wash n' word
Menu
genesis chapter 3
Genesis Chapter 3
Genesis 3:1
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’?”
For there to be temptation, there must be a tempter. For there to be a tempter, there must be a rebellion. Thus for there to be a rebellion, there must be pride.
Let’s answer the question…
What was the temptation?
The temptation was to disobey God and worse yet, try to become like him. For there to be temptation there must be a tempter. So…
Who was the tempter?
Contrary to popular belief, it was not the snake. Just as it was probably not an apple on the tree.
Let’s talk about Satan for a minute. Do you know who he is? His purpose in being created? His original job? His power? His looks? (no he is not red with horns and pitchfork). Consider these scriptures…
Ezekiel 28:11-15
11 The word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.[a]
Your settings and mountings[b] were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[a]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
He was beautiful, anointed; some say he was the leader of the heavenly choir of angels. He was powerful and exalted.
For there to be temptation there must be a tempter. For there to be a tempter there must be rebellion… So…
What was the rebellion?
In his beauty and splendor he thought himself at worse equal to God and at best actually above God.
His rebellion not only cost him his place by God’s side but also as much as a third of the angels fell with him and also generation after generation of men and women as well. But why? Why this rebellion? Why this betrayal?
For there to be temptation there must be a tempter. For there to be a tempter there must be rebellion and for there to be a rebellion there must be pride.
PRIDE!
Perhaps the worst swear word there is. The downfall of every man. The root of every sin. Somehow Satan, that beautiful anointed cherub known by the name Lucifer, thought himself greater than God. But how did this happen? When? What caused it?
You know what I think? Prior to Adam and Eve all was perfect, even after them it was perfect. Lucifer saw that God had created His finest creation (red flag # 1), in His image (red flag #2), with ability to reproduce (red flag #3).
He was no longer Gods finest creation, not made in his image and not able to reproduce. Apparently though he did share one thing in common with people; the ability to choose.
Perhaps this is why he sent him to earth instead of directly to hell. Maybe God wanted to test his creation against his adversary as he did to Job.
Satan is a fool; you know how I know that? He thought he could ascend above God. You know how else I know? He still thinks he will. Even if he knows he never will, he goes on trying anyway.
Yes he is a fool but guess what? He is not stupid. The moment you think you have him on the run, he will find another way to double back and begin chasing you again.
======================================================
So let’s go back to the text…I started by criticizing the snake. The world God created in the garden was far different than today.
1) Apparently animals could talk, i.e. Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:28). If talking animals was not normal, Eve would have freaked. Wouldn’t you have?
2) Satan has the power to enter people and apparently animals i.e. the pigs (Mark 5:12).
3) So Lucifer enters what must have been one of the smartest animals on the planet. He was crafty, subtle, clever, shrewd, sneakier and more cunning than any other animal. Satan is a fool but he is not stupid. (Again I am not glorifying him, but preparing you).
He enters the serpent (not the vision of the snake we see today) and approaches Eve. First he questions what God really said and then he questions God’s goodness by claiming he is holding out on his “finest” creation. So far this has been a teaching sermon but let me hit you with some application…
****Sin always begins by questioning either the Word of God or the goodness of God or both****
Sin, like pride, is the statement or belief that you know what’s better for you then God does.
A second application at this point is this….
***The lone Christian, apart from the body of Christ, is an easy target**
Satan waited for eve to be alone. Lone is just the word “one” with a big “L” on its forehead. Don’t be a loser.
======================================================
Let’s move on….
Verse 2-3
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.’”
Did you see something in there? Something that wasn’t there when God gave his command to Eve originally? Satan added the words “touch it”. “You must not touch it. God never said that!
A simple principle to live by is this;
when you entertain the thought of sin or engage the enemy in conversation (you know that pre-sin battle you have in your head), truth will inevitably become distorted.
Never try to go head to head with him. Please don’t. You will lose. You may fight victorious for a time, but remember this, Satan knows when to back off and he knows when to lay it on. If he sees you are strong and immovable, he will retreat, but only until you weaken again.
Verses 4-7
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. 7 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.
Every temptation or sin has at least one of three things in common. (Perhaps all 3)
a) Lust of the eyes
b) Lust of the flesh
c) The pride of life.
Above is how the King James Version words the scripture below. Here is how it looks in the NIV…
1 John 2:16
For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.
You can no doubt trace every temptation that led to sin and downfall back to one of these categories. It either appeals to our physical body (lust of the flesh) it appeals to our eyes (lust of the eyes) or pride (ones own ability).
Satan did the triple whammy to Eve. And she bit, literally; V.6 That’s not all. Because nobody likes to sin alone, she gave it to Adam.
It is possible that the moment man fell it somehow enabled the angels to be able to fall as well. It was probably here that the angel rebellion occurred.
Now you might be inclined to say that it’s all Eve’s fault. Not true. It appears Adam was right there. The fall of mankind actually resulted from one man who failed to live as a man of God.
One man who did not accept and carry out the intended plan for a man to be a leader and be strong and be prayerful and nurturing to his family. This pattern has continued and worsened till present. Adam allowed her to eat perhaps because he wanted the fruit all along but figured she would get the blame and he could still eat. Not so…
======================================================
Verses 8-13--
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.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
God sought Adam not Eve. Did God not know where they were hiding? Of course he knew! So why the question? I believe he wanted Adam to analyze himself. God still asks the same question today. Where are you? Are you where you want to be? Are you somewhere doing something you should not be doing? Are you content? Are you satisfied with your walk? Where are you?
So God confronts the shameful hiding Adam. Adam owned up to his mistake and asked forgiveness right? Nooooo! We see the first version of the blame game. It was her that you put here. He blamed Eve and God. Eve then blamed the serpent.
So God institutes punishment in the order of who sinned first. But before we read the consequence understand that even though mankind was doomed because of this action, God is fair and just ALWAYS. If he did not punish sin then we could call him unjust. The fact that balance and order are a must proves he is just and fair.
======================================================
Verse 14--
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
Perhaps the serpent walked upright. Totally different then the snake we see today.
Verse 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.”
This is the first mention of a coming Savior.
Verse 16--
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.”
Pain in childbirth (please ladies how bad could that really hurt?) Also, part of the punishment was that submission will not be a natural thing. She will desire to rule over the man but will not. Submission will be your calling but will not be your nature.
Verses 17-18--
17 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.
Now food must be obtained not just freely given. Thorns appeared for the first time. Interesting the one thing mentioned appearing at the fall was wrapped around our Saviors head. Yes Jesus erased the curse and all its consequences. Now for the greatest of all punishments…
Verses 19-20--
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.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
Death entered the world through sin. Sin brought physical death but it also brought spiritual death. But God did not pronounce this judgment in anger. Though broken hearted I am sure, the expulsion from the garden was to protect us. Look at…
Verses 21-24--
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
In God’s mercy they were expelled from the garden. Had they been allowed to stay and eat from tree of life, they (we) would forever be stuck in our sin. He protected us by expelling them from the garden.
Not only that but we see the first sacrifice ever when God made garments of skin for them.
I spent so much time in this chapter because it is a summary of all life past, present and future. The fall, the consequence and the redemption.
Through one man sin entered the whole human race.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--
Satan used his three punches and won. But God was not done…
Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
He used the same 3 punches on Jesus in the desert and lost.
Friends, Satan can never defeat you if you take Jesus into your heart as your Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. He is faithful and He will care for you even when you fail. God put it in place since the beginning of time and it will last until that last trumpet sounds.
Be Blessed
Genesis 3:1
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’?”
For there to be temptation, there must be a tempter. For there to be a tempter, there must be a rebellion. Thus for there to be a rebellion, there must be pride.
Let’s answer the question…
What was the temptation?
The temptation was to disobey God and worse yet, try to become like him. For there to be temptation there must be a tempter. So…
Who was the tempter?
Contrary to popular belief, it was not the snake. Just as it was probably not an apple on the tree.
Let’s talk about Satan for a minute. Do you know who he is? His purpose in being created? His original job? His power? His looks? (no he is not red with horns and pitchfork). Consider these scriptures…
Ezekiel 28:11-15
11 The word of the Lord came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.[a]
Your settings and mountings[b] were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
Isaiah 14:12-15
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[a]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
He was beautiful, anointed; some say he was the leader of the heavenly choir of angels. He was powerful and exalted.
For there to be temptation there must be a tempter. For there to be a tempter there must be rebellion… So…
What was the rebellion?
In his beauty and splendor he thought himself at worse equal to God and at best actually above God.
His rebellion not only cost him his place by God’s side but also as much as a third of the angels fell with him and also generation after generation of men and women as well. But why? Why this rebellion? Why this betrayal?
For there to be temptation there must be a tempter. For there to be a tempter there must be rebellion and for there to be a rebellion there must be pride.
PRIDE!
Perhaps the worst swear word there is. The downfall of every man. The root of every sin. Somehow Satan, that beautiful anointed cherub known by the name Lucifer, thought himself greater than God. But how did this happen? When? What caused it?
You know what I think? Prior to Adam and Eve all was perfect, even after them it was perfect. Lucifer saw that God had created His finest creation (red flag # 1), in His image (red flag #2), with ability to reproduce (red flag #3).
He was no longer Gods finest creation, not made in his image and not able to reproduce. Apparently though he did share one thing in common with people; the ability to choose.
Perhaps this is why he sent him to earth instead of directly to hell. Maybe God wanted to test his creation against his adversary as he did to Job.
Satan is a fool; you know how I know that? He thought he could ascend above God. You know how else I know? He still thinks he will. Even if he knows he never will, he goes on trying anyway.
Yes he is a fool but guess what? He is not stupid. The moment you think you have him on the run, he will find another way to double back and begin chasing you again.
======================================================
So let’s go back to the text…I started by criticizing the snake. The world God created in the garden was far different than today.
1) Apparently animals could talk, i.e. Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:28). If talking animals was not normal, Eve would have freaked. Wouldn’t you have?
2) Satan has the power to enter people and apparently animals i.e. the pigs (Mark 5:12).
3) So Lucifer enters what must have been one of the smartest animals on the planet. He was crafty, subtle, clever, shrewd, sneakier and more cunning than any other animal. Satan is a fool but he is not stupid. (Again I am not glorifying him, but preparing you).
He enters the serpent (not the vision of the snake we see today) and approaches Eve. First he questions what God really said and then he questions God’s goodness by claiming he is holding out on his “finest” creation. So far this has been a teaching sermon but let me hit you with some application…
****Sin always begins by questioning either the Word of God or the goodness of God or both****
Sin, like pride, is the statement or belief that you know what’s better for you then God does.
A second application at this point is this….
***The lone Christian, apart from the body of Christ, is an easy target**
Satan waited for eve to be alone. Lone is just the word “one” with a big “L” on its forehead. Don’t be a loser.
======================================================
Let’s move on….
Verse 2-3
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.’”
Did you see something in there? Something that wasn’t there when God gave his command to Eve originally? Satan added the words “touch it”. “You must not touch it. God never said that!
A simple principle to live by is this;
when you entertain the thought of sin or engage the enemy in conversation (you know that pre-sin battle you have in your head), truth will inevitably become distorted.
Never try to go head to head with him. Please don’t. You will lose. You may fight victorious for a time, but remember this, Satan knows when to back off and he knows when to lay it on. If he sees you are strong and immovable, he will retreat, but only until you weaken again.
Verses 4-7
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. 7 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.
Every temptation or sin has at least one of three things in common. (Perhaps all 3)
a) Lust of the eyes
b) Lust of the flesh
c) The pride of life.
Above is how the King James Version words the scripture below. Here is how it looks in the NIV…
1 John 2:16
For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.
You can no doubt trace every temptation that led to sin and downfall back to one of these categories. It either appeals to our physical body (lust of the flesh) it appeals to our eyes (lust of the eyes) or pride (ones own ability).
Satan did the triple whammy to Eve. And she bit, literally; V.6 That’s not all. Because nobody likes to sin alone, she gave it to Adam.
It is possible that the moment man fell it somehow enabled the angels to be able to fall as well. It was probably here that the angel rebellion occurred.
Now you might be inclined to say that it’s all Eve’s fault. Not true. It appears Adam was right there. The fall of mankind actually resulted from one man who failed to live as a man of God.
One man who did not accept and carry out the intended plan for a man to be a leader and be strong and be prayerful and nurturing to his family. This pattern has continued and worsened till present. Adam allowed her to eat perhaps because he wanted the fruit all along but figured she would get the blame and he could still eat. Not so…
======================================================
Verses 8-13--
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.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
God sought Adam not Eve. Did God not know where they were hiding? Of course he knew! So why the question? I believe he wanted Adam to analyze himself. God still asks the same question today. Where are you? Are you where you want to be? Are you somewhere doing something you should not be doing? Are you content? Are you satisfied with your walk? Where are you?
So God confronts the shameful hiding Adam. Adam owned up to his mistake and asked forgiveness right? Nooooo! We see the first version of the blame game. It was her that you put here. He blamed Eve and God. Eve then blamed the serpent.
So God institutes punishment in the order of who sinned first. But before we read the consequence understand that even though mankind was doomed because of this action, God is fair and just ALWAYS. If he did not punish sin then we could call him unjust. The fact that balance and order are a must proves he is just and fair.
======================================================
Verse 14--
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
Perhaps the serpent walked upright. Totally different then the snake we see today.
Verse 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.”
This is the first mention of a coming Savior.
Verse 16--
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.”
Pain in childbirth (please ladies how bad could that really hurt?) Also, part of the punishment was that submission will not be a natural thing. She will desire to rule over the man but will not. Submission will be your calling but will not be your nature.
Verses 17-18--
17 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.
Now food must be obtained not just freely given. Thorns appeared for the first time. Interesting the one thing mentioned appearing at the fall was wrapped around our Saviors head. Yes Jesus erased the curse and all its consequences. Now for the greatest of all punishments…
Verses 19-20--
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.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
Death entered the world through sin. Sin brought physical death but it also brought spiritual death. But God did not pronounce this judgment in anger. Though broken hearted I am sure, the expulsion from the garden was to protect us. Look at…
Verses 21-24--
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
In God’s mercy they were expelled from the garden. Had they been allowed to stay and eat from tree of life, they (we) would forever be stuck in our sin. He protected us by expelling them from the garden.
Not only that but we see the first sacrifice ever when God made garments of skin for them.
I spent so much time in this chapter because it is a summary of all life past, present and future. The fall, the consequence and the redemption.
Through one man sin entered the whole human race.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--
Satan used his three punches and won. But God was not done…
Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
He used the same 3 punches on Jesus in the desert and lost.
Friends, Satan can never defeat you if you take Jesus into your heart as your Savior for the forgiveness of your sins. He is faithful and He will care for you even when you fail. God put it in place since the beginning of time and it will last until that last trumpet sounds.
Be Blessed
Proudly powered by Weebly