A Curse and a Covering

Memorial Day

As we gather today, let us take a moment to honor and remember the brave men and women who have served in the military and have since passed away. These individuals answered a call to serve a cause greater than themselves, putting their lives on the line to protect the freedoms we hold dear. They fought not for their own benefit, but for the sake of future generations, so that we might live in a world of liberty and justice. War is a terrible thing. We are grateful for the ultimate sacrifice these heroes made, and we acknowledge that their selfless acts have allowed us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. To the families who have been touched by the loss of a loved one in military service, may you feel God's presence and comfort as you carry the weight of this sacrifice. May He grant you peace, strength, and mercy as you navigate life without your cherished family member by your side. Hold fast to the hope of heaven and the promise of a joyous reunion, and may this hope breathe new life into your souls. Until that day when Jesus returns and there is no more death, pain, or tears, we will continue to honor and remember those who have given their lives in service to these United States for the betterment of our nation and of the world.

Introduction

The Broken Vase: Display a beautiful, intricately designed vase on stage. Talk about how it was created for a specific purpose and how it brings joy to those who see it. Then, dramatically break the vase, symbolizing the Fall and how sin shattered God's perfect design. Explain that just as the broken vase cannot repair itself, we cannot fix our broken relationship with God on our own. Segue into how God provides a covering for our shame and a way to restore our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

If you have your Bibles, or on your devices, would you turn to Genesis 3:14-24.

If you are able and willing, would you stand with me as I read God’s word this morning.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Amen. Please be seated.

Curses

As we discussed a few weeks ago, what the man and woman did in taking of the fruit is a few fold:

They sought to determine what was good and evil, that which was reserved for God alone. The tree wasn’t bad, but it was not the appointed time for them to partake. We equated this to driving… driving is not bad, but to give keys to a five year old is not good nor helpful.

They rejected what God had setup in as to the cosmic ordering of things. God entrusted to humanity (man/woman) with authority to protect, govern, and maintain creation under God’s ultimate authority.

As Dr. Sandra Richter puts it, the perfect plan of God was the people of God in the place of God dwelling in the presence of God

But as we see today, just like the man and woman, we have to choose to follow God; we have the ability to follow and not follow. The man and woman chose not to follow God, but enticed they took and ate from the tree that God said don’t eat.

The man and woman in refusing this plan in essence, they rejected the seventh day. They chose this image as opposed to this image (ILLUS), in which the seventh day (Yahweh’s ultimate sovereignty) is deleted from the framework. And although Adam and Eve had authority to make this choice, they did not have the agency to hold the cosmos in check after making it.

Richter, S. L. (2008). The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (pp. 112–113). IVP Academic.

The ones made in the image of God could not be forced or coerced, but instead were called upon to choose their allegiance. And choose they did. “God’s original intent was sabotaged by humanity, stolen by the Enemy. Because of this we see the curses that God pronounces. For each the man and woman we find not just the removal of blessings, but the reversal of blessings. What had been a blessing now becomes a curse, a benefit becomes a burden, paradise is exchanged for prison.

Eve

Genesis 3:16a “To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.”

What a gift it is to bear a child. We discussed a couple weeks ago how the woman in her body is a picture of life. Not only to grow and produce human life, but is given the necessary means to sustain the child for a substantial time afterwords until they can eat more solid food and eventually feed themselves! Wow! Children grow in their mama’s, give birth, teaching them, protecting them, eventually to send them off into the world.

This was the woman’s blessing.

But now this woman, who was called to be the source of life, will enter this experience only through severe pain and often severe injury. In truth, the leading cause of death for the daughters of Eve prior to the industrial age (and still in many parts of the world) is childbirth. Eve, the one blessed to mother the human race, will now die in the process of bringing forth life. With the Fall, she who held the unique privilege of producing the heirs of Adam’s race finds instead that her chief source of injury and death would be that very act.

Richter, S. L. (2008). The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (pp. 108–109). IVP Academic.

The other curse that is pronounced upon Eve

Genesis 3:16b “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.””

This is interesting language for sure. It’s not straight forward and easy to completely understand this one.

With the Fall, this ideal partnership is transformed into the competitive grappling of two hungry souls. In the coregency of Eden, the man and woman’s creative ambitions had been fully satisfied, their needs for partnership and intimacy, affirmation and admiration had found full satisfaction in the “helper suitable” (Gen 2:18). They saw in each other “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23). But with the Fall, although the man and woman still desperately need and desire one another, they are no longer able to live their lives together with the same mutuality.

“Rather, they are now locked into a competitive relationship, each vying for control of the other, contending for the resources that now appear so transient. As Adam had the advantage of size and strength, and Eve was still constrained by her desire for hearth and home, the centuries testify to the fact that Eve’s longing for her husband will too often result in her willing participation in her own oppression and abuse. A relationship that should have been characterized by mutual self-sacrifice, productivity and joy will create instead the deepest of frustration and pain … and yet she will still yearn for this relationship.”

Richter, S. L. (2008). The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (pp. 109–110). IVP Academic.

There isn’t a marriage today that hasn’t felt this strain and the aftershock of this curse.

Hope isn’t lost, hope remains, the man and woman are promised that their union will produce an heir that will crush the head of the serpent. He will slay the one who deceived them.

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.””

Even in this fallen state, the woman will bring forth the Savior of the World.

Adam

Genesis 3:17–18 “To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

There is a play on words here. Adam (אָדָם) and the workable/cultivatable ground (אֲדָמָה). Where it would desire to give up its produce, it’s fruit, it’s bounty for the man, now it will be given through painful toil.

Adam’s authority over the ʾădāmāh is shattered. Now Adam’s careful and creative tilling of the earth will become toil, toil that at times will be more than he can bear. And worse, the land will be fruitless.

“Thorns and thistles it shall grow for you.” The ʾădāmāh was designed to serve ʾĀdām but, now it will rebel against them. Designed to respond and supply, now it will deceive and withhold. Notice as well that it is not work that is Adam’s curse here, it is fruitless work. I came to realize in my life that one of the most life-sucking excercises for me is “make-work”. To do work for the sake of work, I lose all motivation:

I experienced this in education… High School and College, was really rough. I didn’t understand or see how it was beneficial (certain classes). However getting into Bible College and Seminary, straight A’s. I’m the only one of my brothers who is doing what we went to school for. I found purpose and coupled with desire it’s a pretty powerful force.

I was reminded of this at another time in my life. Crystal and I were assessing with a missions organization with thoughts to go on the mission field. We were doing this exercise in the middle of the Twin-Cities. It was a scavenger hunt competition with 4 other groups. Our team lead who was supposed to guide us, failed us and gave us the clues out of order, which meant that there was no chance we could win. When I realized that putting two and two together, I was defeated. Before that, I was out front leading the charge, “Let’s goooo!! C’mon team!”… after I realized that we couldn’t win because of our team lead’s mistake, I was in the back of group as we made our way to the last clue and then rejoined the rest of the teams at the finish line.

We who are created in the image of God are designed to love to create and produce, but when that work is forced upon us or is fruitless, then it becomes toil and our will is broken.

Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground (אֲדָמָה), since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.””

This last bit of the curse is particularly poignant. Most read the phrase “by the sweat of your face” as having to do with difficult physical labor. But an article by Daniel Fleming of New York University has demonstrated that this phrase is actually an old ancient Near Eastern idiom having nothing to do with hard work. Rather, this idiom speaks of anxiety—perspiration-inducing fear. Where does anxiety fit into God’s curse upon us? What we find in Genesis 3 is that because of the rebellion of the earth and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from God’s presence, humanity will now live their lives in an adversarial world with a constant, gnawing undercurrent of dread that there will not be enough, that their labor will not meet the need. What if the crop fails? The livestock die? A fire, storm or drought? Can you relate? What about groceries this week? Rent, mortgage and car payment? College tuition? Retirement? What if I get sick? What if my kids get sick? I am a citizen of the richest nation in the world, I have a secure position at a well-endowed seminary and still I worry. And so do you.

Richter, S. L. (2008). The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (pp. 110–111). IVP Academic.

The final scene of this heartbreaking drama is that Yahweh drives his children from his presence, and the place that Adam and Eve were privileged to protect is now protected from them. This final curse embodies all that has gone before. ʾĀdām has lost Yahweh, and now the people of God will live in exile from both his place and his presence. The verb in verse 23, šālaḥ is the same verb one uses to divorce a wife or disown a child. As we think back to chapter one and what the word “redemption” actually means, we see that a divorce or disowning is indeed an appropriate metaphor for this event. By their own choice, Adam and Eve are separated from their Creator.

Richter, S. L. (2008). The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament (p. 112). IVP Academic.

But Adam and Eve refused this plan; in essence, they rejected the seventh day. They chose figure 4.3 instead, in which the seventh day (Yahweh’s ultimate sovereignty) is deleted from the framework. And although Adam and Eve had authority to make this choice, they did not have the agency to hold the cosmos in check after making it

And whereas Yahweh’s world was one of life, joy and beauty, humanities world is one of loss, anxiety and violence.

Covering

Genesis 3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

Exodus 34:6-7 on display

Exodus 34:6–7 “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.””

I will remind us this is the only place in scripture where YHWH describes Himself. Jesus would tell Philipp his disciple, “Philip, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

The interactions that we see God have with the Man and Woman, His full character is on display. May we take comfort that God is not like any other creation of our imagination, or collective imagination of humans throughout the ages.

Dealing with consequences: what is happening is that now that they have sought full autonomy they are recognizing their nakedness.

We’re not aware of anything having experienced death in the garden at this point. We see God covering them with skins of an animal. Some argue against this but I see that sin has lead to the implied death of an animal to cover the man and woman in their journey out of the garden.

This provision should probably be seen as an act of grace by God, preparing them for the more difficult environment he is sending them into and providing a remedy for their newly developed shame

Walton, J. H. (2001). Genesis (p. 230). Zondervan.

Grace until all things set right (Rom 8, maybe)… Paul uses this language in Romans 8:18–21 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

Not just our liberation but all of creation is groaning and longing for things to be made whole again.

Kingdom Now as it Will Be

We shouldn’t consider the effects of the curse as the greatest loss, despite their far-reaching impact. In Israel, although there was a clear recognition of sin's inherent nature, the primary concern of the Fall wasn't the change in human nature or even in the heart's condition. Instead, it was the loss of access to God's presence and the diminished ability to partake in His blessings.

When reflecting on "Paradise Lost," our thoughts, nor Adam and Eve’s thoughts would be preoccupied with the loss of pleasant living conditions, provision of needs, or even harmony among creatures. The most profound loss was not of paradise itself, but of God. The Old Testament doesn't talk about regaining the comforts of Eden, but it emphasizes the importance of regaining access to God's presence.

Let me read for us the very first beginning of the gospel of John.

John 1:1–19 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”)  Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

We have been given the access and the relationship with God in a way that is not yet fully realized. We have access to God himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus is so central.

This is why Jesus would have us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.” His desire is to lead us back into the garden. Jesus is our tree of life.

Than when we are absent from this body that is wonderful but yet broken and falling apart, we shall be transformed. That we will be where He is. This is our hope. This is what we long for. This is the eternity that God has put in our hearts. Where he turns every sad thing to become untrue.

This is our hope.

Conclusion

As we consider the vase, we are reminded that sin has a real affect on our lives. The consequence of sin is viscerally felt and far reaching. That the tragedy is not paradise lost as much as it is the expulsion from God’s presence. But the good news is that God has drawn near in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In His infinite love and grace, he covers us by His blood. Where our righteousness are like dirty rags, His grace and sacrifice has cleansed us and given us His righteousness that is white, pure, and clean. He has exchanged our sin and disobedience for His holiness and righteousness. He is drawing us back into His presence. He is our Tree of Life. He makes all things new.

If you have yet to put your trust and allegiance to Jesus, today is the day. If you need that re-creation in your life, if you have that desire to draw near to God because you are far off, then pray with me this morning.

Take a moment to reflect on areas of your life where you may be experiencing the consequences of sin and separation from God. Bring these areas to God in prayer, asking for His healing, restoration, and guidance.

For those who are believers, I encourage you to cultivate a deeper relationship with God through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other Christians. Make it a priority to draw near to God and experience His presence in your daily life.

As you go about your week, be a witness of God's love and grace in your family, workplace, and community. Share the hope you have found in Jesus with others who may be struggling with the consequences of sin and separation from God.

Let’s pray.

If you prayed that this morning, would you let someone know? We’d love to walk with you and encourage you on your journey with Jesus.