Feedback on Genesis!
1. Did you learn anything new about the Bible or the subject of theology? If so list some of the important things you learned.
I did learn a lot of things in depth about Bible and Theology as well. I also came to know that preachers Job is so difficult and they need to learn a lot of things in depth.
Genesis 1:31-2:3,'
Creation - A Picture Of Redemption - Christ In Genesis 1
'Genesis 1:26-28,'
The Creation Of Man - The Creation And Original State Of Man
'Genesis 1:1-31,'
Creation - A Picture Of Grace -
'Genesis 2:18-25,'
The First Marriage - A Picture Of Grace -
'Genesis 2:9,'
Two Trees - A Picture Of Grace - The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil And The Cross Of Christ
'Genesis 3:22-24,'
Adam Driven From Eden - A Picture Of Grace - Adam And The Tree Of Life
'Genesis 3:17-24,'
Adam And Christ - A Picture Of Grace - 'A Contrast Of The First Adam And The Second Adam, Christ'
'Genesis 3:1-24,'
The Fall Of Man - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Revealed In The Fall
'Genesis 4:1-16,'
Cain And Abel - A Picture Of Grace - Grace Portrayed In Abel And His Offering
'Genesis 5:24,'
Enoch - A Picture Of Grace - 'Walking With God By Faith, The Gift Of Grace'
'Genesis 6:1-22,'
Noah And The Ark - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Portrayed In Noah
'Genesis 9:18-29,'
Noah And His Sons - 'Noah's Fall, Ham's Curse, And The Nations Of The Earth'
'Genesis 9:18-29,'
Noah And His Sons - 'Noah's Fall, Ham's Curse, And The Nations Of The Earth'
'Genesis 9:13, Revelation 4:3'
A Rainbow Round About The Throne - The Rainbow - A Symbol Of The Covenant
'Genesis 9:13, Revelation 4:3'
A Rainbow Round About The Throne - The Rainbow - A Symbol Of The Covenant
'Genesis 9:11,'
God's Covenant With Noah - A Picture Of Grace - The Covenant Of Grace
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Nehemiah 9:7-8, Genesis 12:1-13:4'
Abraham - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Displayed In Abraham
'Nehemiah 9:7-8, Genesis 12:1-13:4'
Abraham - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Displayed In Abraham
'Genesis 12:1 - 13:4,'
The God Of Glory Appeared Unto Abraham - 'Abraham's Call, Faith, Failure And Preservation'
'Genesis 13:1-18,'
The Strife Between Abraham And Lot - The Evil Of Strife Between Believers
'Genesis 13:1-13,'
The Strife Between Abraham And Lot - The Evil Of Strife Between Believers
'Genesis 14:18-20,'
Abraham And Melchizedek - A Picture Of Grace - Melchizedek - A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 15:6-21,'
Standing On Justified Ground - Things Seen Only By Faith
'Genesis 15:6-21,'
Standing On Justified Ground - Things Seen Only By Faith
'Genesis 15:1-6,'
Justification By Faith - Justification By Faith
'Genesis 15:1-6,'
Justification By Faith - Justification By Faith
'Genesis 17:1-27,'
El-Shaddai - The God Of The Covenant - God's Covenant With Abraham
'Genesis 19:15-23,'
Lot - A Picture Of Grace - Grace Displayed In Lot's Deliverance Out Of Sodom
'Genesis 21:9-10, Galatians 4:21-31'
Sarah And Hagar - A Picture Of Grace - The Believer's Freedom From The Law
'Genesis 21:9-10, Galatians 4:21-31'
Sarah And Hagar - A Picture Of Grace - The Believer's Freedom From The Law
'Genesis 22:1-18,'
Abraham And Isaac At Moriah - A Picture Of Grace - Abraham's Sacrifice Of Isaac
'Genesis 24:11-67,'
A Bride For Isaac - A Picture Of Grace - The Work Of The Gospel Preacher
'Genesis 25:5,'
Isaac - A Picture Of Grace - Isaac As A Type Of The Believer
'Genesis 28:15,'
Jacob - An Object Of Grace - A Picture Of Grace - God's Grace Upon Jacob
'Genesis 28:12-13,'
Jacob's Ladder - A Picture Of Grace - Christ Our Ladder
'Genesis 28:10-22,'
Jacob - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Revealed In Jacob's Conversion
'Genesis 32:24-32,'
Jacob At Peniel - A Picture Of Grace - The Subduing Of The Flesh
'Genesis 33:1-11,'
I Have Enough. - Contentment Of The Reprobate And Of Believers
'Genesis 37:1-11,'
Joseph - A Type Of Christ - A Picture Of Grace - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 38:1-30,'
Judah Went Down - 'Judah, Tamar, And The Purpose Of God'
'Genesis 38:1-30,'
Judah Went Down - 'Judah, Tamar, And The Purpose Of God'
'Genesis 39:1-23,'
Joseph Was Brought Down To Egypt - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 39:1-23,'
Joseph Was Brought Down To Egypt - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 41:55-57,'
Joseph Opening The Storehouses - A Picture Of Grace - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 42:2-3,'
Joseph And His Brothers - A Picture Of Grace - Christ's Methods Of Making Himself Known To Sinners
'Genesis 43:8-9,'
A Surety For Benjamin - A Picture Of Grace - Christ Our Surety
'Genesis 46:1-4,'
Jacob's Fear Removed - A Picture Of Grace - Believers And Their Fears
'Genesis 49:22-26,'
Boundless Blessedness - Joseph's Blessedness
'Genesis 49:8-12,'
Jacob's Prophecy Concerning Judah - A Picture Of Grace - Judah As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 50:15-21,'
Three Lessons From Joseph - A Picture Of Grace - 'Grace, Providence And Brotherly Love'
2. What did you like and what did you dislike about the Genesis Study?
I liked everything. I did not dislike anything.
3. Did we leave out an important aspect of Genesis? If so what?
None
4. What changes or improvements to the course would you suggest?
None
5. Tell me a little about yourself, your calling, your ministry goals, etc?
I am 31 yr young women from Bangalore, India married to an American Husband and Living in FL,United States. We have one baby Girl who is almost 14 months , the most precious and wonderful child together. I don't have much to say about myself.I do not have my parents nor anyone here in USA, all of them are happily living in India. I am all alone here with my husband and Child.
Since my child hood I keep reading the Holy Bible, because I get delight, satisfied when I read about Gods Word. I have a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronics Engineering Degree from India and Other Various certifications in Computers, Currently I am a stay home Mom, reading, writing and listening to Gods word ,taking care of my family .Earlier I had worked for many Engineering/IT companies, Now until my child is able to go to school I and my husband has decided that I will stay at home and take care of her needs so that we being a Parents can get incredible precious moments with our daughter as well as for her strong growth which God blessed her in our life. I'm very much interested in growing spiritually and I want to be the best wife, Best child, Best Mother and a Best human being. When I get up in the morning I am very happy because I will be waiting to read and write about the Holy God! I want to get very closer to God and I get delight to walk in Righteousness.
It is important to keep my eyes focused on the Lord who will enable me to overcome the world. Seek the Lord and He shall remove the fear that ruins your life. He will fill your life with blessings and you shall not lack any good thing.
Staying close to our Creator and spending time in His Word gives me the hope, strength ,happiness, peace and direction I need to get through and enjoy each day
'Everything is possible for him who believes' Mark 9:23
6. Chose either the subject of “the Creation” or “the Fall” and do a brief sermon or lesson outline.
God is the Creator of All .
'In the beginning'
This 'beginning' is not bound by time but is the timeless eternity in which God dwelt before he created anything.
And even the word 'before' is a concession to us who exist within time and cannot conceive existence apart from it.
But to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, time is useless, created along with space for his creatures
Wisdom boasts in Proverbs 8:22ff. 'The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.'
This is prior to any act of creation
This is the beginning before anything but God existed
John 1:1-3 tells us Christ was 'in the beginning' with God, that he is Creator, not creature; i.e. God himself, co-eternal with the Father.
So right away, we learn that God does not relate to time in the way that we do; and we will need to remember this throughout this creation account.
God created 'the heavens and the earth'
This is not a title for 1:2-2:3 but a description of God's first creative act
Consider how inappropriate it is as a title
If verse 1 is a title then verse 2 is the beginning of the story
I.e. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now let me tell you what I mean by that: I mean that God looked around and saw this pre-existent material, the earth, that was formless and void. It was definitely a fixer-upper, but with a little work....
But don't the following verses describe the activity of making heaven and earth?
After all vv. 6ff. speak of the creation of the firmament which God then calls heaven (v. 8)
And vv. 9ff. speak of the creation of the dry land, Earth
But what are both these things created from? A: The 'Earth' of vv. 1 and 2.
I.e. God creates the heavens and the earth
The earth is formless and void
So God takes the earth and forms it into sky which he calls 'heaven' and ground which he calls 'Earth'
Let's add one more piece of information before we put it all together.
'The heavens' in Scripture can refer to the visible or the invisible heavens
Visible
e.g. verse 8
vv. 26ff. speak of the birds of the air.
Genesis 15:5 speaks of the stars of the heavens
Invisible
Genesis 28:12 - Jacob sees ladder reaching heaven with angels ascending and descending and he says 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'
2 Chronicles 2:21 speaks of heaven as God's dwelling place (clearly not intending us to believe that a spaceship could go out and find him.
It is clear that the visible heavens display a picture of the invisible
God is constantly picture in Scripture as 'high' 'exalted' 'up'
Psalm 148 connects the two: 'Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!'
So here is our hypothesis:
In the beginning, God created the invisible (the heavens) and the visible (the earth)
And this is all we are told about the creation of the invisible heavens
It is not really our concern (Scripture does not exist to satisfy our curiosity)
If even the earthly creation is glorious beyond comprehension, how could we understand the heavenly
And this whole chapter is man-centered, as we shall see more clearly in the coming weeks.
Out of the visible (the earth) he created the visible heavens (to reflect the glory of the invisible) and the visible earth (and this is described in 1:2 - 31)
Now, let's test our hypothesis
Job 38:6,7 speaks of the foundations of the earth being laid, 'When the morning stars sang together,/ And all the sons of God shouted for joy.' I.e. Job interprets the creation account as including the creation of invisible angelic beings
Nehemiah 9:6 as well refers back to God creating the heavens and the earth and says 'the host of heaven' worships you, strongly suggesting that 'heaven' is the invisible heaven where the angels dwell before the face of God.
The New Testament explains the doctrine this way
Col 1:16 clearly refers to the creation event, ascribing the glory to Christ (more on this later) and insisting that it refers to creation of visible and invisible.
This is decisive. We must see in this initial statement, a grand and over-arching doctrine of God creating everything out of nothing. The following verses will not repeat that statement, but build on it, explaining how God brought that creation into its completed form.
God's Attributes contained in this doctrine
God alone is self-existent
You see how important it is that Genesis 1:2 not speak of pre-existent matter
Everything else depends upon God for its existence 'In him we live and move...'
But God depends on no one and nothing
And therefore, as Paul says, he is not worshiped by men's hands as though he needed anything
But rather we who are his creatures need him
God is wise and powerful
These two attributes go together
With men we may have power but no wisdom or vice versa
But God's wisdom is powerful. He declares that a thing ought to be so and it is so
Marvel at the effortlessness with which he brings it to pass
He does not labor or break a sweat
When he rests on the 7th day, it will not be because he is tired; the Sabbath is made for man
God has absolute rights over his creation
The potter has the right over the clay
God made everything that is and therefore has a right over everything and everyone to do with as he pleases.
The Statement Seen through the lens of Israel
God the law-giver
Note how Psalm 24 goes from God the Creator to God the Law-giver
Psalm 19 as well
This is part of that absolute right - God may make laws, governing as he sees fit.
So Israel may not question the wisdom of his laws (nor may we)
When he comes on Sinai, he comes with authority and they dare not question but must hear and obey
And if they cannot obey, they must face the consequences
God the promise maker
God promised their father Abraham the land; he will give it to them
God promised Abraham that in his offspring all the families of the earth would be blessed
Does he lack the power to carry out such a promise?
Clearly not, he is the Creator of all
God, their God
The most precious promise of all - to be a God to them and they his people
This one the God who created all things, has said, I will be your personal God
The Statement Seen through the lens of Christ
Christ the Creator
Remember the disciples waking Jesus in the midst of the storm
Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side
Christ is sovereign as Creator
If you do not have some created thing that you 'need' is it because Christ cannot give it?
Car, house, money, husband, wife, job, respect
He could create these things out of nothing if he chose or command these created things to come to you and they must come
What can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore, we may bear our trials patiently, knowing that they are not a sign that God is weak or impotent to save
Christ the Redeemer
It is precisely Christ's power over Creation that argues for his power for salvation
To the lame man: Your sins are forgiven you
That you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins: Arise, take up your pallet and walk
To Peter: Cast you nets one more time lots of fish
Peter: 'Depart from me Lord!' (He understood point II; this is Christ the law-giver)
Jesus: 'I will make you fishers of men' I put fish in your nets and I can convert the souls of men (and so that wonderful doctrine called irresistible grace is inherent in the first verse of Scripture.)
Christ brings in a new creation
If he did it before he can do it again (and he has!)
We are already new creatures in Christ
Rev 21:1ff: Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' 5Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'
Already, at the beginning, the Holy Spirit has the end in view.
Fall of man! We come now, sadly and thirdly, to the fall of mankind. I have said already that what the devil aimed at was to murder us, body and soul; to bring us under the wrath and curse of God. He wanted to have us in hell with himself - the whole human race is what he aimed at. This is what we discover from the rest of Scripture: that Eve was taken in. She did not see the crookedness which the devil was using; but we are told, Adam was not deceived. 1 Timothy 2, 14 is the revelation here that tells us that Eve was taken in; Adam was not taken in. She didn't realise this was a deadly trick, he did, which gives rise to the question: Why then did he eat?
What he should have done is this. When he saw that she had sinned, he should have refused. God would, no doubt, have given him another wife in some other way. Eve would have died. What Adam evidently argued in his mind was this: 'I love my wife too much to part with her.' He made the woman his god. He put the woman ahead of his obedience to God. Now, of course, he is not the only one to do such a thing. The strong instinct that a man has for a woman, or a woman for a man, is one of the primary means that the devil uses to turn people away from their duty to God. Of course, the answer we give is, nothing must come between ourselves and our duty to God. We must turn our back on every duty in the world, if that duty involved compromising our obedience to God. Adam sinned, as we say, with his eyes open.
Which of the two sinned first? Answer: Eve. Which of the two sinned worst? Answer: Adam. He sinned a sin which was far, far more serious than hers, because of his position. He was what we call the 'federal head' of the whole human race. He was acting on our behalf. His obedience, or disobedience, would have implications for the entire human race, to the ends of the earth, to the end of time, and indeed to all eternity. Heaven and hell were suspended on the obedience or disobedience of this one man. If you doubt the accuracy of my words, read at your leisure Romans 5, 12 >. 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' When Adam sinned, all sinned. We sinned in him, and we fell with him. That's the way we are to think of it, because a federal head is one who acts for others - like President Bush when he signs a document on behalf of the whole American nation, then his action affects everybody. If he were to go to war, let's say, God forbid, but if he were to put his signature to a declaration of war, every American would be involved automatically. So it was with Adam; when he sinned against God, the whole human race was implicated and involved in the consequences of it.
That is something that we must bring our minds to understand. Three things especially were implicated for you, me, our children, our grandchildren, everybody in China, America, Australia, wherever they live; the entire human race was implicated in three ways in Adam's disobedience. First: He brought sin upon us all. Second: He brought condemnation upon us all in the sight of God: we are a condemned humanity. Our sins have brought us into a state in which we are alienated from God and under His just displeasure. Thirdly: Eternal punishment and death. These are the effects of sin.
7. Evaluate the story of Genesis chapter three on the affects of sin (hiding, guilt, blame, fear, etc). Meditate on how our sins influence our relationships today and write a brief discussion on how you could use the Biblical information of Genesis in counseling someone who is involved in a broken or strained relationship.
THE EFFECTS OF SIN
I want to mention too, we can see the beginnings of all of these effects of sin, right here in this very chapter. It is true that Adam and Eve did not die in every sense, there and then on the spot. Adam lived to be nine hundred and thirty or thereabouts. I don't know how old Eve was, I don't think we are told, but sooner or later, death overtakes every man and every woman because of Adam's disobedience.
You see the way sin is visible at once in Adam and Eve. The first thing we see is: their eyes are opened, and they realise they are naked, and they were ashamed. Not because they were in one another's presence, they were man and wife. There was no embarrassment arising from the fact they were naked as man and wife; they were one flesh. But, the embarrassment arose from this: They were naked in the eyes of God. They realised that in God's eyes something had gone wrong with them. Their psychology was now changed; they had a sense of shame for what they were, as in the sight of heaven. That is why when the voice of the Lord God was heard in the evening of the day, walking, as no doubt had happened before, and Adam came to speak with God and they would walk and talk together. God taking on a human form, probably, to talk to His created being, Adam, and they had fellowship together before. Now we see a different reaction. When he hears his Maker coming to talk with him, he hides behind the trees. He cannot bear the thought of facing God and his wife does likewise, and they try to cover themselves with fig leaves.
My friends, that is exactly what men and women do. They would rather go to picture houses, to theatres, to operas, to bingo, to football, to anywhere but not to the house of God: not to where the Bible is being preached. That is why the football stadiums are full and many churches are only partly filled, and very often largely empty. It is because man cannot face his Maker. Man is afraid of appearing before God. Why? Well, because of his inward sense of shame. He knows he's guilty. You know it and I know it by nature and until we know the Gospel answer to the problem, we shall all our lives go on in this terrible condition of being ashamed before God.
Men try to brazen it out, of course. Don't we see - it's not humorous but it's almost enough to put a smile on your face - to see the way they each blame one another. When God turns to Adam, what does he say? Does he say, 'Lord, I can't blame anyone else, it's my own sinful wicked disobedience.' Does he say that? Not at all. 'It's her,' he said, 'she did it. The one you gave me, she is the mischief maker.' Aren't we so like it? We blame one another. Have you not seen it among young children, even from an early age? 'It's her fault - It's his fault - He did it - They did it - Not I, but them.' O my friends, our human nature is the same. We are all a fallen, rotten human race, and all because of this one great, historical transformation: the fall of Adam, the fall of the human race. Our change from being perfect, sinless and holy, into a condition of sin and guilt.
THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD
How does the Word of God here go on? Well it goes on next to talk about the judgement of God. God now comes on the scene and He begins to judge these events. My dear friends, here is the bad news for all that are not Christians. God will always, sooner or later, judge sin; He must. He must judge sin. Why? Because He is infinitely holy, and infinitely righteous and God cannot leave sin undealt with. I wish our nation would wake up to that single truth if they woke up to nothing else. Whether men live like Sodom or Gomorrah or whether they live in some other wicked form of sin and guilt - they have to be told, and they must know - that sooner or later Almighty God will confront them and they will have to face up to what they have done, what they are, the way they have lived, and the way they think. God, I say, is a God of righteous judgement. That is what we see in this very chapter. He comes and He begins to ask questions; this is what a Judge does. 'What have you done and what have you said? How did you behave?' It's not, of course, that God doesn't know already. I hope none of us would run away with the thought that God has to ask questions to get answers; He knows the answer before He asks the question, of course. He knows all things. He knows the secret things, but He asks the question in order to draw out the responses from the persons who are guilty, so that they might confess; if they confess at all, the things that they have done.
My friends, this is a prelude to the day of death. Let me say to you, dear friends, that as soon as a person dies - man, woman or child - the very first thing they will have to do in eternity, beyond the grave, is they will have to confront God. He will do the questioning and they will have to do the answering. Woe betides you or me, or anyone, who does not have Jesus Christ speaking up for him in the day of death. That's what we call the private judgement of death. It determines where your soul goes, to heaven at once or to hell at once.
Then in the end of history when the resurrection has taken place there will be a general judgement, and all the human race will be there: all of all generations, all of all ages from the Old Testament and New Testament, men and women and children, and all. In the Day of Judgement, the whole universe will assemble before the Judge, Jesus Christ. He will sit upon His great throne and He will separate between the sheep and the goats, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous; some He will take to glory and some He will send to hell and everlasting burning. I say these things because it is as plain as plain can be that this is what will happen in the end of history. This is the last page of history. The Bible tells us this so that you might prepare for it right now, whilst you have breath in your body.
God, therefore, is going to judge and God does judge here, and He asks the question. 'Did you take from the tree?' 'Yes! It was the woman who temped me.' 'Why did you do it?' 'It was the devil who tempted me.' Then God begins the process of punishment. The purpose of judgement is to find out the truth concerning us all, then God will reward or else punish, according to what He knows to be the truth. Judgement will be according to truth. It doesn't matter how clever the spin-doctor's are, it doesn't matter how fancy the language they use in the newspaper columns or magazines or over the air, in English or Gaelic or any other language under the sun; all the spinning will be useless in the day when God judges. He is a righteous Judge, a holy Judge, and we see it all right here.
THE PENALTY FITS THE CRIME
The penalty fits the crime. The serpent, or the devil if you like, is going to be smitten in his head. His head will be crushed. That means to say, in the end of history, the devil will be cast into the lake of fire. He will suffer the greatest possible torment, and he knows it, and he knows his time is short, and he wants to go about and to drag as many people down with him as he can. My dear young people, boys and girls and teenagers, and others, let me say to you: Don't you consent to share eternity in the lake of fire with the devil; don't you agree to that. I know it sounds very sweet the way the devil puts it to you: 'Just a little bit of sweet sinning for the night; nobody will know. Just a little bit of sweet enjoyment for an hour or two; nobody will ever hear of it.' Don't you believe it! The eye of God is watching. Don't you consent to go to hell with the devil, but resist his temptation, because there is always a penalty to pay for agreeing with the devil.
So the serpent is to be crushed and then the woman's judgement comes. O what a sad, sad punishment. The special gift, of course, of the woman is motherhood: to be a mother of children. But, says God, this will be your punishment for what you've done: Child bearing will be painful and dangerous from now on. Every woman who bears a child from now until the end of time will be exposed to physical and emotional dangers and difficulties which are associated with the act of childbirth.
Then to the man: 'Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread' (verses 17-19). No more easy days as before. No more paradise as before. Out you go from the paradise into the wider world, with the thorns springing up, and the thistles and the troubles and the sweat of your brow. It explains, my friends, the misery of Calcutta, the misery of cities and towns, the miseries in London, the miseries in Birmingham. All these things are explicable and explainable in terms of this single text: the judgement, the curse of God upon the world. If this is all we have to say it would be bleak news, and sad news; news which would make us all terrified and scared, and go miserable to our homes.
There is now in my text something wonderful. 'I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel' (text). The question then is: Who is this seed of the woman, and Who is the woman? The woman, of course, is Eve, and her seed is a Man who is going to be born in the course of human history. Given the process of time, with the passage of the ages and the centuries and the millennia, one day God means, one day a Man will be born into the human race Who will smash the power of the devil finally and totally, and Who will bring peace to the world. You know very well Who that is: our blessed and holy Saviour, Jesus Christ, came into the world many centuries later, possibly as many as four thousand years later. We may not know the precise number of years, but something like four thousand years later He came into the world Whose name is Jesus. 'And thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins' (Matthew 1, 21). And this He does by bruising the serpent in his head.
How did he do that? By dying on the cross. On the cross, two things happened. The devil bruised Jesus in His heel and Jesus bruised the devil in his head. A bruise in the heel is painful. The heel is a sensitive part of the body and to be bruised in the heel is to suffer pain, great pain. Our beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ, suffered intense pain upon the cross, shedding His blood as the Lamb of God. The devil and all his forces of darkness did everything they could to make the pain intense. Round the cross stood the Pharisees, mocking and jeering; wagging their fingers and saying 'He saved others, Himself He cannot save.' All of that was the bruising of our Saviour's heel.
The devil was suffering the greater condemnation at that very time. On the occasion of His very death, our Lord destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered those who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage. The cross of Christ, where He shed His blood brings redemption to the world, and this was the first Gospel promise: the proto-evangelium, as the Roman or the Latin phrase has it, the first Gospel preaching. My very dear friends, Adam and Eve heard it, and they believed it. I believe fully, they were brought into a state of grace and salvation and the knowledge of God.
The Apostle Paul sums it up really like this, in these wonderful words: 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' (1 Timothy 1, 15). This is the promise that is given here. In order to confirm the promise, as so often, God gives an outward symbolism in order to make it still clearer to Adam and Eve. The symbolism had regard to the clothes that they were wearing. As man and woman were first created, they didn't need clothes. We wouldn't need clothes, at all, if we were not so wicked. Life would be impossible without proper clothes. We are so rotten, so fallen, so foul, so filthy, we have to cover ourselves and our shame and our nakedness because we are so ruined in our thoughts. Our thoughts are dreadful thoughts.
That is why, by the way, we should put on proper clothes. Clothes are to cover our nakedness; they are a sense of shame. When we wear clothes, we don't put them on to boast and swagger about. Our clothes are put on because we are shameful people, a shameful race, and our clothes ought to cover our bodies sufficiently for decencies sake. It is outrageous when people use clothes to excite foul passion in one another; that is the devil's work. We must refuse to agree to such a practice.
THE FIRST SHEDDING OF BLOOD
Now I say there is symbolism here: the symbolism of salvation. The symbolism has to do with the fig leaf. God now strips them of their fig leaves and He puts on them coats of skin. You understand that the change of clothing was not an accidental or insignificant detail; it was a symbol of a change for the better. The fig leaves were a symbol of man's attempt to cover up his own shame and sin. God removes them; they will not do. He puts on them coats of skins, which He has made. The coats of skin being animal skins, involved, of course, the shedding of animal blood. It was at this moment that the practice began of slaying animals in sacrifice to God. God Himself instituted this very practice; He began it. All through the Old Testament until the death of Christ, this was done; animals had to be slain and blood had to be shed. All of that was a picture and a symbol, of course, and a shadow of the blood of the eternal Son of God Himself; of that we are left in no doubt. 'For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God' (Hebrews 9, 13-14)? How much of that Adam and Eve saw we may not know, but I personally am convinced, they saw enough to know this was God's way of covering their nakedness.
As I close dear friends, it's the only way that God covers nakedness still. He gives us the promise of the Gospel. He says, 'Whosoever believeth in him (Jesus) should not perish' (John 3, 16). There's the promise, and if you believe the promise, you are clothed upon with the righteousness of Christ. It is all right here, in Genesis 3: the fall of man and his recovery, or rather, God's recovery of fallen man. It's all here. It explains why the world is the place it is.
I did learn a lot of things in depth about Bible and Theology as well. I also came to know that preachers Job is so difficult and they need to learn a lot of things in depth.
Genesis 1:31-2:3,'
Creation - A Picture Of Redemption - Christ In Genesis 1
'Genesis 1:26-28,'
The Creation Of Man - The Creation And Original State Of Man
'Genesis 1:1-31,'
Creation - A Picture Of Grace -
'Genesis 2:18-25,'
The First Marriage - A Picture Of Grace -
'Genesis 2:9,'
Two Trees - A Picture Of Grace - The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil And The Cross Of Christ
'Genesis 3:22-24,'
Adam Driven From Eden - A Picture Of Grace - Adam And The Tree Of Life
'Genesis 3:17-24,'
Adam And Christ - A Picture Of Grace - 'A Contrast Of The First Adam And The Second Adam, Christ'
'Genesis 3:1-24,'
The Fall Of Man - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Revealed In The Fall
'Genesis 4:1-16,'
Cain And Abel - A Picture Of Grace - Grace Portrayed In Abel And His Offering
'Genesis 5:24,'
Enoch - A Picture Of Grace - 'Walking With God By Faith, The Gift Of Grace'
'Genesis 6:1-22,'
Noah And The Ark - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Portrayed In Noah
'Genesis 9:18-29,'
Noah And His Sons - 'Noah's Fall, Ham's Curse, And The Nations Of The Earth'
'Genesis 9:18-29,'
Noah And His Sons - 'Noah's Fall, Ham's Curse, And The Nations Of The Earth'
'Genesis 9:13, Revelation 4:3'
A Rainbow Round About The Throne - The Rainbow - A Symbol Of The Covenant
'Genesis 9:13, Revelation 4:3'
A Rainbow Round About The Throne - The Rainbow - A Symbol Of The Covenant
'Genesis 9:11,'
God's Covenant With Noah - A Picture Of Grace - The Covenant Of Grace
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, Genesis 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Genesis 10:6-10, 11:1-9'
Babel The Religion Of The Cursed - Nimrod And The Tower Of Babel
'Nehemiah 9:7-8, Genesis 12:1-13:4'
Abraham - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Displayed In Abraham
'Nehemiah 9:7-8, Genesis 12:1-13:4'
Abraham - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Displayed In Abraham
'Genesis 12:1 - 13:4,'
The God Of Glory Appeared Unto Abraham - 'Abraham's Call, Faith, Failure And Preservation'
'Genesis 13:1-18,'
The Strife Between Abraham And Lot - The Evil Of Strife Between Believers
'Genesis 13:1-13,'
The Strife Between Abraham And Lot - The Evil Of Strife Between Believers
'Genesis 14:18-20,'
Abraham And Melchizedek - A Picture Of Grace - Melchizedek - A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 15:6-21,'
Standing On Justified Ground - Things Seen Only By Faith
'Genesis 15:6-21,'
Standing On Justified Ground - Things Seen Only By Faith
'Genesis 15:1-6,'
Justification By Faith - Justification By Faith
'Genesis 15:1-6,'
Justification By Faith - Justification By Faith
'Genesis 17:1-27,'
El-Shaddai - The God Of The Covenant - God's Covenant With Abraham
'Genesis 19:15-23,'
Lot - A Picture Of Grace - Grace Displayed In Lot's Deliverance Out Of Sodom
'Genesis 21:9-10, Galatians 4:21-31'
Sarah And Hagar - A Picture Of Grace - The Believer's Freedom From The Law
'Genesis 21:9-10, Galatians 4:21-31'
Sarah And Hagar - A Picture Of Grace - The Believer's Freedom From The Law
'Genesis 22:1-18,'
Abraham And Isaac At Moriah - A Picture Of Grace - Abraham's Sacrifice Of Isaac
'Genesis 24:11-67,'
A Bride For Isaac - A Picture Of Grace - The Work Of The Gospel Preacher
'Genesis 25:5,'
Isaac - A Picture Of Grace - Isaac As A Type Of The Believer
'Genesis 28:15,'
Jacob - An Object Of Grace - A Picture Of Grace - God's Grace Upon Jacob
'Genesis 28:12-13,'
Jacob's Ladder - A Picture Of Grace - Christ Our Ladder
'Genesis 28:10-22,'
Jacob - A Picture Of Grace - The Grace Of God Revealed In Jacob's Conversion
'Genesis 32:24-32,'
Jacob At Peniel - A Picture Of Grace - The Subduing Of The Flesh
'Genesis 33:1-11,'
I Have Enough. - Contentment Of The Reprobate And Of Believers
'Genesis 37:1-11,'
Joseph - A Type Of Christ - A Picture Of Grace - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 38:1-30,'
Judah Went Down - 'Judah, Tamar, And The Purpose Of God'
'Genesis 38:1-30,'
Judah Went Down - 'Judah, Tamar, And The Purpose Of God'
'Genesis 39:1-23,'
Joseph Was Brought Down To Egypt - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 39:1-23,'
Joseph Was Brought Down To Egypt - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 41:55-57,'
Joseph Opening The Storehouses - A Picture Of Grace - Joseph As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 42:2-3,'
Joseph And His Brothers - A Picture Of Grace - Christ's Methods Of Making Himself Known To Sinners
'Genesis 43:8-9,'
A Surety For Benjamin - A Picture Of Grace - Christ Our Surety
'Genesis 46:1-4,'
Jacob's Fear Removed - A Picture Of Grace - Believers And Their Fears
'Genesis 49:22-26,'
Boundless Blessedness - Joseph's Blessedness
'Genesis 49:8-12,'
Jacob's Prophecy Concerning Judah - A Picture Of Grace - Judah As A Type Of Christ
'Genesis 50:15-21,'
Three Lessons From Joseph - A Picture Of Grace - 'Grace, Providence And Brotherly Love'
2. What did you like and what did you dislike about the Genesis Study?
I liked everything. I did not dislike anything.
3. Did we leave out an important aspect of Genesis? If so what?
None
4. What changes or improvements to the course would you suggest?
None
5. Tell me a little about yourself, your calling, your ministry goals, etc?
I am 31 yr young women from Bangalore, India married to an American Husband and Living in FL,United States. We have one baby Girl who is almost 14 months , the most precious and wonderful child together. I don't have much to say about myself.I do not have my parents nor anyone here in USA, all of them are happily living in India. I am all alone here with my husband and Child.
Since my child hood I keep reading the Holy Bible, because I get delight, satisfied when I read about Gods Word. I have a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronics Engineering Degree from India and Other Various certifications in Computers, Currently I am a stay home Mom, reading, writing and listening to Gods word ,taking care of my family .Earlier I had worked for many Engineering/IT companies, Now until my child is able to go to school I and my husband has decided that I will stay at home and take care of her needs so that we being a Parents can get incredible precious moments with our daughter as well as for her strong growth which God blessed her in our life. I'm very much interested in growing spiritually and I want to be the best wife, Best child, Best Mother and a Best human being. When I get up in the morning I am very happy because I will be waiting to read and write about the Holy God! I want to get very closer to God and I get delight to walk in Righteousness.
It is important to keep my eyes focused on the Lord who will enable me to overcome the world. Seek the Lord and He shall remove the fear that ruins your life. He will fill your life with blessings and you shall not lack any good thing.
Staying close to our Creator and spending time in His Word gives me the hope, strength ,happiness, peace and direction I need to get through and enjoy each day
'Everything is possible for him who believes' Mark 9:23
6. Chose either the subject of “the Creation” or “the Fall” and do a brief sermon or lesson outline.
God is the Creator of All .
'In the beginning'
This 'beginning' is not bound by time but is the timeless eternity in which God dwelt before he created anything.
And even the word 'before' is a concession to us who exist within time and cannot conceive existence apart from it.
But to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, time is useless, created along with space for his creatures
Wisdom boasts in Proverbs 8:22ff. 'The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.'
This is prior to any act of creation
This is the beginning before anything but God existed
John 1:1-3 tells us Christ was 'in the beginning' with God, that he is Creator, not creature; i.e. God himself, co-eternal with the Father.
So right away, we learn that God does not relate to time in the way that we do; and we will need to remember this throughout this creation account.
God created 'the heavens and the earth'
This is not a title for 1:2-2:3 but a description of God's first creative act
Consider how inappropriate it is as a title
If verse 1 is a title then verse 2 is the beginning of the story
I.e. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now let me tell you what I mean by that: I mean that God looked around and saw this pre-existent material, the earth, that was formless and void. It was definitely a fixer-upper, but with a little work....
But don't the following verses describe the activity of making heaven and earth?
After all vv. 6ff. speak of the creation of the firmament which God then calls heaven (v. 8)
And vv. 9ff. speak of the creation of the dry land, Earth
But what are both these things created from? A: The 'Earth' of vv. 1 and 2.
I.e. God creates the heavens and the earth
The earth is formless and void
So God takes the earth and forms it into sky which he calls 'heaven' and ground which he calls 'Earth'
Let's add one more piece of information before we put it all together.
'The heavens' in Scripture can refer to the visible or the invisible heavens
Visible
e.g. verse 8
vv. 26ff. speak of the birds of the air.
Genesis 15:5 speaks of the stars of the heavens
Invisible
Genesis 28:12 - Jacob sees ladder reaching heaven with angels ascending and descending and he says 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'
2 Chronicles 2:21 speaks of heaven as God's dwelling place (clearly not intending us to believe that a spaceship could go out and find him.
It is clear that the visible heavens display a picture of the invisible
God is constantly picture in Scripture as 'high' 'exalted' 'up'
Psalm 148 connects the two: 'Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!'
So here is our hypothesis:
In the beginning, God created the invisible (the heavens) and the visible (the earth)
And this is all we are told about the creation of the invisible heavens
It is not really our concern (Scripture does not exist to satisfy our curiosity)
If even the earthly creation is glorious beyond comprehension, how could we understand the heavenly
And this whole chapter is man-centered, as we shall see more clearly in the coming weeks.
Out of the visible (the earth) he created the visible heavens (to reflect the glory of the invisible) and the visible earth (and this is described in 1:2 - 31)
Now, let's test our hypothesis
Job 38:6,7 speaks of the foundations of the earth being laid, 'When the morning stars sang together,/ And all the sons of God shouted for joy.' I.e. Job interprets the creation account as including the creation of invisible angelic beings
Nehemiah 9:6 as well refers back to God creating the heavens and the earth and says 'the host of heaven' worships you, strongly suggesting that 'heaven' is the invisible heaven where the angels dwell before the face of God.
The New Testament explains the doctrine this way
Col 1:16 clearly refers to the creation event, ascribing the glory to Christ (more on this later) and insisting that it refers to creation of visible and invisible.
This is decisive. We must see in this initial statement, a grand and over-arching doctrine of God creating everything out of nothing. The following verses will not repeat that statement, but build on it, explaining how God brought that creation into its completed form.
God's Attributes contained in this doctrine
God alone is self-existent
You see how important it is that Genesis 1:2 not speak of pre-existent matter
Everything else depends upon God for its existence 'In him we live and move...'
But God depends on no one and nothing
And therefore, as Paul says, he is not worshiped by men's hands as though he needed anything
But rather we who are his creatures need him
God is wise and powerful
These two attributes go together
With men we may have power but no wisdom or vice versa
But God's wisdom is powerful. He declares that a thing ought to be so and it is so
Marvel at the effortlessness with which he brings it to pass
He does not labor or break a sweat
When he rests on the 7th day, it will not be because he is tired; the Sabbath is made for man
God has absolute rights over his creation
The potter has the right over the clay
God made everything that is and therefore has a right over everything and everyone to do with as he pleases.
The Statement Seen through the lens of Israel
God the law-giver
Note how Psalm 24 goes from God the Creator to God the Law-giver
Psalm 19 as well
This is part of that absolute right - God may make laws, governing as he sees fit.
So Israel may not question the wisdom of his laws (nor may we)
When he comes on Sinai, he comes with authority and they dare not question but must hear and obey
And if they cannot obey, they must face the consequences
God the promise maker
God promised their father Abraham the land; he will give it to them
God promised Abraham that in his offspring all the families of the earth would be blessed
Does he lack the power to carry out such a promise?
Clearly not, he is the Creator of all
God, their God
The most precious promise of all - to be a God to them and they his people
This one the God who created all things, has said, I will be your personal God
The Statement Seen through the lens of Christ
Christ the Creator
Remember the disciples waking Jesus in the midst of the storm
Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side
Christ is sovereign as Creator
If you do not have some created thing that you 'need' is it because Christ cannot give it?
Car, house, money, husband, wife, job, respect
He could create these things out of nothing if he chose or command these created things to come to you and they must come
What can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore, we may bear our trials patiently, knowing that they are not a sign that God is weak or impotent to save
Christ the Redeemer
It is precisely Christ's power over Creation that argues for his power for salvation
To the lame man: Your sins are forgiven you
That you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins: Arise, take up your pallet and walk
To Peter: Cast you nets one more time lots of fish
Peter: 'Depart from me Lord!' (He understood point II; this is Christ the law-giver)
Jesus: 'I will make you fishers of men' I put fish in your nets and I can convert the souls of men (and so that wonderful doctrine called irresistible grace is inherent in the first verse of Scripture.)
Christ brings in a new creation
If he did it before he can do it again (and he has!)
We are already new creatures in Christ
Rev 21:1ff: Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.' 5Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'
Already, at the beginning, the Holy Spirit has the end in view.
Fall of man! We come now, sadly and thirdly, to the fall of mankind. I have said already that what the devil aimed at was to murder us, body and soul; to bring us under the wrath and curse of God. He wanted to have us in hell with himself - the whole human race is what he aimed at. This is what we discover from the rest of Scripture: that Eve was taken in. She did not see the crookedness which the devil was using; but we are told, Adam was not deceived. 1 Timothy 2, 14 is the revelation here that tells us that Eve was taken in; Adam was not taken in. She didn't realise this was a deadly trick, he did, which gives rise to the question: Why then did he eat?
What he should have done is this. When he saw that she had sinned, he should have refused. God would, no doubt, have given him another wife in some other way. Eve would have died. What Adam evidently argued in his mind was this: 'I love my wife too much to part with her.' He made the woman his god. He put the woman ahead of his obedience to God. Now, of course, he is not the only one to do such a thing. The strong instinct that a man has for a woman, or a woman for a man, is one of the primary means that the devil uses to turn people away from their duty to God. Of course, the answer we give is, nothing must come between ourselves and our duty to God. We must turn our back on every duty in the world, if that duty involved compromising our obedience to God. Adam sinned, as we say, with his eyes open.
Which of the two sinned first? Answer: Eve. Which of the two sinned worst? Answer: Adam. He sinned a sin which was far, far more serious than hers, because of his position. He was what we call the 'federal head' of the whole human race. He was acting on our behalf. His obedience, or disobedience, would have implications for the entire human race, to the ends of the earth, to the end of time, and indeed to all eternity. Heaven and hell were suspended on the obedience or disobedience of this one man. If you doubt the accuracy of my words, read at your leisure Romans 5, 12 >. 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' When Adam sinned, all sinned. We sinned in him, and we fell with him. That's the way we are to think of it, because a federal head is one who acts for others - like President Bush when he signs a document on behalf of the whole American nation, then his action affects everybody. If he were to go to war, let's say, God forbid, but if he were to put his signature to a declaration of war, every American would be involved automatically. So it was with Adam; when he sinned against God, the whole human race was implicated and involved in the consequences of it.
That is something that we must bring our minds to understand. Three things especially were implicated for you, me, our children, our grandchildren, everybody in China, America, Australia, wherever they live; the entire human race was implicated in three ways in Adam's disobedience. First: He brought sin upon us all. Second: He brought condemnation upon us all in the sight of God: we are a condemned humanity. Our sins have brought us into a state in which we are alienated from God and under His just displeasure. Thirdly: Eternal punishment and death. These are the effects of sin.
7. Evaluate the story of Genesis chapter three on the affects of sin (hiding, guilt, blame, fear, etc). Meditate on how our sins influence our relationships today and write a brief discussion on how you could use the Biblical information of Genesis in counseling someone who is involved in a broken or strained relationship.
THE EFFECTS OF SIN
I want to mention too, we can see the beginnings of all of these effects of sin, right here in this very chapter. It is true that Adam and Eve did not die in every sense, there and then on the spot. Adam lived to be nine hundred and thirty or thereabouts. I don't know how old Eve was, I don't think we are told, but sooner or later, death overtakes every man and every woman because of Adam's disobedience.
You see the way sin is visible at once in Adam and Eve. The first thing we see is: their eyes are opened, and they realise they are naked, and they were ashamed. Not because they were in one another's presence, they were man and wife. There was no embarrassment arising from the fact they were naked as man and wife; they were one flesh. But, the embarrassment arose from this: They were naked in the eyes of God. They realised that in God's eyes something had gone wrong with them. Their psychology was now changed; they had a sense of shame for what they were, as in the sight of heaven. That is why when the voice of the Lord God was heard in the evening of the day, walking, as no doubt had happened before, and Adam came to speak with God and they would walk and talk together. God taking on a human form, probably, to talk to His created being, Adam, and they had fellowship together before. Now we see a different reaction. When he hears his Maker coming to talk with him, he hides behind the trees. He cannot bear the thought of facing God and his wife does likewise, and they try to cover themselves with fig leaves.
My friends, that is exactly what men and women do. They would rather go to picture houses, to theatres, to operas, to bingo, to football, to anywhere but not to the house of God: not to where the Bible is being preached. That is why the football stadiums are full and many churches are only partly filled, and very often largely empty. It is because man cannot face his Maker. Man is afraid of appearing before God. Why? Well, because of his inward sense of shame. He knows he's guilty. You know it and I know it by nature and until we know the Gospel answer to the problem, we shall all our lives go on in this terrible condition of being ashamed before God.
Men try to brazen it out, of course. Don't we see - it's not humorous but it's almost enough to put a smile on your face - to see the way they each blame one another. When God turns to Adam, what does he say? Does he say, 'Lord, I can't blame anyone else, it's my own sinful wicked disobedience.' Does he say that? Not at all. 'It's her,' he said, 'she did it. The one you gave me, she is the mischief maker.' Aren't we so like it? We blame one another. Have you not seen it among young children, even from an early age? 'It's her fault - It's his fault - He did it - They did it - Not I, but them.' O my friends, our human nature is the same. We are all a fallen, rotten human race, and all because of this one great, historical transformation: the fall of Adam, the fall of the human race. Our change from being perfect, sinless and holy, into a condition of sin and guilt.
THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD
How does the Word of God here go on? Well it goes on next to talk about the judgement of God. God now comes on the scene and He begins to judge these events. My dear friends, here is the bad news for all that are not Christians. God will always, sooner or later, judge sin; He must. He must judge sin. Why? Because He is infinitely holy, and infinitely righteous and God cannot leave sin undealt with. I wish our nation would wake up to that single truth if they woke up to nothing else. Whether men live like Sodom or Gomorrah or whether they live in some other wicked form of sin and guilt - they have to be told, and they must know - that sooner or later Almighty God will confront them and they will have to face up to what they have done, what they are, the way they have lived, and the way they think. God, I say, is a God of righteous judgement. That is what we see in this very chapter. He comes and He begins to ask questions; this is what a Judge does. 'What have you done and what have you said? How did you behave?' It's not, of course, that God doesn't know already. I hope none of us would run away with the thought that God has to ask questions to get answers; He knows the answer before He asks the question, of course. He knows all things. He knows the secret things, but He asks the question in order to draw out the responses from the persons who are guilty, so that they might confess; if they confess at all, the things that they have done.
My friends, this is a prelude to the day of death. Let me say to you, dear friends, that as soon as a person dies - man, woman or child - the very first thing they will have to do in eternity, beyond the grave, is they will have to confront God. He will do the questioning and they will have to do the answering. Woe betides you or me, or anyone, who does not have Jesus Christ speaking up for him in the day of death. That's what we call the private judgement of death. It determines where your soul goes, to heaven at once or to hell at once.
Then in the end of history when the resurrection has taken place there will be a general judgement, and all the human race will be there: all of all generations, all of all ages from the Old Testament and New Testament, men and women and children, and all. In the Day of Judgement, the whole universe will assemble before the Judge, Jesus Christ. He will sit upon His great throne and He will separate between the sheep and the goats, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous; some He will take to glory and some He will send to hell and everlasting burning. I say these things because it is as plain as plain can be that this is what will happen in the end of history. This is the last page of history. The Bible tells us this so that you might prepare for it right now, whilst you have breath in your body.
God, therefore, is going to judge and God does judge here, and He asks the question. 'Did you take from the tree?' 'Yes! It was the woman who temped me.' 'Why did you do it?' 'It was the devil who tempted me.' Then God begins the process of punishment. The purpose of judgement is to find out the truth concerning us all, then God will reward or else punish, according to what He knows to be the truth. Judgement will be according to truth. It doesn't matter how clever the spin-doctor's are, it doesn't matter how fancy the language they use in the newspaper columns or magazines or over the air, in English or Gaelic or any other language under the sun; all the spinning will be useless in the day when God judges. He is a righteous Judge, a holy Judge, and we see it all right here.
THE PENALTY FITS THE CRIME
The penalty fits the crime. The serpent, or the devil if you like, is going to be smitten in his head. His head will be crushed. That means to say, in the end of history, the devil will be cast into the lake of fire. He will suffer the greatest possible torment, and he knows it, and he knows his time is short, and he wants to go about and to drag as many people down with him as he can. My dear young people, boys and girls and teenagers, and others, let me say to you: Don't you consent to share eternity in the lake of fire with the devil; don't you agree to that. I know it sounds very sweet the way the devil puts it to you: 'Just a little bit of sweet sinning for the night; nobody will know. Just a little bit of sweet enjoyment for an hour or two; nobody will ever hear of it.' Don't you believe it! The eye of God is watching. Don't you consent to go to hell with the devil, but resist his temptation, because there is always a penalty to pay for agreeing with the devil.
So the serpent is to be crushed and then the woman's judgement comes. O what a sad, sad punishment. The special gift, of course, of the woman is motherhood: to be a mother of children. But, says God, this will be your punishment for what you've done: Child bearing will be painful and dangerous from now on. Every woman who bears a child from now until the end of time will be exposed to physical and emotional dangers and difficulties which are associated with the act of childbirth.
Then to the man: 'Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread' (verses 17-19). No more easy days as before. No more paradise as before. Out you go from the paradise into the wider world, with the thorns springing up, and the thistles and the troubles and the sweat of your brow. It explains, my friends, the misery of Calcutta, the misery of cities and towns, the miseries in London, the miseries in Birmingham. All these things are explicable and explainable in terms of this single text: the judgement, the curse of God upon the world. If this is all we have to say it would be bleak news, and sad news; news which would make us all terrified and scared, and go miserable to our homes.
There is now in my text something wonderful. 'I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel' (text). The question then is: Who is this seed of the woman, and Who is the woman? The woman, of course, is Eve, and her seed is a Man who is going to be born in the course of human history. Given the process of time, with the passage of the ages and the centuries and the millennia, one day God means, one day a Man will be born into the human race Who will smash the power of the devil finally and totally, and Who will bring peace to the world. You know very well Who that is: our blessed and holy Saviour, Jesus Christ, came into the world many centuries later, possibly as many as four thousand years later. We may not know the precise number of years, but something like four thousand years later He came into the world Whose name is Jesus. 'And thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins' (Matthew 1, 21). And this He does by bruising the serpent in his head.
How did he do that? By dying on the cross. On the cross, two things happened. The devil bruised Jesus in His heel and Jesus bruised the devil in his head. A bruise in the heel is painful. The heel is a sensitive part of the body and to be bruised in the heel is to suffer pain, great pain. Our beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ, suffered intense pain upon the cross, shedding His blood as the Lamb of God. The devil and all his forces of darkness did everything they could to make the pain intense. Round the cross stood the Pharisees, mocking and jeering; wagging their fingers and saying 'He saved others, Himself He cannot save.' All of that was the bruising of our Saviour's heel.
The devil was suffering the greater condemnation at that very time. On the occasion of His very death, our Lord destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered those who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage. The cross of Christ, where He shed His blood brings redemption to the world, and this was the first Gospel promise: the proto-evangelium, as the Roman or the Latin phrase has it, the first Gospel preaching. My very dear friends, Adam and Eve heard it, and they believed it. I believe fully, they were brought into a state of grace and salvation and the knowledge of God.
The Apostle Paul sums it up really like this, in these wonderful words: 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' (1 Timothy 1, 15). This is the promise that is given here. In order to confirm the promise, as so often, God gives an outward symbolism in order to make it still clearer to Adam and Eve. The symbolism had regard to the clothes that they were wearing. As man and woman were first created, they didn't need clothes. We wouldn't need clothes, at all, if we were not so wicked. Life would be impossible without proper clothes. We are so rotten, so fallen, so foul, so filthy, we have to cover ourselves and our shame and our nakedness because we are so ruined in our thoughts. Our thoughts are dreadful thoughts.
That is why, by the way, we should put on proper clothes. Clothes are to cover our nakedness; they are a sense of shame. When we wear clothes, we don't put them on to boast and swagger about. Our clothes are put on because we are shameful people, a shameful race, and our clothes ought to cover our bodies sufficiently for decencies sake. It is outrageous when people use clothes to excite foul passion in one another; that is the devil's work. We must refuse to agree to such a practice.
THE FIRST SHEDDING OF BLOOD
Now I say there is symbolism here: the symbolism of salvation. The symbolism has to do with the fig leaf. God now strips them of their fig leaves and He puts on them coats of skin. You understand that the change of clothing was not an accidental or insignificant detail; it was a symbol of a change for the better. The fig leaves were a symbol of man's attempt to cover up his own shame and sin. God removes them; they will not do. He puts on them coats of skins, which He has made. The coats of skin being animal skins, involved, of course, the shedding of animal blood. It was at this moment that the practice began of slaying animals in sacrifice to God. God Himself instituted this very practice; He began it. All through the Old Testament until the death of Christ, this was done; animals had to be slain and blood had to be shed. All of that was a picture and a symbol, of course, and a shadow of the blood of the eternal Son of God Himself; of that we are left in no doubt. 'For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God' (Hebrews 9, 13-14)? How much of that Adam and Eve saw we may not know, but I personally am convinced, they saw enough to know this was God's way of covering their nakedness.
As I close dear friends, it's the only way that God covers nakedness still. He gives us the promise of the Gospel. He says, 'Whosoever believeth in him (Jesus) should not perish' (John 3, 16). There's the promise, and if you believe the promise, you are clothed upon with the righteousness of Christ. It is all right here, in Genesis 3: the fall of man and his recovery, or rather, God's recovery of fallen man. It's all here. It explains why the world is the place it is.
Comments
Post a Comment