How It All Started

Today, we begin a special multi-week exploration of the Bible. Each week we will look at a real, historical event, to learn what it teaches us about God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, who is God’s great plan of salvation. Jesus is the beginning, center, and end of human history. As we will hear and learn we’ll better understand our lives and our place in the world in which we live.

The Beginning of our Story

So let’s start at the beginning. The very first verse in the Bible reads,

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

The Bible says God brought the heavens and the earth into existence out of nothing using the power of His spoken word alone. For instance, in Genesis 1:3 we read: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

The first chapter of Genesis tells us how God formed the sky, made the dry land appear, and filled the heavens with the sun, moon, and stars, then filled the earth with trees and vegetation, animals of all kinds, and mankind.

So, you may say, “Okay, but where is Jesus Christ in all this?” John the Apostle gives us the answer in the first chapter of his Gospel of John.

John 1:1–3 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Jesus, the Word, is God. He is the eternal Son of God.

John calls Jesus the Word because God uses His voice, His spoken Word, to bring everything into existence.

So you see, Jesus is there at the very beginning, creating the heavens and the earth and everything in them side by side with His Father.

But look at our world today. What a mess!

There are natural disasters, droughts, floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

Crime is running rampant—like a Kansas wheat-field fire, the war in Ukraine continues on. There is political unrest. Illness, disease, and death. Where did all these horrible things come from? Did God make creation that way?

And what, if anything, is God doing about it?

Well first, let’s take a look at how things were after God first made the heavens and the earth.

On the sixth day, after making everything, God stepped back to examine His handiwork,

Genesis 1:31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”

The bad things we see all around us began to happen when the first humans, Adam and Eve, made a tragic choice. We read about it in the third chapter of Genesis.

Genesis 3:1 NKJV

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

At this point, the Bible does not specify who this serpent is. But other parts of the Bible make it clear, especially the twelfth chapter of the last Book, Revelation,

Revelation 12:9 NKJV

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Who is the devil?

God created him as a holy angel. More than that, he was an archangel, a ruler of angels—something like a four-star general. And just like Adam and Eve, he was holy when God created him.

Sadly, this angel turned away from God and became the author of all the evil and suffering that fills the earth—even that which afflicts the animals and plants around us.

The Bible does not describe how he fell into sin, but Satan persuaded a great number of other angels to join his unholy rebellion against their Creator.

Since his fall, Satan and his fallen angels have been enemies of God and His people.

It was this devil who entered the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent hoping to lead our first human mother and father to join his rebellion against the Creator.

Genesis 3:1-5 “And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

Here the devil directly contradicting God’s word. God said, “You will surely die.” The serpent said, “You will NOT surely die.” To whom should Eve listen? To God who created her, or to the serpent, a creature over which God had given her dominion? The answer is really quite obvious—but that temptation was so appealing. She could gain a wisdom God had held back from her.

Moses, the prophet who later wrote down the words of Genesis, recorded the thoughts that passed through Eve’s mind as she looked at the forbidden fruit,

Genesis 3:6 NKJV

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

St. Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:14, has an interesting thing to say about Adam’s role in all of this.

“Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

Think carefully about that. Eve was deceived. She believed the serpent was telling her the truth.

But Adam saw through the deception. He knew it was all a lie. He knew the tree would not make them wise and the day they ate of it they would surely die.

Why in the world would Adam eat that fruit? Why didn’t he step forward and put the serpent in its place? Why didn’t he spring forward to protect Eve, his wife, and all of us, his unborn children?

Instead, he stood by and silently watched Eve grab that fruit. Then, even worse, he took a bite of the fruit too.

Can you relate to that? I know I can. Sometimes we are deceived into doing something we shouldn’t do—even though God tells us not to. Other times we can clearly see what we should do, but we do the wrong anyway.

The Effect of Adam and Eve’s sin was immediate.

Genesis 3:7 “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 coverings.”

Have you felt that searing guilt before? The deep burning shame and the desire to be able to turn back the clock?

Our human nature was drastically changed by Adam and Eve’s fall. We lost the image of God and now carry within us the sinful image of Satan. It is that sinful selfishness that gives rise to all the distrust, fear, hatred, crime, and war with our brothers and sisters in the human family. Even worse, we are powerless to turn toward God or to love Him. In fact, we are dead to God and hostile enemies toward Him.

Does that seem unfair—for you to be condemned as a sinner thousands of years before you were even born?

Why should you suffer for what Adam and Eve did way back at the beginning?

Because we are all interconnected in this human family.

None of us can ever be truly independent from everyone else.

Think about a car accident in rush hour in a big city.

Thousands, even tens of thousands of drivers are delayed because of a single accident.

Every sin you, or I, or any other sinner commits ripples outward and affects everyone else.

God’s solution? He would have been just and right if He had decided to discard His creation. But God loved you and me and each descendant of Adam and Eve too much to throw it all in. This is His world, and He stood up for it, reclaimed it, determined to fix it.

God’s Encounter with Adam

So God came walking through His garden in the cool of the day to seek and find His lost children.

Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

The feeling of exposure and nakedness Adam and Eve had first felt was nothing compared to the terror that gripped them now. In vain, they tried to hide from God.

Genesis 3:9 “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?””

Adam answered,

Genesis 3:10-11 “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?””

Now this was the opportunity for Adam to come clean and make his confession. Instead, he said:

Genesis 3:12 “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.””

Then God turned to Eve,

Genesis 3:13 “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””

God turned to Satan,

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, And you shall bruise His heel.””

God’s Plan to Save Humanity

In that moment, the Lord God announced His great plan to save humanity and restore His now damaged creation. His eternal Son would join the human family, become one of Eve’s descendants, and as true God and true man, He would crush the serpent’s head.

Satan received a mortal blow when Jesus Christ hung from the cross. Jesus suffered horribly as He was punished for Adam and Eve’s sins and the sins of all humans, including you and me. He died and was buried. But He rose again on the third day. Since that day nearly two thousand years ago, Satan is writhing in his death throes. He’s still dangerous, but He is defeated and dying.

Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden, and their idyllic life was gone. They would have to labor and toil to raise their food. The ground would no longer just yield food and substance; instead, we have to work by the sweat of our brow. Labor is now difficult, frustrating, and wearying.

If that were not bad enough, we age. Our bodies grow frail, get sick, wear out, and eventually, we die. Bad things happen in this world, but it won’t be that way forever.

God’s mighty Son, Jesus Christ, is coming back on the Last Day to throw Satan and all his angels into hell forever and ever—along with every person who has rejected God’s plan of salvation.

Jesus Christ will restore His broken creation and make all things new again.

And He will transform you and me completely—body, mind, heart, and soul, so we will be good, just, loving, holy, and pure.

We will be responsible, loving and accepting of every other believer—cherishing the gifts and talents God has given to everyone without malice, envy, or jealousy of any sort.

And best of all, we will bask in the glory of God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, our Brother and our Savior.

Maranatha!

In Jesus Name! Amen.