Despite man’s disobedience, God foretold of a saviour that would crush evil’s head and make the world right again. He provides a way to be redeemed and restored to the original purpose of God.
15 And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Genesis 2:15-17 AMPC
God made this command originally to Adam. He made the command for Adam not Eve. God gave us free will. He told Adam – but was it a test? If there is never a command and never the option of free will, then it is not a chance. God wanted obedience to be a choice. It must be free will. God wants our love and obedience to Him to be love and obedience of choice.
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Genesis 2:18 NIV
This is a call for man to righteousness and to be His representatives of God.
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25 NIV
Sin condition moves us into vulnerability with shame. We now only want to reveal to people what we want them to see.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1 NIV
The serpent – We can’t outsmart Him but we can overcome and overpower Him through Jesus. Satan’s first attack was levelled against the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Satan comes against the Word and undermines it. Which int urn makes you neglect the Word and doubt it.
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3: 2-5
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3 NIV
Satan planted the seed of doubt about God’s Word & he expected Eve’s incomplete understanding of God’s Word. We don’t enter into a discussion with him. We resist him and he flees. The moment you give him an audience he stays put. Don’t give the devil a place in your life, do not allow him to have a foothold.
In Satan’s direct challenge, he tries to get eve to doubt the goodness of God and the badness of sin. The devil knows the word better than us. Adam and Eve’s eyes were instantly opened…to their own rebellion and shame.
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:6-7 NIV
Every attempt to cover our own nakedness before God is foolish.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Genesis 3:8-11 NIV
This was not the interrogation of an angry commanding officer, but the heartfelt cry of an anguished Father.
4 ways God approaches man in sin
-God came to them patiently
-God came to them with care
-God came to them personally
-God came to them with truth
Sin made Adam afraid of God’s presence and afraid of God’s voice.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:14-15 NIV
This is a prophecy of Jesus’ ultimate defeat of Satan. Even in a broken and fractured world, God loves us enough to provide a way for our sins to be forgiven.
