In the Beginning | Paradise Lost
In the Beginning: (Part V)
PARADISE LOST
Genesis 3:1-10 (ESV)
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 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.’”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
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.
9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Last Sunday, the whole world was shocked and devastated with the news that Kobe Bryant, the NBA icon, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven more people died because of a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. As soon as the news broke, almost everybody started sharing it and expressing their condolences on social media. No one could believe that Kobe, at a very young age, only 41 years old, would pass away just like that. My heart goes to Kobe’s wife and kids and members of their families. What a sad reality about how short and fragile life could be!
When I reflect on what had happened, I recognized that all of us in one way or another have been affected by the unexpected death of a friend or a loved one. And often, when sudden deaths like this occur, they are more painful because we are not prepared emotionally for them. I remember when my mother-in-law died because of Aneurysm in 2001. It was Sunday morning during our worship service in BCI while Tess and I were away, ministering in a Filipino church in Brooklyn. We had Dr. Paul Devries, one of my former professors in New York City, as the speaker that Sunday, and during his preaching, mommy Galvez fainted. Some of our nurses scrambled to assist her immediately; they called 911, and the paramedics took her to the hospital. But by the time they reached the hospital, she was already unconscious. She passed away the next morning. Times like these are always very difficult and painful. Do you know why? It is because we all want to have more time with our loved ones. We all want to be able to hold on to them as much as we could. However, there’s nothing we can do. Death is coming; death has been appointed for all of us.
Do you sometimes wish that this is not our reality? Or, that we don’t have to always worry about losing a loved one? When you go back to the Bible, death was not really part of God’s original plan. It only became part of our existence because our first parents totally ignored God’s plain command of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here’s the account when that command was given:
Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV)
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
After God created Adam and Eve, God placed man in a paradise, the Garden of Eden. He can enjoy all the vegetation and fruit trees there, except for only one – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Despite the clear warning from God, they still disobeyed Him. Because of this disobedience, death came, and we all lost the privilege of living in paradise.
This morning, I would like us to continue our studies in the book of Genesis, focusing on “The Fall of Man.” This chapter is a very important text because it would be hard to understand the rest of the book if we skip it. Why? You see, in the first two chapters, we saw the Lord created everything. Genesis 1:31 can summarize the creation account - “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
But, when you jump to chapter 4 and the succeeding chapters, you find jealousy, anger, murder, wickedness, corruption, etc. The question is: Where did all of these come from? How did sin come into existence? The narrative in our text will help enlighten us on how sin became part of our existence. There are four parts in the story that we need to highlight:
I THE CRAFTINESS OF SATAN (vv.1-5)
As we begin to read our text, Satan is introduced, who, in his craftiness, appeared as a serpent. How do we know that this was Satan or the devil? Well, Revelation 12:9 reveals it to us:
Revelation 12:9 (ESV)
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 was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
It is quite clear that the ancient serpent was Satan. I guess, it is safe for us to conclude that prior to the fall, the snakes were not as frightening as they are today because Eve was not afraid to talk to it. When Satan appeared in the Garden, he engages Eve and deceives her to disobeying the Lord. There were two things that Satan did in deceiving Eve and that we need to be familiar with. It is because this is how he always operates whenever he is tempting us as well to sin and rebel against the Lord.
He Attacks the Integrity of God
When Satan started talking to Eve, the very first thing he did was to ask her a question - “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” This question may appear harmless, but the reality was that the devil crafted this question to make Eve re-evaluate the goodness of God. In this question, Satan seems to be implying that God is not as good because He was forbidding them to eat of the fruits of the trees in the garden. But was that true? Of course not! He only forbade them to eat the fruits of one tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We need to be careful with this assault because the devil can cause us to doubt the character of God as well. And this attack always starts in the mind. The apostle Paul stated this satanic strategy to us:
2 Corinthians 11:3 (ESV)
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
We need to closely guard what we allow to pass through our thoughts. Satan will always attack by casting some doubts on what we have learned from the Bible about God. So, never entertain doubts because that could lead to being led astray by the enemy.
B. He Attacks the Intentions of God
From asking a question, the next cunning step of Satan was to deny God’s word. Notice verses 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.’”
It is obvious that Satan lied when he totally denied the consequence of sin when he said that they wouldn’t die. The next is more dangerous because he also openly attacks the intentions of God when he told Eve that the reason why God did not like them to eat is because He didn’t like them to be like Him. Satan knew that in order to get Eve to disobey the Lord, he must persuade her to distrust God’s integrity and intentions. She had to be convinced that God was keeping back something she could be enjoying.
I trust that we are all aware that Satan continues to do the same thing today. He still does it, because it works. If He can make us doubt God in any way, we can easily turn our backs from God. In line with this thought, Pastor James Merritt made this statement:
“The devil is never looking out for your best interests. Anytime he tells you to do something, he is not trying to help you; he is trying to hurt you. He will try to get you to doubt the Word of God and he will lie in the process.”
II THE COMMISSION OF SIN (v. 6)
After being lied to by the devil, now, the forbidden fruit looks more appealing – “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” (v.6).
Notice, the appeal of the temptation was three-prong:
The Lust of the Flesh - “the woman saw that the tree was good for food”
The Lust of the Eyes - “that it was a delight to the eyes”
The Pride of Life - “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise”
We must remember these three areas that the devil loves to target whenever he is enticing us to sin because you will find him doing the very same thing to Jesus during His temptation in the wilderness. If you examine the passage in Matthew 4:1-11, once again, the appeal was made:
The Lust of the Flesh
Matthew 4:3 (ESV)
3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
The Pride of Life
Matthew 4:5-6 (ESV)
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
The Lust of the Eyes
Matthew 4:8-9 (ESV)
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Though the sequence differs, yet the targets were very much the same. For us, we always need to constantly guard these three vital areas because these are where sin begins in our lives. If you go back to the text, after Eve changed her outlook of the fruit, sin came along. She ate the fruit and gave it to Adam to eat also, so both sinned against the Lord.
III THE CURSES OF SIN (vv. 7-19)
Following the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God confronted them in the Garden in order to bring the consequences or curses of their sin. If you examine the text, we can summarize them into three major curses:
Shame (v. 7-10)
After both disobeyed, you will read these in verses 7-8 how they both realized that they were naked, and so, they had to cover themselves. Then, when God finally came to the Garden, they both had to hide from Him out of shame because they disobeyed Him.
Sin brings shame. Adam and Eve experienced it and we will also feel it when we sin, especially when we are caught sinning.
B. Suffering (vv. 11-19)
Aside from the shame, there were also specific curses that God bestowed to the serpent, the woman, and the man. But before the statement of curses, I would also highlight the response of Adam and Eve when God asked both of them how they knew they were naked. First, Adam said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then, when Eve was asked, she responded by saying, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Honestly, even before the giving of curses, suffering has begun. The fact is: Adam and Eve were both unwilling to take the accountability of their failures. Definitely, this irresponsibility has led to many discords and conflicts among married couples, siblings, friends, and neighbors.
Then, when you keep reading verses 14-19, the specific curses to the serpent, woman, and man will be stated:
To the serpent (vv. 14-15) – disgrace and defeat
To the woman (v. 16) – suffering in childbirth and submission to her husband.
To Adam (vv. 17-19) – painful labor to survive economically and the weariness connected to working.
C. Separation (vv. 21-24)
The part of which I consider the hardest blow is found in these verses:
Genesis 3:21-24 (ESV)
21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 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—” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
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.
You see, prior to the fall of Adam and Eve, the best part of paradise was not the food they can eat or the beautiful flowers they can enjoy, but the privilege of close fellowship with God. God came and talked to them directly. They have had close contact with Him. But here, they experienced “spiritual death.” If physical death is the separation of the body from the soul and spirit, spiritual death is the separation of human beings from God. This truth is perfectly illustrated when Adam and Eve were sent out of the Garden of Eden after they fell into sin. And we all will understand why. God, being Holy, can no longer closely commune with sinful human beings. This spiritual reality is stated plainly by the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 59:1-2 (ESV)
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Indeed, sin has caused us to lose our paradise. But God, being gracious, did not end the story here. He has provided a great source of hope for all of us when He said these words to the serpent: Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
15 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.”
In this verse, we will find the very first promise of Jesus Christ. Where can you find Him? This prophecy is the promise that the offspring of the woman will defeat the devil by bruising his head. Imagine, despite everything that Adam and Eve did, despite all the carelessness and disobedience, God was compassionate enough to provide a way for humanity to find salvation through Jesus Christ. There’s no question, humans messed up, and so, we lost our paradise. But when Jesus came and went to the cross, He took our shame, our suffering, and our separation, so that He can restore everything that we lost most, especially our paradise!