In Genesis Chapters 2-3 we have the LORD God revealing Himself to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as gracious creator; the one who designed and made of all of the beauty and wonder that surrounded them, all of which is given to them to freely enjoy and exercise dominion over. Most gloriously though, He reveals Himself as their creator, making them in His image and likeness so that they could not only fully enjoy and exercise dominion over the natural world, but blessing them with the capacity to fully and freely enjoy Him and one another, living in His immediate presence, under His kind and generous “Lordship”, wherein forever they and the offspring they would produce (us) would know only fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Genesis 1:26-28) (Psalm 16:11) (Isaiah 43:7).
This glorious relationship with God and one another for which they (and we) were created was subject to their willingness to perfectly obey the LORD’s will, submitting to His rule as their creator who is altogether holy, just and good (Leviticus 10:3), and to His order and design for human flourishing and their individual happiness in Him (Jeremiah 17:7) (Genesis 1:31). Violation of His will, what the Bible refers to as sin, would subject them to His just judgement, resulting in them being cut off from that relationship, exiled along with their future progeny from the gracious presence of God, what the Bible refers to as death, and subject to His wrath (Romans 6:23) (Genesis 3:24) (Romans 1:18).
The LORD God gives them one commandment to obey to test their willing allegiance to and trust in His gracious rule over their lives as LORD. That command is to not eat of the fruit of one specific tree in the midst of the garden paradise the LORD God fellowshipped with them in (Genesis 2:15-17).
For reasons known only within the wise counsel of the triune Godhead, God will us a fallen angel, referred to in Genesis 3 as the “serpent” later identified as the “devil” in Revelation 12:9, to conduct the test. The devil’s lying temptation was the promise that by eating of the fruit they would be like God, essentially a promise of human autonomy – self-rule, in which they could determine for themselves good and evil, right and wrong, accountable to no one, just like God (Genesis 3:4-5). And it was just too good a promise to pass up.
Thus, despite the beauty, wonder and glory of the creation around them (Psalm 19:1); despite living in the presence of the infinitely glorious LORD who created them to be good to them (Genesis 3:8) (Psalm 107:8-9); despite the beauty and magnificence of God that they imaged in their being which allowed them to be naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:25); and despite the promise of losing it all if they partake of the fruit, they disobey and they eat (Genesis 3:6-7).
As the LORD promised, He immediately pronounces judgement on Adam and his progeny, all of whom will now be born with Adam’s sinful, rebellious nature and destiny, namely death (Romans 5:12) (Romans 6:23).
Adam, Eve and all of their progeny (us) will now exist outside or east of Eden, under the judgement of God (Genesis 3:24). The image of God in which they were created is now marred and corrupted in all aspects of their being (Genesis 3:7), such that they image the same prideful, self-deceived and rebellious nature and character of the one they believed over God – the devil (John 8:44), whom the LORD God would now allow to exercise great influence over this now rebellious, sin corrupted race as part of His judgement on it (1 John 5:19).
Adam and Eve and their progeny will live on an earth that now is cursed by God, such that the dominion they had been given over it will be resisted by all of nature, just as they resisted God’s dominion over them (Genesis 3:17-18).
This would be evidenced by natural calamities, famines, animals gone wild and mankind now having to earn a living, by the sweat of our brow. All living things are now subject to physical death, particularly man whose existence on this earth would be time limited and full of trouble (Job 5:7) (Job 14:1).
Our rebellion against the LORD as a race would be ongoing and blatant as we would actively oppose His purposes and rule and suppress the knowledge of His glory, exalting human autonomy and self-determination, and thus incurring the wrath of God, with Him giving us over to the temporal consequences of our sinful rebellion while in this temporal world (Psalm 2:1-3) (Judges 21:25) (Jeremiah 18:11-12) (Romans 1:18-31).
Our life in this world ends with our bodies going into the grave and our spirit going before God for judgement; a judgement in which all would be interned in Hell, the second death, forever, unless the LORD mercifully intervenes (Genesis 3:19) (Hebrews 9:27) (Revelation 21:8).
And thankfully, He does, as we learn in Genesis 3:15 of a “Seed” of a woman, who will one day come to “crush” the head of the serpent. He will bruise His heel in the process, with the implied promise that all will be restored one day, graciously redeemed from its ruined condition, both man and nature, to the glory of which the LORD God intended, though not without the LORD’s justice being fully vindicated in His judgement of the rebellion of man (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The glorious history and future of our LORD’s redeeming grace will be further considered in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×