Removed From God’s Presence And The Way Back Home (Genesis 3:20-24)
Here is the video of the sermon. If you’d rather read it, then just scroll on past the video.
We don’t live in Eden and that is abundantly obvious to everyone who is sitting in this room. I am sure that when you got up this morning and one of the kids disobeyed you shortly after your feet hit the floor, you understood with abundant clarity that you were not in Eden. The aches in your back and popping joints as you walked to the other side of the room probably helped give you a little more evidence.
We have seen over the course of the past few sermons that man was created to be with God. We were created upright, holy, righteous, and good. And that was destroyed at the Fall. As Solomon stated,
“See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29 ESV)
People were not created to live separated from God, but that is the normal existence of people in our day and time. Well, it is the normal existence of people ever since the Fall. And we see in this event the great horror that was introduced at the Fall.
We were created for fellowship with God and removed from His presence, but He made a way for us to come back home.
People Now Live In Sin And Shame (Genesis 3:20-21)
We caught a glimpse of this in the middle of Genesis 3:8 when Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden. They hid because for the first time in their lives they felt shame. They had sinned and rebelled against God who created them. And then they lived in shame.
Now, in Genesis 3:21, God made a covering for them because they now lived in shame.
There is still great dignity bestowed on people. Adam even names Eve at this point with an incredibly dignified name, “Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20 ESV). But here existence, along with Adam’s was now different. And from this time forward they understood that they were in shame and needed to be covered.
This should come as no surprise to us. But in a way it does. They have gone from a childlike shamelessness because they were without sin completely, to now hiding from the Lord and needing to be covered.
The fact is that Adam and Eve had become sinners. They had rebelled against God’s Law and felt the consequences of that. A few weeks ago, we looked at Romans 5 and saw that all of us were affected by Adam’s sin. That we too are now sinners. We are human beings and have fallen from our former glory. We are now a corrupted lot. And we now sin because that is who we are. We are sinners.
Rather than being born with the ability to not sin, we are sinners. We all sin. And we understand all too well the statement from Paul,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV)
We have seen on a few different occasions from Genesis 1-3 that we are now born in sin and rebellion against God. And we act upon that sinfulness. As Isaiah would write,
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way…” – Isa 53:6a ESV
We have all sinned. We have all fallen short. We have all embraced corruption. And we have done so because we are sinners who have acted upon that evil impulse.
The shame that Adam and Eve felt, and that we feel, as long as it is in proportion and for the right reason is good and true. We are part of the human race, created in tremendous dignity, but we are also fallen and living in shame because of our sinfulness. We are now a people in hiding, unable to reveal everything about ourselves.
If I were able to broadcast over these televisions your thoughts, even right now as I preach, you would likely run out of this room screaming and cover your face in horror. This would happen because you know that you are far worse than you have pretended to be.
We are people created for fellowship with God but are sinners.
People Now Die (Genesis 3:22-23)
Corruption and shame are not the only problem that comes with rebellion and disobedience. Because we are sinners, and because our first parents through the whole world into corruption, we die.
Our physical death is gradual. As human beings we quickly develop over the course of our first 18 or so years into adults. And from around that point on our bodies degenerate until we die. We are dying.
From the moment that Adam and Eve rebelled against God they began dying. Adam and Eve may have felt heartburn for the first time. And they both may have felt the first bit of pain from stiff joints that day. We don’t know, but from that point on, their bodies began to decay. What would have happened if, in this state of corruption, they had eaten of the tree of life and lived forever? That seems to be the concern here.
“Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever–“ (Genesis 3:22 ESV)
Physical decay was now part of Adam and Eve’s existence because of the Fall. Decaying bodies can’t live forever. Our imaginations can run wild with what this would have looked like, but I’ll just say that this is something that God prevented from happening by kicking them out of Paradise. And so, in one sense, death itself was a mercy to them.
Because of the corruption of sin, our bodies are no longer made to live forever.
Death is coming for us all one day.
Covid 19 revealed something to me very clearly. People don’t think about death often and when they do, they go into a massive panic.
I want to say this clearly and plainly. You will die. And you do not know when that will take place. You might not walk out of this church today under your own strength. Death is coming for everyone and you do not know when that time is. You do not get to set that date on the calendar. God does.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27 ESV)
Longer life spans due to medical breakthroughs, better hygiene practices, and things like air-conditioning have caused people to act as if death will not come for them. Simply put, people do not live within our society as if they will one day die. They simply do not think about it like people once did.
Notice what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 11:9.
“Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.” (Ecclesiastes 11:9 ESV)
J.C. Ryle commented about this text and said,
“Amazing, that with such a prospect of coming judgment, any man can be careless and unconcerned! Surely none are so crazy as those who are content to live unprepared to die. Surely the unbelief of men is the most amazing thing in the world.” (J.C. Ryle)
We don’t live in paradise anymore. We are now corrupt, our body is decaying, and death is inevitable. Are you ready?
That’s a question that you need to answer because the news only gets worse. God is holy and righteous and He does not tolerate sin.
People Now Live Outside Of God’s Holy Presence (Genesis 2:24)
I mentioned earlier that God is holy. And now is a good time to explore what that means.
The word means separated from impurity and sin. Sometimes the word holy is used to state that something has been set apart for special, sacred uses. And sometimes it is used to describe God to state that He is Himself set apart from all sin and wickedness. That second part is what we mean here. God is Himself separated from all impurity. He is completely and totally separate from sin.
In Isaiah 6 we see a picture of God’s holiness.
“In the year that King Uzzia died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:3b-5 ESV)
Even the seraphim have to cover their eyes. For God is holy and separate even from them. And the picture of all of this was enough to bring Isaiah to ruin. He saw God’s holiness and it brought him to understand his utter wickedness.
Moses was not allowed to see God in His fullness, no one is, or else he would perish.
“Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:18-23 ESV)
Though not perfect, we understand that Moses is one of those people that was with God in a special way and even he could not see the Lord. It would have killed him.
And what are we to make of the story in 2 Samuel 6:1-7 and 1 Chronicles 13:9-12, when Uzzah touched the Ark of the Covenant with his defiled human hands. He tried to catch the Ark, the place where God’s presence was said to dwell in a special way, and he was struck dead immediately. His hands weren’t defiled because he was especially wicked. His hands were defiled because they were human and he, like us was a sinner. And as we read in Habakkuk 1:13, God is so pure that He cannot even look upon evil.
And so, God drove man out of the Garden (Genesis 3:24), out of His presence to live East of Eden. And He made sure that they could not return to His presence. He left Cherubim to guard the Garden.
Adam and Eve, who were tasked with protecting this Garden Temple were now kicked out of the Garden and cherubim was to do what they had been tasked to do. Except this time it was those created in God’s image that the cherubim was to protect the Garden from.
We noted earlier that the Garden of Eden was a temple. It was the first one. And as we look throughout Scripture, all the later temples would use it as a sort of model.
When Adam and Eve were kicked out of God’s presence and out of the Garden Temple it was God that drove them away. And, as we have already said, God left cherubim to guard the way. Later temples would have the cherubim as part of the décor of the Temple (Exodus 25:18-22). It was a helpful reminder of things that needed to be heard. God is holy and man is sinful. And we are separated from God.
This testifies to us something that we need to hear today. God is holy. He is set apart. He is completely and totally without sin. And not only is He separate from it, He does not tolerate it. And this also tells us our great problem. That is not us. We are sinners who sin because we are sinners.
And God does not tolerate sin.
God’s Grace To Bring You Back (Genesis 3:21)
God is God, and so He could have done anything at this point. He didn’t have to let Adam and Eve continue living. He could have killed them and started over. They had broken God’s Law and death was part of that deal. He could have cast His judgment upon them at that moment. God could have done any number of things.
But God did something interesting in this moment. Though death was now something they would undergo, they did not die immediately. God covered over their shame and continued to bless them, even outside of Eden.
In order to cover their shame, God made the first animal sacrifice. The text says,
“And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21 ESV)
Adam and Eve would now live, but they would live because another died in their place. God spilled the blood of that animal and used the skin to cover over their shame. Another died so that their shame could be covered.
Many years later, John the Baptist would shout these words as he saw Jesus,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 ESV)
God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and fulfilled all righteousness. He completely fulfilled the Law. And He died on the cross, bearing the wrath of God in place of sinners.
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:4-10 ESV)
The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ was crushed in our place. It was God’s will to crush Him in the place of sinners. The blood of God’s Son was spilled so that you could have life. This Lamb of God takes away our sin. He takes away our shame. And He has made a way for you to be brought back into fellowship with God.
If you are not a believer, then the call to you today is to repent and believe the good news of what Christ has done for you. Turn from ruling your own life and trying to achieve your own right standing with God and trust Jesus. He has accomplished salvation. He has made a way for you to be brought back into fellowship with God. You cannot do this on your own.
You are a sinner in need of a Savior. You have been banished from God’s presence. And it is only by the work of another that you can be brought back to Him. Trust in Jesus.
If you are a Christian here today, then this message should do something for you as well. You know that you are a sinner and your only way back to God is by the perfect work of Christ. Tell yourself that.
What sin do you have in your life right now that is keeping you from going to God in prayer and reading of your Bible? Ask God to forgive and go to the Lord in prayer. Christ has made a way for you to have fellowship with God. Go to Him.
Preach this truth to your family. Don’t just tell your children that God is loving, let them know that He is also just and righteous. Help them to understand that they should reverence God because He is so far separated from us. But also let them know over and over that they can be brought into fellowship with God through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
We were all created for fellowship with God. And this fellowship was completely ruptured at the Fall. This is a horrific situation, and without God’s intervention we will forever find ourselves paying the full wages of our sins in a very real place called Hell.
But praise be to God that He made a way for us to be brought to Him. Praise be to God that He did not just kick Adam and Eve out of the Garden, but sent His Son to come and make a way for us to be brought to Him.
R. Dwain Minor