Read Genesis 3:1–23 - The Voice
3 Of all the wild creatures the Eternal God had created, the serpent was the craftiest.
Serpent (to the woman): Is it true that God has forbidden you to eat fruits from the trees of the garden?
Eve: 2 No, serpent. God said we are free to eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 We are granted access to any variety and all amounts of fruit with one exception: the fruit from the tree found in the center of the garden. God instructed us not to eat or touch the fruit of that tree or we would die.
Serpent: 4 Die? No, you’ll not die. God is playing games with you. 5 The truth is that God knows the day you eat the fruit from that tree you will awaken something powerful in you and become like Him: possessing knowledge of both good and evil.
6 The woman approached the tree, eyed its fruit, and coveted its mouth-watering, wisdom-granting beauty. She plucked a fruit from the tree and ate. She then offered the fruit to her husband who was close by, and he ate as well. 7 Suddenly their eyes were opened to a reality previously unknown. For the first time, they sensed their vulnerability and rushed to hide their naked bodies, stitching fig leaves into crude loincloths. 8 Then they heard the sound of the Eternal God walking in the cool misting shadows of the garden. The man and his wife took cover among the trees and hid from the Eternal God.
The story of humanity’s sin begins with a tree and ends on a tree: first, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; and finally, the cross on which Jesus dies. The first tree offers fruit that leads to death, but the second offers a death that leads to eternal life.
God (calling to Adam): 9 Where are you?
Adam: 10 When I heard the sound of You coming in the garden, I was afraid because I am naked. So I hid from You.
God: 11 Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree in the center of the garden, the very one I commanded you not to eat from?
Adam (pointing at the woman): 12 It was she! The woman You gave me as a companion put the fruit in my hands, and I ate it.
Since Adam and Eve, people have been blaming others for their mistakes. Adam has the audacity to blame God for his.
God (to the woman): 13 What have you done?
Eve: It was the serpent! He tricked me, and I ate.
14 God (to the serpent): What you have done carries great consequences.
Now you are cursed more than cattle or wild beasts. You will writhe on your belly forever, consuming the dust out of which man was made. 15 I will make you and your brood enemies of the woman and all her children; The woman’s child will stomp your head, and you will strike his heel.
16 (to the woman) As a consequence of your actions, I will increase your suffering—the pain of childbirth And the sorrow of bringing forth the next generation. You will desire your husband; but rather than a companion, He will be the dominant partner.
17 (to the man) Because you followed your wife’s advice instead of My command and ate of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat, cursed is the ground. For the rest of your life,
You will fight for every crumb of food
from the crusty clump of clay I made you from.
18 As you labor, the ground will produce thorns and thistles, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 Your brow will sweat for your mouth to taste even a morsel of bread until the day you returnTo the very ground I made you from. From dust you have come, And to dust you shall return.
20 The man named his wife Eve because she was destined to become the mother of all living. 21 The Eternal God pieced together the skins of animals and made clothes for Adam and Eve to wear.
In Hebrew “Eve” sounds like the word meaning “life-giver.”
God: 22 Look, the human has become like one of Us, possessing the knowledge of good and evil. If We don’t do something, he will reach out his hand and take some of the fruit from the tree of life, eat it, and live forever.
23 So the Eternal God banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden and exiled humanity from paradise, sentencing humans to laborious lives working the very ground man came from.
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INSPIRATION
What God gave Adam and Eve, he entrusted to you and me. A soul. “The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). You, a bipedal ape? Chemical fluke? Atomic surprise? By no means. You bear the very breath of God. He exhaled himself into you, making you a “living being” (verse 7). . . . Your soul distinguishes you from zoo dwellers. God gifted the camel with a hump and the giraffe with a flagpole neck, but he reserved his breath, or a soul, for you. You bear his stamp. You do things God does. Think. question. Reflect. You blueprint buildings, chart sea crossings, and swallow throat lumps when your kids say their alphabet. You, like Adam, have a soul. And, like Adam, you’ve used your soul to disobey God. God’s command to the charter couple includes the Bible’s first reference to death. “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (verse 17). . . . Reread God’s warning: “When you eat of it you will surely die.” Sin resulted in Adam’s and Eve’s immediate deaths. But death of what? Their bodies? No, they continued to breathe. Brain waves flowed. Eyelids blinked. Their bodies functioned, but their hearts hardened. They stopped trusting God. Their friendship with their maker died. . . . Prior to this act, they followed God like sheep follow their shepherd. He spoke; they listened. He gave assignments; they fulfilled them. They were naked but unashamed, transparent and unafraid. Yet as one drop of ink clouds a glass of water, the stubborn deed darkened their souls. Everything changed. God’s presence stirred panic, not peace. Adam ran like a kid caught raiding the pantry. “I was afraid” (3:10). Intimacy with God ceased; separation from God began. We’ll always wonder why Adam didn’t ask for forgiveness. But he didn’t, and the guilty pair was “banished . . . from the garden of Eden” (verse 23).
We’ve loitered outside the gates ever since.
(From 3:16: The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado.)
REACTION
7. Why do you think God planted a tree in the Garden of Edan . . . and then forbade Adam and Eve to eat from it? Why was it important for God to give them this choice?
[Your Response Here]
8. What immediate “death” occurred to Adam and Eve as a result of their disobedience?
[Your Response Here]
9. Even though people know the consequences of sin, why do they still choose to disobey God?
[Your Response Here]
10. Why do you think Satan’s words were so tempting to Adam and Eve?
[Your Response Here]
11. In what ways has Adam and Eve’s sin affected all humanity?
[Your Response Here]
12. What is God’s plan to defeat Satan and sin?
[Your Response Here]
LIFE LESSONS
When God created humans in his own image, he also gave them the freedom to choose or reject him. Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God . . . and as a result, they experienced the devastating consequences that sin brings. They fled from God, started to blame and mistrust one another, and ultimately lost their privileged and purposeful reason for being. The sin of the first Adam destroyed our unity with God. But the sacrifice of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, restored our relationship with our heavenly Father. At the cross, Jesus defeated Satan, the serpent, and began restoring all that sin had destroyed in creation. Sin is a dangerous and deplorable reality . . . but we can rest assured that salvation gets the last word.
DEVOTION
Father, all too often we flirt with temptation and rationalize our actions . . . only to find ourselves far from you. Help us to learn from the consequences of our sin and bring us back into a right relationship with you. Thank you for gift of grace and forgiveness.
JOURNALING
What have you learned from the consequences of your past sins? [Your Response Here]
Lucado, Max. Life Lessons from Genesis (pp. 20-23). HarperChristian Resources.
Order your copy of Max Lucado's Life Lessons from Genesis. $10.99 paperback or $5.99 Kindle edition
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