A shining Light in Utter Darkness

Genesis 3:1-24

Key 3:15

-The basic reason why people lost the Garden of Eden and all benefit, God provided and became very unhappy.

-When we learn fundamental cause of our misery, we can also understand our situation and find the fundamental solution.

-It tells us the redemptive love of God toward lost man: the shadow of messiah (savior)

1. What is the origin of Satan? (1:Juda 6; Rev 12:9, 2Pe 2:4,)? What is his intrinsic nature (Rev12:3,Jn 8:44,Isa 14:12-15,2Peter 2:4, Eph 6:12)? How did Satan plant doubt in the woman (1b)? Compare the woman’s answer with God’s original commands (2-3, 2:16-17)

1Now 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’?” 3 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.’”

6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,[a] putting them in chains of darkness[b] to be held for judgment;

3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[b] 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” 15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

*"Crafty" means intelligent and wise. Here, "crafty" means, sly and opportunistic.

-Serpent was created wisely. Satan used such nature of serpent. Satan attacks our weak point.

a) V6-Satan was originally the angel of God, archangel who was the captain among angels and guarded the glory of God. But he rebelled against God. He is beautiful and powerful. He became proud. Especially He knows God very well- so his work is doing against God.

b) His attribute is murderer, liar, there is no absolute in him. His main purpose is to crush God’s work as well as destroy a man who is God’s masterpiece.

We cannot overcome him by ourselves because he has seven heads and ten hones. (Rev12:3)

He knows the way of destruction. His ultimate purpose is to separate man from God through sin. If he breaks the loving relationship with God, and departs from God, it is the best way of destruction to man. He wants us to grip as his slaves.

He holds our weak points and accuses us to fall into sin. He makes man separate from God through all kinds of plots such as planting lies or unbelief and pride. His ultimate purpose is to destroy man who is God’s pinnacle masterpiece.

c) He approached a woman who didn’t directly receive God’s covenant from God. She heard it from her husband. Satan tossed reasonable and skeptical questions about God’s covenant. –His focus to approach toward woman was to make absolute words of God as skeptical and relatives way. – to destroy the trust relationship with God.

* Satan still approaches us with doubtful and skeptical questions about God and His love to destroy the relationship with God when we are weak and lack of faith. Satan teaches men first to doubt, and then to deny.

d) In her response, she limited God’s freedom. –God gave them vast freedom to eat from any tree in the garden. She exaggerated God’s command saying “you must not touch it” If we omit freedom and love in God, only legalism remains.

-She also changed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil into the tree that is in the middle of the garden. “

-She omitted the word, “surely” when she explained the penalty of sin; she made the absolute words of God relativistic.

* Her nuance of answer seemed to have a complaining attitude toward God’s restraint. Her perspective toward God was negative.

- Think about how much God loved them and provided them. However, she had lack of thankful heart toward God. (Rom 1:21-23)

*The fundamental problem of the woman was that she didn’t have absolute respect, thanks and reverence toward God’s words.

2. What false confidence and pride did Satan plant in the woman (4-5)? How did the woman’s view change toward eating fruit from the forbidden tree (6)? What did she do first after she ate from the forbidden tree?

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 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.

a) V4-This was completely false confidence. Satan openly denied God's word. He completely ignored God’s absolute covenant and persuaded woman to make God’s absolute covenant as the relative way to violate the covenant of God.

b) Satan cunningly planted unbelief about God and planted false confidence –God didn’t let her eat the forbidden fruit because you would be like God.

c) Satan used the pride and vanity which you would be like God to break God’s covenant though the woman. This is so craft and cunning bate for man who has the desire to be like God.

d) After listening to Satan’s seemingly sweet words, greed was born in her heart. When she looked at the tree with greed, the forbidden fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom. The cravings of sinful nature and its lust overpowered her.

-She became proud. She wanted to be like God. She took some and ate it and gave some her husband.

-Adam; He should have boldly reject her suggestion to eat it. “no way, never” but he ate it even though he knew it was absolutely forbidden fruit. He intentionally broke God’s holy command. –Woman listened the serpent’s lie and the man listened to the woman more than God’s word.

· The matter of our life or death is from whose message we listen, If we listen the message of God, it will give us eternal life. However, if we receive the message of devil, it will lead us into eternal death. –We need godly environment to listen words of God.

· So that sin came into this world- Williams Ames defined sin- original sin is a habitual deviation of the whole nature of man. Or turning aside from the law of God. Sin is lawlessness. (1Jn 3:4)

3. What unexpected event occurred to them (7-8,10)? How did God come to Adam who disobeyed him (9)? What was God really saying when he called Adam? (Isa 1:18) How did God rebuke Adam (11-13)? How did sin affect their relationship? How has the Lord been seeking you until now?

7 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.

8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

a) They didn’t become like God but lost their innocence and purity. They felt great shame and suffered with a guilty conscience. In order to cover up their shame, they sewed fig leaves together and made covering for themselves. (7)

-God’s voice was their joy, delight and comfort but became fearsome. No one was chasing, but they hurriedly hid. They became lovers of darkness.

-They lost the meaning and purpose of their lives. The heart of sinful man is troubled and distressed as Romans 2:9. From that time, sin came into Adam and he fell to Satan’s reign. Where God rules over there, there is light, life, love and true liberty.(Jn 8:32)

-However, the world where Satan rules over is full of darkness, fear and death. The solution to our inner darkness and fear is only to come back to God.

b) But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"--A rhetorical question. It was God’s deep love with broken heart. –Earnest calling

-God wanted Adam to see the meaning of existence. In God, we have meaning for we are created by him. When we live for God's glory, we have true meaning what God originally had purpose. We are created in that way. Without God, man doesn't know why and for what he is living.

-God was urging Adam to repent. God wanted him to come to him as he was. He still calls people to come to him in repentance. God does not see how horrible we were and are, he just accept if we retune to him no matter who we are. (Isa 1:18) * we must come to God simply. (1Jn 1:9,10)

c) They didn't repent but shuffled off their responsibility (blamed each other). Making excuses and imputing our sins, we make worse.

-Adam once said to his wife that she was bone of his bones and the flesh of his flesh. Now he imputes all sins to her. He had no love toward her nor any respect toward God. -The result of sin destroys the relationship with God, and also the relationship with husband and wife, or between neighbor and neighbor or between a nation and nation. The result of sin destroys the relationship between man and nature.

--Serpent had to crawl on his belly and eat dust all the days of his life. Serpent became the object of despise.

4. What redemptive plan do we find in verse 15 (Mt1:23, Gal 4:4)? What curse did the woman and Adam receive (16-19)? How did God reveal his love while eh was punishing them (21-24)? Share what you learned from this lesson about God’s great love.

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.”16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

a) ) Isa 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

Gal 4:4 says, "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law." -The Messiah Jesus Christ.

-Jesus would come and suffer on the cross. However, he crushed Satan's head through his resurrection. He would redeem us from sin and death. The first covenant was expired due to Adam's sin. Now we have new covenant in Jesus--"the covenant of grace."

What is difference between the Genesis 2:16,17 and Genesis 3:15?

Genesis 2:16,17- The covenant as keeping action but it was broken by Adam and Eve’s disobedience.- it was the covenant of deed.

Our spiritual condition- After sin came into us, we lost the ability to keep the law as well as to come to God by our own ability even though our conscience is still remained. (Rom 3:10-14) –total depravity.

To save us from the power of sin , someone, who is much powerful, has to intervene within us. That is why salvation is complete God’s grace.

Genesis 3:15- we can be saved by the way of grace through faith in Christ. ( John 3:16)- God know our weakness. So he made new way to be saved for us.

b) ." -Child bearing was God's blessing, but it became a great pain--the pain of death. She was also degraded to seek man's love and obey man's authority.

c) V.17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you;" Man disobeyed God and the earth became rebellious to man that earth doesn't bear enough fruit for man. All the creatures received God's cruse. (Ro 8:20,22)

V.18 "through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field." "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground." -Food was provided freely when they served God’s mission, but now man had to work hard. Hard labor was required to survive in the world. Man deteriorates from the man who was created for God’s holy mission into a man who just lives for survival.

V.19 "since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." -Death came to this world. Death brings nothingness in one's life. (Eccl 1:2; Ps 90:10) Death of flesh is the separation between flesh and soul. Death of soul is the separation from God the source of life. (Rev 21:8) The wages of sin is death. (Ro 6:23a)

- As soon as Adam sinned, Spiritual and physical death came into him. Men’s radical (total) depravity (total inability) came into them. Sin has affected the whole person down to the very core or root of his or her being. Sin effected upon our Moral, Mental, Physical, Relational, Spiritual and Emotional corruption. Think about a glass of water, which stir in teaspoon of deadly poison. Whole glass of water is ruined by just one spoon of deadly poison. It spread the poison throughout. A Totally depraved man may have high intelligence. They may have full of gentleness and kindness. His intellect God gave, is not annihilated by sin, not is it made inoperative. But it always works error. They are unable to seek God who is all source and the purpose of our lives. They are also unable to acknowledge God at all. Their corrupted mind always run against God. Their every inclination is astray from what God’s intention is.

d) Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

-Adam accepted the hope of God's redemption and called his wife, Eve--living.

-The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. -God prepared the garment of his love. God provided the garments of righteousness in Jesus.

e) And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever. So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."

-God didn't destroy the tree of life; there was hope for man to be restored in the Garden of Eden. We enter the kingdom of God, the new garden of Eden through Jesus and eternal life is given.

* Love and righteousness is his very nature.

-God hates sin--righteousness. The wage of sin is that deity, Jesus had to die in our place.

-He loves sinners--love

Sin is a fatal sickness that causes one's eternal death. We must solve it.