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Genesis

The Catastrophe

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October 15, 2023
Genesis 3
Andy Naselli
professor

Sin & The Fall

The Sovereignty of God

The Death of Christ (The Cross)

Transcript

0:11Let's pray together. Father, please enlighten our minds and soften our hearts as we consider your words to us in Genesis three. Amen. What kind of story begins with the words once upon a time? What do we call that fairytale? Do you see those words in chapter three? Anywhere or anywhere? In Genesis, it's not there. It's because the Bible is not a fairytale. The Bible doesn't begin with the words. Once upon a time, at the beginning of the Bible, God tells the story of the beginning, this is what really happened. And God tells this story with themes that he develops throughout the Bible. Here are some big questions that Genesis three answers.

1:06Why are we separated from God? Why are all humans, sinners who deserve God's wrath? Why is there a cosmic war between the serpent's, offspring and the woman's offspring? Why are childbirth, marriage and work painful? And why do humans die? My mentor DA Carson defines worldview like this a reasonably comprehensive interpretation of reality, whether thought through or not, that affects all we do. Everyone has one. We all have a worldview. And this passage, Genesis three, is foundational to our worldview. It helps us interpret reality. It affects everything we do. We can't make sense of the grand story of the Bible without Genesis three.

2:04And do you know what theologians call this event? And Genesis three starts with an F. They call it the the fall. Yeah, I don't like that term. I think it's too soft. It's almost like Adam and Eve were walking along and then they, they, they stumbled, they tripped and they fell down like it was an accident. Uh, but Adam and Eve and this passage committed high handed treason against God, they rebelled against God and the result was a global disaster. So I think a better term than the fall is the crash or the tragedy or the calamity, or I'm gonna go with this one in this sermon, the catastrophe. Those are all better I think than fall.

2:52The catastrophe. A catastrophe is an event that causes great and sudden damage and suffering. So I'd like to preach to you from Genesis three on this topic. The catastrophe. The catastrophe. When Pastor Jim Boyce, the late pastor preached through Genesis three, he preached 15 sermons. We're gonna do it in one. So buckle up. We're gonna consider Genesis three in seven scenes, the test, the failure, the response, the punishment, the naming, the sacrifice, and the banishment. Let's start with scene one, the test. Whoop the test right here. The the crafty serpent temps Eve. That's how I'd summarize this. The crafty serpent, temps Eve.

3:52Now Adam and Eve in chapter three are in a probationary state. This is a test. Will they choose righteousness or will they choose evil? That's a test. Righteousness or evil. Chapter three begins, you have your Bible open now the serpent, the serpent, the stop with that word, the serpent. Who is this serpent, this talking snake. So here are five facts about this serpent in Genesis three. And we'll see them in especially in verses one to five, first fact one, the serpent is a beast that God created. Look at verse one again. The serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. That's really significant. The Lord God made it.

4:43God created the snake. And that means that the snake is not God's equal. God doesn't have an equal opponent. He doesn't have someone with equal power or knowledge. God is uncreated, the snake is created. Only God exists from himself without depending on anyone else or anything else for his existence. The snake is a creature. So the snake is not independent of the creator. Fact number two, the serpent is deceitful, deceitful. Look at verse one again. The serpent was more, what's the word? Crafty. More crafty than any other beast of the field. So the grand story of the universe begins with God's creating the heavens and the earth in Genesis one and two, all's right with the world until this crafty villain enters the scene.

5:40His first strategy is not to devour, but to deceive. And the grand story of the Bible progresses with the serpent strategy, alternating between deceiving as a snake and devouring as a dragon. That's all through the Bible's storyline, deceiving snake devouring dragon number three, fact three, the serpent deceives how? By questioning God. And we can't make sense of Genesis three apart from the command back in chapter two 16 and 17. I'm gonna read that chapter two 16 and 17. And the Lord God commanded the man you may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

6:29And then we jump down to chapter three. Halfway through verse one, the snake said to the woman, did God actually say, did God actually say he's questioning God? He's not contradicting God. Right? Right out blatantly. He's just questioning. He's trying to create doubts. He's trying to make the woman skeptical. So the snake craftily reframes the situation instead of emphasizing that Adam and Eve may eat from every tree in the garden except for one. Instead the snake asks whether they eat from, whether they may eat from any tree. So the garden was this paradise of pleasures, all these yeses and one no just one.

7:23And the snake deceives eve into focusing on that one. No. As if God is unkind. So this point in the story, the woman should rebuke the snake. The woman should defend that God is good, but instead she entertains the idea. You know, maybe, maybe God isn't benevolent and trustworthy. Maybe God just made up that rule to limit my pleasure. And then she adds these words, neither shall you touch it. She might be embellishing what God commanded. Fact number four, about the serpent, the serpent deceives next by contradicting God. So last one was questioning. Now he's straight out contradicting. Verse four, the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.

8:15For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God knowing good and evil. So first he questions God and then he just flat out contradicts God. He lies, he blasphemously asserts that God has selfish motives. And this sounds like the person that Jesus describes in John chapter eight. When the devil speaks, he lies, he speaks out of his own character. Why? Because he's a liar and the father of lies. So will the woman's eyes be opened if she eats from this tree at this time? And the answer is yes, but not in a good way. She will know evil by becoming evil herself and thus she will die spiritually.

9:11Her spiritual death will start to countdown to her physical death. And finally, fact number five, and I'm uh, this is more of a systematic uh, fact from the rest of scripture. This serpent is Satan. And we know this from several other passages. Genesis three does not explicitly identify the snake as Satan. But when we read Genesis three in light of the whole Bible, we must identify the snake as Satan. One of the key passages is in Revelation 12, which says this, another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, listen to these titles. A great red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns and on its heads, seven items.

9:50And the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil. And Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down and it goes on. That's six titles for the same person. Clearly that ancient serpent is Satan. Now the Bible doesn't specify the precise way that Satan and the, and the snake relate in the garden of Eden. Somehow Satan used the physical body of a snake in the garden of Eden. So he may have transformed himself into a snake-like creature. He may have entered and influenced one of the existing snakes to accomplish his devious plan. We don't know, regardless of the precise means.

10:42The Bible presents this story of a talking snake as real history, not a myth alleged. A fable or a parable. That's scene one, the test, the crafty serpent tempts eve. Scene two is the failure. The woman is deceived and Adam fails to guard the garden. This is verse six, look at it, verse six. 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. So remember back to Genesis 1, 26 and 27, God commissioned his image bearers to rule over the beast of the field, rule over the beasts. Instead of obeying the king, they're following the snake.

11:45The beast of the field is ruling over them. In the New Testament, Paul specifies that the serpent deceived eve, but not Adam. Listen to one Timothy two 14. Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Eve was deceived, but Adam was responsible. Eve was not alone. Verse six says that Adam was with her. So when Adam eight, he rebelled against God by failing to obey what God commanded. He failed to protect his wife. Remember back in Genesis two 15, the Lord says, uh, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden for this purpose to work it, to cultivate it and to keep it or to guard it.

12:43God commissioned Adam to rule the earth and guard the garden, but instead the serpent rules over Adam and Eve. So when God calls to the man and asks, where are you? It's in verse nine. We're about to get to that in verse nine. Where are you? That word you is singular in the Hebrew in English. Who might say you versus y'all? Y'all be plural. This isn't y'all, this is you. Uh, where are you Adam? He's directly addressing Adam, not both Adam and Eve. Adam is primarily responsible because he's the head of his wife. And that's why later scriptures in Romans five, in one Corinthians 15, blame Adam for the catastrophe.

13:24Adam should have killed the dragon and rescued the girl in the garden. He failed. That's scene two. The woman is deceived and Adam fails to guard the garden. Here's a response. The man and his wife feel shame and then they blame others. This is verses seven through 13. Let's read that verse seven. Then the eyes of both were opened and they knew they, they realized that they were naked and they sewed fig leafs 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 again? Not where are y'all? Where are you Adam? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden.

14:21And 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 the 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.

14:51So Adams and Eve's sins separate them from God. They're guilty before God. So what do they feel? They feel shame. Their nakedness symbolized their childlike innocence. Kinda like how toddlers love to streak around the house after taking a bath. But after Adam and Eve's sin, they clothe themselves because they know they're guilty before God. They suddenly feel shame at their nakedness and they hide from God because they're ashamed to be in his presence. Now it's, it's silly that in verse seven, Adam and Eve think they can cover their guilt and shame with fig leaves. Or verse eight, it's silly that they think they can hide from God among the trees.

15:39It reminds me of playing hide and seek with a toddler who toddler closes his eyes and thinks that he becomes invisible. Or maybe he does this and thinks he can't see him. That's how silly this is. They think they can hide from God like that. So God addresses Adam and gives Adam the opportunity to confess his sins, to take responsibility for his sins. But what does he do? He makes excuses. So verse 12, Adam blames eve and ultimately God himself, when he says, the woman whom you gave me, that's implying, Hey, you gave her to me, it's your fault. And he is also blaming the woman. She gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.

16:21And then when God asks the woman and gives her an opportunity to repent of her sins, instead she says, the serpent deceived me. N i a. It wasn't my fault. The serpent made me do it. So Adam and Eve act like they are innocent victims instead of responsible sinners. Adam points at Eve and at God and Eve points at the serpent, they blame others. That's scene three, the response. The man and his wife feel shame and blame others. Scene four is the punishment. God curses the serpent and the ground and God judges the woman and Adam. So first God curses the snake and promises a snake crusher. It says verses 14 and 15. Let's read it. Verse 14, the Lord God said to the serpent, because you've done this cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts to the field on your belly, you shall go and dust, you shall eat all the days of your life.

17:25I will put enmity between you and the woman. And between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise or crush your head and you shall bruise or strike his heel. Now, God may have originally created the snake with legs and wings as in our popular pictures of dragons. But because of the snake's deceit, God humiliated the snake by forcing it to slither on its belly in the dust as a result, how do we describe snakes? We call a snake a reptile that is long limbless without eyelids and moves over the ground on its belly with a flickering tongue that makes it appear to be eating the dust. And God cursed not only the snake, but also the snake's offspring.

18:22He cursed them with enmity. Verse 15. And the rest of the Bible's storyline traces this ongoing battle between the snake's, offspring and the woman's offspring. The first seed of the serpent is Cain. In chapter four, he kills his brother Abel. The serpent Jesus explains in John eight was a murderer from the beginning and Cain was the first human murderer. So humans are either children of God, that's children of the woman of the offspring, of the, of the woman, or they're children of the devil, offspring of the serpent. And instead of continuing through Abel, the seed of the woman continues through Seth Eve says in Genesis 4 25, God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel for kain killed him.

19:15And that line, the offspring of the woman continues through Seth all the way to Noah and then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, all the way to King David, all the way to the Messiah and his people. That's the line, the woman's offspring. And that that phrase the the woman's seed, the woman's offspring can refer to a group of people of God's people. That's how it's used in Romans 1620. And it can also refer to a particular person, the seed, the offspring, as in Galatians three 16. And that refers to Jesus, although the serpent will bruise the Messiah's heel, that is Jesus dies on a tree. Jesus is the ultimate seed of the woman who will mortally crush the serpent. So first God curses the snake and promises a snake crusher.

20:06That's verses 14 and 15. Second is verses 16 to 19. God punishes the woman and Adam with pain. Let's read it, verse 16, to the woman, he said, I will surely multiply your pain and childbearing in pain. You shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but 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 through painful toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles that 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.

20:57For you are dust and to dust you shall return. So God punished the woman with pain in childbearing. Look at the end of verse 16. What does that mean? Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. I think that Genesis four seven helps unlock the meaning of three 16 because four seven uses similar wording. It says this sin is crouching at the door, its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. So here's how the, the net Bible translation renders the end of three 16. I think this is a good translation you talking to the woman you will want to control your husband but he will dominate you.

21:53I think that's a good translation. I think verse 16 means that God punishes the woman with pain and how she and her husband struggle to exercise authority in a marriage. So the woman and the man can sin in different ways in this marriage relationship. So for the woman, instead of gladly following her husband, the woman inclines to sin against her husband in in one of two ways. One, she desires to dominate him by usurping his authority. And the other is she possessively clings to him by wanting him to be more for her than he can for the man. Instead of responsibly exercising headship by lovingly leading his wife, the man selfishly fails to guide and protect his wife in one of two ways.

22:37One, he treats his wife in a harsh and domineering manner, as in verse 16, or he lazily abdicates his authority. He gives that authority to his wife by giving up and giving in. And that's exactly what Adam does in the first six verses of Genesis three, he fails to guide and protect his wife. Further in this passage, God curses the ground by cursing the ground. God punished the man with pain in cultivating the ground. So Adam Sinfully ate forbidden fruit and as a result it's now more difficult to grow food. God created the earth as abundantly productive and now he has cursed it. And even further, God punished mankind with mortality.

23:30Mortality. As a result of physical death, humans returned to the very ground over which the snake must now slither. So note this comparison verse 19. God says to Adam, you are dust. Now look back at verse 14, what God says at the serpent dust, you shall eat, you are dust. Dust shall you eat. So the phrase eating dust is not about the serpent's diet, it's about the serpent's, humiliation and defeat. But I think there's a striking connection here between verses 14 and 19. The serpent eats dust and you are dust. In other words, you are food for the serpent. The serpent wants to eat you, the dragon wants to devour you your dragon food.

24:19So beware the devouring dragon that's seen four. God curses the serpent in the ground and God judges the woman. And Adam, scene five is the naming Adam names his wife Eve. I've been referring to the woman as Eve in this sermon, but it's not until verse 20 that the woman gets that name. Look at verse 20. The man called his wife's name Eve because she was or she would become the mother of all living. And if you're using the English standard version, you might notice there's a note on verse 20 that's really helpful. It says Eve sounds like the Hebrew word for life giver and resembles the word for living. That's good.

25:07So this raises at least four questions. Question one is H-how does verse 20 fit in this story? Verse 20 might seem outta place as you read the story. Um, because at this point in the story, Eve is not a mother. Chapter four begins, Adam knew his wife Eve and she conceived and bore Cain. But at this point in the story, Eve hasn't conceived, they don't have any children. So why does Adam name his wife Eve? And the answer I think is verse 15. Verse 15, contrast your offspring. That's the seed of the serpent and her offspring. That's the seed of the woman. So God promises that the woman will have offspring. That's the connection.

25:55That's how verse 20 fits in the story. A second question is, what is significant about Adam's naming his wife? The significance is at least twofold. One Adam's act of naming shows that he's trusting what God promised in Genesis three 15. He's believing what God promised that he and his wife will have offspring. And two Adam's act of naming signifies that he has God given authority. In Genesis two 19 and 20, Adam names the animals. And in 2 23, Adam gives his wife the generic name, woman haw because she was taken out of man ish. And here in three 20, Adam gives his wife the specific name. Eve naming his wife signifies that he has God given authority over his wife.

26:48And people in our egalitarian age may freak out that I just said that. Uh, but the Bible teaches both of these truths. One, a man and a woman are equally made and God's image and equally valuable before God. And two, God designed a hierarchy of authority and submission between a husband and his wife. And we don't apologize for a God designed hierarchy. We're not embarrassed by God's design. We love God's design. The way he designed men and women is brilliant. So we love God and submit to God and we praise him for his good design. Sadly, a husband may sinfully misuse his authority by treating his wife harshly.

27:34And we hate that. But that doesn't mean that we reject authority altogether. It means that we affirm God's design for a husband to be the head of his family in a way that loves his wife and builds up his children. So if you'd like to study God's design for men and women further, I'd recommend a book to you that I recently reviewed and that pastor Tom Dodds is currently reading with about 50 or 60 men in our church. The book is called God's Good Design, A Biblical Theological and Practical Guide to Human Sexuality by Michael Clary. Lemme check it out. It's good. Question three here. In what sense is Eve the mother of all living?

28:14I think there are two senses here. In one sense, Eve is the mother of all humans who would come from her. She's the mother of all humans except for Adam. That's kind of obvious if you're, if you're a woman, you're a daughter of Eve. But there's a, a more profound sense I think, uh, an additional layer because of the offspring language. In verse 15, I think there's a more specific meaning and that's this. Eve is the mother of all those who would truly live in this sense. She's not the mother of the serpent's offspring, she's the mother of her own offspring. In contrast to the serpent's offspring, she's the mother of all those who are spiritually alive.

28:59She's the mother of those who follow the promised deliverer and who would strike and crush the serpent. One more question number four, what's the connection between womanhood and motherhood? So after God created Adam and Eve, he blessed him and said this in Genesis 1 28, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it to wisdom are essential to accomplishing that mission because God designed women to be mothers. And before we proceed, I should explain what a woman is because our culture today struggles to answer that simple question, what is a woman? And if you ask what is a woman to a progressive politician or a professor, he may squirm and say something like a woman is anyone who identifies as a woman. That's a terrible answer. You can define woman in three words.

29:58A woman is an adult human female and God has designed females to procreate to get pregnant and give birth to babies. Filling the earth with God's image bearers is part of God's grand plan. And women are an essential part of this plan because men can't have babies, only women can have babies. And Paul highlights this in first Corinthians 11 when he says that men and women depend on each other, he says in the Lord, woman is not independent of man nor man of woman, for as woman was made from man. So man is now born of woman. So here's a, a helpful theological definition of men and women from, uh, my friend Bobby Jamison says, it's the potential to be a father or mother in both biological and metaphorical senses.

30:54To father is not only to procreate, but to provide protect and lead to mother is not only to nurture life physically, but to nurture every facet of life to care comprehensively and intimately. That's good. So if you are female, you're a daughter of eve. And that means that God designed you to be a mother. And that includes not only nurturing life physically, but also nurturing every facet of life by caring comprehensively and intimately. And God's design is marvelous. It's a design that women should gladly embrace and not be ashamed of, not be embarrassed of women. God designed your body to nurture life and we love God for his good design.

31:45Now, some of you dear ladies may be wondering, am I less of a woman if I can't have children? And the answer to that is clearly no. Jesus did not marry Jesus did not have physical children. And that does not make Jesus less of a man. It doesn't make Jesus inferior to other men. And in a similar way, if God has not provided a husband for you, or if God has not opened your womb, that does not make you less of a woman. It doesn't make you inferior to other women. And the inability to conceive children is a painful struggle for a woman. This themes all throughout scripture. If you're struggling with infertility, let this painful struggle push you toward God, not away from him.

32:38When you know that God is your good father, right? As the psalmist says in Psalm one 19, you are good and do good. You believe that right? That God is good and he does good. You know that God loves you and sustains you and will never leave you. So draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. And for those whom God has not given physical children in Christ, you can't have many spiritual children whom you disciple to treasure Christ in all of life that's nurturing. But as Christians deal with any suffering or affliction, we must trust God even when it hurts. So that's scene five, the naming. Adam names his wife Eve. Now scene six, the sacrifice, God cloth Adam and his wife with garments of skins. Verse 21, look at verse 21.

33:38And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. What does that mean? I'm not dogmatic about what this sentence implies. Some interpreters think it implies only that Adam and Eve lost their status as God's vice regents. Or it means only that God protected Adam and Eve from being vulnerable and that God mercifully mitigated their shame. I think it includes both of those concepts and more. So yes, Adam and Eve would need clothing to protect them from harsh weather in this fallen world outside Eden, the blazing sun and from the freezing cold and pouring rain. But I think the clothing has a deeper significance.

34:28Where did the garments of skins come from? Well, the way to get animal skins is from dead animals, which means that God killed animals to cover the guilt and shame of Adams and Eve's sins. Those animals died for Adam and Eve. So in that sense, this was the first sacrifice. The Bible doesn't tell us what animals the skins came from, but I wouldn't be surprised if when we get to watch the reruns in heaven, I'm, I'm thinking we'll have something like that, right? Uh, I wouldn't be surprised if the animals were lambs. Just my guess. I I think the sacrificial death anticipates sacrifices in the rest of the Bible's storyline, animal sacrifice under the mosaic law.

35:23You can read about it in Leviticus one to seven, the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus himself, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And here's, here's just one more connection that makes me think the garments of skins are picture prophecy of Jesus's sacrifice in our place back in verse six, Eve took of its fruit and ate. So she sinfully desires what God forbids then she takes and eats what God forbids do those words ring a bell? Take eat. Sounds like what Jesus said. Matthew 26, last, last supper, he said, take eat God The Son undid the Genesis three catastrophe in his life, death and resurrection as the saving sacrifice for his people.

36:20And here's further connection to that. When Jesus conversed with the two men on the road to Emmaus, this is after he's risen from the dead end of end of the gospel of Luke, Luke 24 31 says, their eyes were opened. That was after Jesus took bread and gave it to them to eat. They took and ate and their eyes were opened. And what does that sound like? Genesis three, seven, the eyes of both were opened, but here the the eye openings are very different. The eye-opening in Genesis three is a result of sin. The eyeopening in Luke 24 is a result of God's undeserved kindness. The second Adam undid what the first Adam did.

37:04So if you're not a a Jesus follower this morning, we pray that God will open your eyes so that you recognize this catastrophe in Genesis three. And so that you submit to king Jesus, Jesus lived, died, and rose again for sinners like you. And God will save you if you turn from your sins and trust him. He's the snake crusher. That's scene six, the sacrifice, God clothes, Adam and his wife with garments of skin. Finally, scene seven, the banishment, God exiles the man from the garden. Let's read verse 22 to the end of the chapter, then the Lord God said, behold the 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.

38:09He 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. I don't have time to go into detail here, so I'll just highlight one insight from this passage. The banishment. The banishment connects to at least three themes in the Bible, exile and exodus, temple and trees. So lemme just come up briefly on those three on exile and exodus. God banishes his people into exile and then he will redeem his people from exile again and again. Think of the the great greatest redemption in the Old Testament is in the Book of Exodus, when he redeems his people from their slavery in Egypt, this happens again and again in scripture.

38:58And the climax of this theme in scripture is when Jesus dies and rises again and saves his people from their slavery to sin, he redeems his people in that sense. Second theme is temple. God banishes his people from his temple, from his presence. And there are many parallels between the Garden of Eden and the tabernacle and temple. The most holy place in the tabernacle and temple parallels the garden of Eden after God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden. Verse 24, he drove out the man. And at the east of the garden of Eden, he placed cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

39:42And a similar way the cherubim woven into the inner veil symbolized that simple humans could not enter the most holy place. The temple theme climaxes in Jesus and the ultimate temple is in the future in the new Jerusalem. The book, the the Bible ends in Revelation 22. Uh, I think it's chapter 21. With this statement, I saw no temple in the city. Why? Because its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the lamb. That's another theme you can trace right through scripture from Genesis to revelation is temple. Here's, here's another one from this passage. Trees. I'll just say this, God banishes his people from his presence.

40:24When they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, trees in the Bible often signify life. Think Psalm one. The tree symbolizing, uh, the blessed man. Yet Jesus is cursed as he hangs on a tree, on a wooden cross. The kingdom of God is God's rule over his people. And the entire created order and the expanding kingdom of God is like a growing tree. Matthew 13 in the new heaven, the new Earth, revelation 22, describes a river that flows through the middle of the city street on either side of the river, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

41:10There's a lot more to say there. All that to say is there are themes, many of them in Genesis three that go right through scripture and those are three of them. Exile, exodus, temple and trees. That's scene seven. The banishment God exiles, the man from the garden. So we've just considered Genesis three in seven scenes. The test, the failure, the response, the punishment, the naming, the sacrifice, and the banishment. Genesis three tells the story of what theologians call the fall or what I'm calling the catastrophe. The catastrophe. A catastrophe is an event that causes great and sudden damage or suffering.

41:54Adam's sin plunged us all into sin because of Adam's sin. We begin with a sinful nature. We sin because we're sinners. We commit treason against the creator and king of the universe. We are idolaters. So we need a savior and we can't save ourselves. We need someone to save us. So does this catastrophe have a happy ending? Yes, it does. In the big story of the Bible, God solved the catastrophe with a you catastrophe. J r r Tolkien coined this word. You catastrophe that prefix. EU means good. So you catastrophe means good catastrophe. A u catastrophe is a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story.

42:48The story of the Bible moves from the catastrophe to the you catastrophe. The good catastrophe. The saving work of Jesus is the climactic you catastrophe Jesus lived, died, and rose again for sinners. And God will save you if you turn from your sins and trust Jesus. The first Adam's catastrophe is terrible. The second Adam's, you catastrophe is glorious. Here's how Paul puts it in one Corinthians 15, as in Adam all die. So also in Christ shall all be made alive and Adam all die. That's the bad news, the really bad news. But the good news couldn't be better in Christ shall all be made alive. Let's pray. Thank you, father, for revealing to us the story of the beginning.

43:45Thank you for telling us what really happened. It helps us make sense of the mess we're in. We're so grateful that you didn't leave us in our sins. Thank you that Jesus, the serpent crusher, died in the place of sinners like us so that we may truly live. Amen.

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Sermon Text

Genesis 3

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