1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

Studies in Genesis, Sin Begets Murder, Lesson XI, Genesis 3:21-24

We left last week’s lesson learning that God had provided to Adam and Eve a covering for their nakedness, nakedness that they had come to know by now having the knowledge of good and evil.

For in Genesis 3:21 we read, Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Remember Adam and Eve, upon realizing they were naked, used fig leaves to cover themselves but we learn here that man-made coverings do not satisfy God. 

For God quickly provided them coats of skin thereby decreeing that a 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”.

They had done this also in Genesis 1:26, where they said, Let us made man in our image, after our likeness.

Genesis 3:22-24, 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, a change which brings to Adam and Eve a new environment.

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 much about cancer but the patient knows about it personally 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 eventually be shed in preparation for a new body.

So we are given to 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, a nature to pursue knowledge of good and evil. 

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.

So in chapter three we have seen God’s provision of a perfect place, the fall from that place, the judgment resulting from that fall, but within all of this we see God’s grace and promise of deliverance. 

All of this is but a preview of all of this to repeat and repeat throughout the history of man until Jesus comes.

Remember the people of Moses’ day, delivered out of Egypt, given the Law and given to enter the Promised Land. 

Canaan like Eden was a place of beauty and a place of milk and honey.

Obey the word of God and the place was assured but put God’s law aside and banishment was guaranteed, with its concurrent suffering, downfall and poverty. 

God said of Canaan, in Deut. 30:15-20 

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; ¹⁶ In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. ¹⁷ But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; ¹⁸ I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: ²⁰ That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.   

So in many ways chapter three of Genesis is the seed plot of history for what happened in Eden again occurred in Canaan.   

And again and again in the lives of individuals and nations who chose to ignore the warnings given by God in Eden.   

Satan still has winning devices and chooses to use them over and over on each generation and it is only by the grace of God that some are saved.  

God quickly covered the nakedness of the first pair, in that act, gloriously promising all of us to cover our nakedness by redemption and restoration. 

And we learn from God’s precious word that that seed of the woman will appear on our behalf in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who applies the only covering that will satisfy the Father, His own precious and holy blood. 

Adam and Eve were given a choice in the garden, to obey or not to obey. 

And this choice remains.   

We come into this world as sons of the first Adam and by default will leave it in the same state we so entered subject to physical and spiritual death.   

But by God’s grace we can choose God’s second Adam, and in so doing we become new creations, new creatures, with eternal life in both physical and spiritual lives. 

So now Adam and Eve are driven from the perfect place to a place suited to their fallen nature of sin.   

All was wonderful, all was peaceful then, but now things are to be different for the knowledge of good and evil is being pursued.   

With a nature to sin, sin is dominant and we will see this beginning in the first generation.

For we read of this in Genesis 4:1-6, And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. ² And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ³ And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. ⁴ And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ⁵ But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. ⁶ And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? ⁷ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

God had assigned to Adam and Eve in the garden the duties of dressing and keeping the garden. 

This of course was the way of servants of God for God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. 

But servanthood was not satisfying to them for by disobeying God they chose the path of self-fulfillment for this was what was promised to them by Satan. 

Did he not say, Ye shall be as gods?

So where will this path, this broad path by the way, lead?  

It is on the beginning of this path where physical death is first displayed.

God had set the wages of sin as death, and when God sets the wages the paymaster is sure to obey.

So Cain is born to demonstrate this truth. 

Adam gave Eve her name, which describes her function, which is the bringing forth of life for Eve means living or life. 

So in compliance with her name she brings forth life and names that life Cain which means to get or gotten or acquired. 

In this naming she attributes this getting to God for she says, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

Now remember the promise of God to her that her seed would bruise the head of Satan and I suppose it would have been normal for her to think that Cain was that seed.

But that notion is quickly dismissed as we learn in Chapter four.

And then Abel is born.

Abel means breath or vanity. 

Is this a connection with her function as the bringer forth of life? 

For in Abel she has brought forth that which breathes.

And then God describes their livelihoods for this is important in connection with God’s promise of a deliverer. 

Both sons were tied to the land, Abel a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 

No indication that one vocation was better or worse than the other for that is not important here.

The important thing is the difference in obedience between the two sons.

And God quickly gets to that difference by bringing up Cain and Abel’s response with regard to an offering given to God. 

Recall God’s covering of Adam and Eve with the skins of an animal which immediately taught them that access to God was only by the shedding of blood. 

By God’s response to the offerings it must be concluded that both Cain and Abel knew of this principle.

But was Cain one of the crowd who desired recognition of his work?

Certainly God would be proud of an offering from the ground, wouldn’t He? 

This or course is the works salvation message that Satan had spread since the garden. 

Bring to God the works of your hands and he will certainly be satisfied but this conclusion casts away God’s clear word, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

Abel obeyed God and lost his life for it, at the hand of his brother Cain. 

He brought the offering satisfying to God for it was an offering of the firstling of his flock and the fat thereof. 

Blood had been shed as God prescribed. 

And this process will be followed for centuries by the generations from Eve until the One came to bruise Satan’s head shedding His perfect blood on the cross of Calvary.

And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ⁵ But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

Think of yourself having two sons. 

Tell the sons that raking the yard will bring you pleasure. 

One son rakes the yard and one son chooses to clean his room. 

Both look for approval for both have done needed tasks. 

But one son leaves the father with a wilting countenance and the other with a smile. 

What is the difference? The difference is obedience. 

The difference is following the father’s word.

Believing His word and doing his word for his word was to rake the yard. 

Like the son who cleaned his room Cain chose to please himself expecting that God would be pleased. 

Abel offered that which God required and in so doing pleased God. 

And the lesson is that God’s will is to overrule our will.

⁶ And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? ⁷ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

In verse 7 God personalizes sin and refers to sin as “his and him”. 

In other words sin has overcome Cain resulting in his disobedience and his resulting anger for not receiving the respect of God.

In other words God is telling Cain to rule over sin or sin will rule over you. 

God asks Cain, Why are you angry? 

Get a hold of yourself and think things through as to what you have done. 

Do well and you will be accepted. 

Do right and I will be satisfied but if don’t you will become a slave to sin and sin will take hold of you and bring you down.

God is telling Cain that he has no right to be angry. 

In this it is inferred that Cain knew better and he had all knowledge to do right. 

But it is obvious that Cain’s way still lives and fills the earth for God’s word fills the earth and the Cains of today choose to ignore it and are angry when God steps in with judgment.