Things could not possibly get any better! God had create the whole earth. It was brand new, full of life, and not a inclination of pain or suffering. In one fell swoop, one cunning being with it’s mind set on destroying what God called good, set the world we know today in motion.
Gen 3 is either the saddest or second saddest narrative in scripture. I think one could make the argument that the Gospel’s narrative of the crucifixion and death of Christ could be one, but if you consider that His death would not have been needed had Mankind chosen obedience, then I think you could say that the Gen 3 chapter is the worst narrative in Scripture.
Lets see how this initial sin worked out… I’ll paraphrase.
Chapter 3 (my commentary in italics)
The serpent leads Eve with a question, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” so Eve to set him straight says, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” So far so good, the serpent asks a leading question, and Eve sets him straight with clear information that is resolute.
1st sin - The serpent replied, “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. I am not sure about you, but the sole knowledge of Good would be nice. As the saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss.”
1st human sin - The woman listened to the snake. She saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye so she took it and ate. Then she gave some to her husband who was there with her, and he ate it. So hold on a second, Adam was there? I heard so many people talk about how original sin started with Eve… Adam was there with Eve and did nothing! Now sure Eve made a decision, but Adam was a part of that decision. The fall of man rest’s squarely on the shoulders of all mankind, both men and women.
I would like to take a minute to ask a question? What was the first sin? Was it when Eve touched the fruit from the tree, because remember God told them not to touch it and not to eat it? Or was it when she decided that she was going to touch it? For Adam was it when he took it from his wife, or when he listened to the serpent and considered the serpent’s words as truth. You see I think the first sin was in their hearts when the decided that the God that created them had lied to them. They decided that the serpent was right and God was trying to keep them from something even better. In that initial deed of eating the fruit, we see many evil traits. Greed -wanting to be like God, even though they had all they needed and lived in paradise. Selfishness - they put their own desires in front of what they knew was right.
Upon turning from God, they were immediately overwhelmed with the realization of their own sin. They realized they were naked, they were ashamed, the hid from God, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and God’s good creation began to die, literally.
God punishes the serpent by making him crawl on his belly (apparently before the fall, snakes walked or looked a little differently) in his curse of the serpent there is a line that already gives hope that things will not always be this bad… vs 15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
There embedded in God’s first words after learning of mankind’s disobedience, is the first promise of hope, of a deliverer that will crush the head of the serpent. Then he curses the woman with pain in childbirth, and curses the man with having to work for the food that he receives. They both are told that they would return to the ground from which they had come, and then he removes them from the Garden.
This, the saddest of all human narratives tells us the story of how pain, sickness, death, hate, and all forms of evil entered our world. There are many elements to this chapter that are interesting and could be discussed at length.
The point I wanted to make is that pain and sorrow present in our lives today are a direct result of our own disobedience. We share in the choice that Adam and Eve made, we daily make the same choice, or will over God’s will. Yes, today we share in a great deal of pain that is not a result of our own personal sin, but it is not God we should blame, or even evil itself, but ourselves our ancestors, our decisions that bear bad consequences.
Today the suffering in our world is so widespread, babies are born with deformities because of a nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. Children are born with AIDS because of parents unfaithfulness, people needing blood to survive surgeries are at risk of contracting AIDS. Wars loom in several places in the world and affect many people who did not choose to go to war. Drunk drivers kill thousands each year, because their own personal pain or addiction drive them to smother it with alcohol. Each accident ruins many lives, the life of the ones who are injured or killed and the life of the drunk and most likely the driver’s family as well. Dictators slaughter thousands sometimes millions needlessly. Civil governments pass laws that allow for legal killing of children before they are born.
Is God to blame for the sufferings we see and endure? No, the decisions of mankind are to blame. Even if they be enticed by demons or Satan himself, they are decisions we make. That is the one real right that God gives us and protects for us. We have a right to choose. We have the ability to choose his way or our way. We have a choice to live or good or live for evil. Adam and Eve had that choice, and we have the same one.
Unfortunately we are so consumed with our own needs and pain that often it is impossible for us to choose good. This is a vary dark picture. All of us suffer because of the bad choices of others. I wonder how many suffer because of our bad choices?
God, seeing that our fall was great, and our need was even greater. Set into motion a plan that would make it possible for mankind to choose again for itself, and make that choice available all people on this globe. That plan is still in effect today!
Chad