The
second half of Genesis chapter 3 begins with the God, through a
grieving heart, telling us the consequences of their sin. He begins
with the serpent, “cursed
are you above…all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life“.
Next God speaks prophetically to Satan, “I
will put enmity between you and the women. And between your seed and
her seed; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heal“.
The Bible never uses the term seed
of a women,
it is always the seed of the man, there is only one Man born from the
seed of a women- the Son of God. Even though Jesus is wounded by
Satan at the cross, He will rise and defeat Satan completely. Even
in pronouncing judgment, God is announcing a way of redemption for
mankind. To the women, God says, “I
will greatly increase your pain in childbearing”
and your husband “will
rule over you“.
This verse has been used to pervert it’s original intention, but
Jesus gave us the example of how a Christian man is to be lord over
his wife. The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:28, “Husbands
ought also love their own wives as their own bodies…for no one ever
hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ
also does the church“.
To the man, God says, “Cursed
is the ground because of you, through painful toil you will eat of
it…It will produce thorns and thistles for you… by the sweat of
your brow you will eat“.
All of our frustrations at work began in the garden. When sin
entered the world EVERYTHING changed.
Next
we read that “The
Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife“.
Up until this point there was no death, but in order to make
garments of skin, there had to be animals sacrificed. I’m certain
the shedding of blood was a horrible sight to Adam and Eve, but God
promised death as a penalty for disobedience. Not only did Adam
experience a spiritual death and separation from God, but the
physical death was required. Again, mercifully God allows for the
temporary sacrifice of animals until the One Sinless sacrifice can be
established in Jesus Christ. Finally we read that God drove Adam and
Eve out of the Garden and placed an angel with “a
flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of
life“.
God could not allow Adam to eat from the tree of life and live
eternally separated from Him. It is not until the last chapter of
Revelation that we see the tree of life again and all who have had
their sins forgiven through the sacrifice of The Lamb of God eat of
it freely. Only after mankind’s sin is covered does God allow us to
eat of the fruit.
As
parents there is one great lesson we can draw from this chapter, Adam
lived in a perfect environment, with the perfect Father, and yet he
still sinned. As parents we sometime blame ourselves when our
children stumble. Adam’s example tells us that because of sin
entering into the world, our children will not be perfect. They will
fall short, they will make bad choices, and they will disappoint us.
Parent, it is not your fault and God does not hold you responsible
for your child’s choice. Wonderfully God established a way of
repentance when we fall. In John 6:40 Jesus says, “This
is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and
believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him
up on the last day“.
All that is required is simple repentance and the humility to call
out to God for His forgiveness.