Our Darkest Hour
Tom Pennington • Genesis 3:1-24
- 2005-06-19 pm
- Sermons
It is our joy tonight to look at the cross from a couple of different perspectives. In a moment we will celebrate together the Lord’s table, to be honest in a few minutes. We’ll look together at the Lord’s table and enjoy a reminder, a visual reminder of the gospel. But before we look at the gospel, we need to look at the fall. Before we look at the good news, we need to look at the bad. Because you can only appreciate truly good news in contrast to the bad news.
And that takes us back of course to Genesis 3. Last time we looked, we looked at God’s great creation, you remember in 1:26,
the Lord God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and of the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. (Verse 31) God saw all that He had made and behold it was very good. (Chapter 2:7) Then 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.
Here we see man made in the image of God, and we saw last time that there are two aspects of this image of God and man. The first is that of natural endowments. We each have rationality; we have emotion; we have moral responsibility. But in addition to those natural endowments, we saw that man was gifted originally with spiritual endowments, namely original righteousness.
Adam and Eve were righteous before God, and that original righteousness consisted of knowledge, that is the true knowledge of God, of righteousness. What is moral rightness toward others and of holiness, that is piety toward God. What a wonderful world in which to live. Everything is absolutely perfect. God in the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, before His incarnation, comes each day in the evening of the day and walks with Adam and Eve and communes with them in a magnificent paradise of a garden. What an amazing world.
But you don’t have to go very far in Genesis until you discover a totally different picture of the world God made. Chapter 4:8 we encounter the first murder as Cain takes his brother Able’s life. In the same chapter in verse 19 we have the first sexual sin, the sin of polygamy. In verse 23 of chapter 4, yet another murder. Things continue to decline dramatically. By the time you turn to just another chapter, to 6:5,
the Lord God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Only four chapters away from Genesis 1:31 where everything was very good, and yet light years away. What happens? Of course, you know the answer. You’ve read.it many times. It comes to us in Genesis 3, the most tragic event in human history, our darkest hour, the fall. It’s crucial to understand this event, much of the Old Testament, and all of the New Testament is incomprehensible apart from this brief account of an incident that occurred at least six thousand years ago. It all happened in just a little bit of time, certainly less than a day, less than a 24-hour period. The world as God made it was radically altered.
Tuesday, Lord willing, just a couple of days from now, I’m going to be flying to Los Angeles. I received word this past week that a dear friend of mine has been told that he has only a short time to live. He’s dying of cancer. He’s completely consumed with it, and they’ve told him that all they can do is to try to keep him comfortable. I called and asked if it would be an encouragement to him for me to come just to spend some time fellowshipping together rejoicing in God’s goodness to him in this life and looking forward to heaven and talking about all that he has to anticipate and looking at how to deal with his coming death. He said that he would love that, and so I’m planning to go. Maybe, you’ve experienced something similar.
Imagine for a moment the excitement that would occur in our world if, all of a sudden, tomorrow morning we picked up our newspaper and discovered that scientists had discovered the cause of cancer. You would think if the cause has been found, then a cure is just a short time away. Here in Genesis 3 is the cause of all the problems in our society, all the problems in the world, all the problems in your family and in your marriage and in your own personal life. Here’s the cause and by God’s grace this same chapter gives us hints of the cure. You’re familiar with the story, but perhaps you’ve never really thought about what you can learn about yourself from this account.
Tonight, I want to approach it, not so much from the story, which you are very familiar with, as much as the progression that occurs, because by following the course of sin and the fall we can learn the course that it takes in our lives. As you read this account, it’s obvious that sin began in the heart of Eve before she actually ate the fruit. And if we can trace the progression that happened in her heart, then we can trace it in ours. And if we can understand the course and the cause, then we can better understand the cure.
Times and specifics may change, but Satan’s basic strategy doesn’t. He only has one string on his instrument. John 8:44 says he is a liar and the father of lies. And his strategy is outlined here in crystal clear words. Moses documents five stages of sin’s deceptive work in the heart, five stages of sin’s deceptive work. I want to just take you through those as we look at this tragic, tragic event in our history.
The first stage he outlines in verse 1 is doubt of God’s goodness, doubt of God’s goodness. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, “indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden.” The serpent, Satan clothes himself as one of the creatures man is responsible for, man is responsible to oversee to keep. The serpent here, by the way, is not a symbol for evil, he is not a symbol for covetousness. It’s not even a symbol for Satan. You’ll notice in verse 1 that the serpent is described as one of the beasts of the field God had made. And down in verses 14 and 15 a curse is on an actual animal that’s now going to crawl on the ground. So, this is actually a literal animal.
The question always comes up about the serpent talking. Was this unusual, or did all the animals in Eden communicate this way. Well, we really don’t know; however, I will say this, we know that Adam and Eve’s relationship to the ground was dramatically altered, to the earth was dramatically altered. So, it’s possible that man’s relationship to the animal world was changed as well as a result of the fall. Or it may simply be that Eve was new enough to Eden, to all of its wonders and marvels, and she was still in the process of discovery that she thought that here is another of the magnificent creatures that God has made, able to converse with me as I converse with Adam. We don’t really know.
But we’re told here that this being, the serpent, was more crafty, that is more naturally shrewd. By the way, that’s still true. You remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:16, we’re told, be as wise as serpents. The animal itself is naturally crafty. But this serpent’s shrewdness went beyond the typical shrewdness for serpents or ordinary animals. It was indwelt and energized by, the New Testament tells us, that old serpent, that is Satan himself.
We studied Satan several weeks ago, so I won’t go into about his person tonight. If you missed that, get the tape because it’s important that you understand who this being is. And so, Satan comes energizing this animal that God had created and speaks to Eve. Now, why did he approach Eve? There’re several possible reasons. Since she was not the head, he may have thought she might not have the same sense of responsibility. Or it may be that he thought that since she didn’t receive the command directly from God, but indirectly, she wouldn’t be as committed to keeping it as sure as what had been said. Or it may simply be that Satan thought that she could be very effective in influencing Adam, we’re not told here why.
But he comes to the woman, and he says this, “indeed, has God said?” A better translation of the Hebrew might be this way, “Has God really said,” or “Is it really true that He said …?” And notice how he ends the sentence. “You shall not eat from every tree in the garden.” Let me paraphrase what Satan says to Eve here. Is it really true that God put you in this beautiful garden filled with fruit trees, and won’t let you eat from any of these trees? Is that true? How cruel and vicious of God. You can observe them with the eye; you can work among them with your hands, but you can never partake of them with your mouth.
The question is asked in such a way, understand his shrewdness here, the question is asked in such a way as to magnify the prohibition that is put on Adam and Eve. It’s asked in such a way as to call God’s character into suspicion. And finally, he asks this question in such a way just to present himself as the one that is truly concerned about her happiness. You see his question here is, at its heart, a question of the goodness of God. Compare Satan’s question to God’s original statement.
Go back to 2:16, “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;” You see God’s statement magnifies His goodness to man. You can freely eat of anything you want in this magnificent garden I’ve made. But oh, by the way there is one tree that I don’t want you to eat.
Satan on the other hand says, “Is it really true that God won’t let you eat from any of these trees? How terribly wicked and cruel of God.” Often when we sin, we do exactly what Satan does here. Our minds begin to talk to us, and we choose to believe the devil’s lie and to doubt the goodness of God. For example, when we’re tempted to anger and resentment, we say something like this to ourselves, you know, if God were really good, He wouldn’t let this happen to me.
Or when we’re tempted to covetousness, we say to ourselves, you know if God were really good. Oh, we may not use these words, but this is what it sounds like if anybody else could listen in. If God were really good, He would have given me more wealth, He would have given me a bigger house. He would have given me a better job, a more beautiful wife, a more gentle, understanding husband, if God were really good, He would … and you fill in the blank. This is how it goes. Do you really believe that God is good, and that every good and perfect gift comes down from Him? If not, be careful because you are an easy target for Satan.
There’s a second stage in the sin here that occurs in the fall. It starts with doubting God’s goodness, the second step is resentment of God’s restrictions, resentment of God’s restrictions. (Verses 2 and 3) Now at this point, Eve responds correctly. She says, we can eat from the fruit. By the way, notice, here she leaves out the “all” that God has said, you may eat of all of the trees freely. She said it’s true we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, that is all the trees except one. We’re told later what that tree is, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There’s been a lot of ink spilled over the issue of what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was.
Let me give you the three most likely options. The most common view is that it’s called this, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because eating would have given them a practical knowledge of good and evil. I’m not so sure that’s true because Satan says you’ll be like God knowing good and evil. God doesn’t know evil practically by committing it, and so I’m sure that’s the best answer.
Second possibility, and I think this is involved. It’s called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because eating it would determine if man’s future would be good or evil. This tree is the dividing point about a man’s future.
A third possibility is, it’s the knowledge of good and evil because it would test whether man would allow God to decide what is good and evil or whether he’ll decide for himself. This test is a test from God. God doesn’t tempt man. He didn’t set a temptation before Adam and Eve; instead, He set the tree up as a test. Here’re all these trees. You can eat from all of them freely, enjoy, but this one tree you may not eat. It was a straightforward test of their obedience. Since God offered them no reason as to why they couldn’t eat from it. It’s like the ceremonial and the dietary laws of Israel. God gave them no reason. They were simply a test of their obedience.
Now there are various views about the phrase Eve asked in verse 3 “… but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” Now, we have no record that God said that to Adam about touching it, that God prohibited their touching the tree. So, if Eve is making this up, which it appears she is, then it’s obvious that she has already thought of this restriction that God has placed on them as an unnecessary infringement of their rights. By saying this, she is stressing that the command was somewhat unreasonable. You see once we begin to doubt God’s goodness, the next step is to resent the restrictions that He’s put on our lives.
I see this all the time in meeting with people in counseling. Counseling spouses who have left their mate for another person. They’ll say things like this, “You know, if I could have that kind of husband or wife, then I’d be happy, and after all I deserve to be happy. There is a natural built-in resentment once you have come to doubt God’s goodness to resent His restrictions. And that’s exactly what happens with Eve, and that’s exactly what happens with us. We begin by doubting God’s goodness, and then we resent His laws.
There’s a third stage here in these verses, verses 4 and 5. We move from resentment of God’s restrictions to unbelief in God’s Word, unbelief in God’s Word.
The serpent said to the woman, (verse 4) “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened…” (One writer says,) “Suspicion has already found root in Eve’s mind. God’s majesty has been insulted. His goodness has been maligned. His trustworthiness has been defamed. And she had not responded in faith. So, Satan moved in for the kill.”
You see when Satan sees that His attack on God’s character has bred resentment in Eve, he comes out of the closet, and he makes a full-scale frontal assault. Listen to what he says in the Hebrew text. Not, you shall surely die. The negative comes first for emphasis. It’s not true he says. It’s not going to happen. I can guarantee you, it’s not going to happen. He absolutely denies the Word of God. He essentially says God can’t be trusted. In fact, God’s command was prompted by His own selfishness, His selfish plan to keep man in subjection. He knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be as He is.
Now Eve here is confronted with a choice. Think about this choice. You know, as the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. Imagine, here is Eve faced with a choice to believe the sovereign creating God who spoke everything she enjoys, including this tree, into existence; who created her husband; who made her from his side; who just has married them shortly before. She can decide between trusting that being or trusting this animal that He has made. At this point she doesn’t know that it’s Satan. All she knows is this is one of the creatures God has made. She’s faced with a choice. Will I believe this animal’s word, or God’s?
You see first comes doubt of God’s goodness, and then resentment of His law, and finally comes the simple refusal to believe it. Again, I hear this all the time. I know that what the Bible says, but I just don’t believe it. Or I don’t believe that’s what God really wants for me. I’ll hold the Bible in front of someone who’s on a sinful course, and I’ll say here, you read this passage. You tell me what this says. They’ll read the words of the Word of God, and then they’ll say something like this. Well, I don’t know what it means, it can’t mean what you think it does because I know what God wants me to have; unbelief in God’s Word.
The fourth step laid out in this passage is pride in one’s self. Once you turn from God as the source of authority, you only have one place left to go, and that’s yourself and that’s exactly what happens here. Once you deny the Word of God, then you turn to yourself. You become your own God. Satan says in verse 5, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan here offers Eve the same goal that he sought but didn’t attain. He says that your eyes will be opened, and you’ll be like God. It was a lie.
Satan had already discovered that God tolerates no rivals. Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.” God shares His glory with no one. And yet that’s what he promises. And this is the lie that so many people believe.
There are false religions all around our world. There are some in our neighborhoods. Churches scattered around the metroplex promise that you can be like God, knowing good and evil, and by the way that’s a half-truth isn’t it. They would know and experience good and evil in a way that they have not before. So, if you’re going to become your own God, you might as well go ahead and exercise the prerogatives of deity. The first part of 3:6, “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 desirable to make one wise, …” You see the temptation here encourages Eve to declare her own autonomy.
I’ll never forget when I was in seminary, I read a quote, the first time I read it, actually probably was in early college, shortly after I became a Christian. It was from A. W. Toser’s book The Knowledge of the Holy, where he talks about the essence of sin, he is talking about the self-existence of God. That God alone needs nobody and nothing; that God defines His Own existence. And He writes something like this in that little book as he describes the essence of sin. He says here’s the essence of sin. Man climbs to the throne of his own selfhood, and from that exalted position declares, “I am.” There it is. I am. I am God. I need nobody. I’ll do as I choose.
The theologian von Rad writes, The Serpent holds out the independence that enables a man to decide for himself what will help him or hinder him. God has provided what was good to man and has given him complete security. But now man will go beyond this to decide for himself.
Lewis Berkoff puts it this way, The first sin of man was a typical sin, that is the sin in which the real essence of sin clearly reveals itself. The essence of sin lay in the fact that Adam placed himself in opposition to God, that he refused to subject his will to the will of God to have God determine the course of his life. And he actively attempted to take the matter out of God’s hands and to determine the future for himself.
You know, it’s interesting, up this point in the book of Genesis you find God saying, this is good; this is good; this is good. God is deciding what is good and what isn’t. Now Eve takes that prerogative for herself. She saw that it was good. Compare this to Jesus’ response to the wilderness to the garden of Gethsemane. How did Jesus our Lord respond? He didn’t assert His autonomy. What did he say? Not My will, but Yours be done.
At this point in the story Eve’s own cravings take over. Lust takes over. Verse 6, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food.” There was the awakening of her physical appetite. “and that it was a delight to the eyes,” there’s her emotional appetite, “and that the tree was desirable to make one wise,” there’s the intellectual appetite. “She took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Lust or craving is one of Satan’s greatest tools. That’s what she is experiencing here.
I wish we had time to go to the book of James and rehearse, and we will shortly. In James 1 we’ll rehearse the flow and process that craving in our hearts takes inexorably towards sin. And there is now where Eve is. If we compare Genesis 3:6 with the temptation of our Lord in Matthew 4 and the words of the apostle John in 1 John 2:16, you would see that Satan’s strategies never change. He’s always after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. That’s exactly the trap he laid for Eve. Don’t be ignorant about Satan’s devices. They haven’t changed. It’s the same old stuff, no new game in town.
The fifth stage is disobedience, disobedience. Notice the end of verse 6. “she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Eve eats and proceeds to give to Adam. Undoubtedly, she recounted to Adam her conversation with the serpent, and undoubtedly, she recounted her own firsthand experience with eating the fruit, and after all Adam, nothing has happened the way God said it would. I’m still fine, I’m still here, and He doesn’t even know. So, Adam took, and he ate. According to 1 Timothy 2:14, Eve was deceived. Adam’s sin was deliberate, high-handed rebellion against God. Think about it for a moment. A simple act of eating a piece of fruit, taking only a few moments of time, and yet with massive, incalculable results.
Turn to Romans 5, and you see the results captured in a single verse. Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to look extensively at the results, but here you see it captured in one verse. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men.” One simple act, eating a piece of fruit brought sin to everyone of us and death to everyone of us. Next week, we’ll talk about this and other far- reaching results of the fall. But let me just remind you as you think about this event that occurred over six thousand years ago. That it’s important to understand that we were there. In the mind of God we were there. Adam and Eve were our representatives. If you or I had been there, we would have made exactly the same choices. That’s God’s judgement. So, this was without question our darkest hour.
But the light of God’s grace shines even in the darkness, even in the pitch black of Genesis 3. You see, as part of God’s eternal plan God the Father had decided in eternity past to redeem some of mankind and to give that redeemed humanity to His Son as a gift of His love. That plan begins to be executed here in Genesis 3. Let me show you just briefly; three great glimmers of hope in this terrible chapter.
The first glimpse of hope comes in, of course, verse 15. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, (talking to Satan) And between your seed (that is fallen humanity) and her seed (that is Christ); He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Literally “He shall crush your head, and in the process you will bruise His heel.”
This is the only place in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word for seed occurs with a feminine pronoun – her seed. God declares that He will create a natural enmity between Satan and the woman, between His seed and her seed. You see the future confrontation between the woman’s seed that is Christ and Satan is not an accident that surprises God. It’s part of His plan. God’s point here, don’t miss the big picture of this verse. God’s point is that a person will come to deal with sin and its effects. Somebody’s going to come and fix the mess. And the rest of the Old Testament is as if you have a giant telescope gradually focusing down on exactly who that person will be. In Genesis we simply discover that will be from one particular nation, the nation that descends from Abraham. At the end of Genesis, we discover that it’s going to come from one family of Jacob. Judah will be then, the one from whom this person will come.
As the Old Testament unfolds you discover that it’s going to be the family of David. It’s going to be a descendant of David. By the time you get to Micah, the prophet, you discover that only will it be a descendant of David, it’s going to be a descendant of David born in the city called Bethlehem. And on down it focuses until you come to the birth of Jesus Christ. God says, I’m going to send a person, Adam and Eve, to deal with sin. Ironically, it was, undoubtably, it was ironically the second person of the trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the eternal Son of God who made this prophecy to Adam and Eve. He was essentially talking about Himself. I’m going to come, and I’m going to deal with sin.
There’s a second glimmer of hope in this passage. The full execution of the sentence is suspended. Notice in 2:17 God says in the day that you will eat from this tree you will surely die. And it happened. There was immediate spiritual death. And in God’s grace He allowed Adam and Eve to continue to life physically. In fact, Adam lived 930 years, at least 800 years after this event, after this tragic day. And even as part of the curse, notice verse 3:16, “To the woman He said, ‘I will multiply your pain in childbirth.’” Childbirth, I’m going to live. I’m going to have children. You see God’s grace shining through this tragic moment. But you see it especially about Eve in verse 20. Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, literally living, life. God says you will surely die, and Adam names his wife, living, life. Adam and Eve, you see, responded in faith to this first presentation of the gospel from Christ Himself.
Henry Morris in his commentary on this section writes this. “When Adam and Eve heard this first proclamation of this first gospel, promising salvation in spite of their sin and the resulting curse, this time they believed God’s Word. Adam called his wife’s name Eve, meaning life because she was the mother of all living. He thus indicated his faith in God’s promises. Not only did they learn that they would have children, but also through this means, God would send the seed of the woman to bring salvation.” (Morris goes on, and he says) “Since true faith in God’s Word always is preceded and accompanied by repentance, it is evident that Adam’s attitude had changed toward Satan and toward himself. No doubt, Eve experienced the same change of heart. They believed God’s Word and so were saved.”
I think He’s exactly right. What we read in this chapter is not only a story of tragedy, a story of tragic sin and its consequences, but we see that a person is coming to redeem and that individuals can be saved from their sin.
There’s a third glimpse of hope in this chapter, it’s found in verse 21. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife to clothe them. Of course, you know they had attempted to cover their nakedness, their shame, their sense of guilt before God and with each other by the fig leaves that they had sown together. God saw that as an inadequate covering, and here we learn that salvation, even the salvation Adam and Eve experienced is accomplished through substitution.
Here is the first death of an innocent animal to benefit sinful man. We don’t know if this was completely the kind of sacrifice that would later be offered or not. The principle of substitution is clearly in this passage. This is the beauty of substitution; the innocent dying in place of the guilty. So, you see in this tragic chapter of our fall, our fall together. In God’s mind we were all there. We’re related to Adam. He was our representative. We would have done the same thing. Sin has passed to every one of us. Death has passed to every one of us because of his act, and yet in this chapter we see amazing hope and grace.
We see a person is going to come. And He’s finally and ultimately going to deal with sin. We see that individuals can be saved from their sin just as Adam and Eve were. And we see that salvation is possible only through substitution through an innocent party dying in place of the guilty. Put it all together, and you have the cross in just seed form.
That’s what we celebrate at the Lord’s table. It’s this reality that the Lord’s table pictures. And it’s here in the very early chapters of our Bible, hours after the first sin and man’s fall.