Question 2 What went wrong?

It was beautiful, the garden the Lord God made for Adam and Eve.  The best part of life in the garden was the wonderful, intimate relationship they enjoyed with Him, and with each other, until something went horribly wrong.

Question 2 – What went wrong?

Genesis, chapter 2, verses 16-17:

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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’”.

There was a cunning serpent in the garden who had a way with words, and he introduced doubt in the mind of the woman about the truthfulness and faithfulness of God.  (Genesis, chapter 3)


The serpent said to the woman:

Has God REALLY said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’

You will NOT surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Suddenly, the fruit of that tree was a MUST have!  But when Adam and Eve had eaten it, everything changed.


They instantly realized they were naked, and in their shame, they covered themselves with fig leaves.  


When they heard the sound of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, instead of running to greet Him, they hid themselves from Him.


When God called out to them, Adam acknowledged his new found fear of God, a fear that caused them both to hide from Him.


When confronted with God’s, “What have you done?”, the blame began – she did it, no the serpent did it!  


The Lord, who had made them in His own image, the One who loved them, and gave them free will to choose relationship with Him or not, pronounced the consequences of their rebellion and disobedience.


First, He addressed the serpent:

You are cursed more than every beast of the field.  On your belly you shall go all the days of your life.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed (descendants) and her Seed (Descendant).  He shall crush your head (a fatal blow), and you shall bruise His heel.

Then 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:

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.  In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

The Lord made tunics for them of the skin of animals and then sent them out of the garden, placing angels with flaming swords to guard the way, so that they could not reenter, and eat of the Tree of Life, and live forever in their sinful state.


Paradise lost. . . . .


What Adam and Eve did that day, in exercising their God given free will in an act of disobedience to the One who had created them for Himself, is the cause of everything that is wrong today.  


In what way, you might ask: 


First, they passed down a sin nature to everyone who came after them. 


Sin is not just the things we do that are against God’s commands.  Sin is the source of our rebellion, disobedience and indifference towards God.   Adam and Eve first exhibited that rebellion in the garden, and then passed it down to us – the way we pass down blue eyes, or curly hair, to our descendants.  It’s as if sin is part of our DNA.  Every member of the human race since, has been born with it.


Observe any two year old, and you will see that nature in action.  We cannot NOT sin, it’s against our nature.


That sin nature is evident in broken relationships – not only with God, but with each other.  It’s the underlying cause of selfishness, meanness, murder and all kinds of evil, as well as those things we think of as lesser evils – gossip, anger, immorality and pride. It’s the source of a me first, nobody is going to tell me what to do attitude, that sets me up as the center of all things – and not God.


Sin doesn’t just affect us, it affects all of creation. Coronavirus. droughts, floods, disease, weeds, mold, birth deformities, infertile soil that’s difficult to farm, crop eating locusts – the Bible tells us that all creation is groaning under the curse of mankind’s sin.  


Adam and Eve’s sin initiated a war between the “seed of the serpent” and the “Seed” of the woman that continues on to this very day.  There is a war going on all around us between Satan, the ancient serpent of the garden of Eden, and all those since who want no part of God – and the “Seed” of the woman, those who belong to God by faith in His Son Jesus.  


Death entered the picture.  When the Lord told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He warned them what would happen if they did.  They would surely die.   They didn’t die immediately, but die they did, and death has been the ultimate enemy of mankind since.  


You and I are suffering under the curse of Adam and Eve’s fall right up till today – a curse that affects all of creation, our relationship with God Himself, and our relationships with each other.  A curse that resulted in physical death.  A curse that has so tainted us that it is altogether impossible for us to please God in our current state.  A curse that initiated a battle between those who belong to Satan and those who belong to Jesus.  


What a bleak picture!  What a terrible loss.  How can we ever hope to enter back into the relationship of intimacy with God that was lost when Adam and Eve fell?


What can we do??  All seems hopeless. . . . . ah, but IS it?


Watch for question 3 to hear about a hope beyond your wildest imaginings!!  


Question to ponder:


What is your source of hope in our world of pandemics, wars, broken relationships, natural disaster, disease and heartache, and especially DEATH – when God seems so incredibly far away – if you think of Him at all?