The Author of Creation – God brought Life; Sin brings death; God will bring life again

Is it just a saying to stop people doing the stupid thing of walking under the ladder, knocking it over and having something or someone fall on their head?

Or is it a saying born of experience, did someone walk under the ladder and things did fall on their head?

Bad luck or stupidity?

Or what about snakes?

Are they seen as bad because snakes bite people and people die?

Now we all know that not all snakes are poisonous, only a few are really aggressive and we all know that most snakes will run, crawl, slither away if given a change.

But why do we associate snakes with evil when in ancient oriental culture snakes were seen as symbolic of life, wisdom and chaos. In Aboriginal culture the rainbow serpent is seen as a creative spirit.

Yet in Western thought the snake is associated with evil.

But if we believe that God created all things and especially all the animals how can an animal he created be evil?

Or let’s ask the even bigger question behind this question; if God made everything good how come there is evil in the world?

To answer this question we have to start at the beginning.

God created and he said it was good.

Good as in having desirable or positive qualities; especially those suitable for a thing specified.

So when God says it is good in Genesis 1:9 of plants on day 3

And in Genesis 1:19 of the separation of night and day on day 4

And in Genesis 1:21 of the creation of sea creatures on day 5

And in Genesis 1:25 of the creation of land creatures on day 6

And then in Genesis 1:31 after he has finished creating people and giving them the command to rule over all creation God said it was very good.

So creation, including snakes, is good.

The things God created have desirable or positive qualities suitable for what they were created to do.

God designed creation to do what he intended.

Then in Genesis 2:18 God says it is not good for man to be alone.

Do you see the issue here?

Over and over again God has said that it is good.

But man being alone is not good.

Something is wrong.

Animals are great companions and very useful servants but they are not the perfect companions for man.

So God makes woman.

So woman is the answer to the loneliness of man, so woman is good.

Following so far?

When God created Eve and presented her to Adam, like at a wedding, we see a beautiful picture of the biblical idea of marriage.

In verses 18 to 25 of Genesis 2 and in verses 27 to 28 of Genesis 1 we see God’s ideal for the relationship between a husband and wife. It is for procreation, companionship and complementing one another.

Genesis 2:18 could be translated as the helper who matches him.

The famous commentator Matthew Henry when writing about God’s choice of creating Eve from Adam’s rib said, “Not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” Perhaps this reads a little too much into the rib, but it expresses well the biblical ideal of marriage.

Quoted in New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., pp. 62–63). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

So God brought life and it was good

But

Sin brings death or to put it another way why was the snake evil?

Why a snake?

Why did a snake appear and tempt the woman.

Now there are many reasons that people have proposed as to why the snake was evil.

Early Christian and Jewish commentators identified the snake with Satan.

But how can this be when God had just created all the land creatures and said that they are good.

What we need to understand is that Genesis 1 to 3 is dealing with a whole range of ideas.

It is showing us that God created.

It is also showing us that other religious beliefs of the time are totally inferior.

When Moses wrote down the account of Genesis, most probably during the 40 years in the desert after Israel left Egypt, he was doing far more than simply recording history.

He was giving the people of Israel an explanation of why God is superior to all the pagan religions they had encountered.

He was giving them a foundation so that they wouldn’t fall for the temptations of the pagan religions in the land they were about to conquer.

The Canaanite religions of the day included a serpent as one of their symbols.

Genesis 3 presents a choice.

Follow the path of the serpent, who will once again lead you into temptation or follow the Lord by obeying his commands.

Another possible allusion is to show the inferiority of the creation myths of the Babylonian Kingdom.

The Gilgamesh Epic which is contained on twelve Babylonian tablets records the story of creation and Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality.

Unfortunately when he finds the plant that gives eternal life it is taken from him when a snake eats it.

Interestingly the 11th tablet records a version of Noah’s flood.

An account which is repeated in many ancient civilizations from India to Hawaii to China to the Middle East.

Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Gilgamesh Epic. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 868). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Another possible idea is that the snake represents the things which are unclean.

The Old Testament law in Leviticus 11 listed a range of animals which were unclean, against God’s will for the people.

The snake being an animal that crawled on the ground was as far as you could get from something which was clean.

In the Old Testament world with all its symbolism the snake is an obvious choice for an anti- God symbol.

Wenham, G. J. (1998). Genesis 1–15 (Vol. 1, pp. 72–73). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Or quite simply the creature described here is the one who rebelled against God, the one known as Satan, who appears in many forms and in this particular situation in the form of a snake.

But what about evil?

Genesis doesn’t actually answer the question of where evil came from.

The New Testament does that.

Genesis tells us where evil didn’t come from.

Evil was not inherent in man.

And God didn’t set Adam and Eve up to fail.

Kenneth Matthews in the New American Commentary puts it brilliantly when he says;

“The tempter stands outside the human pair and stands opposed to God’s word. His career is obscure to the author of Genesis 3, who can only speak of the snake’s destiny (3:14–15). As we find elsewhere in Scripture, little is said about the source of evil. Old Testament thought consistently affirms God as the ultimate cause of all things, even the existence of the serpent (3:1), but it never attributes evil to God. He is not morally responsible for the sin of the first couple nor is he culpable for the serpent’s deceit.”

Mathews, K. A. (1996). Genesis 1-11:26 (Vol. 1A, pp. 226–227). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

The words of an extra Biblical book known as 4 Ezra 7:118: put it well

2 Esdras 7:118 NRSV

O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants.

Jesus identifies Satan as one who seeks to usurp the place of God.

He even sought to tempt Jesus by offering him all the kingdoms of the earth.

Matthew 4:8–10 (NLT)

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.” “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

So the source of evil is the rebellion of a created being.

Only a created being is capable of free will.

Satan had it and gave it over to jealousy desire the place of God.

This is the origin of sin and through Adam we to will seek to place ourselves over God.

Yet there is a caution in the words of Jesus in Luke 10:17-20

Luke 10:17–20 (NLT)

When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”

Here again is a warning.

The temptation is to control, to be in charge, to usurp our place and be at the top with every other created thing under our control.

When Jesus spoke these words in Luke 10:18-20 he was responding to the excitement of the disciples who had been sent out to minister in his name.

They were astonished at the spiritual power they had been given.

But Jesus cautions them, don’t get to full of yourselves that Satan has suffered a defeat at your hands.

The only thing that counts is that you are in a right relationship with God.

My friends God is sovereign ruler of all creation. Only he is at the top and any attempt to stand in his place is sin.

And sin brings death

Sin brought death through the Fall

When Eve was tempted she fell into a trap.

A trap to doubt God’s word

A trap to desire what was not hers to have.

Eve succumbed to the temptation and Adam preferred to follow the serpent’s suggestions to God’s commands.

Throughout Scripture, the essence of sin is to put human judgment above divine command. To place ourselves above God

Wenham, G. J. (1994). Genesis. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 63). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

The issue wasn’t so much any magical property that the tree possessed.

The issue was simply one of obedience.

The tree was forbidden, it was an alternative to obedient discipleship.

Immediately guilt and shame gripped them.

Their opened eyes saw only their naked bodies, and they attempted to hide from each other and from God.

The promise of being like God, of knowing good and evil was a false promise, a lie.

Instead of some great enlightenment they now knew the one thing that they were not designed to know.

Alienation from God and alienation from each other.

Where as before there had been complete innocence, complete trust, complete openness.

Just as a child lies about drawing on the wall so they had a lie to cover up, something to keep hidden from God

Satan’s promises never come true.

Wisdom is never attained by disobeying God’s Word.

Instead, as Proverbs 1:7 tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7).

The effects of sin are punishment and provision.

Whereas the man and the woman had life, they now had death; whereas pleasure, now pain; whereas abundance, now a meager subsistence by toil; whereas perfect fellowship, now alienation and conflict.

Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 32). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

And we see all of these things listed for us in the consequences of this disobedience

For Adam and Eve and for all humanity there is now a brokenness of relationship.

Have a look at Genesis 3:16

Genesis 3:16 NLT

Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

That which was meant to be joyful will now also be marked by pain.

The relationship which was meant to be one of total trust and openness will now be marked by competition for control.

The last two lines could be paraphrased as

“You will now have a tendency to dominate your husband, and he will have the tendency to act as a tyrant over you.” The battle of the sexes has begun. Each strives for control and neither lives in the best interest of the other (Phil. 2:3, 4). The antidote is in the restoration of mutual respect and dignity through Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:21–33).

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 13). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

Here we see the beginning of a fallen broken world full of sickness, suffering, and toil.

Genesis 3:17–19 NLT

And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

Here is the reason for sickness, for illness, for accident, for disaster, for wars and famine.

Here is the reason for evil in this world.

We suffer because Adam and Eve by a willful act of disobedience destroyed the perfect world that we were originally given.

We suffer because others act out of self interest, we suffer because we make stupid decisions and reap the consequences.

It is all very bad depressing news.

But there is hope.

The serpent hasn’t won.

In his deceit he has actually brought upon himself eventual defeat.

Have a look at Genesis 3:14-15

Genesis 3:14–15 NLT

Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Here in verse 15 is the first hint of a saviour.

This verse is known as the protevangelion, the first gospel.

The first judgement on sin is tinged with hope.

God has brought Life again through Redemption

This redemption is seen as the rest of history works it way to the climax of the Cross.

From the promise to Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Genesis 22:18.

Through to the promise to Mary that her son will be great and his kingdom will never end.

Here is the great promise that first begins in Genesis 3:15.

The promise that is identified in Romans 16:20

Romans 16:20 NLT

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

The promise that is clearly identified in Revelation 12:9

Revelation 12:9 NLT

This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.

The promise that results in the offer of redemption, of restoration through Christ

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 NLT

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.

New Life is what we have to look forward to.

Do not be like Adam and Eve, falling for the lie that you can be like God.

Grasp the truth that true life, true knowledge is only found in obedience to Christ.