Genesis 3
November 9, 2010
SOARING
If you listened to SOARING yesterday on Genesis chapters 1 and 2 you learned my husband and
kids are big movie fans. As I proofed this, he was in that man-cave he mentioned yesterday just
happy as a bug.
Unlike the rest of my family, I have never been much of a movie fan. Growing up, the only
movie I remember seeing was the Wizard of Oz and it terrified me. I am the worst possible
person to watch a movie with. I start to squirm as the conflict emerges and I constantly ask
whoever is in the room, “Do you know if this has a happy ending?” If it does not, I often cannot
make it through. So I wind up rewatching happy old movies, usually Pixar classics, over and
over because I know the ending.
Hi! I am Jean Gutsche and today we are SOARING through Genesis chapter 3. Maybe I am not
the one to be commenting on Genesis 3 because in the REAL story of life, this is the chapter
that starts all the conflict. It’s the LOST part of our “lost and found series”. It makes me nervous
and uncomfortable every time I read this chapter. Because my devotional day is Tuesday and I
have to think God sets all things up, I will continue. But I just HAVE to tell the ending of the
story even though it is only hinted at in chapter 3.
Our Genesis three story starts with the creepy encounter between Eve and Satan who has
taken the form of a crafty snake. The Bible gives us some background on how Satan came to be
in the Garden of Eden on earth. Ezekiel 28 says he was an angel of the highest rank in heaven,
verse 12 says, “the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty….verse 13…”
every precious stone adorned you” verse 15, you were blameless in your ways from the day
you were created till wickedness was found in you; verse 17 ”your heart became proud on
account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor”. Isaiah 14
tells us the specific reason for Satan’s demise in verse 13, “ I will ascend to heaven, I will raise
my throne above the stars of God, I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, I will make
myself like the Most High”. Satan wanted to be God. So when this powerful and formally
magnificent celestial being inhabits the body of a snake and coos to Eve, we know things are
not looking good. His first trick is to cast doubt and confuse Eve about God’s word, “Did God
REALLY say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The words are dripping with evil.
We think, Eve, don’t do it! Don’t do it! He entices her to forget about what God says are the
consequences of sin when he chants “You will not surely die”, then tries to suck her into the
rebellion that has caused his downfall, when he says, “For God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened , and you will be like God knowing good and evil.” So there you have
it. Eve, living in what is literally heaven on earth, surrenders to what continues to be our
temptations, the lust of the flesh (Eve saw that fruit of the tree was good for food), the lust of
the eyes (the fruit was pleasing to the eye), and the pride of life (it was desirable for gaining
wisdom.) Just as Satan probed and attacked Eve’s weak spots, he probes us for the weakest
link in the armor. I John 2:15 says, For everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the
lust of his eyes, the boasting of what he has and does, comes not from the father but from the
world. What Satan unleashed in the Garden of Eden flourishes in the world today.
And the story doesn’t get better….yet. Eve entices Adam to eat the fruit and Satan’s triumph
seems complete. This is the point I would leave the room if it were a movie. But hang on, our
hero is just around the corner.
God is walking through the Garden and calls to the man, “Where are you?” Of course he knows
what has happened…he is God. Commentator David Guzik, who has shed great light on this
passage for me, says he is crying out to Adam as an anguished parent would cry out for a lost
child. What a poignant glimpse of the merciful Father. And while he meets out just
punishment for what has happened, it is punishment that involves, miraculously redemption.
God questions Adam and Eve’s actions. Adam responds with his famous indictment of Eve
rather than taking the blame squarely, “the woman you put here with me-she gave me some
fruit from the tree and I ate it; while Eve straightforwardly admits, “the serpent deceived me
and I ate”.
God first delivers the serpents punishment, he is to be cursed above all the livestock and all the
wild animals, he will crawl on his belly and eat dust all the days of his life. The idea of eating
dust means total defeat, God’s judgment on Satan is for him to always know defeat, he will
always reach for victory over mankind and God but will always fall short of it. The idea of the
snake eating dust is mentioned in Isaiah 65:25 and Micah 7:17. Next comes the Biggie, the
ultimate victory for the Good Guys. God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman
and your offspring and hers. Enmity means ill will, hatred or mutual antagonism. He will crush
your head and you will strike his heel. God goes on to punish the woman by increasing her
pains in childbirth, and establishing the man as the head of the household. He curses man by
making his chore of providing food a difficult and miserable process and then the
pronouncement of death….”By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return
to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
These are horrible consequences and they have plagued men and women since that day, but
the prediction about Eve’s relationship with the serpent is what gives us hope. God says, I will
put enmity between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his
heel.
Jesus comes from the SEED OF THE WOMAN alone. The ultimate battle is Jesus against Satan.
When he comes to earth, he puts himself within striking distance of Satan who does wound
him or “bruise Jesus heel” But Jesus crushes Satan’s head in the end with a mortal wound…he
defeats death.
The good news is that God was not surprised by Adam and Eve’s rebellion. He used it to bring
forth something greater than man….redeemed man. Redeeemed man…someone who is
greater than innocent man, is only possible because man has done something to be redeemed
from. God’s relationship with us today, the intimate personal loving relationship we have with
Jesus Christ was necessary and made possible by what happened in the Garden of Eden.
How amazing that in the third chapter of the first book of the Bible, written thousands of years
ago, the framework for life as we know it was laid out. The cycle of God’s love, our sin,
consequences and repentance happens over and over again as we observe the life of
individuals and nations in the 66 books of the Bible. I am pleased to report, as we all know, that
the end of this story is violent but happy for those of us who rest in the hands of our merciful
Savior. Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father: We thank you for your plan and provision to redeem us even when we fall.
We thank you that through your inspired word we can know you intimately and we can learn
to depend completely on you. Thank you for your merciful love and care in all circumstances.
Amen.