1. GENESIS 3 – CRISIS IN CREATION
INTRODUCTION:
Genesis 1 – 11 remind us of one of the Core Realities/Principles/DNA that govern the world in
which we find ourselves, foundational building blocks of the Bible.
The Fall: our human rebellion against our Creator God impacts absolutely everything about our
world –the struggle with good & evil, the relationships: marriage & other relationships, work,
gender, our ultimate & eternal destiny.
Pivotal truths in our minds and our spirits so that we can make sense of ourselves, our world &
the rest of the Bible - we live in a world that is fundamentally broken and that we can’t fix it.
THE DEVIL'S SNARE – 3 GREAT LIES (3:1-5)
Lie about God’s Good Government
Show it isn’t clear (3:1)
We live in a broken world because Adam & Eve, and every man & woman who has ever
lived has bought the oldest lie in the book: that to break free from God’s good government
will give us liberty.
The tree of the knowledge of good & evil symbolizes God’s position as authoritative ruler –
it’s symbolic of his perfect government. Only God can decide what is good & what is bad. So
the tree of knowledge of good & evil is God’s right to govern & to rule, and there has to be
order & government in order for there to be freedom.
Lie about God's Judgment
Show it’s unenforceable (3:4)
Doubt God will punish disobedience. Although the Bible says that God is loving & patient,
the Bible is also unmistakably clear that God is holy & just, that God cares about what
happens in his world, about right & wrong. God will judge us. He will hold us to account.
Lie that you don’t need God, you can be God
Show it isn’t fair (3:5)
This law isn’t fair. “It doesn’t make sense for you to obey this law, Eve. How come God can
have it and not you?”
The climax of the 3 lies: the tree of the knowledge of good & evil represents the divine right
of God to govern. This is a temptation to seize hold of the throne of God himself & for me to
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2. GENESIS 3 – CRISIS IN CREATION
decide how I’m going to live in his world with no reference to him. I’ll make the decision,
not God.
They became law breakers because they wanted to be law makers.
It is Satan & his temptations that promise much, and deliver little. We are to resist the devil,
firm in your faith. We are to turn a deaf ear to his lies & instead listen to the words of Jesus.
THE FALL (3:7-24)
Conflict (3:7-13)
Humanity & God (3:7)
Eyes opened but all they could see their nakedness. In trying to hide their shame, they
only manage to draw attention to it. Their guilt makes them afraid to meet God. The
trees that have been pleasant to sight & good for food are now used as cover for Adam
& Eve.
The once perfect, open, intimate relationship between God & humanity is now gone.
God does not begin with a shout of judgment but an invitation for Adam to face up, to
recognize the mess he’s made of their relationship, to recognize what’s been lost.
Man & Woman (3:7, 11-12)
Blame Game begins with Adam & Eve as they cover up from one another with their fig
leaves, shift responsibility, pass the buck and accusing God as well.
Humanity & Creation (3:13)
Rather than ruling creation, Eve was ruled by it. The created order is distorted – a
complete reversal and inversion of Genesis 1 & 2.
Curses (3:14-19)
The Serpent (3:14,15):
The serpent is cursed & punished for deceiving Eve – he will face a life of humiliation.
The woman should never have listened to a creature rather than her Creator:
relationship turned into enmity.
God’s sovereignty is re-asserted. His order is restored.
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3. GENESIS 3 – CRISIS IN CREATION
Eve (3:16) :
God created humanity to be fruitful & multiply & fill the earth but marred by this
punishment of pain & danger in childbirth.
Marriage also affected with the beginnings of marital strife, as to love & to cherish
becomes to desire & to dominate. The temptation has been for wives to usurp their
husband’s authority ever since Eve. Christian wives not immune since we now live after
the Fall.
A similar danger is the temptation for husbands to rule over wives in an overbearing,
dictatorial way, to ride rough-shot over what they want & what’s best for them.
Marriage is part of God’s good creation but it’s now marred by the Fall.
Adam (3:17-19)
Adam’s lot is tough toil, then definite death.
Like marriage, work was part of God’s good creation but now it has been tainted &
spoiled. Work now is fallen.
It is foolishness to look for ultimate satisfaction & fulfillment in work when the ultimate
end is Death.
In yet another reversal, Adam who is made out of the dust is now destined to return to
it.
Cast Out & Cut Off (3:20-24)
Adam’s death was a change of place – from within the garden to cast out, and a change
of relationship from fellowship to cut off from God.
Adam & Eve died when God cast them out from the garden and placed cherubim with a
flaming sword between them & the tree of life - cut off from the source of life and the
tree of life.
In yet another reversal, Adam & Eve were to guard Eden & now they are guarded from it.
What they experienced outside Eden is not life as God intended but spiritual death with
their physical death inevitably following.
These verses make it crystal clear that Adam & Eve & all their descendants are cast out
of the garden & cut off from God. Ever since Adam & Eve, we are all cast out & cut off.
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4. GENESIS 3 – CRISIS IN CREATION
Cure (3:15, 20-24)
In judgment, Adam & Eve were cut off from the tree of life but it also stops them from
being stuck forever in an inescapable life of sin.
God, in his mercy & grace, provides a covering for their shame at the cost of an animal’s
life. It reminds Adam & Eve of their sin but also it’s part of God’s mercy.
In Martin Luther’s commentary, Adam names Eve as mother of all living (in Hebrew –
the name Eve and “to live” sounds similar); he saw through to life when everything
around him was being subjected to death.
Luther calls Genesis 3:15 the first comfort – this source of all mercy & fountainhead of
all promises – the promise of the serpent-crusher.
There will come one from Eve who crushes the head of the serpent. That word “head”
sums up all that a person is – Satan will be totally & utterly smashed – but at a cost to
this serpent-crusher.
We begin to see the first hint of what God will do at the Cross. There isn’t a way back to
innocence but there is a way on to the Cross. The amazing wonder of the Cross is that
Jesus doesn’t just defeat Satan, he also shares this victory with his people and opens up
a new & better garden paradise for his people.
The curtain in the Temple was embroidered with cherubim that barred the way to God’s
presence. When Jesus died on the Cross, the curtain was torn from top to bottom. God
himself reopened the way into his presence - the way back to the tree of life through
the cherubim, to a new & better Eden.
At the end of Revelation, we see all who have put their trust in Jesus’ death will have
access to the tree of life, when the dwelling place of God will be with man.
No more conflict, no more curse, no longer cast out nor cut off, but we’ve got it
perfectly & forever.
Only if we understand that we are utterly lost sinners, living in a world fundamentally
broken which we can’t fix – with no hope in ourselves, unable regain paradise in our
own strength, in need of an undeserved Saviour, will we make sense of ourselves, our
world & God’s Word.
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