal. They learned about animal sacrifices from God. Later, they would make and teach their children to make sacrifices approved by God (perhaps they were commanded to only sacrifice lambs). Later, Jesus, the Son of God (also called the Lamb of God), would die to remove our sins, our guilt, our shame, and rise again to clothe us with His righteousness so we could enter the kingdom of heaven and spend eternity with God in open, honest, loving communication.

(Genesis 3:22) Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

The LORD knew that obeying God was good and disobeying God was evil. God also knew evil secondhand, after the angels rebelled against God. God never experienced evil personally by doing evil, for all God does is good and wise. God is Love and Light, and there is no darkness in God. After Adam and Eve sinned, they came to know evil firsthand by personal experience. The evil they did separated them from one another and from God. Before they sinned, they could have eaten from the tree of life forever, because that was not forbidden by God until after they disobeyed the LORD.

(Genesis 3:23) therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

God had told Adam to manage the creatures put under his authority as their benevolent ruler, just as the LORD managed Adam and Eve as their benevolent Ruler. After they rebelled against God by disobeying the only law the LORD gave them, they not only suffered the true moral guilt that led to their separation from God and one another, they also suffered God’s just discipline. From that time forward, they would no longer be able to just eat the delicious fruit hanging from the trees; they would need to work the ground to provide food for themselves to eat. Until the LORD restored all creation, they would never be able to enter the Garden of Eden again.

(Genesis 3:24) So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

The LORD sent angels, called cherubim, to guard the only entrance into the Garden of Eden (on the east side of the garden) and used a flaming sword to deter a casual or forced entry. King Solomon put gold plated images of cherubim in the Holy of Holies when he built the temple (see 1 Kings 6). Since the time of the flood in the days of Noah, the location of the Garden of Eden has been lost.

 

 

God’s Gracious Forgiveness

September 30, 2018

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

 

 “And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever’” (Genesis 3:22).

 

God gave Adam and Eve the choice to obey or disobey God. If they obeyed God, they could eat of the tree of life and live forever. If they disobeyed God, they would no longer have access to the tree of life and they would surely die. If they chose to obey God, they would only know good forever and enjoy a happy and satisfying relationship with God and their growing family as they filled the earth and exercised their God-given roles as benevolent rulers of the creatures that would be their companions forever. Unhappily, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and break the only law God gave them, and what God said would happen happened: they immediately experienced and knew evil firsthand, unlike God who only knows evil secondhand. They immediately suffered true moral guilt and experienced separation from each other. They felt ashamed, and later they tried to hide from God. Among other consequences, these experiences were built into their human nature. For this reason, when we sin we suffer these or similar moral consequences, unless we have made our conscience ineffective by repeatedly choosing to disobey God. Because God loves people, God forgave Adam and Eve and helped them cover themselves more effectively. And before they died, God allowed them to live hundreds of years and begin to fill the earth with their children. Still, their disobedience had a devastating effect on their family and all their descendants; therefore, God sent Jesus into the world.

 

Thinking Further

God’s Gracious Forgiveness

September 30, 2018

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

Name ———————————-

 

1. What are some of the ways sinners try to hide themselves from God?

 

 

2. When God already knew the answers, why do you think God asked the man and woman questions?

 

 

3. Why do you think the man was afraid of God?

 

 

4. Who did the man and the woman blame for their having sinned against God? How did sin have an effect on their relationship?

 

 

5. What two types of punishment did the man and woman experience? Do people today still experience these two types of punishment?

 

 

Questions for Discussion and Thinking Further

 

1. What are some of the ways sinners try to hide themselves from God? In spite of the evidence, some try to deny that God exists, and some call themselves atheists or agnostics; this is one way of trying to hide from God. Some do not read the Bible and some do not believe everything that the Bible teaches; they try to hide from God by not believing in the God of the Bible. Some who read the Bible try to hide from God by saying that some parts of the Bible do not apply to them; such as the moral law of God and the Ten Commandments with the consequences the Bible teaches will follow disobedience. Some try to hide from God by embracing philosophies and religions other than historic, Biblical Christianity; they try to hide from God by trusting in deceptions and falsehoods instead of in the Bible.

 

2. When God already knew the answers, why do you think God asked the man and woman questions? God asked them questions because God needed to teach them (and those who read the Bible) lessons about sin and some of what can happen when people they sin. God treated them as a parent or teacher, who asks questions to help their child or student learn to think better and do what they should do and avoid what they should avoid.

 

3. Why do you think the man was afraid of God? The man did not know what God might say or do to him when God faced him after God learned that he had sinned. He knew that when God saw him that God would know that he had sinned, because now he was ashamed and had tried to cover himself. He knew that his sin had changed the way that he felt about God, and he was afraid that his sin would change the caring and loving way that God felt about him.

 

4. Who did the man and the woman blame for their having sinned against God? How did sin have an effect on their relationship? The man blamed the woman and the woman blamed the serpent. They did not take personal responsibility or admit personal guilt for having disobeyed God. The woman involved the man by tempting him to sin as she had sinned, rather than tell him that she had disobeyed God and warn him not to disobey God as she had done. The woman who Satan deceived tried to deceive the man, and was successful in leading him into temptation and disobedience. Their relationship of love, honesty, openness, and trust in one another was damaged.

 

5. What two types of punishment did the man and woman experience? Do people today still experience these two types of punishment? The first type of punishment God built into their nature when He created them in His image. God has a conscience. God’s conscience commends His 3 actions and choices. For example, His conscience commended Him at each stage of His creation, when He saw that what He had done was good (see Genesis 1). Created in the image of God, people have a conscience. Because God gave them a conscience, Adam and Eve naturally felt guilt and shame when they sinned, and they also experienced a damaged relationship. The second type of punishment was the result of God, the Supreme Judge and King of the universe, passing a judicial judgment against them after they disobeyed. He told them the sentence against them. The woman would experience pain in childbirth and the man would toil in the soil. We learn from this judgment that when we commit sin our sins and the changes that follow have an effect on others, a bad effect; so, we should avoid sin for the sake of ourselves and others.

 

 

Word Search

God’s Gracious Forgiveness

September 30, 2018

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

Name _____________________________

J Z O P E U T K G V W B G I G

Q P L T L N M N A S F X H O A

I G A I E W I H G Z D T K G B

Q W O P G R A T A B W H N F P

I T R X P F S I R E X U E Z U

M E D S R E U M D F H S D X W

S C F A U G S Z E I Y B D N F

W F I W S W E Y N W N A I A K

O D C E H D J V F B A N B D W

A S E Z V G O Y C M K D R F K

Y R G L W A E G T J E V O N Y

T E H I D V Q Z U I D G F R Q

G F O G Q R L J M V M C Q L T

T B D E V I E C E D W N W A K

S J I Q A H L B Z A K I E D S

 

Husband

Wife

Ate

Forbidden

God

Hid

Trees

Garden

Afraid

Naked

Serpent

Deceived

Enmity

Offspring

Toi

 

True and False Test

God’s Gracious Forgiveness

September 30, 2018

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

Name _____________________________

 

Circle the true or false answers. Correct the false statements by restating them.

 

1. Because God is infinite and almighty, Adam and Eve were always afraid of Him whenever they heard Him lurking in the garden. True or False

 

2. Rather than accept personal responsibility for their disobedience, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. True or False

 

3. Because of their disobedience, God cursed Adam, Eve, the serpent, and the ground. True or False

 

4. Because Adam and Eve hid among the trees in the garden, God could not find them and asked where they were. True or False

 

5. Adam said he was afraid of the LORD God because he was naked. True or False

 

6. The serpent mocked Adam and told him he was naked. True or False

 

7. The woman said that the serpent had deceived her. True or False

 

8. The LORD God doomed the serpent to crawling on his belly and eating dust. True or False

 

9. Because the LORD God cursed the ground, Adam would need to toil to eat food as long as he lived. True or False

 

10.     Because God loved Adam and Eve, the LORD God made garments of fig leaves for them to cover themselves. True or False

 

 

True and False Test Answers

Genesis 3:8-17; 20-24

 

1. False
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. True
6. False
7. True
8. True
9. True

10.Falsse

 

 

Prayer

Lord God, help us see our own weaknesses in the story of the first sin. We pray deliverance from daily temptations through the one who bruised the head of the serpent: Jesus Your Son. Amen.