Genesis 3:5-25
Gen 0007 God is Totally Unfair, PRAISE GOD!!! PT2
Notes by Lay teacher, Sammy Horner
March.
22/2007
Genesis 3:4-5 (KJV)
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that
in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Satan used a sincere motive to tempt Eve — "you will be like God." It
wasn't wrong of Eve to want to be like God. To become more like God should be
our highest goal. This is what we are supposed to do. However, Satan misled Eve concerning the right way to accomplish this goal. He
told her that she could become more like God by defying God's authority, by taking God's place and deciding for herself what
was best for her life. In effect, he told her to become her own god.
To
become like God is not the same as trying to become God. Like Eve, we often have
a worthy goal but try to achieve it in the wrong way.
Self-exaltation leads to rebellion against God. As soon as we begin to
leave God out of our plans, we are placing ourselves above him. This is exactly
what Satan wants us to do.
People usually choose wrong things because they have become convinced that those things are good, at least for themselves.
—Life Application Bible Notes
Genesis 3:6 (KJV)
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:7 (KJV)
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
After sinning, Adam and Eve felt guilt and embarrassment over their nakedness. Their
guilty feelings made them try to hide from God. A guilty conscience is a warning
signal that God has placed inside us that goes off when we have done wrong. The
worst step we could take is to eliminate the guilty feelings without eliminating the cause. That
would be like using a painkiller but not treating the disease. —Life Application
Bible Notes
Taking a painkiller or trying to cover our pain from the God given guilt can be the beginning of an addiction.
We need to thank God for the guilty feelings that we feel. They make us
aware of our sin so that we can ask God's forgiveness and then correct our wrongdoing.
The feeling of guilt is God given. The feeing of shame is self-inflicted
by self and Satan. Immediately, when they took of the forbidden fruit, they felt
guilt and shame. Adam and Eve had never seen nor experienced wrongdoing. This was the first sin and shame ever seen or experienced by man. The shame had to have been the most intense and terrifying shame imaginable. The guilt they felt was given to bring them to God. The shame
is what made them try to cover themselves with aprons made from fig leaves. They
were trying to cover the shame and guilt they were feeling.
And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And now
we have to beginning of religion.
Now man has sinned. He has rebelled against the command of God.
Now for the first time there is separation, Adam feels that he needs to hide.
Adam feels uncovered and feels the need to cover his nakedness. The feeling
that Adam has, has to do with his nakedness before God.
Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
In chapter 2, it tells us that they were not ashamed. In chapter 2, they
were in a different state. Now Adam knows that every thing is going to be uncovered
and laid bare before the eyes of God. Adam knows what good was just by being
in the presents of God.
But, what is not good? Not having communication with God, Not having an
openness with God, Losing trust with God? Maybe it’s not having a good
excuse to give to God, or a good cover up story. Adam is about to be exposed. Everything is about to be uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom he
must give account.
No wonder Adam felt naked and bare. Adam knew what good was and now he
knows what evil is because he just brought it into being for the entire human race.
As Adam feel he became aware of his spiritual nakedness and his sin. It
was much more the physical nakedness. Adam sinned. He missed the mark. He missed the target. In fact, Adam and Eve just set up there own target.
Now knowing that he is naked and venerable before God, he now has a need to cover this nakedness before God sees him. Now Adam invents religion. Adam invents
a covering to cover the wrong that he feels because he is now afraid to stand before God exposed.
Genesis 3:8 (KJV)
8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:9 (KJV)
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam,
and said unto him, Where art thou?
Adam and Eve ran away and hid themselves. This is an abrupt change. They had often heard God walking about and calling out to them in the garden. This time they didn’t run to meet Him but ran away from Him. Something terrible had happened since God's last visit.
Adam and Eve...
had turned away from God.
they had disobeyed God.
they had rebelled against God.
they had decided to do what they wanted instead of what God wanted.
and had chosen to follow self and Satan instead of following God.
The result was catastrophic: their whole being—both inwardly and outwardly, both spirit and body—had been
marred and corrupted. They were stripped naked: no longer perfect and innocent.
They no longer possessed the glow of God's glory, and light, and righteousness.
Now they were separated, cut off, and alienated from God.
Let’s read verse’s 8 and 9 again.
Genesis 3:8 (KJV)
8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:9 (KJV)
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam,
and said unto him, Where art thou?
As we read we can see the desire that God has to have fellowship with
us. Adam and Eve now were afraid and hid from the fellowship with God. God wanted to be with them, but sin had broken their close relationship with God, just as it has broken
ours. But, Jesus Christ, God's Son, opens the way for us to renew our fellowship
with him. God longs to be with us. He
actively offers us his unconditional love. We have the same natural response
of fear and shame because we feel we can't live up to his standards.
Note that Adam is not seeking after God, but God is seeking after Adam.
"Adam, where are you?" Why would God ask, “Where are you”
if God knew exactly where Adam was. God knows everything. So what, then, is God doing?
This is not the call of police officers who has just watched someone come out of a window with a TV in there hands. This is the call of the seeking Savior. God's
heart had been broken by Adam's sin. God saw all the ages, centuries, decades,
years, and days of sin and shame that lay ahead for fallen man: acts of lying, stealing, cheating, killing, wars, maiming,
immorality—all the broken homes and lives—all the pain and hurt and suffering that would be borne by men, women,
and children down through the days and centuries of history.
God saw the great price He would have to pay to complete His purpose upon earth. God
saw that He would have to give His Son to pay the penalty for man's sin. And
God already had a plan to cover this before mankind was created. God would have
to pay to save mankind from sin, to redeem mankind, to buy mankind back.
God went after Adam, but why? Because God is love—His very nature
is love—therefore, God set out to demonstrate His love. "Adam, where are
you?” This is the call of God as the seeking Savior.
"This was not the voice of the policeman, but the call of a loving, yearning father. If
pure justice was the act of the day, God could have consigned them to 'everlasting chains under darkness,' as He did the angels
when they sinned. If His wrath had instantly consumed them, it would simply have
been bare justice. Justice is what they deserved. Generation later Paul would write “Mercy triumphs over judgment.
God in His abundant mercy, became the Seeker, He came down to Eden crying, Where art thou?"
The question, "Adam, where are you?" was not for God's information. Adam
was running away and hiding from God. God was calling out to Adam in order to
get Adam to think about what he was doing. Adam was running away and hiding from
the only one who could reconcile and help him, running from the one who could correct, rectify, and salvage the situation,
who could give Him guidance and direction, peace and security, love and joy, hope and life upon this earth, who could save
and restore him to his former position of perfection, glory, and righteousness.
Adam had been stripped naked of perfection, glory, and righteousness. Adam
had lived in a perfect world. The only way Adam could have known what death meant
was for God to explain the meaning death to him and apparently, this is what
God did. When God himself killed the animals to cloth Adam and Eve, the object
lesson was very real. Adam needed to think about these things; he needed to sense
conviction, sense his need for God, and sense his need to be reconciled to God. Adam
needed to run to God, not run away from Him.
Genesis 3:10 (KJV)
10 And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
“And I was afraid” Fear entered the picture.
Genesis 3:11 (KJV)
11 And he said, Who told thee that
thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee
that thou shouldest not eat?
God knew the answer to the questions, but God needed to get the reaction to the
question from Adam.
Genesis 3:12 (KJV)
12 And the man said, The woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the man said, The woman
Genesis 3:13 (KJV)
13 And the LORD God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Classic buck passing. Classic blame shifting. She made me drink. He led me astray. I was with the wrong crowd. Have you ever listened to kids
answerers when they are questioned.
Judgment begins
Genesis 3:14 (KJV)
14 And the LORD God said unto the
serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
"To eat dust is to know defeat, and that is God's prophetic judgment upon the enemy.
He will always reach for his desires and fall just short of them. There
will be continuous aspiration, but never any attainment" (Genesis. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970, p.22).
Genesis 3:15 (KJV)
15 And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Although Satan is trying to tempt everyone away from God, he will not be the final victor. God promises that, one of the woman’s offspring will crush Satan, a promise of the Messiah. Notice that God said, “By her seed.”
Women does not produce a seed man does. This is a hint of the virgin birth
while at the same time a promise of hope directed to Eve and all humanity. Aaaaaaaaaa
The tempter was to be crushed by one particular seed or descendent of the woman. This
is a promise that is not a spur of the moment thought but the plan that was ready to set into action to take care of the sin
problem.
The serpent would strike the descendant’s heel and bruise him, but the descendent would strike the final and
fatal blow. A descendent of Eve would crush the serpent's head. This is the promise of the redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the first promise of the Savior in the Bible. The promise is unconditional:
the Savior would come and He would destroy the serpent (tempter) in order to reconcile man with God.
From this point on Satan would try to destroy the seed of the woman. God
didn’t say which woman would bear the seed. Satan was left guessing. That is why Satan has tried from the very beginning to destroy the seed or to pollute
the seed of the woman. He has been waging war against the Seed of God, the Savior
of the world, ever since God promised to save the world.
Satan has attempted to hurt God, by doing all he could to devour the woman and her godly descendents down through the
centuries. He did all that he could to keep the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
from being born. Now that Christ has come, Satan does all he can to turn people
away from the judgment to come. Even when people do repent and turn to follow
Christ, Satan does all he can to turn the followers of the Lord away from Him.
The promised seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, was to crush the head of the serpent. Jesus Christ crushed Satan when He died upon the cross.
Jesus crushed Satan's head by never giving in to the devil's temptations. Jesus
became the Perfect Man, the Ideal Man, the Ideal Righteousness...
Satan was defeated in that an Ideal Righteousness was now provided for man. Man
could now become acceptable to God by putting on the righteousness of Christ through faith.
(2 Cor. 5:21; Ephes. 4:23-24.
Genesis 3:16 (KJV)
16 Unto the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be
to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
This judgment applies to every man individually, not to all men over all women. It
means every wife is subject to her own husband, not subject to all men. The judgment
is not that all men are to rule over all women; the judgment is that each husband will hereafter rule over his wife and her
alone. This is exactly what the New Testament says:
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For
the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church" (Ephes. 5:22-23).
When God judged woman to be under the rule of man, God was not condemning her to be of less ability or worth, of less
competence or value, or of less brilliance or advantage.
God's judgment dealt with function and order within the family. Because
of sin, the family was no longer a perfect family where every member would live perfect lives free from problems. The family would now know selfishness, difficulties, trouble, reaction, rebellion and all sorts of disorder
and sin. The family needed someone to be the head, someone to be responsible
for rule and order within the family. The head was to be the man, not the woman.
The woman was to be ruled over by her husband, and she was to submit to his authority.
This was part of her judgment. It
is also man that will be held responsible for that responsibility.
The judgment is a just and fair judgment. The woman had acted independently
of God and of man. She had taken matters and the rule of her own life into her
own hands. Eve craved independence, authority and control over her own life.
In addition, she enticed the man to walk away from God, to walk out from under
the rule of God, to act independently of God and to rebel against God.
The judgment of God was now for the woman to be under the authority and rule of her husband. This does not mean man is to be domineering and demanding. It
simply means that by reaching out for the forbidden fruit, Eve had acted alone, taken control, and put matters into her own
hands. She had sought an independence that was never intended to be between man
and woman. Thus, the judgment is that she is to be under the very authority that
she had attempted to take unto herself, she was to thereafter live under the authority of her husband.
Genesis 3:17 (KJV)
17 And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt
not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Genesis 3:18 (KJV)
18 Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Genesis 3:19 (KJV)
19 In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Adam and Eve chose their course of action (disobedience), and then God chose his. As
a holy God, he had to respond in a way consistent with his perfect moral nature. He
could not allow sin to go unpunished. Because God just God had to punish sin.
If the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin may seem extreme, remember that their
sin set in motion the world's tendency toward disobeying God. That is why we
sin today: Every human being ever born, with the exception of Jesus, has inherited the sinful nature of Adam and Eve
Romans 5:12 (KJV)
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Romans 5:19 (KJV)
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous.
Adam and Eve's punishment reflects how seriously God views sin of any kind. If
you want to understand how much God hates sin today, just look back two thousand years ago to see the judgment that was carried
out for Adam’s sin and our sins. Our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. Justice was served. The penalty was paid.
Adam failed in at least three areas.
First, Adam did not try to lead Eve back to God. He did not even try to
lead his wife to repentance, nor did he bring up the subject of her returning to God.
He did not even suggest that she confess and ask God for forgiveness.
Second, Adam listened to Eve's enticements and persuasions. He didn’t
stop her from talking about the forbidden fruit to him. He stood there and listened
to her persuasive arguments, her enticements and seduction. God said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
you are to be judged. Adam tragically failed, by listening to his wife, by not
stopping her from talking about the forbidden fruit.
Third, Adam himself chose to eat the forbidden fruit. He blamed his wife,
but Eve did not force him to eat the forbidden fruit. Adam willfully chose, and
made a deliberate decision to sin. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was not deceived; his eyes were wide open when he sinned. He
was guilty, willfully and deliberately guilty of rejecting God, of rebelling against God, of disobeying God and of turning
away from God.
Man was condemned to struggle for survival, condemned to struggle against nature for the most necessities of life.
Man was condemned to suffer sorrow in meeting his most basic need: food. The
word "sorrow" (itstsebhon) means pain, misery, toil, arduous labor, strenuous work. Before
the fall, labor was not a strain, no sweet, no weeds, no thorns and no pain of aching muscles. Now man is condemned to struggle for survival, and to struggle against the forces of nature for the very
necessities of life.
The idea in this particular judgment is not just thorns and thistles, not just man struggling against thorns and thistles
in order to eat. The idea is that nature is no longer under control. Nature is no longer going to produce plenty for man, nor naturally, nor orderly, and not regularly.
Man was condemned to sweat in order to eat, in order to control nature and meet his most basic need.
Genesis 3:20 (KJV)
20 And Adam called his wife's name
Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Adam names his wife, and the name he gives her is very significant. The
name Eve (chavvah) means to live, to give life, or the mother of all living. Different
commentators give the Hebrew word different shades of meaning, such as to breathe, to propagate life, and to quicken seed
("Pulpit Commentary," Vol.1, p.72).
The fundamental meaning of the name is life. "Eve" means to give life,
to spring forth life, to propagate life. This is exactly why Adam named his wife
Eve: she was the mother of all living.
When Adam named his wife Eve, he was acting in faith.
Adam believed God, believed the Word and promises of God. Adam beloved the promise given in verse15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Therefore, he named his
wife Eve, which means life. His wife was to bring forth children, and more importantly,
she was to bear the promised seed or Savior who would save them and their children.
Genesis 3:21 (KJV)
21 Unto
Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Tunics of skin: In order for Adam and Eve to be clothed, a sacrifice had to be made.
An animal had to die. Without shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sin.
Hebrews 9:22 (AMP)
22 [In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the
shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for
sins.
Imagine Adam and Eve standing there as the animals were slaughtered. They
had never seen blood nor the agony, pain, and suffering of death before. They
must have stood there in shock, stricken with the horror and devastation of sin. When
the animals were slaughtered, Adam and Eve learned the terrible results of sin.
Adam and Eve learned what death meant. An awesome fear must have gripped
their hearts. God had warned them, if they sinned, they would die. Now, Adam and Eve knew exactly what death meant. Every death
they witnessed in the future would forever remind them that they, too, were soon to die.
Adam and Eve also learned what mercy meant and how dependent they were upon the mercy of God. God had warned them: if they sinned, they would die. However,
note, their death was delayed. They were allowed to live upon earth for many
years.
Genesis 3:22 (KJV)
22 And the LORD God said, Behold,
the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life,
and eat, and live forever:
Genesis 3:23 (KJV)
23 Therefore [Yeh-ho-vaw' El-o-heem] the LORD God sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
The First Act of Deliverance or Salvation: Man is saved from Living Forever as a Sinner in a Fallen World.
Genesis 3:24 (KJV)
24 So he drove out the man; and
he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the
tree of life.
God now had a problem: man had sinned; man now not only knew good, but also knew evil. Because
of evil, catastrophic consequences were to fall upon man and his world.
Man is said to know evil even as God knows evil. However, there is a vast
difference between God's knowledge of evil and man's knowledge of evil.
God knows evil because He sees evil as it lies spread out before Him. God
does not know evil by experience. God does not think evil nor do evil. God knows evil only in the sense that He sees it as it happens, as others commit it.
Now man knows evil by personal experience. Man thinks and does evil. Man harbors evil thoughts and man commits evil acts.
Man has plunged himself into evil and learned what evil is by experience.
This was the problem that now God faced. Man had sinned, and he was now
imperfect and corrupt. God had created man to bless him beyond all imagination,
but man had turned against and rejected God. What was God to do? God was not about to let His purpose for man be defeated? He
could not, for He was God, and God's purposes can never be defeated. Therefore,
God fulfilled His Word: He judged man and then He provided the way of salvation and deliverance for man
The new conditions focused upon the promised seed of the woman, the Savior of the world that God had just promised
Adam. Adam was now required to trust in the promised seed.
Moses wrote of Abram, “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars,
if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be. And
he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis
15:5-6 (KJV)
God gave Abram a promise and then states that when Abram believed the promise that it was counted to him for righteousness.
God had to deliver and save Adam in such a way that Adam could be freed from sin, made righteous, and perfected forever.
There was only one way to do this: put Adam out into the world and teach him
to trust and focus upon the promised seed of the woman, the Savior of the world, the seed and Savior that God had already
promised to Adam and the world.
If they had continued to live in the garden and eat from the tree of life, they would have lived forever. However, eternal life in a state of sin would mean forever trying to hide from God. Like Adam and Eve, all of us have sinned and are separated from fellowship with God. We do not have to stay separated, however.
You may ask, why do I have to pay for what Adam did? You may also say
that God is "totally" unfair and I "totally" agree with you.
However, I would also add, God is totally and gloriously unfair, Praise God!!!
Jahovah Elohim also understands and that is why He has given you an answer in His word for you. Here it is.
Romans 5:17-19 (KJV)
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
18
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free
gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
