God's Work with Planet Earth

In the last post (Temptation and the Fall), we explored how the serpent got Adam and Eve, the first humans, to distrust and disobey their Creator. Now we want to look closely at how God responded.

Big Changes

Before we do that, what happened with Adam and Eve? Eve had been fooled into thinking they would reach an enlightenment, a higher state of existence, if she believed what the serpent told her enough to disobey God’s command.

“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.

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.” Genesis 3:7-8

There’s a suggestion, though not a direct statement, that God often came in the evening (“the cool of the day”) to talk with them. But something had changed immediately when they ate the forbidden fruit. Instead of running to meet Him like children happy to see their loving parents again, they were afraid and they were hiding from Him. Their disobedience had already caused a separation – a distance – in their relationship with God.

Also note that Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:25), but now they sense their nakedness and they feel a need to cover themselves. That’s a major and immediate change.

This going from being covered by glory and light to just being bare and naked in a physical sense is also very symbolic for humanity at large. They lost something they had received from God when they rejected His guidance and made their own choice.

In the Bible, physical things often reflect what’s going on spiritually. God’s glory and light reflect His purity, goodness, and holiness. Multiple times people’s countenance reflects what is in their hearts. We’ll get into these cases as we progress through the stages, but the outside is representative of what’s going on on the inside.

God’s Response

A pagan or Greek god might have flown into a rage and destroyed them. Or because of the bad karma they had generated, maybe demote them to grasshoppers. Here’s what the Bible says God did:

“Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9

Is God playing hide and seek? Of course He knew exactly where they were. Why play dumb? How many of us parents try to get our children to own up to what they’ve done, before we confront them and discipline them? It’s not a game, it’s intended to get them to think and to recognize what’s happened in their own mind.

“So he (Adam) said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

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?” Genesis 3:10-11

More questions from God, trying to get the first couple to associate what they had done with what they had already lost. They had always been naked (not needing man-made clothes), except before they were not ashamed and now they are. Again, God knew very well what they had done, so what is He looking for?

Throughout the Bible, there are two requirements for forgiveness of sin, and the first one is CONFESSION.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Beyond God forgiving us, He wants to cleanse us from unrighteousness, and to turn our hearts back to Him. He didn’t want to loose Adam or Eve, or to destroy them. He wanted them back!

The Blame Game

Now we see the effects or influence of this overarching nemesis called “sin”.

“Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12-13

I’m sure there was more to this conversation, but this is all we are given in scripture. Moses wrote Genesis around 2,500 years later, and he did so mixing oral tradition passed down from generation to generation with revelations given to him by God.

When God asked, “Did you eat the fruit I told you not to?”, Adam responded by throwing Eve under the bus and even blaming God Himself! “The woman whom You gave to be with me”… If God hadn’t created Eve, Adam wouldn’t have sinned? We don’t know, but Adam is now attempting to make Eve and God responsible for his personal choice.

Eve blamed the serpent, ignoring the fact that she had not been forced or even coerced into disobeying God, and she was free at any time to just say “NO!” to that temptation and walk away.

With an unselfish heart of true love for the other and no sin, Adam would have said something like “Eve was tricked, so please punish me and let her live.”

Eve would have said, “I brought the fruit to Adam, it’s not his fault.” But sin had already taken hold and had an effect on them. So God sat them down and had the first ever “Come to Jesus meeting”.

Come to Jesus Meeting

This a colloquial expression meaning “a serious, often confrontational discussion where someone is forced to face a difficult reality or make a significant change in their behavior”.

This was God setting them down and saying, “Here’s what’s going to happen.”

To the Serpent

“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.
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.” Genesis 3:14-15

Some people think snakes used to be more like dragons, with wings and legs, and as a result of this curse, these limbs were removed. The Bible doesn’t say this, so it’s an assumption, and may be an idea from non-biblical sources. The important thing is to recognize the seriousness of what had been done.

The last two statements echo throughout the Bible. The Hebrew word “ebah” (enmity) means hostility or intense hatred. This would be between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. But we need to recognize that God is actually talking to Satan the deceiver here, who Revelation calls “that serpent of old” “who deceives the whole world”. (Rev. 12:9)

This enmity is a type of incompatibility where throughout the generations of the world, those who love and worship God cannot get along or be in harmony with those who follow Satan’s ways. This is expressed in many different stories (even Jesus’ parables) in both the Old and the New Testament.

Speaking of Christ born as Jesus (also the seed of the woman, or the people of God)

• “He shall bruise your head,” – Head injuries can easily be fatal, and the Bible says that Satan will be destroyed in the end
• “you shall bruise His heel” – Foot injuries are rarely fatal, and Jesus would be resurrected and glorified after being crucified and “bruised”

This was one of the first prophecies in the Bible, delivered by God Himself, rather than an angel or a prophet.

To Eve

“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.” Genesis 3:16

I was with my wife in the delivery room when both our children were born. What would it be like for a woman to deliver her baby without pain? Evidently, this is one of those physical changes God brought to illustrate a fallen spiritual state.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:22

Remember, God had created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs, signifying that she was to be a parter by his side. Now her longing would be for security and love from her husband, and he would be the head of the family. In God’s ideal, we would go back to a relationship where the husband and wife are equal partners (“neither male nor female” are above the other, Galatians 3:28).

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,” Ephesians 5:25

Husbands should exhibit a caring and unselfish love for their wives and be willing to sacrifice ourselves for them. Being a Christian does mean we attempt to be like Christ.

To Adam

“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. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 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.” Genesis 3:17-19

Here’s another physical symbol of a spiritual reality. Before the fall, Adam and Eve ate freely the fruits, nuts, and other things which grew on trees everywhere. Now grains and vegetables were added, and these had to be grown through cultivation and hard work.

When I moved into the house I live in now, it was surrounded by blackberry thickets over 8 feet high, and what a battle it was to clear them out! Those aggressive vines drew my blood and even killed 15-foot-tall fir trees by pulling their branches down so they could not gather sunlight or moisture, and bending their tops over.

Again, going back to God’s ideal with the New Earth (which He is fond of promising in both the Old and New Testaments), I believe we’ll be back to eating the fruit of trees. No need for grocery stores or working to afford groceries. No hard labor to grow things. The curse of sin will be lifted.

Humans are sad when loved ones pass away, and we don’t like to think about dying. This is normal for beings who God originally made to live indefinitely.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

God has put eternity in our hearts. We know we’re not meant to die, and return to the dust God made us from. But right now, because of sin and rebellion, humans live a relatively short life. That time is our chance to choose eternal life or eternal death (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Clothing & Shame

“Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,” Isaiah 61:10

“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame” Revelation 16:15

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5

An animal had to die in order for God to cloth Adam and Eve in “skins” after they lost their robes of light. Jesus had to die for us to be saved and given “white garments”. These garments are the outward, physical appearance representing what has happened inwardly, spiritually to the heart. But I’m jumping ahead – more on this in later Stages.

Cosmic Days

It’s interesting that God told Adam and Eve “in the day you eat of it” they would die, and yet Adam lived 930 years. Was God being inconsistent or contradicting Himself? Did He change His mind and let them live longer? Consider this:

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8

Adam did die before 1,000 years (or one cosmic day) were complete. In the scope of eternity, it makes sense that days are much longer. Revelation 20 mentions a 1,000 year period multiple times. But that’s far in the future, and we’re still in Stage 1.

In closing, the biggest takeaway from Genesis 3 is how God responded to the disobedience of humans. He did not zap them with lightning in anger, but He did calmly lay out the consequences for what they had done. They had to leave their beautiful garden home and the Tree of Life. And yet, amazingly God still talked with them and their children. But we’ll get to that in the next post.