GENESIS
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Notes on Genesis 3
From the beginning we see the devil asking questions and using his ability to bring doubt upon the very word of God. God said not to eat of the tree because it would bring death. The devil using a serpent as a mouthpiece attempted successfully to bring doubt into Eve's mind. Yea, hath God said.........Did God really say that, perhaps He meant something else? Does the bible really say that? Perhaps there is a different meaning, let's see what another translation says. Some may keep looking for other translations to see if we can get away with what God has forbidden. In other words keep watering down the word with other meanings until we can get by with doing the opposite of what God says. WRONG Just because the devil or mankind tries to change the word of God by watering it down and making it lose its strength of conviction, does not change the actual word that was first spoken. We can change it all we want on paper, but if God does not change it, in reality it stands the same and is not changed. It's only when we seek to understand God's word with a heart that is seeking diligently after Him and we are willing to believe and live by what is revealed to us, that we will we truly begin to understand with the help of the Holy Spirit. If our motive is to get by with something we want to do that we think God has forbidden, we might find what we are looking for but we open ourselves up to deception. After the devil tempted Eve with delicious looking fruit and the desire for more knowledge than she probably wasn't ready to handle, I believe she sincerely wanted to believe the lie of Satan. If we want something so bad, we will usually believe the first person that comes along that will support us in what we want to believe. If we are planning to go against God's word to do something we really want to do, we most probably will ask advice from someone that we know ahead of time will support our beliefs. Seldom will we be honest enough to go to someone who will tell us the truth. The world today is full of politicians and perhaps even some preachers who will say what they think people want to hear to gain popularity. Those who speak the truth of God's word are never loved by the world. Now we will see why there is a natural fear of snakes among most of us too. There are always exceptions of course. Among women especially snakes are very repulsive and something we avoid. Men have a natural instinct to kill a serpent when they happen upon one. A woman's natural instinct is to scream or run from one. There are special gifted people who have no fear of serpents of course and that is commendable but for the most part most of us avoid them. Eve didn't realize the danger of this animal. Perhaps all animals could talk at one time and because Satan used this method to tempt the new human beings, communication with humans was changed. That is only speculation on my part here though. Perhaps it was the spirit of Satan that spoke and the animal itself did not speak. However, we will notice that the serpent did at one time walk but after this incident, he lost his ability to walk but had to crawl. It was sort of fitting. As he crept into the garden to deceive mankind into disobeying God, he was cursed to have to creep upon the earth afterward. Talk about a creep!. Here we have the very first thing we can call a real creep.
Some believe the Eve herself added to God's word here by saying they were not to touch the tree but we don't know that it has anything to do with the outcome of what is about to occur. God may have said that, and it wasn't recorded for us to read, then again she may have just added to God's actual word. Perhaps Adam added to the word by advising her not to even touch the tree. Or they might have just thought within themselves not to even touch the forbidden tree. Notice something here also. Eve didn't seem surprised to hear the serpent speak to her. Some question God for allowing this but we must realize that God gave us a free will to choose. He wants us to get to know who He is and serve Him because we love Him and choose to serve Him. What good is a puppet? We can make choices. Do we desire to live in sin, seek only the things in this life and ignore God and live according to our own will, or do we desire to turn our lives over to God believing in His goodness and believing that He knows what is best for us? God never makes commandments to harm any one of us. All things were made for us and all commandments are for our good, not our evil. It is good to desire knowledge but we need to desire the right kind of knowledge and the knowledge that leads us in the right direction. There are some things that need to be left in the care of God.
Satan told a lie here even though death didn't come until years later, the body began to die as soon as sin entered into it. We see the first sin of unbelief forming in our first parent here. Unbelief will lead to all other sins we could imagine or commit. The only thing that keeps us from all that God has for us in unbelief. The very first step to sinning against God however, is to begin to doubt what God has said. To doubt the word of God is dangerous. If our attempt to translate God's word into a language that all will understand and be able to read is from a pure motive that does it for that purpose, it is not wrong. It is commendable. If our motive though is to change the word so that it doesn't sound as threatening or make it user friendly or into something that the world will like, it is very dangerous. We must not water down the original meaning. Souls weigh in the balance here. The very first deceiver of all mankind was very cunning and deceptive. He attempted to bring doubt upon the very word of God. He changed the original meaning into something watered down. The first big lie, was, "Yea, hath God said?" I wished Eve would have simply replied, "Yes He did say that and I believe it, then turn her back and walk away. Here we see the very first example of twisting scripture or twisting the word of God to mean something different that the original intent. This goes on today and has been going on since the beginning. Satan doesn't care if we have religion just as long as we miss the way of truth and life eternal. That is why we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and trust Him alone for our salvation for many religious leaders who actually represent Satan will even use the name of Jesus to draw followers after themselves. No man or woman must place themselves as an intercessor between an individual and God. This is only given to Jesus Christ. We can listen to leaders, support them, and show kindness but we pray to and follow Jesus who is actually God the Son that is our Lord and savior from sin. God said that they would die, and the devil said that they would not die but gain the knowledge that God had hidden from them. They didn't die physically right away but the body started to die just as soon as they disobeyed God. Yet God did not lie. The spiritual death happened the very day they sinned. They were spiritually on their way to being lost and apart from God forever. The seed of sin had begun which would destroy their bodies eventually. They lived a long life but as soon as the seed of death brought inherited disease as mankind multiplied, the years of natural life began to be shorter. Actually we can be thankful for physical death in a way because if these bodies didn't die physically, evil would continue without any relief. Spiritual separation from God occurred at the same moment but God had a plan to send a savior to redeem their lost souls and bring them back into fellowship with Him.
Truth and lies were mixed together to bring about man's destruction. A deceiver can deceive best if he or she speaks truth in at least part of it. All lies seldom deceive anyone. Mixing lies with some truth makes it easier to deceive. That way we hear something we know is true and assume everything else is true also. Satan has always been jealous of God's creation. He was thrown out of his place in heaven because of his own rebellion against God so he desires to take all of us with him to his final domain. Man will surely know good and evil and their eyes would be opened but they would not be as gods. They would not live forever in an eternal state in the body they possessed at that time. They lost their place with God and began to die at once. They were eternally separated from God until the day God bought them back with the death, burial and resurrection of His own beloved Son, we know now as Jesus Christ. We seldom stop to think how valuable one precious soul is. To save a soul from eternity in hell is the greatest thing we could ever desire to see. As believers in Christ, we should value human life and count it as precious. A believer will hate abortion or anything that takes the life of an innocent human being. We will seek to save lives, not destroy them. Even more important though is to see the value of a human soul. A soul is the part of each one of us that feels. A soul can feel pain, be lonely, experience joy or sorrow. A soul lives forever and does not become extinct. The way the soul dies is to be eternally separated from God in hell. When the body dies, the spirit and soul leave the body. The soul goes to hell if it has not been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Before Christ came, the righteous or those that looked forward to the redemption plan of God, went to Abraham's bosom to await the first coming of Christ while the unrighteous souls went to the place of torment. Where Adam and Eve went at the time of their natural deaths, we don't know. It would depend upon their faith in God at that time. We are saved by faith. The Old Testament believers were also saved by faith. By doing the works of the law, they showed their faith in the future redemption that was to be provided by the Lord Jesus Christ. When they brought their offerings and sacrifices to God, and they came with faith as Abel did, they were saved at that time. They may not fully have understood all things but they showed their faith by their works of obedience. Those that brought sacrifices with a heart that was repentant and had a desire to be freed from sin, would be the acceptable sacrifices that God desired. Some offerings were for worship and thanksgiving but some were with a desire to be forgiven and made free from sin. When we first come to Christ, we have to come with repentance and seeking forgiveness and cleansing from sin. Our faith in Christ to cleanse us is what brings us salvation. If we do not come this way, we are not really saved. We are not saved from sin if we do not repent or turn away from sin when we come to Christ. If we say we believe, the fruits will follow. If we say we believe and go on living the same way we lived before coming to Christ, then we have not been truly born again by His spirit. We just accepted a religion we called Christianity. That will not save anyone. Religion alone does not save the soul.
According to the scripture, Adam deliberately sinned against God here. He was not deceived. Eve was tricked and deceived.
Adam knew what he was doing. Some believe Adam did this so that Eve would not die alone and that he gave his life because of love to his wife. I don't go along with this theory but it is something to consider. I believe Adam may have given into the temptation to please his wife but he knew what he was doing. He could have stopped her. As far as sacrificing himself for her, if that was the case why did he later try to place blame upon her in verse 12.
The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. We still have these same type of temptations today. We choose to give into lust, desire, greed, selfishness and we think of what we want instead of what God says or commands. If we don't like what God says, we try to change it at least in our minds just like Satan did in the beginning. After sin entered the world men began to steal, kill, cause some to be servants and slaves to those who didn't want to work; women were abused, false religious systems were started to try to get rid of guilt man's way instead of waiting on God. Serving the devil instead of God comes at a great cost both in this life and in the life to come.
Here is the first attempt at trying to make our own way of salvation. They covered themselves to hide their nakedness. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if they would have immediately cried out to God and asked Him to forgive them and cover their sin. Instead they wanted to hide from God. To cover our sins and hide, will never cleanse us from sin and never get us right with God. To confess and forsake them with a heart that seeks after the will of God is the only way of salvation. The will of God is for us to believe in the Son that He sent to save us from sin. True repentance is to confess and forsake, not hide our sin.
Adam was missing. Not from the garden but in the spirit, Adam was missing and separated from God. Sin immediately separates us from God. When Christ died to save us from sin and we accept Him into our lives, we are reunited with God. We have been redeemed. If we willingly allow the sin that formerly separated us from God back into our lives, then of course we would be separated again. Sin is the problem. We can't claim to have Christ and still be living and walking in open sin, unbelief or rebellion against God. When we sin, the last thing we want to do is be in God's presence. People will desire to seek God when they get to the place where they want to repent of sin and get rid of it. A religion that lets you think you can have God and eternal life and still live in sin, is a false religion. On the other hand, a religion of harsh strict works or outward show without repenting and believing in God is also wrong. Mankind fell and only God can save them. Our religious rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices, sacraments, baptisms etc. can't get rid of any sin. God has to bring the sacrifice, God has to show mercy, God has to make a way for men and women to be saved. And He did: Now we have a thing called faith in the one sacrifice that was done over 2000 years ago by God who came into the flesh of man, born of woman. This was Jesus. Jesus came to save us from sin. He came to baptize us in the Holy Spirit so that we have God living within us to teach us, help us not to return to sin and show us who God is, and that we can personally know God and walk with God. We can't get to heaven ourselves or by religious acts. We have to have God within us. A change has to take place. We pass from eternal death into eternal life. Jesus shed His blood to give us this life.
This must have been the most horrible time in the history of mankind. Adam had previously had a close fellowship with the Lord and there was no fear nor shame to walk in His presence. Now, fear came upon Adam and they were ashamed of their nakedness. Their innocence was gone and they were guilty before God. Now mankind which God created needed to find the way back to Him. God did provide that way.
I believe this first proves that Adam did not eat of the tree in order to protect or die for his wife. He tried to place the blame on his wife here showing that he was not playing the role of the great protector. Had he wanted to die with his wife so she wouldn't die alone, he would have tried to protect her from blame. Adam should have repented here and took the blame on himself. Just as he should have reproved his wife and not eat of the fruit just to please her. The way to genuine repentance and becoming clean before God is to admit our sin and forsake that sin. Adam passed the buck of blame to his wife. God knew what they had done but He asked most probably so they could repent and admit their sin. Instead they passed the buck.
Eve was being truthful. She was deceived according to the scripture. Her weakness of wanting what was forbidden and getting around the word of God, caused her to be deceived. If we want to get around the word of God, we can easily do that but we will be in the wrong and very deceived.
Adam was not deceived by his wife. He was persuaded by his wife according to the passages which follow. The serpent was not blameless either so judgment came first to the serpent.
Notice that God did not ask the serpent why he did what he did. The curse came without any questioning. This may show us here that the serpent could have refused to allow Satan to use him as a tool. Why would God curse an innocent animal. We saw years later in the case of Balaam that an angel of God used a donkey to speak to Balaam. There has always been (with a few exceptions) a natural enmity between the seed of the woman and serpents. When a man kills a serpent with his heel, it would bruise the heel and of course the head of the serpent is crushed. However, God was not just talking to the serpent but also to Satan. This verse is the first messianic prophecy in the bible. We can rejoice in this verse because it tells us that God already has provided mankind with the solution to sin and the way to be reconciled to God. He was going to send someone born of woman to crush the head of Satan. In doing so this Messiah would be bruised. He suffered by crucifixion. When Jesus was crucified this fulfilled this prophecy and made the way for mankind to be brought back to God. God brings in His plan of redemption here. Although in the natural, woman are afraid of snakes and men have a desire to kill them with their heels, this has a deeper spiritual meaning. The seed of the woman (Christ) will bruise the head of Satan with His death on the cross for the sins of all mankind. Here we see clearly that there is no other way of salvation other than the death of an innocent one who was man but without sin. The wages of sin is death. The only one who could live his life without sinning at least once would be God. So this sacrifice for sin had to be done by someone who was a man but who was also God. He had to be man because man brought the curse to start with and only a sinless man could reverse that curse. He had to be God too because only God had the power to resist sin. Religion cannot save, good works cannot save, even animal sacrifices cannot free us from sin. The sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ is the only one that could bring us eternal salvation. There is no other way to be saved. Whether we call Him Jesus, Yeshua or Messiah, Christ; He is the only way of salvation. Beware of anyone who says there is another way. God in the beginning here is showing us that through the seed of the woman will come the one who is to bruise the head of Satan but in the process his own heel is bruised. He dies but is raised to life again. He overcame death and the grave when He rose from the dead to die no more giving us the hope that we can receive the same I've read of many false religions laying claim to the messiah. Some say Nimrod may have claimed to be this savior. I've read also that the reason for so many child sacrifices in the old religious systems may have been man's way to try to fulfill this prophecy by themselves. It could also have been the devil's way to keep the Messiah from being able to fulfill the prophecy by making sure any perfect child born of woman was sacrificed or killed. The killing of many babies in Egypt may have been an act of Satan to keep the line which Christ was to come from coming. We see the repeat of Pharaoh's order by Herod in the New Testament to kill all male children under the age of two. Yet no man in heaven and earth could stop the word from being fulfilled, neither could a man born of man and woman be that perfect sacrifice. It had to be God Himself. God sent His Son to be that seed of woman to bruise the head of the serpent. Sending His Son was the same as sending Himself. Jesus was that perfect sacrifice that fulfilled Genesis 3:15. Notice that Jesus was born of woman not of man. He was the first one born of the spirit. He had to be man to reverse the curse upon man but He also had to be God because only God could be born of woman and be perfect without sin. The sacrifice had to be perfect and sinless to pay for the sins of man.
The husband has been given the right to be head of the household. Now it would be painful to give birth to babies. I imagine that before the fall, childbirth would not have been painful. The labor pains women feel in childbirth can be traced to this time of God's judgment. The husband is given the responsibility here to rule the household and protect his wife and children. The woman is placed in subjection to her husband because of being deceived and is called the weaker vessel. When a woman comes to Christ she is freed from the curse of the law but in order to have peace and harmony for the cause of Christ, she places herself in subjection to her husband if he is a godly husband who obeys the Lord. If he is not a godly person, her role is still to be submissive but to the Lord first and then to him. If his desire conflicts with God's word, then she has to obey the Lord. That is why a woman who loves the Lord needs to be very careful in choosing someone to marry. She would be foolish to place herself under the authority of someone who is not under God's authority and doesn't wish to be. To rebel against the authority given by God to the husband, is a sin equal to witchcraft. This does not mean that women have to obey a husband who desires that she commit a sin against God. I believe God has the ultimate authority. I believe God gives us common sense to understand that a husband having authority does not mean authority or control without reason. If a husband desires that his wife help him rob a bank, she is under no law of God to obey in that case because it would break God's other law of "Thou shalt not steal." He is to have a gentle type of authority similar to that which a pastor has over a local congregation. A pastor does not have authority over the conscience of his flock of believers. He does not have authority to control them. He does have authority to preside over the meetings to make sure His flock is protected from predators and charlatans. A husband has been given a serious responsibility before God to protect his wife and children in the same manner. Never is he to dominate, control and terrorize his wife into some cruel type of submission. A wife is to submit to her husband as he submits to the Lord. If he doesn't submit to the Lord then her submission to him is limited to what does not violate the commandments of God. The 13th chapter of Corinthians is a good chapter to read so that our service to one another and to God is done in love rather than force.
Every time we have a crop failure, a battle with weeds, and a plague of locusts, we can remember this verse. This too reminds us that Adam was not deceived. He harkened to the voice of his wife. This doesn't mean that a husband is never to listen to his wife. Many men have been lucky enough to have been blessed with a godly wife who may hear from the Lord first and advise him on occasion. It is his choice whether to harken or reject what he hears. Sometimes a good wife may have what we call woman's intuition that may keep her husband from making mistakes. She is not to nag and try to usurp authority but she should always be allowed to go to him in meekness and speak what is upon her heart. I've seen marriages break up because men have abused these scriptures and have shown no respect to his wife's opinions or desires. Love and kindness is the rule here. Do all things in love. If advice and counsel have to be rejected, reject it for the right reasons not just because one is afraid of losing control. He has the final authority but that doesn't mean he is going to always be right about everything. Men make just as many bad decisions and mistakes as women do. Working together is the key.
Now man had to work hard for a living. Sometimes he would have it very hard and the ground would not produce without thorns and weeds to hinder it. Now we see that man is to work to provide a living and women were to bear the children. The pain and labor in childbirth is a result of this very first sin of mankind. Even though pain in childbearing is part of the curse, a women does not necessarily die in childbirth or lose out with God because of the curse. Through Christ the curse is broken and she can be saved anyway although she still suffers the results of the original sin by the pain of labor. Some may even die in childbirth but that doesn't mean that a woman can't be saved from sin just like a man just because she suffers in childbirth. Her soul is not saved by bearing children but the curse here does not affect the salvation of her soul if she comes to Christ for salvation just as men can do. The reason I brought this up is because I've heard some crazy teachings on this and I want to refute them. Women are saved from sin in the exact same way as men are. There is a verse in Timothy that mentions a women who lives godly shall be saved in childbearing. It may mean different things but it could be a reference that the seed of the woman was to bring forth the Messiah that would save us from sin. It could also have reference to the curse of childbearing will not hinder a woman who comes to Christ and lives godly from being saved from sin. Others believe the verse in Timothy simply means that a woman who lives godly will not die in childbirth. However, I would never be one to judge that all women who ever died in childbirth was ungodly. That certainly cannot be so. For sure it doesn't mean that in order for a women to be saved from sin, she must bear children although I have heard that rare teaching. Only one way of salvation and that is through faith in Christ.
God's clothing He provided is presenting us a picture of salvation. God's way of salvation would be provided. Our own methods do not work. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. This may be why they started having animal sacrifices even before the law to try to buy back their redemption or perhaps to show faith in the coming redemption that God would provide. They were waiting for God's redemption instead of trying to work to provide their own. Animal sacrifices were a substitute for human sacrifices because no human was without sin and could not shed his or her blood for the salvation of another.
Who is God talking to when He said that man is become one of us? There was always someone with God whom I believe to be Jesus although they did not know Him as Jesus at this time in history. Here is the mercy of God. He did not allow man to continue living in a sinful state. Imagine a slave having to be a slave for eternity with no relief, a wicked king living forever with cruelty or a crippled person never being able to walk for eternity. He had to limit our lives so that sin would not become worse. When the body dies the soul and spirit also cease to sin. It can't sin without a body. God in His wisdom forced them out of the garden so that they could not live forever in their sinful natural state by partaking of the tree of life. This may be why the devil and his angels live forever in their state and cannot be redeemed. Mankind has the sentence of natural death so they can be redeemed and experience a new resurrected sinless body but they have to come God's way. They cannot earn this or do this by their own religious works or rituals. There is no other way of salvation except through Christ. It is impossible to make it another way. There is no other way to get rid of sin or the curse that comes by sin. An innocent child who has not sinned is not separated from God but once we get to the age of accountability we sin sooner or later and must have the redemption that comes from the death of Jesus Christ for our sins.
What a wonderful promise to those who receive this good way. He will come again to those that look for Him. Then at the right time, He will set up a kingdom that will last forever but first the kingdom of God comes within every single person who comes to the one God sends to save us from the eternal consequences of sin that started in the garden of Eden.
God is without fault. The tree of life will be given back to man but many things have to be fulfilled first. DC Here is a verse in Revelation concerning this tree.
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