Genesis 3

Please turn to Genesis 3.  Ever wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve after they left the Garden?  Got a little video for you.  Video.  Not the way God intended.  Well, how did we get there?

Genesis 1 is 30,000-foot view of creation – that God created order out of chaos.  Though God had a spiritual family (sons of God and such), He wanted a human family as well – to be His imagers on earth. 

Genesis 2 is up close and personal.  As a potter forms the clay with his hands, Yahweh formed Adam and placed him a garden.  This Garden in Eden was God’s place of residence on earth – where the spiritual and physical realms overlapped.  God, spiritual beings and humans.

Somewhere between chapters 2 and 3, jealousy and pride entered the heart of a particular spiritual being.  We call him a serpent, but he is actually a cherub (Isa. 14 and Eze. 28).  A cherub is a throne room guardian and often portrayed in the ancient world as having a lion’s body and human head symbolizing their greatness and power.  Incredible Hulks of the spiritual realm. The Sphynx is a type of cherub.  The role of a cherub is to protect – guard. 

In Genesis 3, the word serpent in Hebrew is nāchāšh. 

Nāchāšh can mean shiny or shimmering, bronze-like, serpentine, or a diviner .  A nāchāšh can be called a “shining one.” 

This serpent is not a snake – he’s spiritual being that was placed in the Garden to guard or protect something – which we will discover he did not fulfill his duties. 

Genesis 3:1–7 ESV

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’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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.’ ” 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.” 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. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

It's my opinion that this conversation took place over time and we’re just getting a little snapshot.

There is so much here that I’m going to give bullet points - and then during the week, contemplate and pray about which ones might be applicable to you.

1) God created humans to be free within limits and boundaries – and His limits and boundaries are good! 

Beneficial.  To do whatever we want is a horrible idea.  Absolute freedom is not love.  God-given limits and boundaries are necessary, life-giving, and they are freeing.  God’s limits and boundaries are the best means for having the best relationships and world.  To live outside of Godly limits and boundaries actually creates bondage, chaos, pain, it’s unhealthy – creates unhealthy relationships and unhealthy societies.  10 Commandments (adultery).   That tree in the middle of the garden is death, but everything is life.    

Are you living within God’s limits and boundaries? 

2) The enemy (serpent) is a master coach. 

He tempted Eve with subtle ideas that over time caused her to question and doubt God’s love, boundaries, and truth.  Notice, the serpent never told Eve what to do.  He coached her – asked questions that led her down a path - to get her to make her own decision.  This is

James 1:14–15 ESV

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

This is why 2 Cor. 10:5 is so critical …. 

So often the enemy wants us to believe that God is holding out – that His limits and boundaries deprive us of something we think we need or should have right now.   Why wait until I’m married!  Warren Wiersbe wrote,

“A temptation is an opportunity to accomplish a good thing in a bad way.”  ~ Warren Wiersbe

This is what the devil did with Jesus.  “Jesus, you want the world, I can give it to you right now ….”  Shortcut. 

So, who’s coaching you?  My biggest downfalls …. 

3) The enemy is a master deceiver. 

God defines truth, but the enemy wants us to believe we can redefine truth.   

The enemy has many methods, but this one is interesting - the way I see it, this nāchāšh never lied to Eve.  He told her the truth.  But he told the truth in such a way that it was a lie.  See,

Truth, when used improperly can deceive and manipulate. 

“You’re spouse is a jerk.”  Yeah.  “You deserve better.”  True.  “That other person understands you.”  Do you see where the truth manipulates and leads to a lie? 

Furthermore, when we allow ourselves to redefine truth and morality, we allow ourselves to be deceived and that deception brings chaos rather than order.  Example – man and woman – simple.  Redefine man and woman - confusion. Chaos. Turmoil. Brokenness.   

So, Eve was deceived, Adam sinned willfully, and the result was they realized they were naked.  Physically naked – yes, but it’s more than that. 

4) Nakedness is about a loss of innocence (disobedience), identity, and relationship.   How so?

Genesis 3:8 ESV

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.

Rather than running to the One who could take away their guilt and shame and restore their lost identity – they hid.  Understand, that

Sin creates fear of exposure. 

I hope no one finds out, can’t tell ….  Good indication that you’re doing something you shouldn’t do if you fear accountability and exposure.  God’s design that we have nothing to hide in our relationships (naked) – especially in the community of Christ and in marriages. 

When Adam and Eve sinned, it created fear, anxiety, shame, and other emotions.  Why?  Because

They were no longer who they were created to be. 

That’s what sin does.  Sin is an assertion of self - I’m no longer going to image God; I’m going to image me.  I’m no longer going to love God; I’m going to love me.  I’m no longer going to love others; I’m going to love me.  When we sin our identity is marred, we often find ways to hide our guilt, we put on a false self, and the true self is covered.  We hide from God and from others – don’t want people to see the real me.  Here’s the reality of it, God is not interested in feeding the false self.  Part of the work of salvation, Christ dying on the cross, is to dismantle the false self so that the truest self made in the image of God can emerge.

Genesis 3:9 ESV

But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

This was not about location – but about relationship.  “Adam, you are not where you belong – in a loving union / relationship with Me.”  That’s what sin does –

Sin causes a disconnect in our relationships.

with our heavenly Father and with one another.   Don’t overlook that fact that it was God who came looking for them - seeking the lost. 

Are you lost this morning?  Is God calling out to you – where are you? 

Then God has this group counseling session, pointing fingers … everyone is big enough to sin, but not big enough to take responsibility.  God then administers justice, and there are consequences for their actions. 

Genesis 3:21 ESV

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

This is the first mention of death in Scripture.  Something innocent died because of Adam and Eve’s sinful choice.  

Something always dies because of sin.

The wages of sin is death, but God killed an animal instead, and then clothed them, He covered them with the skin of an innocent being.   A foreshadow of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin but became sin for us.  Jesus not only died for our guilt, but died in place of the guilty. 

So this morning, are you living within or outside of God’s limits and boundaries? 

Which coach are you listening to?  Are you living within God’s truth or trying to redefine truth?  Are you living in fear of exposure or running from God and who He created you to be?