Genesis 3:8-24
"Deliberation And Deliverance!" • 11.5.09 • Thursday Night Bible Study
Intro.
- Last time that we were together, we looked at the deception of Eve and the transgression of Adam. For the sake of continuity, I'll quickly recap the major points.
- Eve, the Bible tells us, had become convinced that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and desirable to make one wise.
- Her intent was to better herself. She truly believed that her desire would be fulfilled.
- Adam, right there with her, took of the fruit of the tree in open defiance and rebellion against the Lord. Perhaps he resented the prohibition or that God had something that he did not.
- Whichever the case, the results were immediate. They became aware that they were naked. Several commentators believe that this refers to a loss of glorious light. Literally, the lights went out!
- In their rush to cover themselves, they fashioned fig leaves for their clothing. Unfortunately, this would not be the end of their punishment.
- This brings us to the second part of this message and we'll couch it in these terms.
Text
• Genesis 3:8,9 : "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" : The fig leaves are barely attached when they heard the sound of the Lord God. Imagine that!
- The Lord God. Majestic and powerful. Creator of all the earth is walking in the garden, condescending to man for the purpose of relationship. On this day, He comes to deliberate as judge.
- He came in the cool of the day, likely meaning twilight. The words that are translated "in the cool of the day," I might literally paraphrase as "breathing time!"
- It's the time for relaxation, the day of work being complete. This seems to have been a pattern, as they easily recognize His sound.
- Prior to this day, this sound brought joy to their hearts. Today however, His sound brought about a different emotion. Usually, they ran to God. Today, they hid themselves from Him.
- Remember that God is affected as well. I cannot imagine the heartbreak. He already knows what they have done. He grieves for the loss of the relationship that He also enjoyed.
- God came calling. God has initiated this process.
- Adam did not call out to God. This was not his natural response after his disobedience. But even though Adam has sinned, and God knows it, God still comes down to Adam.
- This has always been the story, from the very first seconds of man's experience with sin. God still seeks out His own, who are battered by sin and calls out to them by His spirit of love.
- He asks, "where are you?" Meaning, "You're not here like you always are." The question is not for God's information, but man's stimulation.
- It's almost as if to say, "look at where you are at!" The question is meant to stimulate Adam's heart, in a similar way that the prodigal son was stirred. He came to his senses. Adam did not.
• Genesis 3:10,11 : "So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.' And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'" : Adam went from knowing his nakedness, to covering his nakedness, to hiding because of his nakedness.
- I wonder how much more isolated he would have become. I wonder how low he would have gone. Would he have become suicidal? God intervenes before he goes any deeper into hiding.
- Fear is introduced into the story of humanity. I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. So transparent and so definitive of what has become our experience ever since then.
- Mankind hears the voice of God today through His Word. They are also afraid because they know that there is no defense, no way to excuse our behavior, so we hide ourselves from Him.
- God continues his deliberation and asks questions that show His knowledge.
- He is telling Adam that He knows that someone has been talking with him. He knows that he has taken from the tree. His questions are straightforward. He is waiting for confession.
• Genesis 3:12,13 : "Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.' And the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" : The man immediately goes on the defensive. It's the woman. It's her fault. And by the way, YOU gave her to me! Adam accuses God of being complicit! She did it, but ultimately, it's your fault God for bringing her into my life!
- God turns over to the woman and gets the same result. It's the serpent who deceived me and I ate. Both admit to eating, but neither confesses their sin.
- I admit that I ate. I won't admit that I ate because I didn't trust you. I won't admit that I ate because of my pride.
- Confession is more than dealing with any given act. It deals with what lies at the source of the behavior. I did this because I am not trusting, not willing to submit, not believing, hard hearted.
- We can stop the behavior, but will miss the healing and the restoration if we are not willing to confront the attitude behind the action. The arguments are in. Now the judge lays out his verdict.
• Genesis 3:14,15 : "So the Lord God said to the serpent: 'Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.'" : God turns to the serpent first. He goes straight to the enemy both of man and Himself.
- In verse 14, there is a judgment upon the actual serpent. The actual serpent is sent to the floor. Prior to this serpents may have been bi-peds or even winged creatures.
- Sin has marred all of creation and now the cattle are cursed. The serpent however is cursed in a special way. Literally, he is lower than every other animal, eating the dust of the ground.
- But then comes the theological magna carta. It is the first mention of the ultimate victory that God will have over the serpent.
- This verse is difficult to understand in the NKJV. I appreciate the New Living Translation's version of this verse.
• Genesis 3:15 NLT : "From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.'" : There will be hostility. The battle will be between the serpent's offspring and the woman's offspring.
- This is a very mysterious verse to figure out in it's totality. Naturally speaking, from this point on, man will have an intrinsic fear of snakes. When you are out in the woods, you are always looking around for snakes.
- There will never again be a natural friendship that can ever develop. But then, the serpent becomes a representative of the war against God.
- The offspring will crush the head of the serpent, even though the serpent will strike his heel.
- First, this points to Jesus Christ's victory over the serpent at the cross. Jesus was mortally wounded. He died. But three days later He rose and forever crushed the effects of sin and death.
- The second thing that this points to is that because Christ lives in us, we also are able to defeat our adversary.
- Turn with me to Romans 16. Paul is completing his book on the topic of salvation.
• Romans 16:19,20 : "For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."
- We are His offspring and we share in the victory experientially that Jesus won!
• Genesis 3:17 : "To the woman He said: 'I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.' Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': 'Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.'" : After God has pronounced judgment upon the serpent, he now turns to the woman and the man.
- Do notice the order. The serpent, the woman and then the man. For the woman, God promises multiplied sorrow in childbearing. This refers mainly to pain.
- Again, the NLT says it most clearly. "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering." Epidural's help with the pain today, but that does not diminish the intensity.
- Then notice also that there would be multiplied conception, meaning that babies could come more frequently.
- God then tells the woman that her desire would be for her husband. This is an interesting phrase. The same word, "desire" is used in the next chapter.
• Genesis 4:6,7 : "So the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
- The word has a negative connotation. It speaks of control or manipulation. As a response, the man will rule over you. That word speaks of "domination." He would rule with an iron hand.
- I think of Ricky and Lucy. Ricky always imposing his will on Lucy, never letting her explore her creativity. Meanwhile, Lucy channels all her creativity into manipulative schemes!
- It's a part of the curse. Marriages now would suffer as a result of the curse. Marital strain and distrust are now par for the course. It will take God's spirit and redemption to reverse it.
- To Adam, God reminds him of his transgression. He heeded the voice of his wife, meaning that he valued her voice over the voice, the command, of God. That's always a problem.
- The promise of difficult work is his. He cultivates a cursed ground that once brought forth nothing but beauty. It would now bring forth much that would fight against his efforts.
- Finally, to mankind, their days would now be numbered. They would return to dust.
- Physical death would become a reality that the world would now sadly endure from generation to generation. God has deliberated and has proclaimed His judgment.
- Thankfully, that is not where we need to leave it. Against the dark blackdrop that is sin, God spreads out a blinding light of hope.
• Genesis 3:20-24 : "And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'--therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken so He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." : Adam saw a light of hope and he ran to it. His naming of the woman points to the faith in God that he had. She was the mother of all living. Remember that they have just been told that they would die.
- Literally, the name Eve means "life" or "living." Adam heard God's promise and saw deliverance in his wife.
- Then God looked at Adam and Eve and saw that the clothes that they were wearing, the 501 Fig leaves, were inadequate. So, he made tunics of skin. These were animal hides.
- This is very important for you and I to understand. God allows these two to wear the skin of an animal. An animal had to die in order for them to be clothed.
- Something "innocent," not involved, had to lose it's life, so that they could have clothing.
- I imagine that they had to watch this. It had to be visual. Sacrifice. Blood. Death. They had never seen death before. This was a new and shocking reality.
- But their clothing that they had fashioned for themselves was inadequate. God had to clothe them correctly. This is a wonderful picture of salvation.
- Isaiah 64:6 tells us that all our righteousness is like filthy rags. The clothing of our own righteousness that we wear is disgusting. It's filthy.
- Every part of our garment is stained by sin. It's unbearable to wear before any audience, much less the audience of God. We are unpresentable to Him.
- Our clothing, righteousness, goodness is always and forever inadequate. This is why God clothes Adam and Eve in clothes that are born from shed blood.
- Jesus would be the one whose blood flowed. Now, we can have the clothing of His righteousness.
- Turn to Isaiah 61. This is the chapter that Jesus began reading from when he began His earthly ministry. It's a chapter about His mission. Listen to these words:
• Isaiah 61:6-10 : "But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs. 'For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.' I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
- "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation." Beautiful words!
- Turn with me to Revelation 7. John is describing his vision of heaven.
• Revelation 7:9,10 : "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"
- These are realities that must become our focus in this life. In fact, that is the thrust of the last part of this passage. God sends Adam and Eve out from the Garden that He had placed them in.
- Why? it's still beautiful. It's still a magnificent place. Why can they not stay?
- They know good and evil and there was now a danger of taking from the tree of life and living forever in a sinful condition.
- God drives them out now and blocks the way back in. From this point on, there will be no place on earth that will be a paradise for redeemed man.
- He would always need to look forward to a time when there would be a fully restored, face to face, relationship with God. There will be no looking back. We will look forward to our deliverance.
Conclusion
- "The Bible tells us in Galatians 3:13 that Jesus Christ "redeemed us from the curse of the law having been made a curse for us."
- Sin brought pain to childbirth, and no one knew more pain than Jesus did when He, through His suffering, brought many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10)
- Sin brought conflict, and Jesus endured great conflict to bring our salvation (Hebrews 12:3)
- Thorns came with sin and the fall, and Jesus endured a crown of thorns to bring our salvation (John 19:2)
- Sin brought sweat, and Jesus sweat, as it were, great drops of blood to win our salvation (Luke 22:44)
- Sin brought sorrow, and Jesus became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, to save us (Isaiah 53:3)
- Sin brought death, and Jesus tasted death for everyone that we might be saved (Hebrews 2:9)"
"Deliberation And Deliverance!" • 11.5.09 • Thursday Night Bible Study
Intro.
- Last time that we were together, we looked at the deception of Eve and the transgression of Adam. For the sake of continuity, I'll quickly recap the major points.
- Eve, the Bible tells us, had become convinced that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and desirable to make one wise.
- Her intent was to better herself. She truly believed that her desire would be fulfilled.
- Adam, right there with her, took of the fruit of the tree in open defiance and rebellion against the Lord. Perhaps he resented the prohibition or that God had something that he did not.
- Whichever the case, the results were immediate. They became aware that they were naked. Several commentators believe that this refers to a loss of glorious light. Literally, the lights went out!
- In their rush to cover themselves, they fashioned fig leaves for their clothing. Unfortunately, this would not be the end of their punishment.
- This brings us to the second part of this message and we'll couch it in these terms.
I. Deception (v.1-7)
II. Deliberation (v.8-19)
III. Deliverance (v.20-24)
II. Deliberation (v.8-19)
III. Deliverance (v.20-24)
Text
II. Deliberation (v.8-19)
• Genesis 3:8,9 : "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" : The fig leaves are barely attached when they heard the sound of the Lord God. Imagine that!
- The Lord God. Majestic and powerful. Creator of all the earth is walking in the garden, condescending to man for the purpose of relationship. On this day, He comes to deliberate as judge.
- He came in the cool of the day, likely meaning twilight. The words that are translated "in the cool of the day," I might literally paraphrase as "breathing time!"
- It's the time for relaxation, the day of work being complete. This seems to have been a pattern, as they easily recognize His sound.
- Prior to this day, this sound brought joy to their hearts. Today however, His sound brought about a different emotion. Usually, they ran to God. Today, they hid themselves from Him.
- Remember that God is affected as well. I cannot imagine the heartbreak. He already knows what they have done. He grieves for the loss of the relationship that He also enjoyed.
- God came calling. God has initiated this process.
- Adam did not call out to God. This was not his natural response after his disobedience. But even though Adam has sinned, and God knows it, God still comes down to Adam.
- This has always been the story, from the very first seconds of man's experience with sin. God still seeks out His own, who are battered by sin and calls out to them by His spirit of love.
- He asks, "where are you?" Meaning, "You're not here like you always are." The question is not for God's information, but man's stimulation.
- It's almost as if to say, "look at where you are at!" The question is meant to stimulate Adam's heart, in a similar way that the prodigal son was stirred. He came to his senses. Adam did not.
• Genesis 3:10,11 : "So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.' And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'" : Adam went from knowing his nakedness, to covering his nakedness, to hiding because of his nakedness.
- I wonder how much more isolated he would have become. I wonder how low he would have gone. Would he have become suicidal? God intervenes before he goes any deeper into hiding.
- Fear is introduced into the story of humanity. I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. So transparent and so definitive of what has become our experience ever since then.
- Mankind hears the voice of God today through His Word. They are also afraid because they know that there is no defense, no way to excuse our behavior, so we hide ourselves from Him.
- God continues his deliberation and asks questions that show His knowledge.
- He is telling Adam that He knows that someone has been talking with him. He knows that he has taken from the tree. His questions are straightforward. He is waiting for confession.
• Genesis 3:12,13 : "Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.' And the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" : The man immediately goes on the defensive. It's the woman. It's her fault. And by the way, YOU gave her to me! Adam accuses God of being complicit! She did it, but ultimately, it's your fault God for bringing her into my life!
- God turns over to the woman and gets the same result. It's the serpent who deceived me and I ate. Both admit to eating, but neither confesses their sin.
- I admit that I ate. I won't admit that I ate because I didn't trust you. I won't admit that I ate because of my pride.
- Confession is more than dealing with any given act. It deals with what lies at the source of the behavior. I did this because I am not trusting, not willing to submit, not believing, hard hearted.
- We can stop the behavior, but will miss the healing and the restoration if we are not willing to confront the attitude behind the action. The arguments are in. Now the judge lays out his verdict.
• Genesis 3:14,15 : "So the Lord God said to the serpent: 'Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.'" : God turns to the serpent first. He goes straight to the enemy both of man and Himself.
- In verse 14, there is a judgment upon the actual serpent. The actual serpent is sent to the floor. Prior to this serpents may have been bi-peds or even winged creatures.
- Sin has marred all of creation and now the cattle are cursed. The serpent however is cursed in a special way. Literally, he is lower than every other animal, eating the dust of the ground.
- But then comes the theological magna carta. It is the first mention of the ultimate victory that God will have over the serpent.
- This verse is difficult to understand in the NKJV. I appreciate the New Living Translation's version of this verse.
• Genesis 3:15 NLT : "From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.'" : There will be hostility. The battle will be between the serpent's offspring and the woman's offspring.
- This is a very mysterious verse to figure out in it's totality. Naturally speaking, from this point on, man will have an intrinsic fear of snakes. When you are out in the woods, you are always looking around for snakes.
- There will never again be a natural friendship that can ever develop. But then, the serpent becomes a representative of the war against God.
- The offspring will crush the head of the serpent, even though the serpent will strike his heel.
- First, this points to Jesus Christ's victory over the serpent at the cross. Jesus was mortally wounded. He died. But three days later He rose and forever crushed the effects of sin and death.
- The second thing that this points to is that because Christ lives in us, we also are able to defeat our adversary.
- Turn with me to Romans 16. Paul is completing his book on the topic of salvation.
• Romans 16:19,20 : "For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."
- We are His offspring and we share in the victory experientially that Jesus won!
• Genesis 3:17 : "To the woman He said: 'I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.' Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': 'Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.'" : After God has pronounced judgment upon the serpent, he now turns to the woman and the man.
- Do notice the order. The serpent, the woman and then the man. For the woman, God promises multiplied sorrow in childbearing. This refers mainly to pain.
- Again, the NLT says it most clearly. "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering." Epidural's help with the pain today, but that does not diminish the intensity.
- Then notice also that there would be multiplied conception, meaning that babies could come more frequently.
- God then tells the woman that her desire would be for her husband. This is an interesting phrase. The same word, "desire" is used in the next chapter.
• Genesis 4:6,7 : "So the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
- The word has a negative connotation. It speaks of control or manipulation. As a response, the man will rule over you. That word speaks of "domination." He would rule with an iron hand.
- I think of Ricky and Lucy. Ricky always imposing his will on Lucy, never letting her explore her creativity. Meanwhile, Lucy channels all her creativity into manipulative schemes!
- It's a part of the curse. Marriages now would suffer as a result of the curse. Marital strain and distrust are now par for the course. It will take God's spirit and redemption to reverse it.
- To Adam, God reminds him of his transgression. He heeded the voice of his wife, meaning that he valued her voice over the voice, the command, of God. That's always a problem.
- The promise of difficult work is his. He cultivates a cursed ground that once brought forth nothing but beauty. It would now bring forth much that would fight against his efforts.
- Finally, to mankind, their days would now be numbered. They would return to dust.
- Physical death would become a reality that the world would now sadly endure from generation to generation. God has deliberated and has proclaimed His judgment.
- Thankfully, that is not where we need to leave it. Against the dark blackdrop that is sin, God spreads out a blinding light of hope.
III. Deliverance (v.20-24)
• Genesis 3:20-24 : "And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'--therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken so He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." : Adam saw a light of hope and he ran to it. His naming of the woman points to the faith in God that he had. She was the mother of all living. Remember that they have just been told that they would die.
- Literally, the name Eve means "life" or "living." Adam heard God's promise and saw deliverance in his wife.
- Then God looked at Adam and Eve and saw that the clothes that they were wearing, the 501 Fig leaves, were inadequate. So, he made tunics of skin. These were animal hides.
- This is very important for you and I to understand. God allows these two to wear the skin of an animal. An animal had to die in order for them to be clothed.
- Something "innocent," not involved, had to lose it's life, so that they could have clothing.
- I imagine that they had to watch this. It had to be visual. Sacrifice. Blood. Death. They had never seen death before. This was a new and shocking reality.
- But their clothing that they had fashioned for themselves was inadequate. God had to clothe them correctly. This is a wonderful picture of salvation.
- Isaiah 64:6 tells us that all our righteousness is like filthy rags. The clothing of our own righteousness that we wear is disgusting. It's filthy.
- Every part of our garment is stained by sin. It's unbearable to wear before any audience, much less the audience of God. We are unpresentable to Him.
- Our clothing, righteousness, goodness is always and forever inadequate. This is why God clothes Adam and Eve in clothes that are born from shed blood.
- Jesus would be the one whose blood flowed. Now, we can have the clothing of His righteousness.
- Turn to Isaiah 61. This is the chapter that Jesus began reading from when he began His earthly ministry. It's a chapter about His mission. Listen to these words:
• Isaiah 61:6-10 : "But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs. 'For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.' I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
- "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation." Beautiful words!
- Turn with me to Revelation 7. John is describing his vision of heaven.
• Revelation 7:9,10 : "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"
- These are realities that must become our focus in this life. In fact, that is the thrust of the last part of this passage. God sends Adam and Eve out from the Garden that He had placed them in.
- Why? it's still beautiful. It's still a magnificent place. Why can they not stay?
- They know good and evil and there was now a danger of taking from the tree of life and living forever in a sinful condition.
- God drives them out now and blocks the way back in. From this point on, there will be no place on earth that will be a paradise for redeemed man.
- He would always need to look forward to a time when there would be a fully restored, face to face, relationship with God. There will be no looking back. We will look forward to our deliverance.
Conclusion
- "The Bible tells us in Galatians 3:13 that Jesus Christ "redeemed us from the curse of the law having been made a curse for us."
- Sin brought pain to childbirth, and no one knew more pain than Jesus did when He, through His suffering, brought many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10)
- Sin brought conflict, and Jesus endured great conflict to bring our salvation (Hebrews 12:3)
- Thorns came with sin and the fall, and Jesus endured a crown of thorns to bring our salvation (John 19:2)
- Sin brought sweat, and Jesus sweat, as it were, great drops of blood to win our salvation (Luke 22:44)
- Sin brought sorrow, and Jesus became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, to save us (Isaiah 53:3)
- Sin brought death, and Jesus tasted death for everyone that we might be saved (Hebrews 2:9)"
David Guzik
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