E100 2-The Fall

Genesis 3

After God completed His creation, He called it "good"--not just good, but "very good". So why when we look around is it so very clear that things are not good, things are broken?

In the Garden of Eden (yes, I believe this is a literal place), God had commanded man to live holy and happy in the presence of God. There was just one thing--only one thing that's recorded for us. God told them, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." [JSB-Jesus Storybook Bible--"Don't eat the fruit on that tree, because if you do,you'll think you know everything. You'll stop trusting me. And then death and sadness and tears will come."]

God had made PLENTY of trees in the garden that were pleasant to the sight and good for food. Not eating from ONE of them should have been something that Adam and Eve could handle.

So why'd they disobey? Genesis 3 describes the scene for us. Satan disguised as a serpent comes to Eve. (Yes, I really think a snake started talking to Eve). He makes her doubt the command, "Did God ACTUALLY say..." Eve responded with, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the gard, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, NEITHER SHALL YOU TOUCH IT, lest you die."

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." In essence, he's saying, "God's just holding out on you."

I think that's a lie that many people today fall into... the Bible is just a book of rules and God wants me to follow all of them and make my life miserable--God is holding out on me.

WRONG! God, the creator of man, loves us and gives us rules and commands for our good. His design for our lives is the best way. This is played out in obeying our parents as children, remaining pure during our teenage years, within a marriage, parenting our own kids, and finishing strong until our death.

It's not burdensome to follow God's ways. It's burdensome to carry the guilt and consequences that follow sin.

The consequences of the Fall:
We doubt God.
Separation from God.
Enmity between man and woman.
Pain in childbearing.
Woman desiring to rule over man.
The ground is cursed, thorns and thistles, will require hard work.
Physical death.

Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Even this was for their good. He didn't want them to reach out and take also of the tree of life and eat and have to live forever in a broken world.. Living forever in a world surrounded by death and decay would be miserable.

JSB (p34-36):
You see, sin had come into God's perfect world. And it would never leave. God's children would be always running away from him and hiding in the dark. Their hearts would break now, and never work properly again. God couldn't let his children live forever, not in such pain, not without him. There was only one way to protect them.
"You will have to leave the garden now," God told his children, his eyes filling with tears. "This is no longer your true home, it's not the place for you anymore."
...Before they left the garden, God whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: "It will not always be so! I will come to rescue you! ...And he would. One day, God himself would come.