2025.01.19 Restoration: The Punishment

Genesis 3:9–24 NIV

9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 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.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 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. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 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.” 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 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.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

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Restoration: The Punishment

Simon says is a very simple game:

Rules of the game?

If you do something Simon doesn’t tell you, you’re out.

If you don’t do something Simon tells you to, you’re out.

ask for volunteers and play a bit - overtly cheat for one person

How do we feel when the leader doesn’t follow the rules of the game? We believe the rules should ALWAYS be followed, right?

The same is true in the Western ideals behind our justice system: The punishment should always fit __________ [the crime].

►►►CLICK [Adam&Eve-FULL]

In today’s VERY familiar story, we have three characters who violate God’s trust.

And if the punishment should always fit the crime (or the sin), let’s look at their punishments:

►►►CLICK [Adam&Eve-SERPENT]

First, we have the serpent. Was there a conversation, where God calmly said, “Now, Satan, if you go down and tempt the humans to sin, I’m gonna punish you in such and such a manner?” Not that we know of. There may have been, but we don’t have that conversation if it did happen. So we can’t compare what “should” have happened with what did happen … we’re stuck just with what did happen.

So what is the serpent’s punishment?(14-15)

cursed above all land animals

no legs - crawl on belly

enmity between serpents and humans

humans will crush your head - you’ll strike their heel

Is this accurate?

Is there enmity between us and snakes? Yeah - people who like snakes are weird, aren’t they?

Do we kill snakes? Yes

Do they strike at us as we walk by them? Yes

The serpent brought about the smudging of God’s image in his prized creation. Does this punishment fit the crime? I’ll leave you to decide that one.

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Restoration: The Punishment

Before we talk about the actual punishment for the humans, what was the punishment SUPPOSED to be?

[NOT ON SCREEN]

Genesis 2:16–17 NLT

16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Did God enact this punishment? No God cheated at Simon Says … but we’re okay with it … because we benefited from it. Remember that the next time you complain that something isn’t “fair”. God is not fair! He’s just! He does what’s RIGHT, not what’s fair.

But this doesn’t mean there is no punishment, does it?

►►►CLICK [Adam&Eve-WOMAN]

What is the punishment for the woman? (16)

childbearing pains “very severe” - the Hebrew says her pain in childbirth will “increase”, so some English translations may exaggerate that a bit … childbearing isn’t that painful, right?

Seriously … Is this one true? - moms: IMAGINE LABOR WITHOUT THE PAIN! IF PEOPLE COULD EXPERIENCE THE SMELL OF A NEWBORN BABY AND KNEW THERE WAS NO PAIN IN BRINGING ONE OF THESE INTO THE WORLD, WE COULD HAVE A SERIOUS OVERPOPULATION ISSUE! Amen?

Desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

Of course, there are exceptions to this … but is there is an innate desire in women to find a suitable husband?

It’s a stereotype that persists even today: Many women find their self-value based on two things: their kids, and having a man

I’m not making a value statement about whether those are good or bad … I’m just making an observance that these two punishments seem to be true today, at least in the majority.

Has this desire caused a lot of problems for women individually? for families? for our society as a whole?

The way women seek out affirmation of these desires has indeed caused a lot of brokenness in our world.

Now, before you think I’m going to just talk one side of that coin....

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What is the punishment for the man? (17-19)

The ground is cursed! Your work will be hard!

I said a minute ago that many women find their self-value based on their kids and having a man.

Where do most men find their sense of self-worth? WORK!

… and we often celebrate this attribute as honorable - but it’s part of God’s punishment on the man

… and just like the woman’s punishment, men’s tendency toward workaholism has created problems for them individually, for their families, and for our society.

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Restoration: The Punishment

In today’s world, we can clearly see the residual of these punishments, and we continue fighting when someone dares to upend these drives. But we still try, don’t we?

In our society...

Progressives are trying to reject or at least change these drives. They’re approaching these innate characteristics as if they are bad and socially created.

Conservatives defend these drives. They say that these are natural and inborn drives and they’re good, so they should be upheld and defended.

Some of you are likely sitting here nervous for where I might go next. I hope to be a stone in the shoe to everyone equally. Friends, these characteristics are not innate. They are God’s punishment on humanity.

So, to the progressives among us, let me say, these characteristics are inborn. They are not socially created, but you’re right to want to move beyond them.

To the conservatives among us, let me say, these characteristics are the punishment God gave humanity when we refused to follow his instructions, so wanting to preserve our punishment seems wrong in a much grander scale than is often given credit.

Conservatives: WE SHOULD WANT TO BE FREE FROM GOD’S PUNISHMENT!

Progressives: ANY MEANS OF FREEDOM YOU DEVELOP OR INITIATE ARE INSUFFICIENT!

To everyone: GOD HAS ALREADY PROVIDED A MEANS FOR US TO BE FREE FROM HIS PUNISHMENT!

►►►CLICK [Adam&Eve-ADAM]

His deliverance or freedom comes through a very specific means, but it’s not based on the individual punishments. It’s based on the punishment he gave both the man and woman.

Look at verse 22. Notice two things about this sentence:

First, notice the grammar of God’s statement. Notice God refers to himself in the plural! For those who haven’t realized the Trinity is God before time began … Jesus didn’t come into existence when he was born in human form. He existed before time … because HE IS GOD!

►►►CLICK [Adam and Eve Evicted]

But the main thing I want you to notice is in verse 23: Humanity was BANISHED from the Garden of Eden, and they were kicked out to the EAST!

And God placed CHERUBIM on the East Side of the Garden to guard it!

We often talk in general terms about this eviction.

In this series, I will be talking about God’s various and progressive approaches to permitting us back into the Garden.

And those approaches are all characterized by the details, not the generalities of our eviction:

We left the Garden Eastbound - so our return will be Westbound!

And the Garden is guarded by cherubim

Humans being kicked out of the garden is a broken fellowship with Yahweh, our God. And we still suffer from that brokenness today.

I’m not going to push further into this today. We begin with the punishment, because restoration doesn’t mean anything if we don’t understand what exactly is being restored.

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Restoration: The Punishment

I hope this series will demonstrate that God’s restoration is ALL based on this eviction! That may seem ludicrous at this point, but as we progress through the series, I think you’ll see some connections you may not currently see.

I ask you to keep those two bits in mind as we move along.

If this analogy helps you remember these directions, use it. If it doesn’t, throw it out. In the US’s storied time of immigration, nearly every immigrant, on their way to Ellis Island, passed under the guardian of our shores … the Statue of Liberty. The Statue doesn’t face directly East, it faces Southeast, but immigrants entered the US from East - to - West.

There are two cherubim guardians at the entrance of the Garden and we will enter from East to West if and when we’re allowed to return. You will see these two characteristics repeated every time God offers a new way to restore fellowship with Him … until Jesus becomes The Way.

Let’s pray