Lies, Deception, Destruction, And The Restoration Of Your Soul (Genesis 3:1-13)
John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” was a dramatic, and rather creative at times, retelling of the story of Scripture. The first lines of it are,
“Of Man’s First disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat…”
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 1-5
We find in the first 5 lines of Paradise Lost, today’s sermon. And since I knew that Milton did this more eloquently than me it was a good way to begin.
When we left our drama, that is the creation of all things, all of creation was new, perfect, and pure. There was no blemish in all of creation. But behind the scenes something had gone horribly wrong that would change everything. It was a war in Heaven.
There are two passages of Scripture that detail what occurred at around this time. They are Ezekiel 28:11-19 and Isaiah 14:13-14. Now, these texts are dealing primarily with someone other than Satan. And then suddenly you realize that the discussion is about someone other than the king previously discussed. For instance, the King of Tyre was not a blameless guardian cherub on the “holy mountain of God” (Ezekiel 28:14-15 ESV). Nor was there really a time that we would expect God to say that the King of Tyre was “blameless” in all of his ways until “unrighteousness” was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15). But we see in this text that a beautiful and wise angel became wicked when he became filled with pride and was cast out of Heaven, “to the ground” (Ezekiel 28:17ESV). And later we find out that Jesus witnessed Satan being cast down out of Heaven (Luke 10:18). And apparently, according to Revelation 12, Satan brought 1/3 of the angels with him. And we see something similar in Isaiah 14. There we see that it was pride and desire to overthrow God’s government and install himself as king (Isaiah 14:13-14).
When we put everything together, we find that there was a rebellion in Heaven. Satan himself desired to overthrow God and make himself king over all and brought other angels with him. And as Peter states in 2 Peter 2, God did not spare these angels (2 Peter 2:4). Little is known about the rebellion itself. There are small tidbits of information scattered throughout the Scriptures, but there is plenty for us to understand with broad strokes what had taken place. Satan and other angels rebelled against God and lost. They were cast down to Earth where they were allowed to continue doing evil. And here, the serpent of Genesis 3:1, is Satan himself.
“But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 ESV)
And today we are going to see that moral purity and fellowship with God was lost through disobedience, but restoration comes through the obedience of Christ.
Humanity’s Original Purity And Perfect Fellowship (Genesis 2:25)
Genesis 2:25 serves as a transition into our text today. Adam and Eve were, “Naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25 ESV). This is not just a statement on their lack of body image problems. They were so pure and untainted that they did not know what shame was.
Have you ever been in a conversation with your child in which they are floored by how wicked a person could act? There is an innocence there that keeps the child from really understanding how a person could do that. Now, I need you to understand that Adam and Eve were much more pure than your children who have been stained with sin. Adam and Eve were not born sinners, your child was, but this is a good analogy for understanding what is happening here.
Adam and Eve were created perfectly and without sin and shame. But they did have the ability to sin. This means that man was created good and righteous, or without sin. In his sermon that we call “Ecclesiastes”, Solomon said,
“See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29 ESV)
Mankind was created faultless, indeed “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But this faultlessness, uprightness, and sinlessness did not remain.
God is holy, He is completely righteous and He created people, upright, or righteous. They were without sin and without shame. And they lived in fellowship with God. They knew “the sound of the Lord” because they walked with Him and talked with Him in the Garden often (Genesis 3:8 ESV). God created people good and upright, and for fellowship with Him. And early on they had this beautiful fellowship with God.
Humanity Descends Into Rebellion (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:1-13)
God made a covenant with Adam.
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 ESV)
As long as Adam did not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would live in this blessed state forever.
Adam and Eve had other obligations as well. They were to work and keep the Garden. Their love and care for each other in marriage was another obligation they had. They also had an obligation to fill the Earth. But the center point of this covenant was with Adam and the eating of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
As O. Palmer Robertson said in his book, The Christ of the Covenants,
“One tree stands in the midst of the garden as symbolic reminder that man is not God. All has been given to him graciously; but the one exception reminds him that he must not confuse his bountiful blessedness with the state of the Creator. He is creature; God is Creator.”[1] –O. Palmer Robertson
In other words, that tree was a test. Would the creature submit to the Creator? If he did then the blessings that God gave them would continue forever. If he failed at this central point then the covenant would be broken and all the curses of that covenant would fall upon him and the rest of his progeny.
And when we understand this Genesis 3:1 is terrifying.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 ESV)
All is beautiful and right in the world that God made and the villain approaches the scene. This serpent was none other than Satan himself. Jesus said of him,
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44 ESV)
And Paul spoke to his deceptive nature when he said that Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV)
This deceiver came and used what is now his tried and true arsenal. Notice the progression. He caused Eve to doubt God’s Word (Genesis 3:1). He did this by causing her to question what God had said, “Did God actually say…” (Genesis 3:1 ESV) And after she declared to him God’s command, it was not exact, but I do not believe that “neither shall you touch it” was any sort of malicious change in the law. And after she stated what God had said, Satan told her that God’s Word was not true (Genesis 3:4). And then he stated that her life would be better if she rejected God’s Word (Genesis 3:5).
I am not exaggerating when I say that this pattern has been repeated so many times that one could not count. This is the route that Satan has taken since the beginning of time and will continue to take until his judgment is revealed to its fullest. How many times have we talked with people who are repeating these same lines? How many times have you heard somebody say, “God didn’t really say that. He just wants everyone to be happy.”, or “Surely God accepts every lifestyle.”? And what are we to make of such a thing? We are to believe that Scripture is true and understand that this is the same thing that Satan said long ago when he said,
“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:3 ESV)
Satan was telling her that God was lying to her and that her life would be better if she disobeyed. How many times have you heard that one? How many people are sitting at home today because Satan whispered in their ear and told them that God doesn’t really care if they come to church? How many people commit adultery because they think that God won’t care if they cheat on their spouse, He really just wants them to be happy?
But here is the truth of the matter. God actually knows what is best for you. You do not. And He is righteous and completely honest. Therefore, you should trust what is in His Word. But rather than that, Eve doubted the Word of God. Well, she distrusted God and His Word.
One thing we need to note here is that Adam was standing right beside Eve. Adam was with her (Genesis 3:6). Adam was neglecting his duty to protect the Garden. If he would have been at work protecting the Garden this would not have happened.
Then, Adam ate the fruit (Genesis 3:6). After neglecting his duty and allowing this Garden Temple and his wife to be harmed, he ate the fruit himself.
Adam should have stomped on the head of that serpent the very second he realized that it was God’s enemy. But he and Eve just stood there and listened to this slimy sales pitch. Eve was the one in conversation with the serpent. She was the first one deceived, but then Adam ate the fruit as well. And when Adam ate the fruit, major things happened.
God made a covenant with them, and that tree and its fruit were a test of obedience for them. Had they not eaten the fruit then they would have lived forever in that Temple Paradise, but that is not what happened. They rebelled against God’s command and at the fruit.
We oftentimes wonder why things are the way that they are. We wonder why there is so much evil in the world and we wonder why so many bad things happen. Well, here is the answer from Scripture. Sin entered the world and it brought with it all of our woe.
Sin is no small matter. As R.C. Sproul famously said, “Sin is cosmic treason.” And this treason against God brought with it the horror that we see around us today. Eating from that tree was no insignificant act. God had promised life if only they kept His command. But rather than obey God and submit to His law they went their own way and everything was affected.
Why do people die today?
Why do people treat each other so horribly?
Why is their illness in the world?
The answer is here. At this moment, all of Creation went haywire.
Humanity Is Introduced To Death (Genesis 3:7-11)
There are two types of death in this life. There is physical death and there is spiritual death. And I believe that we see both of these in the text today.
The moment that Adam and Eve at that fruit they began to die. Their bodies began to decay from that moment on. I don’t know what that would have looked like for them. Maybe they felt their first ache. Maybe one of them ate too much before bed and got heartburn, I don’t know. But the deterioration began from that point on.
But spiritual death is what is most evident in this text. Remember that at the beginning of our text today Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. There is a stark difference in that and Genesis 3:7.
“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:7 ESV)
They now knew what shame was.
Satan was not just completely lying to them. They did learn some things through disobedience. But it was the kind of lesson that a rebellious person gets when they sin. They learned about sin and its effects by committing sin and having shame. And now they were unrighteous, unholy, and they hid themselves from the Lord. And so, when they heard our Holy and Righteous God in the Garden they hid themselves (Genesis 3:8).
God knows everything. He knew that they had sinned, and He knew where they were hiding. But God asked anyway (Genesis 3:9). God was like a parent quizzing a child about something that the parent already knows the child did. He wanted to hear them say it and admit to it. But what did God receive in that moment? Excuses and blaming one another. It really does sound familiar.
Humanity was now separated from the Lord.
In our catechism questions we ask,
“What happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned?”
“Instead of being holy and happy they became sinful and miserable.”
They lost fellowship with God. They were no longer holy. They were no longer lacking shame. They were no longer righteous. And they no longer had the ability to be in fellowship with God. Their sin and their shame kept them from being with God anymore. They died spiritually that day.
Why We Die And How We Are Rescued (Romans 5:12-21)
I believe that it is very helpful to look at other passages of Scripture and see the way the text is interpreted. When there is a comment or discussion on a text in the New Testament then we find an application of that text to the life of a believer in Christ.
This means that it is incredibly helpful to our understanding to look at what Paul said in Romans 5:12-21 concerning this text. Paul is there discussing the glories of salvation in Christ and he compares salvation in Christ to the death we all have in Adam.
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned– for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:12-21 ESV)
We will look at this text with really broad strokes, but I think that the meaning of the event in Genesis 3 will pop out at you. As Dorothy Sayers famously said long ago, “The dogma is the drama.” And from this event in history we understand our own sinfulness.
Sin entered the world through Adam and sin and death spread to everyone, because all sinned (Romans 5:12). But Paul introduces a different thing into this discussion as well. Before the law was given, that is before the time of Moses, people died. So, between the time of Adam and Moses people died, even when there was no law to break. What law existed between do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the giving of the Ten Commandments? The point is that there was no law to abide by. But people died. Why?
The answer is because Adam sinned and every human being after that moment was brought forth in sin. Death reigned because of Adam’s sin (Romans 5:17). And Adam’s sin led to condemnation for everyone (Romans 5:18). This means that we were all made sinners through Adam’s disobedience (Romans 5:19).
Think about this for a moment. You don’t sin because it is something outside of your nature to do so. You sin because you are a sinner. You sin because Adam sinned and contaminated all of humanity. That is why we all die. We were made sinners through Adam’s disobedience (Romans 5:19).
Now, this discussion does not end with Adam. And praise God it does not. There is redemption in Christ. One man brought disobedience and death to all mankind and one man brought the free gift of salvation to all who would believe. Many people are saved through the free gift of grace found in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:15-21). We are justified through the greater Man Jesus Christ. And the eternal life that was lost in the Garden can be found in Him.
Man lost his righteousness and fellowship in the Garden when Adam ate that fruit. Through that one act of disobedience the entirety of Adam and Eve’s lineage would forever be born sinners in rebellion against God. But God did not leave us in that state. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life in human flesh and then died on the cross for the punishment of sin. And He did this so that we could be credited with that perfect life and our sins could be paid for on the cross. Through the work of the one, Greater Man, the tremendous blessings of eternal life, never-ending fellowship with God can be restored.
God is holy and righteous, that has always been the case and that will never change, but we are sinners in rebellion against God. In Adam we all became sinners, we all became part of the once great people that are now rebel sinners at war with God. When Adam sinned we all became stained with the taint of sin. We all became rebels. And because of that we deserve God’s wrath and justice.
But God did not leave us in that situation. God did not leave us without hope. God worked in history and brought another man. A greater man, God the Son, to restore us.
“Of Man’s First disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat…”
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 1-5
It is Christ who brings restoration. In Him we are made pure through the washing away of sin because of His sacrificial death on the cross. In Him we are made righteous because of His perfect life credited to us. In Him we are made pure and righteous. In Him, we are brought back into fellowship with God.
Conclusion
The human race began in Paradise. We were in a perfect and beautiful relationship with he Savior that could have been unending. But an enemy was allowed in the Garden and he tempted us to self-destruction. Every child born in Adam is born a sinner in rebellion against God. But praise be to God that He made a way for us to be brought back to that perfect and beautiful relationship with the Savior through the finished work of Christ.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ Of The Covenants, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 1980.