WHEN GOD’S LOVE IS DOUBTED
Genesis 3:1-24 (Lesson 4a)
Key Verse: 3:15
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
* TEMPTATION AND FALL (1-6)
1. Where does this conversation take place and who are the participants? How is the serpent described? Who does the serpent represent? (Rev 12:7-9) What is characteristic of his nature? (3:1; Jn 8:44)
2. Observe carefully the steps in the serpent’s temptation of the woman. How did he twist the mean- ing of God’s word? (compare 2:16,17 with 3:1,4,5) In what respect did he lie? How did he remove the absolute from God’s word? How did he plant pride? How did he lead her to doubt God’s love?
3. How did the woman answer him? (2,3) What was her attitude toward God and his word? What were her inner desires? Why did she yield to temptation? What can we learn here about how to overcome temptation? (See Mt 4:1-11)
* THE TRAGEDY OF BROKEN FELLOWSHIP (7-13)
4. Why did she give some to her husband? What was the immediate result of their eating the forbidden fruit? (7) What do you think this means?
5. When they heard God coming, what did they do? Why? How and why did God call? What was Adam’s answer? What does this conversation show about the tragedy of sin?
6. How did God confront Adam with his sin? What might Adam have done? What excuses did they make? What does this reveal about sin’s effect on relationships?
* A WORLD UNDER CURSE (14-24)
7. How did God curse the serpent? How does God’s promise in 3:15 give hope to mankind? Why is this the key verse of this lesson?
8. How did God punish the woman? How is her punishment related to her blessing? (1:28) What does it mean that God cursed the ground? (see Ro 8:20,21) How is man’s punishment related to his mission? [How can the curse be removed, woman set free and man’s mission restored? (Gal 3:13; Jn 3:18; Ro 16:20; Mk 16:15])
9. In what other way did God show his love for fallen man? How did Adam heal his relationship with his wife?
10. Why did God drive them from the Garden? Why did he not destroy the garden? What hope does this give? What is the significance of the tree of life? (Rev 22:2,14,19)
THE TEMPTATION AND FALL OF MAN
Genesis 3:1-24
Key verse 3:15
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Last week we learned that God planted the Garden of Eden to provide the physical and spiritual environment for our first parents Adam and Eve. God created the first man Adam with the dust of the ground and the breath of life. Adam became a living soul representing dual nature which consisted of physical nature from the ground and spiritual nature, the breath of life from God. God provided a home for Adam with delicious food, water and precious stones and spiritual order by commanding him not to eat the forbidden fruit of life. God did not treat him like a slave but gave Adam freedom of choice. Then God presided over the first Garden wedding for Adam and Eve. God demonstrated his ultimate care for mankind through the creation of the Garden of Eden. However, Adam disobeyed God’s command and sin entered the world. The happy and blessed Garden became a hiding place as God punished Adam and Eve and expelled them from the Garden. In the middle of God’s punishment of the participants of the rebellion, we can find a glimpse of hope to redeem sinners through the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ. Let’s learn the nature and consequences of sin and God’s redemptive plan for fallen mankind in this passage. May God bless us to overcome the temptation of sin with the word of God and accept God’s love through Jesus Christ, our Messiah!
PART 1 TEMPTATION AND FALL (1-6)
Look at verses 1-6.” Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it”
Genesis 3:1-6 seems like a casual conversation between the serpent and Eve. However, we learn several significant spiritual lessons related to sin in this passage.
FIRST, THE ORIGIN OF SIN.
Where did sin come from? How did it come into the universe? God cannot be regarded as its author. God himself did not sin, and God is not blamed for sin. Sin happened before the fall of Adam. God created a host of angels, and they were all good. But a fall occurred in the angelic world, in which legions of angels fell away from God. They rebelled against God and were expelled from the heavenly realm and fell into the world. Satan is called the fallen angel and demons are fallen angels who followed Satan. The Bible does not specify the exact time of the rebellion of the fallen angels, but it happened before the beginning of the history of man. It might have happened in Genesis 1:2 which says, “darkness was over the surface of the earth…” Since that time, Satan’s main job was to destroy the work of God. Satan’s number one target was Adam and Eve, the crown of God’s creation. So, Satan in the form of the serpent came to Eve and began to tempt her to sin against God. Sin always looks for accomplices. Satan found one in Eve. The tempter came from the spiritual world and planted doubts in Adam and Eve. Adam yielded to the temptation and committed the first sin by eating the forbidden fruit. With respect to the origin of sin in the history of mankind, this passage teaches that it began with the transgression of Adam in paradise. It was man who sinned. It was the angels who sinned. In both cases, they did so by willful and voluntary choices.
SECOND, THE NATURE OF SATAN
In this chapter, Satan personified in the form of the serpent (Rev12:9) makes his appearance. What was the character of Satan? He was crafty and cunning. The implication of other scripture (Rev 12:7-9; Jude 6; 2 Pet 2:4) is that Satan was a beautiful and powerful angel who forgot his position. Pride destroyed even angels of God. John 8:44 tells us that he was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. He was a deceiver from the beginning. Satan deceived Eve with many lies.
His purpose in tempting the woman is clear. He wanted her to listen to and follow his words instead of obeying God’s word. This seems like a small thing. But until this time, Adam and Eve had obeyed God and walked with him in beautiful fellowship in the garden. The Bible says that we are slaves of the one whom we obey (Rom 6:16). By disobeying God and obeying Satan, mankind would come under Satan’s authority. They would be transferred from God’s kingdom to the kingdom of Satan. Creation order in the garden was only kept by man’s obedience to God.
THIRD, THE PROCESS OF TEMPTATIONS
Let’s examine the process of the temptation of Satan. This is crucial to know them to overcome the temptations of Satan. How did Satan lead the woman to disobey God? There are three steps in temptation. First, planting doubts with questions (negative emphasis about God’s love), second, making her not to believe the word of God (think about pride), third, disobeying God (final action to please one’s heart desire). We call these steps the 3D process—doubt, disbelief, and disobedience. People usually follow these steps when they sin. This is a typical formula. Trust me. Satan asked a question about God’s command: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden.'” He tried to confuse her about God’s word, and he suggested that God’s prohibition was unreasonable, and that furthermore, it violated her human rights. He listened to her answer, then said, “You will not surely die; God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” There is enough truth in his words to make it the most effective kind of lie. When he said, “You will not surely die,” he was removing the absoluteness from God’s word. He was saying that obeying God’s word is not really a life and death matter. Then he suggested that God’s motive in forbidding them to eat of one tree was not love but tyranny, and that God was withholding from them something very good. He led her to doubt the love of God. When doubt of God’s love took root in her heart, and when the fear and respect of God and his word was shaken, she could entertain the possibility of disobedience. She became vulnerable to temptation.
What was it in her attitude toward God’s word and blessings that weakened her? In the first place, she was not grateful to God for his gracious and abundant provision for her needs and happiness. The good and delightful trees of the garden were all prepared by God. He had commanded man to eat freely of their fruit. But the woman took this gift and blessing for granted. (vs.2) At the same time, she put unnecessary emphasis on the negative part of God’s command. (God did not say “Don’t touch it”; he said, “Don’t eat it.”) She did not pay careful attention to God’s word or hide God’s word in her heart. Instead, she accepted Satan’s words. He had told her that eating the fruit would make her as wise as God, and she believed him. He didn’t tell her the tragic consequences of disobedience. Her physical desires, which were intended to enrich her life, became unrestrained. The fruit was beautiful and looked delicious. It became very desirable. So, without any further thought, she took it and ate. Her act was an act of obedience to Satan and an act of disobedience to God. She moved from the kingdom of God to the kingdom of this world, the kingdom of Satan. Guilt longs for company, so she gave some of the forbidden fruit to Adam; he ate and joined her in the kingdom of Satan. It is important for man to marry a woman of faith who can lead him to keep faith in God and serve the will of God. It is a blessing to have a woman of faith as our marriage partner. God blessed me to have a successful mission through my marriage with M. Esther Lee. She has become a source of strength and joy in my mission life.
What can we learn here about how to overcome temptation? As we live in this world, we cannot avoid temptation completely. There are temptations of physical desires for sex and desires for money and video games, drugs, and alcohol. In college, there are many students who live as party animals, neglecting their studies.
UD is a party school. But Dre, Tia, Franco, Rommel, and Than did not go to the party but decided to study the word of God and joined in the Sunday worship. Some of them will deliver special messages soon. Temptations look sweet and good now. But they destroy our lives. It is important to overcome temptations to live for the glory of God. Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus fasted for 40 days, and nights and he was extremely hungry. Satan came to Jesus and asked him to tell these stones to become bread. (Matthew 4:3) Jesus answered in Matthew 4:4, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus did not listen to Satan but defeated his temptation with the word of God in Deut. 8:3. The word of God is key to defeating Satan’s temptation. Nobody defeats Satan’s temptation with human wisdom and will power. Reverend Jimmy Swaggart was a successful and famous pastor in a large church in the Assemblies of God in Louisiana. But he fell into the temptation involved a sexual scandal with prostitutes. All the people were shocked because they thought that pastors were immune from temptations. God’s servants must be careful about the women and money to stay in the pastoral ministry. We should not start a conversation with Satan in the first place and leave that place without talking. If some friend comes to you and asks you to take drugs to feel good, you should leave that place without talking. When we have the word of God exactly, Satan cannot deceive us with many lies. That’s the reason why we should study the Bible and memorize the word of God to overcome temptations.
PART 2 THE TRAGEDY OF BROKEN FELLOWSHIP (7-13)
In this passage we would like to examine the consequences of sin. Look at verses 7-10. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.” The result of sin is immediate and devastating. Genesis 2:25 says, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” After eating the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They lost their innocence, and they felt shame. Their innocence was gone. What a great difference between Genesis 2, before they sinned, and Genesis 3, after they sinned. It was like day and night. Shame is the first fruit of sin. We can remove dirty spots with Clorox, but we cannot remove shame and guilt with any chemicals. Aspirin cannot remove our guilty consciences. Doctors cannot cure our shame and guilt with medicine. People suffer endlessly because of their guilt and shame. People kill themselves because of their unrecoverable shame and guilt. Shame is the opposite of honor. When many high schoolers were bullied by their peers, they felt shame and committed suicide due to their unbearable shame. Even criminals cover their faces when they are arrested to hide their faces in front of the TV cameras. After experiencing shame, Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves to hide from each other with fig leaves. But we know that it is impossible to hide the naked body with fig leaves. It was a futile effort. It was in vain. They tried to hide from God when they heard him walking in the Garden. Adam used to start conversations with the Lord in the Garden by saying, “Yes, Lord. I am here.” Now, he hid when God called out, “Where are you, Adam?” God was looking for Adam out of his love, but Adam could not answer him and hid. Because of sin, the Garden turned into a hiding place and was no longer paradise. Adam lost paradise and his presence before God. The most tragic consequence of sin is the lost relationship with God the Creator. The beautiful relationship with God is broken. Sin separated his relationship with God. This was a tragedy. Then the relationship with Eve was broken. In this fallen world, so many couples break up blaming each other. Adam blamed the woman for giving him the forbidden fruit, and he blamed God for giving him the woman. Blaming others is the result of sin. Adam was so happy when God brought her to him by saying, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” He confessed his love for Eve by saying, “Honey, I love you.” Now he blamed Eve by saying,” it was your fault.” Then he blamed God by saying, “why did you give me this woman?” Fear, shame, guilt, and broken relationships are the gifts of Satan. Lost innocence can never be recovered. When God called, “Adam, where are you?” Adam couldn’t answer. He was lost. Now paradise turned into a prison of sin, guilt, and shame. Here we learn that sin brings serious consequences. Some people treat sin very lightly like drinking coca cola, but we must treat sin very seriously. We must avoid sin by any means and obey God’s word and then we will experience the love of God and his healing mercy and blessed life once again.
PART 3 THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN (14-24)
We see that the blessed Garden of Eden became the courtroom of all participants in sin and rebellion. God cursed the serpent. But embedded in his curse is a precious promise that plants hope in the hearts of all men. Look at verse 15. “God said, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’” We call this verse the pre-gospel. In God’s right time, Jesus, the seed of the woman, would come to crush the head of Satan. He would be painfully wounded by Satan, but he would win the victory. This is good news. Satan will be defeated; he will not always rule the world. This is the promise of God that plants hope in men’s hearts. This Promise is fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. In John 19:30, Jesus said, “It is finished.” Jesus finished the redemption of fallen men through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Adam’s one act of disobedience seems very small, but it was an act of rebellion against God. Because mankind joined the rebellion of Satan, God put the world under a curse. The writer of Romans says that God subjected creation to frustration (or futility) in hope that it would be liberated someday. (8:20-21) So we are living in a cursed world.
The specific punishment given to the woman was directed toward the special blessing God had given her. Genesis 1:28 is the first commandment given to mankind, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God blessed mankind and told them to be fruitful and increase in number. Childbearing was a blessing and joy. Look at verse 16. “To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” But in a cursed world, childbearing became the woman’s cross of pain. Delivery became so painful with many women screaming during the delivery. Joyful friendship with husbands, and the joy of sharing with him in doing God’s work was replaced with selfish desire for him. The order of love in the family was replaced by man’s tyrannical rule over woman, rule enforced by her fear and desire. This curse can only be removed by Jesus. He came to set mankind free from the curse. He died so that we might be set free from slavery to sinful desires and the guilt of sin. He came to restore our relationship with God and to make it possible for men and women to have a healthy and right relationship with one another. He came to restore love and friendship in the home. In Christ, we are new creations.
Look at verses 17-19. “To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Man’s punishment was also directed toward his blessing. God made the man fully responsible for listening to his wife instead of obeying God’s word. Man was created to be the steward of God’s world. He had tilled the ground to fulfill his mission and serve God, and he had named the animals to joyfully co-work with God. His work was joyful and full of meaning. But now, because of his sin, the ground and all creation were under a curse. He lost his mission; he must work, not for God but for his own survival. Work became toil; the final enemy, death,
awaited them both. Most men work hard 9-5 during their life and then return to the dust where they came from. Food was given free of charge in the garden, but in the cursed world, they must earn their food by sweating daily. Then they die. Death is not a natural thing but a punishment of sin. That is the reason why people shout out in pain when they die. Death came to the world through the sin of Adam. 1 Cor. 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” Only Jesus can remove the curse and restore man’s mission and give life again. He died and rose again to give life and meaning and mission back to mankind.
God still loves fallen man. He covered their shame and guilt with durable clothes made from animal skins. Animals were killed for the sake of man. In verse 22, God said “man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” This was not a blessing, as the Tempter had suggested; it was a curse, because the knowledge of good and evil came through doing evil, and brought tragic consequences, which the Tempter had not bothered to mention. The knowledge of good and evil can also
come through resisting evil and doing what is good. This takes a little longer, but this knowledge builds man’s character. God expelled them from the garden. To allow mankind to eat of the fruit of life and live forever in his sinful state would be like sentencing them to hell immediately. Although God expelled them from the garden, he did not destroy the tree of life. The tree of life is still there, waiting for redeemed mankind to come and eat.
In conclusion, we studied the temptation and fall of man. Temptation to sin is real. We must overcome the temptation and give glory to God. As we know, the consequence of sin is death. Although we live in a cursed world, by God’s grace we can live with a glorious hope. God’s unchanging love and his wonderful promises give us hope. In Jesus we can access the tree of life again. I pray that we may take sin seriously and study the word of God to overcome Satan’s temptation and respond to God joyfully. May God bless us to give thanks to God and serve his will in our life by doing God’s mission in UD campus and join the ISBC to rekindle our world mission vision!
Let’s read the key verse 15 again.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.”