Genesis 3, The Fall
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Alright, so tonight we get back into our journey into the book of beginnings. Genesis. Last time we took a detailed look a the special creation of Eve. Created from one of Adams ribs and formed to be at Adam’s side.
The account of God putting Adam into a deep sleep in 2:21 was the inspiration for a modern medicine procedure’
Article- Modern Anesthesia Inspired by Adam and Eve!
Additionally we learned about how ancient Chinese characters reflect the Biblical account of the creation of Adam and Eve.
So tonight we continue with what some consider to be the most important chapter in the Bible, Gen 3. The story of the Fall of Man, the Curse, and the Promised Seed. Very exciting and foundational teaching. Let’s stand;
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
This account is, of course, the account of the fall of Man. All of our problems, all of Sin, all of sickness and death have their beginning here. Now we are introduced to the Serpent. We know him as Satan and the Devil.
Nachash is the Hebrew word for serpent. It comes from hissing sound you make when saying the word.
Now as we look at this interaction between the Serpent and Eve we will see a particular pattern that the enemy still uses today. Notice Verse 1;
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Notice first, the passage says “the serpent was more crafty” the KJV use the word “subtil.” The Hebrew word for crafty means subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible, even prudent from a negative sense.
So here we must be aware that Satan is a super intellect, a master at deception. Jesus says of him,
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
He is the father of lies. Notice here he gets Eve into conversation, alway a dangerous proposition. He poses a question to bring about doubt in God’s word. It all begins with doubt.
Think about it, the Word of God says, My God shall supply all your need but we hear a faint he probably won’t. That’s how he works.
Notice what he asks Eve, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Last time I mentioned that we should pay careful attention to what God did say,
Genesis 2:16–17 (NASB95)
16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
We see the twisting of God’s word begin. Eve then answers;
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Immediately we should notice something odd in her response. The original command says nothing about “touching” the fruit, only eating it. Where did she get this from? We can’t say for sure but it would seem logical that she got it from Adam. As in, “don’t even think about touching it.”
It is interesting that we are warned to never add to or take away from God’s word.
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
also in the OT;
2 “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
God’s word speaks for itself. He means what He says an says what he means. When we add to the Word we bring about legalism and legalism moves people away from a relationship with God.
Now the Serpent goes in for the kill, he does this by directly contradicting what God has said.
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
We talked last time about the fact that God was emphatic in 2:17 saying “you shall surely die” and literally “in dying you shall die.” The serpent then through in more deception telling Eve by eating this forbidden fruit she would become like God.
Satan tells Eve that this is really a good thing. God just doesn’t want you to be enlightened. God is a “cosmic killjoy” that wants to cramp your style.
How many here have heard this same lie? We all have.
You see, built into all of our sin nature is the desire to be our own God. Where you can do what you want and be accountable to no one.
Not true. As I tell my kids, “If you think sin is fun, if you want to eat from the tree of forbidden fruit, look first at another tree—the tree of Calvary—and you’ll see what sin will ultimately do. It will crucify you. And if you think God is holding something back from you, or doesn’t want the best for you, look at that tree again, and you’ll see Him with outstretched arms, nails piercing His palms, proving to you unequivocally that He loves you passionately.”
Satan’s three-pronged old lie is now part of the New Age: “You’re not going to die. Your eyes will be opened. You’ll be a god.”
What’s the New Age philosophy? “You don’t die; you just reincarnate. By embracing everything, you receive illumination. When you are enlightened, you become a god.” Here in the Garden of Eden, at the very outset of time, Satan lays out a strategy he will maintain throughout human history.
Now here in verse 6 all of history is changed.
6 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
This verse is pregnant with information and implications so we are going to spend some time here.
The first thing I want you to notice is how this temptation affected Eve. That is how did this ploy of the serpent draw Eve in and ultimately deceive her. 3 things,
The tree was good for food
A delight to the eyes
Desirable to make one wise
Notice this reminds us of what John said in 1 John;
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
This is always the scheme that the enemy uses us to draw us into sin. The temptation appeals to your eyes, it looks good. Or perhaps it fulfills some impulse drive in our flesh, sexually or some appetite craving. Or the temptation will make you look better, it feeds your pride and ego.
As a corollary to this, some have observed that Satan attacks us through the eyes, what we see. We are drawn visually. Where as God draws us through hearing.
Think about it, how does faith come?
Romans 10:17 (NASB95)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Or to the seven churches;
Revelation 2:17 (NASB95)
17 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’
Even the Shema;
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB95)
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
With the Word of God the focus is always on hearing not sight. Paul said;
2 Corinthians 5:7 (NASB95)
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—
Even Paul, in describing his visit to heaven said;
2 Corinthians 12:3–4 (NASB95)
3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
Notice he does not tell about what he saw, only what he heard. Very curious..
It is interesting that we have a saying “seeing is believing” but the Word teaches us that believing is seeing..
In regard to verse 6 the next thing to point out is, where was Adam when this interaction was going on? Certainly Adam would have intervened and not allowed Satan to deceive is wife.
The Hebrew grammar gives us a hint here and it is transferred into the English. If you look at your Bible in Gen 3:6 notice that there is a semi-colon after it says; “she took from its fruit and ate;” . In the Hebrew at that point in the verse there is a punctuation mark, called an atnah. The atnah is a “disjunctive accent” or punctuation and means that there is a separation, in this case of time. So when Eve was being deceived Adam was not there but we don’t know for how long. It could have been 5 minutes or 5 hours.
The rest of the verse says, “...and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
So when Adam ate, was he deceived, like Eve? No Adam knew what he was doing.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
So why did Adam eat the fruit? It is a question worth pondering. Perhaps Adams was moved by his love for Eve, maybe he loved her so much he took on her sin in himself so she would not have to be alone in that state. Perhaps he hoped to save her. Obviously he could not, but this act began God’s plan of redemption to save mankind through the last Adam, Jesus Christ.
Not so with Adam. By eating of the forbidden fruit, he said in essence, “I want to be with Eve more than I want to obey God. I would rather be doomed with the woman than trust God to resolve the situation.” If Adam had turned to God, I am convinced God would have somehow reconciled Eve’s fallen state. But rather than turn to God, Adam chose to join Eve.
Now look at Gen 3:7
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
It seems it was at the moment that Adam took the forbidden fruit that everything changed. Immediately following Adam’s eating they knew they were naked. How did they know? As discussed previously I believe that they lost their glory, their glow. They now became aware of sin something they had never even considered.
Notice how Adam and Eve, our ancestors, dealt with this situation. They tried to cover it. What do we do when we sin? We seek to cover our tracks to hide even as if we could.
You see fig leafs are a picture of religion. Our attempt to appease God through ritual or tradition. To somehow reach up to God through our own efforts. This is the opposite of what Jesus came to do. He came to pay for our debt with His own blood.
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Next time we will look at the fallout of sin and see Gods solution moving forward.
