Paradise Lost

Most likely, there is not a one of us in this room who have not suffered in some way. If we’re not careful, suffering will lead to hopelessness. But it doesn’t have to.

Transition to Text

The nation of Israel had lost hope when they suffered. While in Egypt, they had given up hope of ever reaching the Promised Land. When they failed to capture Canaan the first time, they lost all hope and wished to return to Egypt. When God later drove them out of Canaan into exile, they lost all hope of ever returning to the land.

Moses writes here to give them hope!

Moses sought to answer the questions:

What happened to God’s good creation?

Why is it that in our present life we experience pain, toil, tensions in marriage, enmity with the animal world, and finally death?

Moses seeks to give answer to those questions.

MIM: We can have HOPE in God that he extend his GRACE in order to RESTORE Paradise to earth.

God placed mankind in a garden paradise ().

Read Genesis 2:4-9

Explanation

Toledot #1

V. 4 — The first toledot structure: “This is the account of the heavens and the earth...”

What follows is what happened AFTER God declared it all “very good.”

The Scene...

v. 5 — No shrubs, no plants (from fall later in )

THE MAN (vv. 5-7)

v. 7 — God’s creation of man…breathed into his nostrils [Not a description of precisely how God made man, but that MAN is made from the ‘dust of the ground’ ().

We are not gods, we are made of the very dust of the ground.

But, we are special in that God breathed into us his very breath.

THE GARDEN (vv. 8-14)

Details of the river and the name = real place

Picture a lush, secure, Eastern garden…with a wall around it except for the east side gate.

Beautiful, peaceful place where man can commune with God and enjoy God’s good gifts. ( — “every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food”).

Place for man’s work — , “God took the man and put into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”

Illustration

Imagine the most beautiful garden scene…in the Netherlands is one of the largest flower gardens on the planet, covering nearly 80 acres. Seven million bulbs are planted every year!!!

Argumentation

In France, at the Chateau de Versailles, a 2,000 acre landscape of trees and flowers and bushes…more than 6 million visitors a year.

IMAGINE the most beautiful, peaceful, garden…at a perfect 72 degrees year round! :-) Then multiplied that times 10 million…and that’s the edge of Eden.

Application

Read Genesis 2:15-17

God commanded mankind not to eat from a single tree ().

Explanation

God created man…and then God placed man into the garden to cultivate it. No big deal!

But then in verse 16, God commanded mankind to eat from all the garden freely…everything…with the exception of one single tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Illustration

Parents often tell kids, “You can do this…and that, but DON’T do this!!!” Kids, instinctively want to do the ONE thing you’ve told them not to do.

EXAMPLE

Sit here quiet, read your book, and DON’T GET UP.

Argumentation

The scene here is one of an ancient Hittitt covenant treatise. The great King (Lord God) is identified…then all the good things He has done are listed. Then, we read the stipulations.

God has given them EVERY thing in the garden. Every tree. Including the “Tree of Life.” There is but ONE prohibition.

Some think this is BAD. But God treats man with goodness even here. Notice that God did not give the animals a choice…or even a moral agent to decide in the first place.

Application

THE STRESS...

While the commandment was GOOD…it is the prohibition that causes the stress of this passage.

Continue in communion with God by trusting and obeying, OR

Break communion with God by disobeying his commandment.

THIS IS US...

We have the chance to make the same choice: continue with God vs. break with God.

God was disobeyed by mankind ().

Explanation

From through the end of the chapter, it’s as if the author slows down and re-directs the storyline. But remember that to this point, all we have is man. If “woman” is going to be instrumental in the first action of taking the fruit, we must address where the woman came from!

As God and Adam look around the “good garden” that day, God discovers there is something “not good” in Paradise. Verse 18 says that God said it was not good for man to be alone, and so God chooses to make a helper/partner for the man. All the animals pass by, but none are like Adam. None can be his companion. None are compatible with him. They are good for company, but not for companionship. They are inferior. Only humanity was made “in the image of God” and only humanity was given “dominion” over the earth (, ).

So God goes to work, forming and building the woman. says,

Genesis 2:23 NASB95

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

The picture here is of two people made for each other and from each other. The same flesh. Same bones. Just opposite in sex.

is man = is = אִישׁ

אִשָּׁה is woman = issha =

Illustration

A perfect marriage…in a perfect garden…with the perfect couple. All is good!!!

By the end of chapter 2, the man and woman are together, and there is no shame and nothing to be afraid of. You can hear the repetition from the end of chapter 1, “Behold, it is very good.”

Argumentation

By the way, this is a great picture for marriage. God designed. God ordained. God timed. And the result is no shame and no fear. Perfect communion with one another and with God.

Application

God judged mankind as a result of their sin against Him ().

Explanation

Read Genesis 3:1-5

How long will perfection last? Not long.

As chapter 3 opens, we read of a new character in the story…the serpent. Moses describes him as “more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” The serpent is the sinister character.

But notice how the serpent is described--”which the Lord God had made.”

The serpent is not God, nor god-like.

He has been created like all the other animals. In other words, he was originally created “good.”

According to other portions of the Bible, we know that Satan is a fallen angel…who in his pride grasped equality with God, and as a result was cast down. Now he is here being described in the most despicable terms possible.

Hebrew writers did not use character description much…but when they did, pay attention.

The serpent is “more crafty.”

Remember, the snake was the archenemy of Israel. In the desert, the plague of fiery serpents had killed many Israelites ().

People always had to be careful where they walked. A serpent could be lying behind a rock and with its deadly fangs strike a passerby in the heel. Serpents were deadly enemies!

BUT this serpent is special…unique. This serpent not only is “crafty,” this serpent speaks! Serpents don’t speak. Not even in Paradise.

So the narrator is using the image of this serpent to communicate the fact that Satan has embodied this animal in order to communicate with Adam/Eve.

Here comes Satan to the woman in verse 1: “Indeed, has God said...” Notice how Satan twists his words a bit. God had said you could eat from all the trees but one. But Satan suggests that they cannot eat from any tree. Satan ignores the fact that God had given them a GIFT in the trees.

The woman replies: “Sure we can!” She gets it almost right. She adds that they cannot even touch it. Satan questions God’s goodness. He questions if God has been truthful with them. They can do better…they can be “like God.” If they only eat of the tree, they will be like God.

Climax

Read Genesis 3:6-7

Satan disappears. Just Adam and Eve…and the temptation.

The narrator slows the pace focusing on every detail. The woman contemplates the tree. She looks at the tree. She delights in its fruit. She determines it is good for her. She takes and eats…and she even passes it on to her husband.

The husband SHOULD have stopped her. He should have said, “Don’t do this!” But he keeps silent. (Where are the men today?) She took…she ate. She gave…he ate.

The creature desires to be like the Creator. God’s creatures no longer trust in God’s goodness. Sin enters into God’s perfect paradise. Rebellion has occured in God’s kingdom.

Results

Read Genesis 3:7-8

Immediately sin has consequences. In , “The eyes of both were opened...”

They loss the childlike innocence. They were ashamed of their own bodies and made coverings to hide themselves from one another. The “good” body God created, they believe, needs covering up. The perfect marriage begins to break down…and has been ever since.

A second consequence is the fear of God. In , God comes walking into the garden…and they fear him, and they hide from him. Hide “from the presence of the Lord God.” Innocence has been replaced with guilt and fear. Communion with the Lord of life has been broken…Adam and Eve are spiritually dead!!!

But God...

Read Genesis 3:9

Verse 9 says, “Then God...” God knew what they had done. God knew when they did it. God knew all of that. But notice that God still comes. The covenant God does not give up on his distrustful and disobedient creatures.

Notice the first image of grace… “God called to the man.”

God could have left him in hiding.

God could have wiped him off the planet and made another like him.

God could have done a million things, but the Bible says, “God called to the man.”

Aren’t you grateful this morning that even in our sinful condition, God still calls to us!!!???

Judgment

How many of you know our God is good?! Amen?! How many of you know that a good God cannot let disobedience go unpunished?!

Read Genesis 3:14-19

Can you imagine what a disaster it would be if sinful human beings, like the ancient murderer Lamech or the modern murderer Hitler, would live forever!?

In , we see God judge mankind for their disobedience. Whereas in , we see the repeated “blessings” of God. God blessed man and called them to be fruitful and multiply. But here, God does not bless…God curses.

First the serpent...

Read Genesis 3:14-15

In poetical form, Moses emphasizes God’s words to the serpent. “Cursed are you!” Three times.

God blessed the animals.

God blessed the human beings.

God blessed the seventh day.

Here, 3 times, God curses, removing those blessings.

The serpent is cursed among all animals. It will crawl on its belly…and it dust. And God will put enmity between the seed of the serpent and seed of the woman.

Second the woman...

Read

God turns to the woman next. He does not “curse her” verbally. Instead, he punishes her role as mother and wife.

In verse 16, God makes childbearing and rearing difficult. Whereas she should have been fulfilled as a mother, she will experience great pain!

Similarly, she will desire to rule over her husband. Instead of partnership and co-rule, she will desire to ruler over!

Third the man...

Read

Finally, God turns to Adam and punishes him in his role as provider and head of the human race. Verses 17-19…cursed is the ground! By sweat of your face! You are dust, and you will return to dust.

That doesn’t sound like the Paradise blessing! It’s not. Meaningful work becomes toilsome labor. And at the end, death! The ultimate punishment for sin is death!!!

Can you imagine what a disaster it would be if sinful human beings, like the ancient murderer Lamech or the modern murderer Hitler, would live forever!?

GOSPEL:

At the heart of the curses is the heart of the gospel. God curses the serpent and sets enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman. A deadly battle will unfold. It may look like a draw: He strikes you, you strike him. But there is hope because the woman’s seed will win out in the end.

God has cursed the serpent! It will “bite the dust.”

The rest of Genesis traces that seed…all the way to Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

God expelled mankind from the garden paradise ().

Explanation

Verse 23 concludes with Adam and Eve expelled. Banished from the garden…from Paradise…from the presence of God. That is the worst punishment of all. And notice, it’s not “He sent them out” but “He drove them out.” Adam and Eve have forfeited their right to be in the garden of God.

Verse 23 concludes with Adama and Eve expelled. Banished from the garden…from Paradise…from the presence of God. That is the worst punishment of all. And notice, it’s not “He sent them out” but “He drove them out.” Adam and Eve have forfeited their right to be in the garden of God.

“Sin separate from God. Intimacy with God is replaced with alienation from God.”

And notice there is no way back into Paradise. shows cherubim will flaming swords guarding the entrance. The story began with God placing humans in his beautiful Paradise and ends with them being expelled from that Paradise. And there is no way back in unless God removes the guardian cherubim.

All the blessings of Paradise have been reversed! Presence with God to banishment from God. No pain in childbearing to pain. No strife in marriage to plenty. No thorns and thistles in our daily labor to great striving. Life abundantly to death!

Illustration

It’s a tragic story. It’s the story of Paradise Lost!

YET THERE IS HOPE

Did you catch the glimpses of hope in this sad narrative? God banishes his children in order to extend them grace and eventually restore Paradise on earth! In verse 20, the Bible reads...

Genesis 3:20 NASB95

Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

In spite of the pain in childbirth, God’s blessing of procreation would remain. The birth pangs themselves are not only a reminder of the punishment but a sign of God’s grace. In spite of the penalty of death, the generations of human beings will continue…Eve will be the mother of “all living.”

In , we see God’s grace as he make garments of skins for the man and woman to clothe and cover themselves. God equipped them to live out in the hostile world outside the garden.

In , we see God’s grace in the curse of the serpent. God says the serpent would live on its belly…and will eventually “bite the dust”—he will be defeated. God says the seed of woman will conquer the serpent. It will not be Satan and humanity against God, but it will be God and humanity against Satan!

Human history will consist of a long struggle between good and evil. But in the end, God says someone born of the woman will strike the serpent’s head! This is the protoevangelium, or first gospel.

This is the first picture of the coming of the Messiah. Genesis will trace this “seed” of the woman from Adam to Seth…to Noah…to Abraham…to Isaac, Jacob, and Judah…all the way down to David…and ultimately to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Seed of the woman, another Adam. He too would be tempted by Satan. But Jesus was much more vulnerable. Adam was in Paradise, Jesus was in the wilderness. Adam ate of the bounty of the garden every day; Jesus will fast 40 days and 40 nights. When Jesus was starving, Satan came to him asking him to turn stones to bread. But Jesus resisted! A second time. A third.

Jesus could become King of the Universe—like God, because Jesus was the faithful man who was perfect and would die in our place!

Satan would “bite his heel,” killing Jesus at the cross. But then an amazing thing happened. reports...

Matthew 27:51 NASB95

And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

The curtain that barred people from the very presence of God was ripped in half. This curtain was embroidered with cherubim as a reminder that sinful people cannot come into the presence of a holy God. When Jesus died, this curtain was torn in two and the cherubim no longer blocked the way to God’s presence.

Satan’s victory at the cross turned into defeat at the resurrection. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. The book of Revelation tells us that the first one to be judged will be Satan: “The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur” ().

Then listen to what John sees…a Paradise ReGained...

Revelation 22:1–3 NASB95

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;

Revelation 22:14 NASB95

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.

Paradise is not lost after all. Through Jesus Christ, Paradise will be restored on earth. That is the hope of the gospel. That is the comfort for all those who suffer in this in-between time. Paradise will one day be restored on earth…and we will one day enjoy the full communion and fellowship with God!

Application

Division 7: God and the man ()

Explanation

Illustration

Argumentation

Application

Division 7: God and the man ()

Explanation

Illustration

Argumentation

Application

Conclusion

Visualization

Isaac Watts lived from 1674 to 1748. He penned one of the great songs of the Christian faith. It is actually considered one of the most joyous Christmas hymns of all time…and yet it omits to shepherds, angelic choruses, wise men, etc. Instead, it emphasizes the reverent but real joy that Christ’s birth brought to mankind. While more of a paraphrase of , Watts song echoes the fall of .

First appearing in Watts’ hymnal of 1719, Joy to the World:

“Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.

Verse 1:

Let earth receive her King.

“Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.”

Verse 3:

“No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found!”

Reiteration

The reason we sing “Joy to the World” is because although man sin and God judged…

Galatians 4:4–5 NASB95

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

God’s judgment tempered by God’s grace!

Action

Have you received God’s grace for your sin today?

Points to Ponder:

· God is the main character in this passage. He is called my name 24 times. Adam is only referred to by his proper name 3 times, Eve once, and Satan is never referred to by his proper name.

· After mankind committed sin, God could have simply wiped him out and started again. Instead, God extends His grace to mankind 5 times.

1. God calls the man ().

2. God puts enmity between the man and the serpent ().

3. God gives mankind children, even though with painful labor ().

4. God provides food for mankind, even though with thistles and thorns ().

5. God clothes mankind in order to cover their sin ().

· The first picture of the gospel appears in where God promises that the woman’s “seed” would bruise the head of the serpent. That seed will be traced throughout Genesis…ultimately leading to the Jesus Christ (“born of a woman,” ).

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