Monday Morning Encouragement -- Glorious Hope

 

"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." Genesis 3:8

There is no sadder event in the Bible than the sin of Adam and Eve, what we call the "fall of man." The day they disobey God and eat from the forbidden tree, their lives and the lives of all who will come after them are changed forever. Where once they were in perfect fellowship with God, now they are afraid of Him and they try to hide themselves. A futile act, to be sure. 

God is ever present and all knowing. He is fully aware of the couple's disobedience. His question to Adam, "Where are you?" in the next verse is not asked because He doesn't know where Adam and Eve are, but rather He asks it to draw them out of hiding and start the conversation He knows they need to have. Note that God asks question after question, and Adam and Eve respond in a childlike manner:

I hid because I was afraid of You.

It's not my fault, the woman whom You gave to me gave me the fruit and I ate it.

The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

Isn't this just the way a little kid reacts when their hand is caught in the cookie jar? Find someone else to blame for their transgression. 

Sin is so destructive. It creates not only a rift between God and the sinner, but it often affects relationships we have with others. Imagine the ideal relationship Adam and Eve had before the fall, and the effect their sin had on it.

Thank God this isn't the end of the story. In fact, it's only the beginning, as we see in God's words to Satan (who inhabited the serpent) in verse 15:

"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 heel."

John MacArthur's commentary on this verse is worth noting:

"We aren’t very far into the Scripture until we come to the cross, are we? Right here, Genesis 3. Christ has already appeared in chapter 1 in the creation, because according to John 1:1 He is the Creator. But here we see Him already in chapter 3 as the Redeemer. Here we see embedded in the curse on Satan the promise of the Savior: the seed of a woman. That can’t happen unless there’s a virgin birth. He will be bruised on the heel, and He was bruised at the cross; but in being bruised, He will crush the head of Satan."

The sad story of Adam and Eve's sin leads to glorious hope! Jesus Christ is God's answer to the fall. Through Him we have victory over sin and death. We don't need to hide from God. He is ready to receive us and forgive us of all our sin if we repent and put our trust in Jesus. Praise the Lord for His amazing grace!

Today's music video But For the Cross of Christ by Bryan Fowler, words and music by Bryan Fowler, Kristyn Getty, and Jessica Waterman, affirms the hope of the Gospel. It's a beautiful song full of truth. I hope you take the time to listen to it.

I love you, I'm thinking of you, and I'm praying for you.