The Story of God: The Fall

All of us have experienced the painful loss of parents or spouses or even children. All of us are familiar with some kind of suffering, pain or injustice: Some of you know the chaos of war, others are familiar with the pain of a broken family or even a broken marriage. Still others have experienced betrayal and some know what it like to have been used or even been made to feel like a fool… And then we look at what’s happening in our world today: horrific suffering and violence in Syria and the Sudan; racial unrest in our cities, constant cries of global warming, corrupt politicians, gender discrimination, human trafficking – it’s all so much so that it almost make us numb to the reality of a world gone mad.

And so we ask: How did things get so bad? Why so much hatred, violence and injustice? What happened to us? How did we get to be the way we are? The answer to these questions are found in Genesis 3:1-13. It is here where we see how it all went wrong: How God’s perfect kingdom fell with one fatal decision.  But at the same time, we will see hope for our broken world.

The Serpent’s Snare  Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in 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.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The Serpant’s strategy was the same in the beginning as it is today. The Serpent’s goal has always been to usurp God’s sovereignty in our lives. To keep us from living as God’s people under God’s rule and experiencing God’s blessing. He wants us to cast off God’s rule and go our own way. To get God’s created beings to live as if God does not matter. The Serpent’s strategy is two-fold: One, to get us to doubt the truth of God’s Word. And two, get us to doubt the goodness of God’s character. And if he can get us to do that, then we fall right into his snare.

We see his first strategy right here in verse one with Eve. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Here we see the deceitful scheme of the evil one at work.   He distorts the truth.  He twists God’s word, makes one subtle change to God’s command, and utterly distorts the truth.

Now, to hand it to the woman, she catches this distortion right away. So she corrects him: The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in 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.’” In correcting him, Eve shows that she’s aware of the freedom God’s command gives. She knows she can eat freely from any tree except the one she calls “the tree in the middle of the garden.”  She doesn’t call the tree by its name, but she does knows it’s out of bounds for her. And this tells us a couple of things about her knowledge. One, she wasn’t too worried about it and so the name of the tree was no big deal. Or, two, since the command was given to Adam, Adam hadn’t made it very clear to her. But what we do see is that she was a little fuzzy when it came to knowing God’s Word. She didn’t repeat God’s Word accurately and she actually added to God’s command. God never said, “you must not touch it.”

Here is where any of us are susceptible to deception: If you have a limited or fuzzy understanding of God’s Word, or if you are always relying on someone else’s understanding of God’s Word, but you personally are not a student of God’s Word, you will be susceptible to Satan’s lies.

God’s design is that we learn to follow Jesus together. It’s when we are isolated, and unfamiliar with the Truth, that’s when we are most vulnerable to being deceived and falling into temptation, just like Eve here.  So let’s look again at that command. It’s found in Genesis 2:16-17, And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Now, because Eve didn’t have a clear understanding of God’s Word, the serpent knew he could deceive her. So he contradicts God’s Word so as to cast doubt about God’s character: “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5   He twists God’s word to make God appear harsh and restrictive. Sound familiar? He sows seeds of mistrust. “Maybe God is not as good as He appears to be.” “Maybe He’s holding back something good from you.” And really, that’s still how the devil works today. He wants you to think that God doesn’t have your best interests at heart. He wants you to doubt God’s goodness.

So here was Eve. God had given her everything to enjoy except for one thing. But rather than trust God to meet all her needs – she listens to another voice. It’s a voice that says, “You know what’s best for you, not some God who doesn’t care for you.” “He’s holding out on you.” “Be your own god, follow your heart” “Just one little taste and you’ll be like God.” The serpent’s snare is played. His deceptive ploy has appealed to her sense of fear. His outright lie has lessened the threat of death. So she listens to his lie rather than trust God, thus revealing her fatal flaw… and I might add “our fatal flaw.”

The Fatal Flaw  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6

Eve’s fatal flaw, Adam’s fatal flaw and our fatal flaw is right here. She listened to the lie, decided for herself that she would become the judge of what was good for her and abandoned trust in God. She looked and saw that the fruit was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom – all good things. “What can possibly be wrong with me eating this fruit? God wants me to eat healthy, doesn’t He? God wants me to be wise, doesn’t He? And He made me to be like Him, so if I’m going to be like Him, I need this fruit!” So she justifies her disobedience to God’s command. Not even the extravagance of Eden could convince her that God’s heart was good. So she chooses to stop trusting God and live apart from His will. That’s the Fatal Flaw. She has decided to go her own way. The snare worked. Eve decides to be her own god, abandons the true God and goes it alone. But not really. She takes her husband down with her. Sounds pretty bad. But Adam doesn’t get off so easily…

Look at what the text says here: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” The Hebrew term for ‘with her” means right there, elbow to elbow. Adam isn’t away in another part of the garden; he has no alibi. He’s standing right there, watching and listening to the whole thing unravel. And what does he do? NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! He doesn’t say a word, doesn’t lift a finger.

So then, the damage is done. Man and woman have fallen. The Serpent’s Snare worked. Both Adam and Eve choose to turn their backs on God, choose to take their destiny into their own hands and we’ve been paying for it ever since. How? How have we been damaged?  That’s what we see next:

The Damage Done (Genesis 3:7-13) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”  The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Here are listed at least four consequences to sin:                                                                             The first consequence is shame… Shame:  Their sin opened their eyes to their nakedness. To be “naked” literally means to be stripped of protective clothing and be “naked” in the sense of being defenseless, weak, or humiliated. Now, knowing good and evil, with their souls stripped bear and they are keenly aware of their guilt and a loss of innocence, a feel the same of their failure. David Atkinson explains this shame for us in saying: “Shame is the sense of unease with yourself at the heart of your being. Not being able to be comfortable with yourself as you are, and therefore not being comfortable in the presence of another; that is shame.”

Their shame takes its toll on the harmony they once knew, but now no longer had, and that leads to the next consequence:

Alienation: Their sin caused them to separate themselves from one another, symbolized by sewing fig leaves together for barriers. Their sin also led them to separate themselves from God, symbolized by hiding from Him among the trees. This is one of the more debilitating results of sin. If the evil one can get us to separate ourselves from one another and from God, he can destroy us. And that’s what he wants to do. He doesn’t want spouses living FOR each other. He wants us to destroy each other.  He doesn’t want anyone living for God. He wants us to hide from God, to have nothing to do with God.   And his strategy works pretty well, because at the root of alienation is fear.

Fear: Adam knew he had blown it, that something had gone wrong with him, that he is no longer what he was meant to be. Adam doesn’t just make a bad decision… Adam hides. Why? “I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”   Does this every happen to us as men? Listen to how John Eldredge explains us: “We are hiding, every last one of us. Well aware that we, too, are not what we were meant to be, desperately afraid of exposure, terrified of being seen for what we are and are not, we have run off into the bushes. We hide in our office, at the gym, behind the newspaper and mostly behind our personality. Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is a façade, and elaborate fig leaf.”

Fear makes fakers out of us. We are not as we should be, so we disguise ourselves to make ourselves look better then we really are. And if our disguises don’t make us look better, then we simply inflict more damage – We Blame: Look again at the text: When God searches for Adam and asks why he is hiding, and inquires if he disobeyed, Adam immediately tries to shirk responsibility by saying: “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” And the woman is no better… Then the Lord said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “the serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Here the couple reveal their true colors. Both abandon responsibility for their actions. The man blames God. The woman blames the serpent. It’s always someone else’s fault. How disappointing. But do we ever see this today? Sure. We blame our parents’, our lack of opportunity, a bad employer, someone else’s bad behavior. But rarely do individuals take responsibility for their own sin. And that’s what sin does. It damages us. We are no longer the noble and innocent crown of God’s creating work. No, now we are damaged goods. Damaged by sin.  Yet…

There is Hope for Us  It is here’s where God comes into our story. You see, when God came round the garden, He did not come to judge or punish, but to find them and enjoy their fellowship. WE MUST NOT MISS THIS. Although they were hiding from God, although they were damaged goods; God was seeking them. God was pursuing them. And that is still what God is doing today.

No matter how damaged you are; no matter what you may have done; God still pursues you with His relentless love. And in the midst of His pursuit, God has made a way to escape the snare, to fix the flaw and to restore the damage done. The way of escape if by faith: Faith in what God says is truth. Faith in Jesus Christ who says to you today: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

And God has made a way to fix the flaw of our sin: We are not able to fix the flaw within us. We cannot remove our sin. Only Jesus can.   And Jesus has already done it. He gave His righteous, flawless and innocent life on the cross, so you could have His righteous, innocent and flawless life in you. Now when anyone turns from sin and turns to faith in Jesus Christ, God not only forgives you and cleanses you of you sin, but He gives you a new life, the very life of Jesus who knew no sin.

Finally, God has made a way to restore the damage done. Once you receive Jesus by faith, God begins a work in you to renew and restore you so that you become more and more like Jesus. No more shame, no more alienation, no more fear, no more blame. All because God wants to be with you.

And this is the story we are a part of. God knows your battle, knows your sin, knows your shame and wants to be with you just the same. That’s why He gave us Jesus. He is the hope for our fallen lives. Today God is calling you back into His Story. To know the life He wants with you. And it all begins by turning to Jesus. So let me ask you. Have you put your trust in Jesus?