THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION

Introduction: When I was a youngin’, I liked conducting science experiments. I enjoyed taking things apart and attempting to rebuild them. I liked knowing how things worked. I also like combining things and seeing how they would react.

One day, my younger brother and I were at home. I had recently finished drinking Coke from a glass bottle. Desiring to know how the volcano experiment looks on the inside, I proceeded to pour in vinegar. Then I added the necessary baking soda and watched in amazement as it bubbled up and out of the bottle. Now I was really curious. I wondered how shaking the bottle with vinegar and baking soda would work. At this point, I believe my brain shut off and my childish logic kicked in: if shaking a soda was cool, how much better could shaking this soda be?

I was shocked when the foul smelling liquid shot out of the bottle and onto the ceiling! Our kitchen was a mess. My younger brother wisely stated that I was dead meat. Unperturbed, I quickly set to cleaning the kitchen. I wiped up everything, and the kitchen was spotless. When my mom came back, she stopped and asked what the vinegar smell was. You can imagine how my heart sank, knowing that my mother now knew of my semi-successful science experiment. I was left to face the judgment of my mother.

Certainly you can relate to those feelings of anxiety, fear, and trepidation. Great dread is a phrase of accurate description. And this, no doubt on a greater scale, is how Adam and Eve must have felt.

Last week we discussed the history of the fall, and we ended with God’s series of soul-searching questions. We stopped at the point at which the woman blamed the serpent. Now, as I once stood before my mother, Adam, his wife, and the serpent stand before God. This is the history of redemption. But this history begins with judgment.

I. THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF JUDGMENT- Select Scriptures

The serpent, having sinned previously, brought Adam and his wife to the forefront of temptation, and through deception helped the woman ignore God’s Word and sinfully eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We notice judgment in three parts: the serpent, the woman, and Adam.

A. The judgment on the serpent-

God first pronounces judgment on the serpent. Now, it is easy to forget what is actually at play. The serpent is now a wicked part of creation. God made it in the beginning week and declared it very good. However, the serpent is Satan in disguise, as we established in our previous sermon. However, notice the the serpent’s judgment is very humbling. God says he is cursed and will go on his belly and eat dust. Consider the passages we mentioned last sermon: and . Several references to being thrown from the mountain, or cast down to the ground, all help us understand that Satan has been humiliated. God has already judged this old serpent, but for now God has allowed him to stay alive work his evil. Furthermore, there would be war between the seed of the woman and this serpent. We know this is a reference to Jesus the Messiah, but this also gives an indication of how much the devil hates human beings. We are, after all, image bearers of God, and because we remind Satan of God, Satan hates us more. Eventually, though, the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. That is, final judgment is coming.

B. The judgment on the woman-

The next one to receive judgment is the second one to sin: Eve. It takes form in one of the greatest distinctions between a man and a woman: childbirth. She would experience extreme pain in raising children. Even with the modern advancements of medicine, childbirth is extremely painful. I can attest to this as a witness to three births. So, the first addresses the woman’s motherhood.

But there is another aspect of this judgment on the woman: her relation to her husband. This relates to the woman’s marriage. The idea here, though difficult to fully grasp, is that the wife would struggle with her relationship to her husband. The same concept is found in where sin attempts to gain mastery over Cain. And we can see this hindered relationship between husbands and wives specifically and women and men in general throughout the ages.

C. The judgment of Adam-

Adam, the last to act, is the last to be judged. As I have mentioned, Adam was acting in our place. The theological word for is federal head. This is a biblical concept. You can see passages like and . So, the punishment on Adam is really a punishment on us all.

The first part of Adam’s judgment is the cursing of Adam’s work. Adam, in , was to tend and keep the garden. Now, the land is cursed. Rather than submitting to man’s dominion, the land rebels through thorns and thistles. Hard work is the normalcy of life, not paradise living.

The last part of Adam’s judgment involves death. God describes this in . There will be an end of his life, just as God forewarned in .

The judgment has been meted out. Just as I faced the consequences of my scientific experiment, humanity and the devil faced theirs. But there is good news, even in the bad news.

II. THE PROMISE OF REDEMPTION-

In his book, The Mystery of Christ: His Covenants & His Kingdom,

“The fact that Adam and Eve are cursed subsequent to the promise of deliverance changes their curses to chastisement rather than absolute judgment. They come as discipline from a father, not as a death sentence from a judge.” —Sam Renihan

Sam Renihan, The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant & His Kingdom (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Ministries, 2019), 76.

The reason I provide that quote is because we often miss this point because of the familiarity we have of this account. The promise of redemption is found in the judgment on the serpent. Scripture is replete with example, after example, of this promise. It is the theme picked up again and again. And since we have discussed this in great deal in our sermons on Christ in the Old Testament, we will simply note that God promises one who would come from the woman who would deliver us from this devilish fiend.

III. THE PROVISION IN TYPE-

This provision is given a shadow of detail (see ). After God has pronounced judgment on the serpent, the woman, and the man, God offers clothing for Adam and Eve in the form of skins. This word exclusively applies to animal hides. We see the very first death in the sacred Scriptures. The animal died to provide covering for the nakedness of Adam and Eve.

We see, again in shadow (), the promise of the seed coming and delivering, and it involves death. The entire sacrificial system is built upon the death of animals, which would lead to John the Baptist to declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

IV. THE PREVENTION OF LIFE-

We end our sermon on a sad note. Adam and Eve, through their disobedience, are evicted out of the Garden of Eden. That is, they are kicked out of this temple-like paradise, removed from the presence and intimate relationship with God.

But through the person and work of Jesus Christ, we can, one day, enjoy this forfeited privilege once again. In and 22 we see the enjoyment of this life, worshipping God in an unimaginable way, free from the division and depravity of sin.