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In this blog post, we will go verse by verse through Genesis chapter 3, examining the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We will also see that the tree of life ultimately points to Jesus, through whom we have eternal life. Let's start with verse 1 of Genesis 3: Genesis 3:1 NKJV 1 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’?” Satan entered into a serpent in order to bring about man's fall. We know that it was Satan talking through the serpent because Revelation 12:9 calls Satan "that serpent of old". In the Garden, Satan's initial strategy was to misrepresent what God said. God never said, “You shall not eat of every tree”. There was only one tree that God forbade, namely the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our passage continues... Genesis 3:2–5 NKJV 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 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.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 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.” Satan wanted Eve to believe the following two incorrect things about God:
Be assured that the devil also wants you not to trust God, and to believe that you are missing out by avoiding what God prohibits. The next verse states: Genesis 3:6 NKJV 6 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. The woman noticed that the forbidden tree was:
It is the last of these that is of interest here. According to Genesis 2:9, all the other trees in the garden were "pleasant to the sight and good for food". What was different about the forbidden tree is that it was also “desirable to make one wise”. The wisdom that the tree would give is the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, the tree would enable Adam and Eve to be their own source of moral wisdom. They would no longer need to ask God regarding what is right and wrong; they would have that knowledge for themselves. So Eve was tempted with independence from God. She would be able to be her own boss. But notice that the devil didn’t speak to Eve in that way. He was much more subtle. He simply said, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil”. When the devil tempts you, He won’t necessarily tell you that what he is tempting you with is a sin. Instead, he will make it seem like it is something that is not so bad. However, his goal is to cut you off from God. To rob you of Eden, and as we will see, that is exactly what happened with Adam and Eve. Our passage continues... Genesis 3:7 NKJV 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. At the end of chapter 2, we were told that Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:25). But now, having partaken of the forbidden fruit, they suddenly feel a sense of shame regarding their nakedness. So they make themselves coverings (the Hebrew word means "loincloths"). But suddenly, something else happens... Genesis 3:8–10 NKJV 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. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Adam and Eve's obsession with nakedness continues. They don’t want even God to see them naked, so they hide among the trees. The next verse tells us how God responded: Genesis 3:11 NKJV 11 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?” “Who told you that you were naked?” That is an important question. To this day, humans are the only creatures that feel it necessary to wear clothes. Animals are quite content being naked. So God's question was a good one. He was in effect asking “From where did you get this awareness that you are naked?” Next, God asked Adam a very direct question - “have you eaten from the tree?” Adam responds as follows: Genesis 3:12 NKJV 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Notice that Adam didn’t say “yes”. Instead, he came up with an excuse. He blamed his wife. So far, their transgression had affected their relationship with God - they were hiding from Him. But now it also affected their relationship with each other. That is the devil’s strategy, he wants to ruin your relationship with God, and he wants to ruin your relationships with other people. After Adam's response, God gave Eve the chance to respond: Genesis 3:13 NKJV 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So, like Adam, she blames someone else - the serpent. God is now ready to render His judgement on all involved... Genesis 3:14 NKJV 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. In this verse, serpents are cursed so that they now will have to crawl on the ground. It would seem that they may have initially had limbs, but God’s curse removed them. But there was more to come... Genesis 3:15 NKJV 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” On one level, this simply describes the natural hostility between humans and snakes. But ultimately it points to the hostility between Satan and Christ. Christ is the Seed of the woman. God says that He “shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel”. To be bruised on the heel is painful. But to be bruised on the head is fatal. Therefore, this passage anticipates Christ’s victory over Satan. It is a victory that we also participate in, which is why Paul told the Roman Christians, "the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly..." (Romans 16:20 NKJV) So, the serpent was cursed. But Eve and Adam were not going to be let off the hook... Genesis 3:16 NKJV 16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Eve has a lot to answer for. She is to blame for the fact that giving birth is painful, and for the fact that throughout most of human history, women have not enjoyed equal status with men. But now it is Adam’s turn to hear his judgement... Genesis 3:17–19 NKJV 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” Growing crops would now be very difficult, and death would now be certain. The next verses say: Genesis 3:20–21 NKJV 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. So Adam named his wife “Eve” which means “life”/”living”. She was given this name because she was the mother of all living. Therefore, every one of us descends from Adam and Eve. Notice that despite God’s judgement on humanity, He still cared for them, and provided them with clothing. Earlier, Adam and Eve had made their coverings from fig leaves, but notice that God made them clothing from "skin". This means that an animal had to be killed to provide adequate covering for Adam and Eve. This points ultimately to the fact that in order for our sins to be covered, Jesus had to die for us to make a covering for our sins. That covering is known as “atonement”. In Hebrew, that word means “covering”. Jesus' blood covers our sins and blots them out. Our passage continues... Genesis 3:22–24 NKJV 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Notice that Adam and Eve were not created immortal. In order to have everlasting life, they would have to eat from the tree of life. But, because they were disobedient to God, they were forbidden access to the tree of life and banished from the Garden of Eden. However, the good news is that Jesus came to reverse the curse. You see, the tree of life in Eden ultimately points to Jesus. It is Jesus who is the true tree of life. He said: John 6:54 NKJV 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Whenever we partake of holy communion, we are partaking of the true tree of life. Notice that Jesus said, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”. In other words, we have eternal life right now. But then, He adds, “and I will raise him up at the last day”. Seeing as we have eternal life now, why do we still die and then need to be resurrected in the future? In order to make sense of this, we should note that when Adam and Eve sinned, they immediately died spiritually. In other words, their relationship with God was ruined. All of us, as their descendants, are born spiritually dead. Our former state of spiritual death is described in the following two verses: Ephesians 2:1 NKJV 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 4:18 NKJV 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; When Adam and Eve sinned, they immediately died spiritually. That's why God told Adam - "in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17 NKJV). They experienced spiritual death the moment they ate the forbidden fruit. And then much later, they died physically (Adam didn't die until he was 930 years old!). Jesus restores us in the same order. First He puts eternal life into our hearts. Jesus described this eternal life in His prayer to the Father: John 17:3 NKJV 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. True eternal life is not just living forever. Rather, it is living forever in intimate fellowship with God. It is "knowing" God, and that begins now. So, even as Adam and Eve first died spiritually, Jesus first restores our spiritual life, which is an intimate relationship with God. Then, even as Adam and Eve later died physically, so Jesus will later give us new immortal bodies when He comes. Furthermore, we will be restored to Eden. The Eden-like conditions we will enjoy when Jesus returns are described by Paul as follows: Romans 8:18–21 NLT 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. Not only will we be restored, creation also will be restored. It will join us in "glorious freedom from death and decay". Such a prospect should cause us to say with Paul "Maran atha" - an Aramaic phrase that he used in 1 Corinthians 16:22 which means "O Lord, Come!" Summary:
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Stuart PatticoPastor of Joy Community Church, Milton Keynes. Archives
August 2023
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