East of Eden - Paradise Lost, Part VIII(c): Judgment & Sin Genesis 3:17 - 21

Beginning with Moses and the Prophets

The Book of Grace

East of Eden - Paradise Lost

Part VIII(c): Judgment & Sin

Genesis 3:17 - 21

Introduction

Genesis, this Book of Beginnings is about grace - It is far from being some faded pages of antiquity, it in fact breaths the Living Grace of the Lord God.

When we began this series we saw that the first eleven chapters give a universal history of the world in the first five stories: the fall, Cain, the sons of God marrying the daughters of man, the flood & the tower of Babel.

The structure of the stories is in four parts: sin as initially described; Speech by God announcing punishment for sin; God bringing grace to the situation; & God punishing sin.

In chapter 3 we have the story of the fall: sin, vv. 1-13; speech quoting the judgment oracles of God to the snake, the woman, & the man, vv. 14-19; The mitigating grace of God vv. 20-21; & the exile from the garden, punishing sin, vv. 22-24.

When Adam sinned God didn’t rub him out on the spot but engaged him in conversation graciously. So too with the judgment speech to the woman & the snake shone with grace

God cursed the snake but in the curse was the “first gospel”, the woman’s seed would crush the serpent’s head, while the serpent would wound His heel.

The judgment on Eve meant that in the fundamental role as wife & mother nothing would satisfy her in life apart from God Himself --

It may just be me, but I notice that in the majority of cards with prayer and praises to God, they show a woman who looks for and cries out to the Lord God? - Maybe subconsciously this perpetual discomfort in life is grace, insofar that it would & will drive her to God. But I think that can be said of all of us --

In the first chapter of his book “Confessions”, in fact in the first paragraph, the fifth sentence, St. Augustine, speaking of himself I think, but also of all of us writes, “. . . man desires to praise you, for he is part of your creation; he bears his mortality about with him & carries the evidence of his sin . . . this man is only a small part of your creation. You have prompted him, that he should delight to praise You, for you have made us for yourself & restless is our heart until it comes to rest in you. --- You can hear the words of Psalm 8 & Ecclesiastes 3:11 in these words of St. Augustine.

Now let’s take up the rest of God’s speech and move to the concluding punishment; grace, as you will see, will shine ever brighter -- That amazing, astounding, abounding grace -- primeval & eternal.

Judgment & Grace (17-19)

God was explicit about the reason for His judgment oracle to Adam, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; (v17)

“Listened” is an idiom meaning to “obey” -- The curse came down because Adam abdicated his leadership, he stood there in passive self-interest while the woman was tempted, then went on and ate without saying one little objection --

Judgment (17b-19)

The woman’s punishment struck at the profound root of her being as wife & mother, the man’s at the innermost nerve of his life: his work, his activity & provision for sustenance.

The “pain” in verse 17 which describes Adam’s lot is the same “pain” for the woman’s pain in verse 16. Both of them experience perpetual pain dab in the center of their lives --

The work was not the curse nor was it cursed - work was a gift from God; in 2: 15 man was put in the garden to work it & care for it -- It was the ground that was cursed, now man would have to battle ‘thorns & thistles & eat “plants from the field.”

You may be successful in eating the fruit of your land but it’s not the desirable fruit of the garden of Eden -

It leads me to think that maybe they were in the garden for a time for them to be able to enjoy the fruits & all that the garden had to offer; just a thought.

But now, painful toil assaults every soul who attempts to produce from the world.

The poor, the rich, the royalty are made for work, and anyone who works to produce in this world knows pain & frustration.

The ground is cursed and all the foods it produces is subject to infections of all kinds, & man ends up being subject to the chemicals that are utilized to control that which infects what is planted and grows in the ground.

Well, this situation is irrevocable. It is for all the days of your life. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives, and when the sand stops flowing and we return to the ground.

No repentance, no turning around, no change, nothing will remove the curse on the ground.

Grace

Apart from the Lord God, no man’s achievements, no work will fully satisfy -- you made be a farmer, a rancher, a laborer, a businessman, a CEO - Whatever you accomplish, those things from which we seek fulfillment is nothing but a source of pain.

I don’t want to mislead anyone, work is good, man is made for work, but it is covered with thorns & thistles. Life apart from God is as reflected in Ecclesiastes 1:3-4- What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. (2:10-11)- All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. 11 Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.

We and the earth groan for the dawning of a new day, in an absurd way confirms our hope, Romans 8:19-22: the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, [a]in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Our groaning is a perceptible, a feeling of grace.

Adam’s Faith

In 3:20 we get a glimpse of mitigating grace, it starts to glow, in the making of things less severe, Adam’s faith is exhibited by his renaming his wife.

He first called her woman, now he names her “Eve” because she was the mother of all living -- Eve means life, life giver - He names her Life because she is the mother of all living.

He said this because of his awareness of the significance of God’s words to his wife. He was listening to God’s speech to his spouse. He understood that one of her offspring would crush the serpent’s head.

The tense that Adam used declaring his faith is in the prophetic perfect, that indicates that it’s a done deal, its as good as done that she is the mother of all living.

His declaration is an overwhelming shout of hope - The name Eve celebrates the survival of the human race.

Reformer theologian Philip Melanchton called Eve, “The Seal of Grace.”

Garments of Grace or Grace in Garments

Here, this action by the Lord God you would think would open the eyes to what type of God, the Lord God is; the love that flows from His very essence. Verse 21, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

This clearly shows the love, the sovereign work of God, conceived & executed by the Lord God alone. Take note for a second that God again is being referred to as the Lord God.

Adam & Eve on there own would never have been able to conceive this; it involved the taking of life, something that is unknown to them.

This feeble attempt to cover themselves with fig-leaves for loincloths was replaced with the Lord God Himself clothing them with skin from an animal.

The covering was from God - God’s provision of robes of animal skin recognized their sin & was an act of grace.

The Lord clothed them, It doesn’t look as if He told them what to do, but He clothed them.

This act in primeval history by God was a foreshadowing of His ultimate provision for sin -

The first couple may have understood this in faint principle, but the foundation was mightily laid.

The Levitical priest who read this passage had to make the connection with atonement because the skin of the sacrificed animals were given to the priest for their use. (Leviticus 7:8) - Also the priest who presents any man’s burnt offering, that priest shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has presented.

This divine provision is a telling illustration of the method of grace in response to sin & its consequences. GOD HIMSELF covers sin & its degradation.

The picture in Scripture of justification is the gift of the robe of righteousness - Zechariah 3:4-5 -- He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by. (Look up also Matthew 22:11 7 Luke 15:22).

Believers are described as being clothed in Christ, (Gal. 3:27)-- all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

The passage of the Lamb & His His bride, we read how the righteousness of God produces the saint’s righteousness --

Revelation 19: 6-8 --- Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Grace abounding! Right here in the very beginning of primeval history, the gospel of God, the Good News. I look back at my life and think how could I have missed it?

It’s here in the pages that record the breathed word of God to not just a few, but to the world, the good news that God so loved His creation, the world, that He gave His only begotten, one of a kind Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him WILL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.

We will continue this part next week and finish the chapter next week with verses 22 - 24, Exile & Grace.

Father, there really are no words that are adequate to express the joy, the giddiness, the happiness, the excitement, that we have inside our bodies; like a child who expresses its joy, and happiness by yelling and jumping up and down, Abba, we thank you, we praise you, we shout and sing with the saints,

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His sanctuary;

Praise Him in His mighty expanse.

Praise Him for His mighty deeds;

Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Praise Him with trumpet sound;

Praise Him with harp and lyre.

Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;

Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.

Praise Him with loud cymbals;

Praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Amen!