SATURDAY, July 25, 2009                                                       READ: Genesis 3: 20 - 24                                                                                                        

GOD SAVED ADAM AND EVE FROM LIVING IN SIN

MEMORIZE: “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”         Genesis 3: 17

Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve listen to the serpent and made the decision to eat of the fruit and then enticed her husband to do what he knew that God did not want him to do. Adam sinned, and God in His mercy, designated all of his descendants as sinners, as having sinned with him, so that, in providing salvation for mankind, He would do it on the basis of one righteous act by His Son (cf. Romans 5: 12-15).

Here in our text, Genesis 3: 20 – 24, we are able to see how God made provisions to save sinful Adam and Eve from continuing in their sinful state, living in sinfulness. When Adam and Eve became aware that they were naked, they attempted to provide covering for themselves by sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves (cf. Genesis 3: 7). How long would the fig leaves have lasted? In v. 20, we see that Adam named his wife, Eve, “… because she was the mother of all living.” The assigning of the name, the naming a person, actually involves the exercise of legitimate authority. So, here was Adam exercising his God-given authority and naming his wife. It is not difficult to understand if you bear in mind that Eve was indeed the first female, first wife and first mother. Every other human being came about as a result of her motherhood. In v. 21, we are able to see how the LORD, God provided adequate clothing for Adam and his wife, Eve. Instead of the fig leaves, God took the skin of animals and made tunics and used them to clothe Adam and Eve. This ought to speak of, to foreshadow substitutionary atonement. It prefigured God’s Lamb laying down His life on our behalf, “… the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God” (cf. Genesis 22: 8, 13; 1 Peter 3: 18). In v. 22, we are able, once again, to see how God prefigures His Son, His Redeemer, the Promised One (cf. Genesis 2: 9). We are told that both “… the tree of life …” and “…tree of the knowledge of good and evil …” were in the midst of the garden. We saw that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to provide the test of the man willingness to obey God. The tree of life represented God’s eternal life (cf. John 10: 10; 14: 6; Romans 6: 23; Revelation 22: 2). God has always intended for us to obtain eternal through His Son (cf. Acts 4: 12). If Adam and Eve had not sinned they would have been in a different state. They sinned and therefore were not allowed to eat of the tree of life. If they did, while they were in their sinful condition, they would end up living forever in that state of sinfulness. What is God’s plan of salvation (cf. Ephesians 2: 8; Romans 2: 4; Acts 17: 30, 31; 20: 21)? No self-salvation! So, in vv. 23, 24, we see how God drove both the man and the woman out of the garden and prevented them from returning to it. If you eat your cake, you should not expect to still have it. When we sin, God does not overlook it and we are not allowed to get away with it. We should certainly not expect that God will overlook it and treat us as if everything is alright. He took appropriate measures to ensure that Adam and Eve would repent of their sin and avail themselves of forgiveness and salvation through faith in His Son (cf. Acts 16: 31). That has been God’s pattern from the very beginning, and it remains the same today. Are you in touch with that?

PRAY: LORD, God Almighty, You are righteous and I am now acknowledging that Your ways are right and perfect. I want Your way to be my way. I want to join You in what You are doing. I want to be able to see things from Your perspective and do things as You want them done. I am asking this in Jesus’ strong name.