Genesis 3

Genesis 3:1-24

Chapter 5 THE FALL OF MAN “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”Genesis 3:1-24 If we would understand anything about the grace of God and the workings of grace for and in elect sinners, we must understand something about the fall. Genesis 3 is one of the most important chapters in all the Word of God. Here the foundation is laid upon which all gospel truth is built. If you trace all the rivers of truth back to their source, you will find their source in Genesis 3. Here the revelation of the great drama of redemption begins, that drama of redemption which is being acted out upon the stage of human history. In this one chapter of inspiration… The present fallen, ruined condition of our race is explained. The subtle devices of the devil are disclosed. The utter inability of man is recorded. The effects of sin are displayed. God’s attitude toward fallen man is set forth. Man’s pride and self-righteousness are demonstrated. God’s gracious provisions for fallen sinners are proclaimed. And the necessity of a mediator is revealed. There is no understanding of the rest of the Bible until Genesis 3 is understood. If we go wrong here, we will err in our interpretation of all the rest of the Word of God. If, by the Spirit of God, we can grasp the message of Genesis 3, we will not greatly err in the rest of the Book. This much is evident - If Genesis 3 is true, (and it is!), then both the scientists and the sociologist of our day are wrong. The evolutionary scientists tell us that man is slowly, but surely evolving into a perfect being, that though he began very low he has climbed very high. God tells us that he made man perfect, but he has ruined himself. God tells us that he made man very high, but he has fallen very, very low. The sociologists, psychologists, educators, and philosophers have been telling us for a hundred and fifty years, that man’s problem is his environment. Religious leaders tell us that man has great potential. His problems are outward. God tells us that our problem is our heart. The fact is, man is a fallen, depraved creature, under the wrath and curse of the holy Lord God, in need of redemption, regeneration, and grace. That is the message of Genesis 3. The Fall Of Man The first six verses of this chapter reveal the sin and fall of our father Adam, and of all the human race in him (Romans 5:12). Man is not an independent, self-governing creature. He did not make himself. He owes his being to God. Man was made to serve God, to glorify his Creator by his obedience to him. As a symbol of God’s sovereignty and of man’s responsibility, a tree was planted in the midst of the garden which man was not permitted to use for himself (Genesis 2:16-17). The only restriction placed upon man’s liberty was the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” This tree symbolized the relationship in which man stood to God. Adam was created as an intelligent, responsible creature, subject to the rule of God, the Creator. But soon he became a self-seeking, self-willed, self-centered, self-serving rebel. How did this happen? I cannot here give exposition of these verses. That is not my purpose. But there are three things that need to be understood. Satan tempted, beguiled, and deceived our mother Eve. Satan knew how God created Adam and how that he made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. He knew that Eve was the weaker vessel. And he knew Adam’s love for Eve. Therefore, he set his sites on Eve. He was confident that if he could get Eve, Adam would fall. With great subtlety, the old serpent beguiled the woman. The steps that led to her ruin were these. First, she heeded the voice of the tempter. Instead of saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” Eve quietly listened as the wicked one assaulted the Word of God. The door was opened when she began to discuss and debate what God had revealed with one who denied it. Second, Eve then began to make additions to the Word of God. Tampering with God’s Word is always fatal. It is just as evil to add our words to God’s as it is to diminish his.

Eve said, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it” (Proverbs 30:5-6). Third, the woman proceeded to alter God’s Word - God said, “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Eve said, “lest ye die” or, “we might die.” Fourth, she altogether disregarded God’s Word. She began by questioning the Word. And she soon disregarded it altogether. This is the way sin entered into the world - “The will of God was resisted. The Word of God was rejected.

The way of God was deserted” (A.W.Pink). In Genesis 3:4-5, Satan cast doubt upon the Word of God, the justice of God and the goodness of God. In Genesis 3:6, Eve saw, she coveted, and she took. She saw. Perhaps Satan took a bite of the fruit. She desired the wisdom, and freedom, and superiority that Satan promised. She took. She took that which belonged to God alone. Then Eve gave the fruit to Adam (Genesis 3:6). As we have seen, Eve was deceived; but Adam was not (1 Timothy 2:13-14). Adam willfully, deliberately rebelled against the express command of God. Because of his love for Eve, he defied God. He willingly plunged himself and all his posterity into enmity against God and spiritual ruin, rather than lose Eve. When Adam sinned against God, we all became sinners and died spiritually. We were all separated from God (Romans 5:12). Adam was a representative man, a covenant head. He represented all the human race. We all fell through the sin and fall of our father Adam. How thankful we ought to be for this wise arrangement of things by our God.[4] As an old writer said long ago, “O blessed fall!” Had there been no fall, there would always have been the possibility of one. Had there been no fall, we could never have known the wonders and beauties of redeeming love and saving grace (1 Peter 1:12). Had there been no fall, we could never have been brought into union with God in Christ, the God-man. Since we fell by a representative, there is hope that we might rise again by a Representative (Hebrews 2:16). [4] The fall of Adam was not an accident (Psalms 76:10). Either God could have prevented it, or he couldn’t . If he couldn’t then he is not God. This whole Book is a myth. If he could, but wouldn’t, then it came to pass according to his will, though he did nothing to causes it.The record of the fall, given in Genesis 3, is the only plausible explanation for the condition of the human race. Original sin is revealed here. It is verified everywhere. How else can anyone explain the universality of sin, the universality of sickness and sorrow, and the universality of death? These things are universal because we all have our being from one man, Adam. We all sinned in him. We all died in him. And we all received our nature from him. The Great Power and Subtlety of our Adversary, the Devil Here Satan appears for the first time in the Bible. We learn of his prior existence, his original glory, and his terrible fall in Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19, and Revelation 12:7-11. Words cannot be found which are strong enough to adequately describe the crafty deceit, subtlety, and power of this creature, the devil, Satan, the serpent, the dragon of hell (Jude 1:9). He is too wise for us to out wit him, without divine wisdom. He is too powerful for us to overcome him, apart from Christ. He is too subtle for us to recognize him, apart from the Spirit of God and the Word of God. In this third chapter of Genesis, the Lord reveals three things to us about Satan. Be wise and understand them. The primary sphere of Satan’s activity is in the spiritual, religious realm. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not Satan, but the natural depravity of the human heart that leads men and women into adultery, fornication, blasphemy, drunkenness, witchcraft, etc. (Mark 7:21-23; Galatians 5:19-21). Satan’s chief aim is to get between us and God. He seeks to keep man from his Maker. His goal is to keep us from trusting Christ. The way he does that is by inspiring confidence in ourselves. He seeks to usurp the place of God, to make God’s creatures his own subjects.

His work consists of substituting his own lies for the truth of God. Beware! You will find Satan at work, not in brothels, bars, and dark alleys, but in churches, pulpits, seminaries, and religious activities (Ephesians 4:10-12; 2 Corinthians 11). Satan goes to church every Sunday. Satan has preachers. Satan tries to get men to perform righteousness, a righteousness of their own, to keep them from trusting Christ alone for righteousness.

Satan will give faith, peace, and assurance. His ambition is not to keep men from being religious, and even moral. His ambition is to keep eternity bound sinners from trusting Christ. The method of Satan’s approach to our souls is the perversion of Holy Scripture and appeals to the flesh. He throws doubt upon God’s Word (Genesis 3:1). He substitutes his own word for God’s (Genesis 3:4). He casts a slur upon the attributes of God (Genesis 3:5). He appeals to our flesh (Genesis 3:5). He appeals to our bodily senses – the eye. He appeals to our fleshly emotions – the desires. He appeals to our intellect – our proud desire to be thought wise. He appeals to pride – that vile pride that makes men desire to be “as gods.”But our adversary, the devil, shall be destroyed by the power of God (Genesis 3:15). At Calvary our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed the devil’s usurped dominion over the nations of the world (John 12:31; Revelation 20:1-3). He who deceived the nations was bound by the crucified Christ, who now gathers his elect out of every nation, people, tribe and tongue. In the new birth, in converting sinners by his almighty grace, the Son of God enters into the hearts of chosen sinners by the power of his Spirit, binds the strong man, takes his house, and spoils his goods (Ephesians 2:1-4). In the day of judgment, our blessed Savior shall, at last, crush the serpent beneath our feet (Romans 16:20). The Consequences of the Fall. As soon as Adam sinned against God, he began to suffer the consequences of his transgression. “The eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:7). Their eyes were not enlightened, but opened. They acquired no advanced knowledge, nothing pleasant, or profitable. Their eyes were opened to distressing, evil things. Satan has deceived our race.

We lost communion and fellowship with God. We are all (since the sin and fall of our father Adam) without God, without life, without light, without Christ, and without hope by nature (Ephesians 2:11-13). “They knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). They felt things they had never known or felt before. They lost their innocence. Guilt engulfed them. Shame embarrassed them.

Fear terrified them. Hatred arose within them (Genesis 3:12). “They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). The fallen pair began to try to quieten their consciences, cover their nakedness, and get rid of their shame. Then, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God” (Genesis 3:8). When they heard God’s voice, they ran. When they were exposed, they excused themselves (Genesis 3:12-13).

Thus it has been with the sons and daughters of Adam from that day to this. Adam and Eve were cursed of God. The woman was cursed (Genesis 3:16). The man was cursed (Genesis 3:17-19). They were driven from the presence of God (Genesis 3:22-24). They died spiritually; and we died in our father Adam (Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:1-4). They began to die physically; and the seeds of death are passed from father to child, generation after generation. They were sentenced to die eternally; and all the sons and daughters of Adam are born “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:4). The Gracious Character of our God Genesis three shows us the fall of man, the subtlety of Satan, and the ruin of our race, in Adam; but it does not leave us there. This chapter also shows us something of the gracious character of our God. Here we are given great reasons for praise and gratitude to the Lord our God. Here is the first call of grace (Genesis 3:9). The voice Adam heard was not the voice of a policeman, seeking a criminal. It was the voice of a Father’s love, seeking a son who was lost. It was a call of divine justice that cannot overlook sin. It was a call of divine love that cannot be quenched. It was a call of divine grace that cannot be resisted ( 1 John 4:19). Here is the first gospel sermon (Genesis 3:15). The preacher was God himself. The audience was a pair of guilty, helpless sinners. The subject was redemption by Christ. It speaks of conflict, enmity, and war between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman (Revelation 12). It speaks of God’s sovereign election and predestination, separating the sons and daughters of Adam into the seed of the serpent and the seed of Christ. This first gospel sermon speaks of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:4-6), his death, having his heel bruised by the serpent, and his victory in death crushing the serpent’s head. In a word, this first gospel sermon promised redemption, grace, and salvation by the substitutionary sacrifice of God’s dear Son at Calvary (2 Corinthians 5:21). Here is the first portrayal of redemption by Christ (Genesis 3:21). The guilty pair, under the sentence of death, stood before God. A sacrifice of blood was made – an innocent lamb. Adam and Eve were stripped of their fig leaf aprons by the hand of God himself. The only way any sinner will ever give up his imaginary righteousness is for God himself to strip away our fig leaf aprons. Then, the Lord God made a covering , without human aid, and put it upon the fallen pair. Like sinners in the experience of God’s saving grace, Adam and Eve were totally passive. God did everything. They did nothing (Ephesians 2:8-9; Luke 15:22; Isaiah 61:10). Here is the first description of man’s lost condition (Genesis 3:24). The fallen pair were driven from the garden, separated from God. They were barred from God by the sword of justice. They were utterly incapable of returning to God. But God, in great mercy, love, and grace, found a way to bring fallen, ruined, helpless sinners back to himself (John 14:6; Zechariah 13:7-9; Hebrews 10:19-22).

Genesis 3:17-24

Chapter 6 ADAM AND CHRIST “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life Genesis 3:17-24 During the days of the great depression there were soup lines in large cities all over this country. People were hungry, poor, jobless, and homeless. The only way they could eat was to be fed at one of those soup lines. One day, as a man was working a soup line in Chicago, IL, he spotted a man in the line who stood out from the rest. At one time this man had obviously been quite wealthy. His suit was ragged and dirty, but it was a well made suit. It fit him so well that it had to have been tailor made. His hat was soiled; but it was a handsome, well-formed hat. Though they were ragged, the man wore a matching tie and handkerchief set. The man serving the soup could not help looking at the man questioningly, as if to say, “I wonder what your background is?” When this man held out his cup for soup, he said, “Sir, I’ve seen better days.” That is a pretty good description of humanity. Like the poor beggar in that soup line, even in his fallen state man has a stateliness, though now ragged and soiled by sin, that declares, “I have seen better days.” We are not now what obviously we once were (Ecclesiastes 7:29). There is no way to explain the universal condition of the human race except by the account of the fall given in Genesis 3. Man is capable of doing noble, self-sacrificing things for his fellow man; and he is capable of beastliness and monstrous cruelty. The same person is capable of moral virtue and of utter immorality. Man is a dying creature. Yet, he alone, of all God’s creatures fears, to die. The reason is obvious. Man alone is an immortal soul.

In his inmost being, every man knows that “the wages of sin is death”. Why is it that the sons and daughters of princes, with the best of training and education, possess the same tendencies to evil as the children of paupers? Why do the sons and daughters of God’s saints, who have been raised in loving discipline, nurtured in godliness, surrounded by peace, and trained in the fear of God, experience, feel, and run after the same lusts as the children of pimps, pushers, and prostitutes? Why are all men and women everywhere sinful? Why is it that family, environment, education, and all the social programs in the world are totally incapable of changing the nature of man? Why is it that no one is capable of changing the corruption of his own heart? Only the Word of God can answer these questions; and the answer God gives in his Word is this – “All have sinned!” We all have a common origin – Our father Adam. We all have a common heritage – The Fall. We have all received from our parents and given to our children a common legacy – Sin. And we are all possessed with a common nature – Depravity. The fall of Adam is a historic fact; and the fall of the human race in Adam is the only satisfactory explanation of human history. These are facts which cannot be denied: Man is a fallen creature. All men since the fall of Adam are sinners: by birth, by nature, and by practice. Fallen man needs a Savior. Man by nature is alienated from God, under the condemnation of God’s holy law, lost in darkness and sin. What is the remedy for man’s condition? The answer is a new creation. “If any many be in Christ he is a new creature” (1 Cor. 5:17). A. W. Pink wrote, “It is not the cultivation of the old nature that is needed, for that is ruined by the fall, but the reception of an entirely new nature which is begotten by the Holy Spirit. ‘Ye must be born again!’ Anything short of this is worthless and useless.” Yet, even in the fall there was a prophecy of a recovery. In Adam there was a type, picture, and prophecy of Christ our Redeemer. In the Garden there was one commandment given by God to man - “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). This one commandment was the only thing God almighty required of man. Had he obeyed that one commandment, he would have lived. Disobedience to it brought death. In the Gospel God has given one commandment to sinners - “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). This is the one thing God requires of men. All who obey it live forever. All who refuse to obey it must forever die. In the Garden there was one tree. The eating of the fruit of that one tree brought death upon men. In the Gospel there is one tree, the cross of Christ. All who eat of the fruit of that tree shall live forever. In the Garden there was one man, Adam, who represented all the human race before God, by whom and in whom we all died. In the Gospel there is one Man, Christ, the second Adam, the last Adam, who represents an elect race before God. By him and in him all God’s elect live forever (Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18-21; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). As Adam brought destruction and death upon his race, so the Lord Jesus Christ has brought redemption and life to his race, God’s elect.Adam was a type of Christ. As you read through the Scriptures, you find that Adam and Christ are uniquely linked together. We would be wise to carefully and prayerfully study the comparisons and contrasts that are made of them (Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18-21; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Adam was made in the image of Christ, who is “the image of the invisible God” (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3). Adam was a representative man, a covenant head, and so is Christ, the last Adam. All that Adam did was imputed to all his seed, all that he became was imparted to all his seed by natural generation. We are all the sons of Adam, “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), by nature.

So too, all that Christ did has been imputed to all his seed in justification, and all that he is as a man is imparted to all his seed by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. All believers are the sons of God by grace. In Romans 5, the Holy Spirit tells us of three great acts of imputation. (1.) Adam’s sin has been imputed to all men and women. (2.) The sins of God’s elect were imputed to Christ. (3.) Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to all God’s elect. Consider what Adam did as our federal head and representative. He repudiated the goodness and love of God (Genesis 3:5). He questioned the truth and veracity of God (Genesis 3:4). Adam knew nothing of death. He apparently, at least to some degree, agreed with Satan and said, “We shall not surely die. That is contrary to reason and experience.” Above all else, Adam rejected, denounced, and rebelled against the authority of God! Christ, the last Adam, the second and last man, the second and last federal head and representative, completely vindicated the love, truth, and majesty of God, which the first man Adam had so grievously and deliberately dishonored. Christ, as a man, as the God-man, our Mediator, honored God in thought, word, and deed all the days of his life upon the earth. He vindicated the love of God (Romans 5:8;1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10). If ever you are tempted of the devil to question the goodness and love of God, if the events of providence appear to cast a cloud over God’s goodness and love, look to Calvary and know that “God is love!” Our Lord Jesus Christ vindicated the truth of God, too. When he was tempted by Satan to doubt God’s goodness, truth, and supremacy, each time he answered, “It is written”. Every sabbath day he went into the synagogue to read the Word of God. As he chose his twelve apostles, he deliberately selected Judas that the scriptures might be fulfilled. In his last moments of agony, he cried, “I thirst,” that the scriptures might be fulfilled. After he was risen from the dead, as he spoke to his disciples, he opened to them the scriptures (Luke 24). At every age, in every event, in all the details of his life, our all-glorious Savior, federal head, representative, and substitute believed, honored, and magnified God’s truth, even when it cost him dearly to do so. The Lord of glory also completely vindicated the majesty, supremacy, and sovereignty of God as our representative. He vindicated God’s right to be God by his willing, voluntary submission to him at all times and by his obedience to him even unto death (Philippians 2:5-11; Galatians 4:4-5). He trusted God, as a man, living in perfect faith. He obeyed the will of God perfectly (Hebrews 10:5). He fulfilled the law of God completely (Romans 10:4). He subjected his will to the Father’s will.

He magnified the justice of God in his death. In doing so, our blessed Savior fulfilled all righteousness and brought in an everlasting righteousness for his people, to the praise, honor, and glory of God. He was made like unto his brethren. He is not ashamed to call us his brethren, because we are made the righteousness of God in him. The Son of God endured all the curse pronounced upon the fallen man for his people What was the punishment of Adam’s sin? I will confine my thoughts here to that which is revealed in Genesis 3:17-24. Here the Lord shows us seven things that were the consequences of Adam’s transgression. (1.) The ground was cursed. (2.) In sorrow man was cursed to eat his bread all the days of his life. (3.) The earth brought forth thorns and thistles for man. (4.) Man was required to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. (5.) Man must return to the dust of the earth. (6.) A flaming sword barred the way to the tree of life. (7.) Adam was separated from God in death. These were the curses that fell upon Adam and all the sons of Adam because of sin; but Christ, the last Adam, endured all the consequences of Adam’s transgression. The Son of God was made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). The Lord of glory was so thoroughly acquainted with grief that he became the “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). The Lord Jesus Christ came forth from the judgment hall wearing “a crown of thorns” (John 19:5), thorns which grew from the cursed earth for the cursed man. The first Adam got his bread by the sweat of his face; but Christ, the last Adam, got his bread, his soul’s satisfaction, by the sweat of his heart. He sweat as it were “great drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44). As Adam returned to the dust, so the dying Christ cried, “Thou hast brought me into the dust of death” (Psalms 22:15).

That sword of justice which barred the way to the tree of life, buried itself and was swallowed up in the Son of God, our Substitute, the last Adam (Zechariah 13:7). As Adam who sinned was driven from the presence of God in death, so Christ, the last Adam, who was made to be sin for us, was separated from God in death, crying as he died, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Blessed, blessed, blessed Christ! Who can describe the agonies of his holy soul for us? Let us bow before him in wonder, love, praise, and thankful faith (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Pet. 2:24). He was made to be sin for us, made to be a curse for us, died for us, and thus redeemed us.

Now, because of all he has done for sinners, in his life and in his death, all who believe have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (Romans 3:24-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21). By his obedience to God as our Substitute, in life and in death, Christ, our great Adam, has completely reversed all the effects of the fall. He says, “I restored that which I took not away” (Psalms 69:4). God alone is able to bring good out of evil and make even the wrath of man to praise him. This is what he has done for his elect and for the glory of his name by the obedience of his Son as our substitute. The sin and fall of our father Adam gave God opportunity to exhibit his wisdom and display the exceeding riches of his grace in a way that could not have come to pass had sin never entered into the world. In redemption Christ not only reversed the effects of the fall, he brought in a better thing. Hebrews 10:9 applies. Here is the transcendent miracle of God’s wisdom and grace in Christ. In him, God’s elect have become gainers by the fall and God himself is glorified through Adam’s transgression. Before the fall Adam lived in an earthly paradise. In Christ we shall enter into a heavenly paradise. Before the fall Adam lived as the creature of God. In Christ we live as the sons of God, partakers not only of the divine breath, but of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

Before the fall Adam was innocent. In Christ we are righteous. Before the fall Adam was lord of God’s creation. In Christ we are heirs of a heavenly inheritance. Indeed, as it is written, “All things are yours.” Before the fall Adam enjoyed the happiness of innocence. In Christ we have entered into the joy of pardon, grace, and redemption.

Before the fall Adam was a creature of God in fellowship with his Master. In Christ we are one with God, inseparable from our Savior (Ephesians 4:30). His obedience is our obedience. His death is our death. His life is our life. His glory is our glory (John 17:5; John 17:22). “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound!’ (Romans 5:21). The first man Adam made all things mortal and evil. Christ, the last Adam, makes all things holy, immortal, and new (Revelation 21:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17). The Son of God gives to chosen sinners a new nature (1 John 3:6-10, a new record of perfect righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16; Jeremiah 50:20), and a new relationship (1 John 3:1). The kingdom of God is an entirely new creation. When we think of the fall, let us ever adore God’s wisdom and sovereignty (Psalms 76:10), providence (Romans 8:28), and God’s grace (Ephesians 2:7). Let us ever adore God’s Son, our dear Savior, the last Adam (Colossians 1:18).

Genesis 3:22-24

Chapter 7 ADAM DRIVEN FROM EDEN “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Genesis 3:22-24 No portion of Holy Scripture is more important than the first three chapters of Genesis. If a person truly believes and understands Genesis 1, 2, , 3, he has grasped the whole system of divine truth, for he has grasped the foundation of all truth. If we fail to understand what is revealed in these three chapters, we cannot understand anything else in the Sacred Volume. Perhaps that is the reason Satan has always raised up false prophets to twist, pervert and deny the opening chapters of Genesis. Chapter 1 reveals the origin and creation of the universe and the formation of man from the dust of the earth. “In the beginning God” - Those four words show us that the Lord God is the Creator, Ruler, and Disposer of all things. “All things were made by him and for him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). Chapter 2 reveals the happiness, power, and greatness of man before sin entered into the world. In the garden, in innocence Adam was the object of God’s favor and delight. God made him lord of the earth. All creatures were under his dominion. He lived in harmony with God, the holy angels and the beasts of the field in perfect happiness. But Adam did not continue in this blessed, happy condition. Chapter 3 reveals the temptation and fall of our father Adam and the consequences of it. What a sad, sad picture! Man, created in the image of God, man, to whom God had given the whole world, man, the prince of God’s creation rebelled against his Creator and lost everything! When they had lost everything, when Adam and Eve were trying to hide themselves from the Lord God, trying to cover the shame of their sin and their nakedness from God, the Lord God stepped in, not to destroy them, but to save them by his grace! (Genesis 3:9). He promised a Redeemer by whom he would destroy the enemy (Genesis 3:15). He made a sacrifice for them (Genesis 3:21), picturing the redemptive work of Christ promised in verse fifteen. He clothed the fallen pair with the skins of the slain sacrifice (Genesis 3:21), picturing the garments of salvation with which he would clothe his elect. Then, we are told, in Genesis 3:22-24 – “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” This, too, was an act of God’s grace. It was not, as many suppose, an act of his wrath. The Lord God drove Adam and Eve from the garden “to keep the way of the tree of life,” that is, to preserve and protect “the way of the tree of life.” Who is speaking in this text? When Moses wrote, “The Lord God said,” who did he have in mind? It is Jehovah-Elohim speaking; but he says, “The man has become as one of us.” One Person is speaking, but more than one person is represented. The Person speaking is Christ, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, Jehovah-Elohim. He is speaking for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Anytime we read of God speaking to man, or of God being revealed to man in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, or in eternity, the Person speaking, the Person revealed is the Son of God, our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 5:37). The only way God deals with men, the only way God speaks to men, the only way God reveals himself to men is in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

Christ is the Word and Revelation of God (John 1:1-3; John 1:14; John 1:18). When Moses penned these words, “The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us,” the Spirit of God was, in this Book of Beginnings, revealing four facts that are essential to the Christian faith. The pre-existence of Christ before his incarnation (John 8:58) – “He is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). Our Lord Jesus Christ is not a creature of time. He is the Creator, the I AM, who is, who was and who is to come. The eternal deity of Christ – Our divine Mediator is called “The Lord God,” Jehovah-Elohim, because Jesus Christ is God (Isaiah 9:6; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 10:30-33). He claimed to be God, while he walked on the earth. Angels and men worshipped him as God. The Jews crucified him because he claimed that he is God (John 10:33). The plurality and unity of the eternal Godhead – When the Lord God spoke and called himself “us,” he was declaring the plurality of Persons in the Godhead. We are Trinitarians! We worship one God in the Trinity, or Tri-unity, of his sacred Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7). This is a matter constantly held before us in Holy Scripture. We see the doctrine of the trinity in the baptismal formula given by Christ (Matthew 28:19-20), in the baptism of our Master (Matthew 3:16-17), and in the benedictions of grace (2 Corinthians 13:14). The Mediation of Christ – The Lord Jesus Christ is our Mediator, the only Mediator between God and men; and he has been our Mediator from eternity (1 Timothy 2:5). In this third chapter of Genesis, Christ is revealed in all three of his mediatoral offices, Prophet, Priest, and King. In his kingly office, he arraigned fallen man before his bar of judgment, convicting him of treason, and passed upon him the sentence of death. In his prophetic office, he promised redemption and salvation to the fallen pair, and told them how it would be accomplished. In his priestly office, he made a sacrifice for the guilty and clothed our parents in the skins of an innocent victim. The Person speaking in our text is the Lord God, Jehovah- Elohim, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Son of God, our Mediator, our Savior. And he is speaking to the fallen, sinful man, our father, Adam. What is the meaning of our Lord’s words regarding the condition of the man? “The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” What do those words mean? The text might be translated, “Behold, the man was as one of us, knowing good and evil.” If the words are taken in that sense, they are an expression of great pity. God is saying, “Behold, the man, now fallen, sinful, ruined, depraved, and dead; he was as one of us, knowing good and evil,” but now only evil. Man was created in the image and likeness of God as he is revealed in Christ, who is the image of the invisible God (Genesis 1:26; Colossians 1:15). Adam was created in the image of God in the form and constitution of his body and his human nature. That is to say, the first Adam was formed in the image of him who was to come as the second Adam, Christ, the God-man. Adam did not crawl out of a slime pit, or drop out of a tree. He was created in the image of Christ, who is the image of God. The Son of God came to be partaker of our flesh and blood, that we might be partakers of his flesh and of his bones (Ephesians 5:30). Adam was made in the image of God in moral uprightness and righteousness, too. Man came out of his Creator’s hands a holy creature. And when God makes a man new by his grace, he restores holiness to him. This renovation of grace is called, “The new man which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). The image of God in which man was created is also reflected in his mental capacity. Like his Creator, Adam was wise, rational, and full of knowledge. We cannot begin to imagine how vast the mind of that original man, in his unfallen state was. He named all living things by himself! He knew his wife when she was brought to him. He knew both good and evil. Though, like Christ himself, before the fall, Adam knew no sin by experience, he knew the nature of it. He knew that it was contrary to God’s Being. And he knew the consequences of it. In this sense, it is certain that Adam knew both good and evil far more fully before the fall than he did afterwards. Again, the image of God in which man was created is seen in Adam’s dominion over all earthly creatures. Adam was made lord of God’s creation (Genesis 1:26). The majesty of God was seen in him by the universal subjection of all creatures to him (Psalms 8:5-8). This sense of the text is – “Behold, the man was as one of us, but what is he now?” His body, so strong and full of life, is now feeble and dying. His soul, so pure and holy, is now depraved and vile. His mind, so full of wisdom and knowledge, is now darkness and ignorance. The man who was the darling of heaven is now alienated from God. However, I am inclined to think that our translation is best - “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” This is a declaration of Adam’s present state and condition, and of ours, in Christ. Though fallen by nature, we are now, as Adam was, restored by grace. What God here says of Adam is true of every believer. Though in Adam we fell, in Christ we are restored, just like Adam was, by the call of God – “Where art thou?”, – by blood atonement – the slain victim, – by imputed righteousness – the skins. Like Adam, we have been clothed with Christ’s righteousness, and we are “righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7; Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16). Like Adam, being renewed by grace, we are now created in the image of Christ, conformed to him (Ephesians 4:24). Like Adam, we are now reconciled to and one with God in Christ (John 17:21). Enmity has been put away. Reconciliation has been made by God. Now, believing sinners are in a state of friendship with God. But more, in Christ, we are one with God. Like Adam, having been called from darkness to light in Christ, we know both good and evil. We know the goodness of God. And we know the evil our own hearts. What was the tree of life which God would not allow Adam to take by his own hands? Without doubt, it was a real tree in the garden of Eden. Adam knew where it was, and how useful it was as the tree of life. “It is highly probable, that it might be useful for the invigorating of Adam’s body…during his state of innocence” (Gill). But it was also a symbolical tree. It was a symbol of Adam’s dependence upon God for his life. Every time he saw it and ate its fruit, Adam was reminded that his life came from God, was preserved by God, and belonged to God. It was a symbol of Adam’s preservation in life, so long as he was obedient to the will of God. Perhaps it stood right beside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We do not know. But every time he passed by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate only of the fruit of the tree of life, Adam had confirmed to him the promise of life for his obedience to God. The tree of life was not a tree by which fallen Adam might have been translated from his fallen condition to a state of heavenly, eternal life (Galatians 3:21). When God prevented Adam from eating the fruit of this tree it was not for the purpose of keeping Adam from obtaining life. It was for the purpose of revealing his grace in Adam and preserving, or keeping, “the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). The tree of life was a picture, a symbol, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ (Proverbs 3:18; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:2; Revelation 22:14). He is our Life! He is the Author and Giver of Life! As our Mediator, he asked the Father for our life. As our Redeemer, he purchased a right to life for us with his own blood. As our Advocate and Intercessor in heaven, he secures us in life in himself. “Your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3; John 10:27-30). Why was Adam, after the fall, prevented from eating the fruit of the tree of life? John Gill said, “The reason of this prevention was that Adam might have no hope nor expectation of life, from that, or anything else, but Christ the promised Messiah.” This was an act of grace. Though Adam had forfeited all claims to life, God kept open the way of life, and kept him from seeking life anywhere else but in Christ. If the Lord had not prevented Adam from eating the physical fruit of that physical tree, he might well have thought to himself - “As this tree was useful before in the preservation of my life, it might still be. God has promised me a Redeemer, but why should I wait for him. I can save myself by my own hands. All I have to do is eat the fruit of the tree of life.” To keep Adam from such evil, the Lord God removed the temptation from him. He thrust him out of Eden and placed a guard around the tree of life. The fact is, there is nothing a man is more prone to do than to seek salvation and life anywhere but in Christ. We are all base idolaters by nature. We want to be saved; but we want to be saved by our own hands, our own will, our own effort. Fallen man will do anything to be saved, except trust Christ alone (John 5:40). Man would rather take a pilgrimage, barefoot on broken glass, around the globe than trust Christ. He would rather climb the steep, dark, terrifying slopes of Sinai than simply look to the Christ of Calvary. But God has declared that Christ alone is Savior (1 Corinthians 1:30). Sinners cannot come to God any other way. By your own works of righteousness you cannot be saved. “He who seeks for righteousness and life by his own doings, runs upon the flaming sword of justice; and whilst endeavoring to insure his own salvation, he is pulling ruin upon himself” (Gill). Blessed be God, he still keeps “the way of the tree of life.” He still keeps chosen sinners from self-destruction by self-righteousness. He blocks up the way of his elect and graciously forces them to flee to Christ, the true Tree of Life (Hosea 2:6). Let us ever beware of the wretched, vile nature of sin (Romans 5:12). Let us ever beware of the folly and blasphemy of works religion (Galatians 2:21). Works religion is something against which God has set himself. All who seek to save themselves are fighting against God (Galatians 5:1-4).

Let us ever bless, praise, and magnify the Lord our God for providing Christ the Savior for lost sinners (1 Corinthians 9:15). Let us ever cease from all self-righteousness and lay hold upon Christ alone. He “is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon him; and happy is everyone that retaineth” him (Proverbs 3:18).