Tag: fall of man

the consequences of sin

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Have you ever fallen so hard that you hurt yourself and needed help? I remember a few years ago, Hannah, a gal in our church fell so hard that she fractured her scull on the concrete sidewalk. She did not remember her fall after the initial impact, other than what other people tell her. Supposedly she was able to get up from the sidewalk and say, “My head hurts, really bad,” but doesn’t remember anything. When visiting her in the hospital she was noticeably dazed and confused. The fall left her with some immediate pain and sickness and long-lasting consequences such as memory troubles, headaches, and cautious attention to future activities. The consequences of the Fall of Mankind in the Garden of Eden were not at all different.

First, there are immediate consequences to the fall of man [3:7-13]. The major immediate consequence of the fall was death [Romans 3:23]. No longer was man innocent. They now knew right and wrong and their innocence could not be undone. This was not the only immediate consequence for sin.

Immediately sin brought guilt [3:7]. Satan promised Adam and Eve freedom, instead they received guilt. They thought sin would bring freedom, but all it brought was bondage. Their guilt caused them to be ashamed. They once were naked and unashamed, now they were naked, humiliated, and ashamed. They noticed their nakedness. Now, no one told them they were bare-naked, they simply felt open and vulnerable because God uncovered their hearts.

Immediately sin brought alienation from God [3:8-13]. Man was fooled into thinking they would be like God, instead they found themselves hiding from God. Like little kids hiding from their parent they tried to duck and cover from God but that is impossible [i.e. talking to bf or gf, porno under bed, drinking, immodest outfit, homework, etc.]. How silly is it to hide from an all-knowing, ever-present God? Sin makes you stupid. Have you ever watched COPS? Sin makes you do silly things. Sin alienates mankind from God, which breaks their relationship with Him.

Do you notice God has a lot of questions of Adam and Eve? Why so many questions? Through a few direct questions God quickly uncovers man’s heart. What you cover, God uncovers. However, what you uncover God covers. What Adam and Eve should have done is confessed to God immediately. When God asks, “Where are you?” They should have responded, “Here I am, I have sinned against you, God.”

You cannot run from God, for long. He is a pursuer. Man does not seek God; God seeks man. He is on a mission to “seek and save the lost [and hiders].” No matter how far or fast you run God, He is right there. You cannot shake Him. He is a pursuer because He is a lover. Will you stop running? Are you willing to come out of hiding and uncover your shame?

Second, with the fall of man came specific curses and consequences for specific characters [3:14-19]:

Character Curse Consequence
Serpent [14-15]

 

Note: he has already Fallen.

 Cursed above all animals

Eat the ground [Cf. Is.65:25]

Made enemy of Seed

 Death and promised judgment [3:15]
Woman [16] Pain in childbearing, childrearing, childbirth, & parenting [cf.Gen.1:28] Desire to rule over husband [i.e. control, dominate, manipulate, boss, cf. 4:7]
Man [17-19]

 

Note: Man was with Eve when she sinned. God holds him responsible for family.

 Ground is cursed [17]

Struggle against the ground [18-19]

Go back to the ground [19]

Banished from the Garden [23]

 Ground treat man like man treats God.

Weeds will mock man. Work will mock man.

Alienation from the land and Paradise. Relationship with ground and God affected.

Third, there are long-term consequences because of the fall of man [Genesis 3:20-24]. Shame caused the two-sinners to sew fig-leaf-undies to cover their nakedness. Like soldiers arming themselves with protection and defense they cloth themselves with weak and useless greens.[1] Notice God does not shame them even more because of their new Fruit of the Looms; rather God replaces their man-made coverings with a sacrificial garment [v.21]. God does for man what they cannot do for themselves. God sheds animal blood to give them a garment to wear, which begins the biblical theme of sacrifice, which weaves its way through Scripture.

The consequences for sin are serious, but God in His grace sends a sacrifice. Adam and Eve’s garment is the first sacrifice of many bloody sacrifices to come that stretch all the way to Jesus Christ on the cross [cf. John 1:29]. He is the Sacrificer for mankind’s sin, and therefore the self-declared Savior for mankind.

[1] Cf. Deuteronomy 28:48; Job 1:21; Isaiah 58:7.

how sin infects

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With the entrance of sin into the garden a devastating chain of events happened within relationships and creation. In the Fall of Mankind into sin you learn what went wrong with the world in which you live. Sin is like a contagious infection that spread like a rapid plague through this world infecting the heart of man and the creation God made.

First, sin infects man’s relationship with God. The first man and women were created to know God and fellowship with Him in the Garden of Eden. The garden was a temple where they could, walk, talk and worship God.

Rather than responding to God in dependence their sinfulness craved independence. Like a teenager desiring independence from their parents, such is the state of man ever since the Fall—in a battle to become god in ourselves or create our own gods that were lift up higher than the One True God [Romans 1:21-25]. All gods we create are cheap imitations and lead man into confusion and frustration because they never quite satisfy like a relationship with God.

Second, sin infects affects man’s relationship with one another. Sin has devastated and disintegrated human relationships. I have seen in my short lifetime the devastating effects of sin within relationships. I have seen how bitterness and anger rip apart friendships, how temptations and immorality explode a marriage, how rape and abuse tailspin a women’s trust in a man, how a woman’s words emasculates a man, how fathers neglect their homes, how mothers forsake their babies, how siblings splinter over self-centered rivalries and jealousy, how tyrant bosses inflict their fearful subjects with slavish tactics, how governments sponsor genocide upon people groups. Sin has infected every relationship at every level. Man’s inhumanity to man has been the story of human history.

Third, sin infects all of creation [Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:20-22]. Humans are not the only ones affected by the Fall. The material world now resists man and makes life hard for him. Creation groans under the affects of the Fall. Sickness, crime, poverty, injustice, suffering, famine, death—this in not the world God created it to be. The sin of mankind is the source. So what must be done? What did God do? What can man do?

The infection of mankind sin has been passed down from generation to generation. It has permeated every living soul. As discussed, sin infects man’s relationship with God, man’s relationship with fellow man, and all of creation bears the scars of sinfulness. God, like a Great Physician is able to remove the cancerous tumor at a cost with consequences [more on this next week].

believing a lie from the wrong voice

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The Garden of Eden was a place of beauty; a place untainted by sin and its crippling, polluting, heartbreaking effects; a place where they could hear and communicate with the voice of God; a place of intimacy with man and of intimacy with almighty God. Everything God created He says is “good.” Adam and Eve’s world was a paradise.

One rule. All Adam and Eve had in the Garden was one rule, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die.” [Genesis 2:17] Like a kid left alone with a cookie jar, our first parents started the first rebel-ution against their Heavenly Father.

If Genesis 1–2 was paradise, then Genesis 3 is paradise lost. Through one foolish and rebellious rule breaking act—eating the fruit God had forbidden—Adam and Eve lost their innocence, dignity, home, and relationship with God, “through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” [Romans 5:12] How did the Fall of Mankind happen?

The voice of God is the only voice Adam and Eve have know, however, a strange voice enters the Garden. The voice comes from a serpent. The serpent is defined later in Scripture as the “one of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” [Revelation 12:9]. He is a voice filled with lies. Jesus calls him the “the father of lies” [John 8:44]. Satan is sneaky and his first recorded words are deceitful and crafty [3:1]. Satan is no less crafty and deceitful today. How does he deceive with craftiness?

Satan seeks to confuse. His question for Eve was, “Did God actually say?” [3:1]. In other words, “Are you sure that’s what God said?” Eve heard God’s command loud and clear, but the serpent planted doubts in her head. He tries to confuse you too, “Maybe that verse doesn’t really mean what it looks it means. Maybe God doesn’t mean for you to take that literally. Maybe…Maybe…Maybe…” Satan’s strategy is to make you doubt the clear teachings of the Bible.

Satan twists God’s words. Satan puts words in God’s mouth, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” Nope. God did not say that! God told Adam and Eve they could eat from any tree of the garden—except the one [2:16–17]. Satan makes God look like a bully. Satan will says things like, “God won’t care if you take just one look. It won’t hurt anyone.” Or, “If it’s fun, why would it be bad?” Remember, God is good and Satan twists.

Satan comforts your conscience despite the consequences. He tries to ease the idea of actual consequences, “You will not surely die!” [3:4]. It is as if Satan is saying, “God’s not going to kill you over a small bite. Eating that apple is not a big deal. Go ahead. You know he will forgive and forget.” He is essentially saying God is a liar, but Jesus says that Satan is the liar [John 8:44]. This is where man needs to make a choice—believe God or not? God speaks the truth, “the wages of sin is death” [Rom. 6:23].

Satan speaks enough truth to make sin sound tasty. There is enough truth in Satan’s statement, “God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [3:5]. Satan is making sin sound so freeing. Satan promised Adam and Eve freedom, instead they received guilt [3:7]. Sin’s promises are like a mirage that never appears. They were fooled into thinking they would be like God, instead they found themselves hiding from God [3:8–10]. Satan fell to pride and he knows mankind is just as foolish. Today, we view pride as a virtue and submission to authority as a weakness. The world says, “Do want you want. Do what makes you feel good. Go for it. Live you best life now. Be proud of yourself. Have more self-esteem.” All the while Satan has you heart bait-and-switched on yourself.

It is important to note that God created the smart-mouthed serpent, Satan. What you do not hear in Genesis, but is explained later in the Scripture is that Satan and 1/3 of all the angels of heaven who sided their allegiance with Satan’s ego-trip rebellion against God were cast out of heaven. Satan is not co-equal with God, over God, or in some cosmic battle of good and evil with God. God has no match; He has no equal, nor is there anyone like Him. God has Satan on a tight leash and Satan knows it. Satan, like mankind is a created being and is dependent upon God like all for God’s creation, however he has been around a while and knows the sinful ways of man, which makes him very smart and more experienced in the ways of sin than you. Be careful what voice you listen to. Make sure the voice matches the character of God.