The Riveting Rend and the Resulting Return (Genesis 3:1-14)
It is truly an honor to be here with you today and to open God's Word together.
Introduction
It is truly an honor to be here with you today and to open God’s Word together.
Do you feel that the world is broken?… Because if we’re being honest, it feels that way to me. Whether in politics, economics, cultural norms, or even family relationships, most of all things feel off, corrupted, or even outright evil. I remember first feeling this way when my parents got a divorce while I was in middle school. At the time, I thought it was the saddest thing ever. Looking back now, I recognize that other broken things led to such a divide, and how, for me personally, those events led to even more pain. And you all have felt this way, too. You know the world is broken because of the struggles you have been through. Some of you have been through divorce, others have lost family members, or even little children, to the consequences of sin and fallen creation. Some of the most cherished people in our lives have left us because they could not bear the brokenness of our time. There is so much evil and sadness all around us.
Indeed, the world is broken. All things are harmed by sin and its consequences. But let me tell you, dear friends, there is hope. The Garden of Eden was meant to be a perfect place. Indeed, it was perfect prior to Satan’s deception of the woman. There was abundant life in this place, a garden with green plants, running water, and birds chirping and animals running about. They were there with their Creator, and he took care of all of their needs, every single one of them. One of the particular needs God provided for was a cure for the man’s loneliness: the creation of Eve, the first woman. Adam and Eve were there together with God and everything He had created for them. But things quickly took a turn.
My purpose in preaching to you today is to remind you of how the brokenness in the world began and where it is heading. This purpose is drawn from the fact that Genesis 3 shows both the riveting rend—the dramatic, initial tear that results in brokenness—and the resulting return—how God responds even in the midst of human failure and shortcomings. Though humanity fell into sin and all that comes with it, God’s justice and grace reveal His plan to redeem and restore us.
Following the creation narrative, in which God made the heavens, the earth, and all the things without blemish, our passage today tells of the pivotal rend in human history and foreshadows the return to perfection in Christ. Let’s turn to Genesis 3 together, reading the whole chapter and focusing on 4 realities because of the Fall: Sin, Shame, Judgment, and Restoration.
Genesis 3:1-24
Moses, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recounts the events of the Creation and Fall narrative. He writes,
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “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.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.1
So goes the reading of God’s Word, as the Prophet Isaiah writes, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8). This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The first reality of the fall is sin (vv. 1-6)
The first reality derived from our passage is that of sin. However, notice how sin is not the first object or idea mentioned. Rather, the wicked serpent is the first focus. Moses says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made” (v. 1a). And immediately, what does the serpent do? He deceives and tempts the woman: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (v. 1b). In fact, the translators and editors who compiled the numbers of our Bible saw the serpent, who is later identified as Satan, and this initial deception as so closely related, they are both first mentioned in the same verse! Satan does not just do deception; he is deception. This is one reason Jesus replies to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” when Peter said Jesus did not have to die, for Jesus would not be deceived by such a remark (Mark 8:33; Matt. 16:23). Furthermore, this is evidenced by the following verses in our passage. After Eve responds, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’” (vv. 2-3), the serpent cunningly argues back. He hisses, “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” (vv. 4-5). To that I say, what a liar!
Unfortunately, however, Satan’s deception stirred a longing in Eve’s heart. She “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (v. 6). Notice these three desires: 1) the tree was good for food, 2) it was delightful to look at, and 3) it could supposedly make her wise. It moves from deception (she was deceived by the serpent) to perception (she saw the fruit was good) to evaluation (it was delightful) and finally to action (she took, ate, and shared it with Adam). But what does the event tell us about sin in general, so we can better understand it in our lives?
The Apostle John later writes a parallel to these first verses in 1 John 2:16: “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” On an inward level, sin moves from deception to appetite to attraction and finally to aspiration. We have all witnessed this cycle repeatedly. For instance, say a married man notices a beautiful woman. In other words, he perceives her beauty. Then, he begins to long for her, evaluating her. Finally, he acts on his perceptions and evaluations. But, simultaneously, there is an even deeper motive. He had an appetite for something that was not his, an attraction to her, and finally an aspiration to be with her.
Another point that we can draw from this passage on the first sin is that there are primarily two originators, and that God is not one of them. Thus, John writes, this “is not from the Father” (1 John 2:16). Rather, the culprits are the deceiver, the serpent, and the deceived, who were Eve and Adam. However, we must not let the fact that Eve and Adam are called “deceived” take away from their responsibility for introducing sin into the world. They, by their own free will, chose to participate in this act of rebellion. Likewise, when we sin, each and every one of us, we are not just puppets of the devil. We choose wickedness because we want something from it. Let’s not give the devil too much credit. He is nothing but a wicked, cunning deceiver. We are both the deceived and the active culprit. We are responsible for the things we do. Moreover, we are responsible for where we place our identity. Do we aspire to be like God according to pride and lust, like Adam and Eve, or do we aspire to be like God in a way that honors and brings him glory?
Returning to our illustration of the man in adultery, what might have come from such an endeavor? Well, he and his wife might get divorced, and the things he longed for would probably turn out not to be all that great after all. Shame and ruin would come his way. Likewise, ruin and shame came for Adam and Eve, too. Because sin is a certainty, so is the effect it has on us, which leads us to our second point of today’s passage.
Because of the fall, we experience Shame (vv. 7-13)
The second reality we face because of the Fall is shame, which is a consequence of sin. Moses writes that following the eating of the forbidden fruit, “the eyes of [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (v. 7). In other words, noticing their nakedness, they tried to cover their identities because of shame. Furthermore, when God came to them, they tried to conceal themselves among the trees, saying they were fearful due to their nakedness (vv. 9-10). Isn’t it curious that the first thing Adam and Eve did after eating of the tree was to use the trees as clothing? Likewise, when God comes, they use the trees as a hiding spot. The same item and reality they had transgressed are the same types of items they try to take refuge behind. Because of their sin and shame, they desired to take refuge in creation rather than the Creator who made it, and we do the same thing.
Here in the West, we often think in terms of guilt and innocence, but in many parts of the world, including the part of the world where Moses wrote and where Jesus walked with us, they think more in terms of shame and honor. In other words, a core fear for most people is being fully seen while engaging in wrongdoing. For instance, Adam and Eve, prior to the Fall, had honor before God; after the Fall, they tried to cover their shame and restore honor to themselves by hiding behind the trees and making clothes from the leaves. Their main dilemma was not so much that they did wrong, but that their wrongdoing meant they could no longer stand before God as they once did.
While we in the West may say we are not as familiar with honor-shame dynamics as we are with the legal-focused guilt-innocence dynamic, we are more aware of it than we think. Take social media, for example. Of course, we all know that our Facebook or Instagram pages are not really good explanations of who we are. In other words, it’s so easy to create a facade on social media and try to cover up our insecurities and scars. In fear of our true selves, the good, the bad, and the ugly, we often try to make ourselves seem better than we really are. Why? Because of honor. We crave it because honor is better than the shame of being fully known.
In other words, our biggest fear is often being known but not loved, so we would rather make a tailored image of ourselves for others to see and love. Tim Keller says it this way: “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”2 Therefore, my friends, if we truly want to be honorable, we must be faithful to who we really are, not desiring to hide ourselves in the things of the world but in God, who makes us honorable and who loves us unfathomably. So in times of shame, run to Jesus! Take shelter in him. When life gets you down, and you feel that cumbersome weight of anxiety and shame, whether it’s because you feel insufficient in any area of life—family, work, hobbies, or anything else—you have a friend in Jesus, and He loves you so very much. Cling to this love and let it be your more precious treasure and your deepest peace.
In verses 11-13, we see another effect of sin and also of shame: deflection. When asked what happened by God, Adam responds, “It was the woman, and also it was sort of You because You made her!” Likewise, Eve says, “It was the serpent!” This is the first classic he-said/she-said argument. The only proper answer was, “We are sorry, Lord, for we did what you commanded us not to do, and now we are both shameful and guilty. Please help us.” However, their answers did not reflect ownership of what had just happened but rather deflection. Once again, we do the same thing. Because of shame when our sin is revealed, we would rather hide behind someone else rather than take accountability for our actions. Eve even blamed satan, just as we so often do today. Again, we must not give him too much credit. We are more sinners than simple puppets.
Shame was not the only consequence of our transgression, but God also promised punishment.
The third reality of the fall is judgment (vv. 14-19, 23)
Thus, the third reality derived from Genesis 3 is the righteous judgment of God because of sin and even shame—that desire to hide ourselves in the things of the world away from God. We do this as if He cannot find us. But I tell you, brothers and sisters, He can and He will, because He is all-powerful and all-knowing, and everywhere, all at once. He is utterly and fully holy, holy, holy. And as such, He abhors wickedness (Ps. 5:5; 11:5), and will not allow it to go unpunished.
Do you remember how I told you twice earlier not to give the devil too much credit because we, as fallen humans, are still depraved? Our giving him credit for wrongdoings is really just a conclusion of shame. At the same time, however, we must not underestimate his influence on our sinful hearts and minds. Scripture attests that we must “Be sober-minded [and] watchful. [Because our] adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Well, I tell you again, Satan is getting what’s coming his way. The judgment of God is coming to crush him in his place because the crafty one, עָרוּם (ʿārûm), deceives Adam and Eve, who in Genesis 2:25 were “naked and unashamed,” עֲרוּמִּים (ʿărummîm). After the deception, Adam and Eve were naked and ashamed, עֵירֻמִּם (ʿērummim). Most scholars say these three words are intentional wordplays by God to show the connection between Satan and the honor-shame of God’s creation, pre- and post-Fall. What was once innocent open nakedness turns to guilty and shameful exposure. Thus, God’s judgment of the serpent is fully warranted, for He not only deceived but also corrupted God’s design. Let’s see what Moses writes in verses 14-15:
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
God keeps the serpent’s punishment short and brief: 1) he is cursed, 2) he shall eat dust, and 3) he will be defeated by the Seed of the woman. These three points are unified to show the serpent’s certain demise. He is cursed because he will be defeated. He is to eat dust because he has nothing better to do than to wallow in the dirt. Someone is coming to put an end to the devil once and for all, but before we dive into that glorious truth, we must see what God says to the man and the woman.
Likewise, God’s judgment of Eve is also brief. He says,
I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (v. 16)
There are two judgments upon Eve: 1) painful childbearing, and 2) conflict with her husband. Again, this shows that the fall was not only about guilt specifically, but it also had ramifications for relationships through both guilt and shame because both of these judgments are relational. First to Eve’s offspring, then to Adam personally. And, as noted previously, we are all too familiar with broken relationships, no matter their type.
Then, God returns to a guilt focus rather than a shame focus, mirroring the judgment God gave the serpent (both the Serpent’s and Adam’s judgment begin with the phrase “because you have…”). Why do the judgments of the serpent and Adam both have this cause-and-effect or guilt language, while Eve’s judgment does not? Was Eve not guilty, too? There are two insights that need to be said here. First, Eve was guilty. After all, God accuses here through the form of a question in verse 13, “What is this that you have done?” and the woman replies, “I was deceived.” Rather than immediately pronouncing judgment upon her, the Lord turns to the deceiver first. But when God finally arrives to judge Eve, it is not accusatory; the judgment is more shame-focused and relational. Moses wrote this way with the intention of conveying the dual effects of the Fall: it is both sinful and brings about guilt, but it is also shameful and brings about human brokenness, and indeed the brokenness of the entire world. Second, the woman’s responsibility is somewhat secondhand to Adam’s. She was guilty, but her husband was able to correct her, yet he did not. In other words, Adam was able to represent her, and instead he succumbed to her and the devil’s temptation, and indeed the wickedness of his own heart.
So what are the effects of Adam’s sin? They are primarily twofold, like Eve’s. First, the ground and earth become cursed so that work is toilsome. Second, God promises that Adam would die, for God made him from the ground and to the ground he shall return. Both of these also apply to Eve as well, because as Eve’s husband, Adam represented her. Furthermore, both Adam’s and Eve’s curses apply to us, don’t they? Women still experience difficulty in childbirth and in relationships (men also experience this relational curse as well), and all people still die. Again, that is something we are all too familiar with. This struggle stems from Adam and Eve’s guilt being passed down to us because Adam was the first man, and as the first man, he carried the whole human race on his shoulders. Yet, he failed miserably.
The final judgment actually comes later in the chapter. Quickly look down to verse 23 with me: “the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.” This is the same language God used to talk about Adam’s death, so we know that this excommunication comes about as an elaboration of what it means to die. And frankly, friends, it is not pleasant. Death is not only physical but also spiritual. Adam is cut off from God and His perfect dwelling place. He has to leave to work the ground that someday he will physically return to.
So we have seen the effects of the Fall and that first sin, and in shame, and in God’s judgment, but is there hope? Yes, there is.
Restoration (vv. 20-24)
The fourth reality of our passage is that God will faithfully restore all things to Himself. Despite Adam’s guilt and shame and God’s necessary judgment, He will use all three to bring everything back to how he intended. And, arguably, this restoration will create something even better than the Garden of Eden.
Let’s return to verse 15, a gold mine of anticipation. The Lord says to the serpent,
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
This verse has come to be known as the proto-evangelium or the first gospel. But wait, doesn’t the Gospel come much later when Jesus came to die in our place and bear our guilt? Friends, truly I tell you that it is good news indeed that God made the promise of the Gospel at the very beginning. He promises that the Seed of the woman will finally destroy satan yet it will cost Him something, or, in other words, will bruise Him. And the cost that Christ paid to defeat satan was great indeed. He died an excruciating death, but He rose up three days later.
So we have seen and heard that Jesus defeats Satan from the passage, but what else is there? Look to verse 21: “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” In order for Adam and Eve’s nakedness to be covered, something had to die, so God did it Himself. I want you to see both the remedy for sin and the remedy for shame in this verse. Adam and Eve’s humiliation was covered, but the effect of their sin was also transferred, though temporarily, to something else, something innocent. We see Jesus do the same thing, and because of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we know that His covering and sacrificial death is not temporary but is once and for all. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Jesus… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.” Furthermore, the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Just as God transferred the guilt of Adam and Eve to the animals to give their skins to them, all guilt, including the first humans’ guilt, is transferred to Jesus. He died to cover us in his own righteousness, defeating satan, sin, and death, and to bring us out of our shame into honor. Thus, the Prophet Zechariah says, “Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments” (Zech. 3:3-4). I ask you, dear friends, have you taken off your filthy garments and given them to Christ? Have you put on the garments of white that only He has provided? Have you trusted Him as your Lord and Savior? If you have, do you still depend on Him in that way? If not, I plead with you to turn to Jesus! He provides the restoration that God has promised!
Conclusion
Together, the four realities described in Genesis 3—Sin, Shame, Judgment, and Restoration—provide an overview of God’s plan of redemption for the whole world and for all of us who believe and trust in Him. Sin, which is the riveting rend, leads to both shame and judgment, and the logical conclusion of all of that, or the resulting return, is that God will set all things right, covering our sin and shame by taking judgment upon Himself and setting us up in a place of honor beside our King. Moreover, Jesus will return to consummate all things unto Himself. Will you be ready for Him? Are you ready for a new and better Eden in which there will be no sin, shame, or judgment? Therefore, let’s cling to the guarantee that Jesus paid it all for us, taking our sin and shame. Furthermore, let’s hold fast to the promise of Jesus’ return and the consummation of His kingdom forever, even amid temporal sin, shame, and judgment. For even though the world was torn or rended by the Fall, God promised and continues to promise a glorious return.
I want to leave you with one more verse. The Apostle Peter encourages his audience and us that Jesus “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). Be healed then. Be restored. Be with Jesus. Be like the slavetrader turned hymnwriter and minister, John Newton, who turned to Jesus during the trials of a stormy voyage at sea. He gave up the sin of running those poor people across the Atlantic, and the shame that came along with it, and traded it for navigating people across the gulf of separation between God and humanity. The Good news is that the gulf was bridged because God has come close to us in Jesus. Newton knew Jesus made the way, and he composed hymns such as “Amazing Grace” simply to guide others in this glorious truth. Do you know that Jesus is the seed that was promised, the way, and the King who will return? If you don’t, I would love to talk to you about that. Again, thank you for having me here with all of you. Let’s pray.