Genesis 2 & 3

"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 heal."   Genesis 3:15

And the LORD God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

Genesis chapter two continues this amazing story of the creation of this universe. It is amazing because it is a revelation that humankind can not come to on its own. The main purpose of the Bible is to reveal the God that is Creator. Without the Bible we would not know the true God. God had to reveal Himself to us. The reason why we discover in chapter three; the fall.

Before going into that lets wrap up chapter two. We find out the purpose of the the Sabbath. God rests from His work. We see this is the first thing which God imparts His holiness. We see the importance of our worship, God has separated it to Himself. Our worship should always hold this in mind. It is the first thing that God set apart as holy to Himself. The Sabbath God set up was Saturday, but the resurrection of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath, causes it to be now be Sunday.

Our beginning as creatures before God is recorded in chapter two like this: "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature." (v.7) How do we feel about that?, do we think we are more noble, more intelligent, to think that we could have begin like this. Did we evolve from lower lifeforms? Do we even give this any consideration? We should think deeply about these things. We have a Creator, who is God over all of creation. God created Adam to have communion with Him, to work in the garden, to have dominion over His creation. The only thing that God said was not good was the fact that Adam was alone. God created Eve, male and female make up humankind. Eve was Adam's helper, Adam's wife, they were the first marriage, the first family. This the reason why the family structure has been under so much attack by Satan. The word "helper" entails Adam's inadequacy, not Eve's inferiority, for elsewhere it is often used of God. (1) This chapter establishes the family, marriage as institution of God and shows their importance.

Genesis three tells us the story of the fall. Adam and Eve fell from their trust in God when offered the opportunity to move from under God's dominion and become like Him, to be autonomous. Satan deceived Eve and Adam followed suit. Because Adam was a representative head of all of humankind, we all have a sinful nature, with no desire for communion with God, but to live as if there is no God. Some may think that it isn't right to be cast in the same condition as Adam, but this representative function is also the way we are saved. Adam's sin casted all humankind into sin and separation from God; and Christ as our representative saved His people from the wrath of God, and eternal separation from Him.

Our first parents in seeking to live apart from God cast the entire creation into enmity with God the Creator. Satan used his wiles to trick them and lead them astray, just as the Bible tells us he deceived Peter, Judas and others. Satan is God's enemy. God however, did not leave the situation in this condition. He spoke the gospel for the first time when he told the serpent that there was to be enmity between him and the woman, Jesus Christ the Savior of His people would come from the woman, who he had deceived and this Savior would destroy his dominion over their sin and their lives. Also God showed that the cost of humankind's redemption would be costly, it would only be accomplished through blood, just as the animals were killed to clothe Adam and Eve's nakedness. So would Christ have to shed His blood and lose His life. To bring redemption of God's people from the dreadfulness of sin. This points so clearly to the evil and wickedness of sin. We need to know that God hates sin, the Old Testament speaks of God's hot anger exploding because of sin, we should not think He feels any less about it today, for God does not change. The rest of the Bible is the story of God dealing with sin. It is the revelation of God's faithfulness, to brings His people through, in spite of the sin, Satan, or anything else, it reveals that God has promised to give the unimaginable gift of living with Him for eternity, just as Adam and Eve had and lost. We who belong to Him through Christ sacrifice will spend eternity with God. This shows the Glory of God - God who is perfect and needs nothing has purposed to give the joy, the love, the fulfilment of living in His presence without sin for all eternity. That is the great reward of creation, that is the gift for which life is given. That is the goal of life and to miss it, is truly to live a wasted life. To remain under His wrath is unspeakable horror. God has revealed Himself in the Bible. It is a story of how He will bring His people to Himself.

(1)The Reformation Study Bible, Ligonier Ministries

Blessings!