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Studies in Genesis, Penalty for Sin (continued), Lesson X, Genesis 3:16-24
In our Genesis study, we have been told by God that Adam and Eve, the parents of us all, placed into a perfect environment, able to walk and talk to God, had disobeyed the one restriction that their Creator had given them.
The forbidden fruit, which upon eating of it, had opened their eyes to the knowledge of good and evil.
So the transgression was done and the judge has pronounced his judgment.
The serpent is now confined to the dust all the days of his life, to live in enmity with the woman and between his seed and her seed.
The promise was made to the serpent that his head would be bruised, inferring his defeat.
But in that defeat the seed of the woman would be bruised in his heel, a promise of victory over the serpent who tempted and corrupted the woman.
And continuing in his judgment this woman named Eve by her husband, will now sorrow in bringing forth children and will have her desires provided by her husband who is given the task to rule over her.
We read of this in Genesis 3:16, 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.
Adam and Eve till the fall had lived a perfect life in the garden.
They lived in innocence and they had no children until after they were banished from Eden.
So we know not anything about child conception nor child birthing while in the garden.
But here God brings into the judgment what will take place with women as they birth children.
And one of these children will be the one whom God promised to bruise Satan’s head.
Satan knew of this promise and will in his future bring King Herod, his servant to try to destroy this promised one who was born in Bethlehem.
For Herod commands that all children under two years of age be killed in hopes that this threat to Herod’s throne be stopped but the underlying reason is for Satan to escape the deadly wound promised to him in the garden.
So God puts in place man’s salvation through women and Satan’s destruction through women by the birth of a child but it is to be through a painful and trying process.
Every natural birthing experience, with its pain and suffering is a reminder of Eve’s fall but it is also a reminder of God’s promise of deliverance.
Every Jewish mother remembered this until Mary was chosen by God to birth His only begotten Son who came to bruise Satan’s head and to deliver us all.
And I suppose this dream still occupies the mind of devout Jewish women who believe the One to bruise Satan’s head is yet to come.
So we are also told that all women are to be under the authority of their husbands for thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Here is the command to Eve to submit her desires to her husband’s will.
She had eaten of the forbidden fruit and had committed a great sin, moved by her own desire, without seeking advice and approval from her husband, the one from whose rib she was formed.
They were one, in the garden, equals for only here in verse 16 is Adam given rule over her for up until this time that was not so.
God is telling us here that Eve, in considering so substantial a matter should have decided it with the consent of God’s choice for her.
She did not, and took it upon herself to satisfy her own desire, and therefore was beguiled by a being far more subtle then she was.
And not only that she drew her husband to commit the same sin and therefore God chose to place her under the authority of her husband for this is what her new nature brought her to.
And as long as we are on the earth this command remains, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
The Apostle Paul, even though he was centuries away from this command did not think otherwise for he reminded the Ephesians in his letter chapter 5 verses 22,23, of this edict of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
What a wonderful duty of faith this is for God knew best when he gave these judgments for they all were for the good of Adam and Eve and for the good of all of us who are sinners.
These are the best roles for us to play with this new sinful nature gotten when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Paul in addressing wives, used the word “submit”.
To submit is an act of faith for it requires a woman to believe the word of God for submission is not an act of the natural heart as is demonstrated ad nauseam in our culture.
It is an act of a heart of faith in God’s word.
It is obedience to God’s word to submit to the authority of another.
God tells husbands to love their wives and therefore husbands are to exercise their authority, not in dictatorship but in love leading their wives to submit to them in obedience to God’s word by faith.
But in our world again we see a rejection of this truth of God, a truth for the benefit of all.
Again we see Satan repeating what he said in the garden, Ye hath God said?
His message to the women of today is a message of destruction for it is only a message of self-worship and self-fulfillment instead of the fulfillment of God and others.
One great truth we learn as believers is that God loves us, God loves women and all that he does is for their best and our best.
And God asks us to live our lives by faith in his word which tells us clearly to not lean to our own understanding but in all our ways to acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths.
Satan operates only by leaning to His own understanding and his world system is built upon that direction in total disregard to God’s word.
And in judgment Adam also has been found guilty so God in Genesis 3:17-19 speaks to this:
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; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 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.
At first reading we may think of this as punishment however Adam is now in a new state before God.
Adam, once in innocence, is now with a new heart, a new nature, the nature of a sinner, a rebel before God.
And as such God places him in a new environment with burdens to bear which is for his own good.
God does not curse Adam, as He did the serpent, for Adam is redeemable.
But God curses the ground in order that hard work is introduced to Adam who previously had to care for a perfect place, the Garden of Eden.
It is now a different economy, an economy for Adam and Eve’s good.
Not one built around pleasure but built around survival and hard work.
Again the opposite of what Satan advances, the pursuit of pleasure and the vanity of life, and if possible the elimination of work.
For Satan advances the idea that you can have the Garden of Eden in this life while following him.
And not only will Adam have to labor in that ground by the sweat of his face is the irony that he is dust and as dust now in his new state as a sinner will his body be sent back to that ground to again become dust.
In the day that thou eat thereof shalt thou surely die.
God said it and when God said it, it is sure to happen for Adam died spiritually with that first bite and physical death now marches toward its conclusion.
It would not be long for Adam to notice, a loss of muscle power in his arms and legs or even a wrinkle in his wife’s perfect face.
Perhaps his hair would thin or turn white; each day reminding him of God’s word that death is now in the picture.
The lesson here is that apart from the life which God gives through His Son, man’s body will simply return to its original state.
It came from dust, to dust shall he return.
This thought given to us by God is repeated at countless funerals read From the Anglican Book of Common Prayer which reads:
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious unto him and give him peace. Amen.
So now in verse 20 we see Adam’s response to this judgment for:
……Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Life of a new kind goes on.
Adam accepted his guilt and his punishment although all of this change instituted by his maker was for his good.
Adam now focused upon his wife whom he gave the name Eve.
Did she not have a name until this time?
Did Adam only call her Women?
Perhaps, but now Adam begins a naming process whereby her name is attached to her function, the function of bringing forth life.
The word Eve means living or life and shows that life would come through Eve.
God said her seed would bruise the serpent’s head.
All life would emanate from Eve and included in that life was a rescue of man to return to the Garden of Eden.
That heavenly place created by God for man, that place we know of as Heaven.
Sin banished all from that garden but God’s Son knows of that garden for he promised that all who believe in Him shall have a place prepared by him to come and again walk with Him in the cool of the day.
For Jesus told his disciples in John 14:2,3, In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
God is a God of promise.
God is God of provision and immediately he begins the process of provision for Adam and Eve.
Yes they will leave the garden but this process is designed for a return, not in this life, but in the next.
Seeing themselves naked for the first time they had clothed themselves with fig leaves sown into aprons, a manifestation that they could cover their own sin.
For this is what their nature now dictated and so it dictates in our life also.
But God here teaches us and them immediately that manmade coverings do not satisfy our Creator for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
By providing them coats of skin God decreed that death must occur and blood shed for a covering to be effective and in this he pointed to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ whose shed blood covers the sins of all.
And from this will come the abundance of blood shedding in the tabernacle and temple, daily reminding all of God’s covering standard.
So continuing in our passage we now read of a conversation amongst the Trinity for in verse 22 they speak among themselves referring to themselves as “US”.
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 for ever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 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.
So again change is to take place.
Things do not remain the same when sin enters the picture.
The knowledge of good and evil is a God attribute for this brings no harm to the Almighty God, but in the case of created beings it brings much harm.
So in a sense Satan’s promise to Adam and Eve that they would become like God in the knowing of good and evil was true but certainly not like God in a complete sense.
God knew of course of good and evil but could not become its victim whereas Adam and Eve easily became its victim.
A doctor studies and knows about cancer but the patient knows about it for he or she has become its victim.
That is the difference!
So the Trinity speaks and knows what is best for the fallen couple and what is best is for them not to eat of the tree of life for eating of the tree of life will doom them to an eternal life of sin.
An eternal life apart from their Creator, a life of hell, separate from God.
A life without salvation from what their rebellion has brought them but God who loves them knows best and sends them away to live a life far different from Eden.
For it is to be a life of survival by hard work, a work designed to keep them from sin as much as possible and a life where this body will be shed.
We see banishment from a perfect place for their own good.
For God sends them away in order that redemption will come about.
God again shows mercy in sending Adam and Eve to a place that suits their nature.
He has kept them from the tree of life and kept them from eternal punishment.
God now expects them to trust in Him that his plan of salvation expressed by the bruising of Satan’s head will be fulfilled.
Faith is the key and God puts into place, that without faith it is impossible to please Him. |