THE FALL OF MAN

When the Lord God created the Garden in Eden, He "... placed in the garden the man he had formed.  The Lord God planted all sorts of beautiful trees there in the garden, trees producing the choicest of fruit.  At the center of the garden He placed the Tree of life, and also the Tree of Conscience, giving knowledge of good and bad." (Genesis 2:8-9 NLB).  God placed man in the garden to till it and keep it.  He instructed Adam that he was not to  eat of the Tree of Conscience in the center of the Garden.  "You may eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the Tree of Conscience -- for its fruit will open your eyes to make you aware of right and wrong, good and bad.  If you eat its fruit, you will be doomed to die."  (Genesis 2:15-17 NLB).  Created innocent, placed in a perfect environment, man was put under a simple test of obedience, to abstain from eating the fruit of "the tree of the conscience."  The penalty for disobedience was death - immediate spiritual death, (Ephesians 2:1-5), and eventually physical death, (READ Romans 5:12-19, and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). 

As you read of the account of Adam and Eve in the garden you will note that they had direct communication with God.  Without fear or shame they met and walked with their creator.  They were created in a state of innocence but with the power of choice.  They were tested under the most favorable circumstances.  They were given clear minds and pure hearts, with the ability to do right.  They were responsible beings, responsible to serve, obey and glorify their maker.  God gave them His own presence and fellowship. 

There was no reason for God to forbid man and woman from eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (tree of knowledge of good and evil) except He commanded it.  The command, "not to eat of this fruit," was not an arbitrary command, but gave emphasis to the relationship in which man stood to God.  As an intelligent responsible creature, man is subject to the Divine judgment of The Almighty God who created him. 

Man and woman became self-seeking, self-centered, and as the result disobeyed God's command and committed the sin that caused their fall and judgment.  The divine record of the fall is the only possible explanation for the present condition of the human race.  It alone accounts for the presence of evil in a world made by a perfect Creator.  From this fall we can see why sin is universal, why all share a common ancestry , and why all spring from a common stock, "In Adam all die."  "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12 KJV).  (Romans 5:12-19, in the New Living Bible).

For the first time in Scripture we meet with that mysterious character, the Devil, commonly known as Satan.  There is no explanation of his creation or previous history.  For our knowledge of his creation, his existence before the creation of Adam, the exalted position which he occupied, and his terrible fall from it, we are dependent upon other passages of scripture. (Isaiah 14:12-17, and Ezekiel 28:12-19). Before his fall, Satan was known as Lucifer.  He was "full of wisdom".  Next to God he was the most brilliant being in the universe, possessed of the highest of all created intelligences.  Now a fallen creature, he retains his wisdom but it is a wisdom warped, bent, and twisted by sin.  His work seems to be substituting his own lies in the place of divine truth. 

Genesis 3 gives us a sample of how he operates and the methods that he uses.  We can learn from these activities of Satan because he works the same today as he did in the Garden of Eden.  You will also note that Satan used one of the most beautiful and cunning of all God's animal creatures.  "Now the serpent was more crafty  than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made."  He will always make things look good and will confuse good things and turn them into things that will cause man to sin.  His main mission seems to be finding ways to separate man from God and His Blessings.

Satan goes to Eve, not Adam, and he begins by throwing doubt on the Divine Word of God.  "Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"  He suggests that God did not really mean what He had said.  Adam knew what God had said because God gave the law to Adam before Eve was created.  Eve gets her version of the law from Adam.  So you see why Satan went to the woman.  Satan comes the same way to you and me.  The first element of the temptation, then, is to suggest a doubt as to whether God had issued a law.  "Did God really say ... ?" 

When the woman answers the question by defending God she says, "Of course we may eat it, .... It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not to eat.  God says we mustn't eat it or touch it, or we will die." (Genesis 3:2-3 NLB).  At this point Satan calls God a liar and substitutes his own gospel.  "...That is a lie!  You'll not die!  God knows very well that the instant you eat it you will become like Him, for your eyes will be opened -- you will be able to distinguish good from evil."   So the woman ate of the tree and went to Adam and gave him the fruit.  "The woman was convinced .  How lovely and fresh looking it was!  And it would make her so wise!  So she ate some of the fruit and gave some to her husband, and he ate it too." (Genesis 3:6 NLB).  The woman was deceived, but Adam sinned knowing that he was disobeying God. 

The first effect of the fall upon Adam and Eve was a realization of their shame.  Before God said a thing their consciences within them convicted them.  Both lost their innocence, became sin and shame conscious and tried to cover this guilt and nakedness by some form of human effort.  "And as they ate it, suddenly they became aware of their nakedness, and were embarrassed.  So they strung fig leaves together to cover themselves around the hips."  Man now had a conscience.  And conscience is that inward voice that passes judgment on the rightfulness of our actions.  The moral instinct, is something which is now common to human nature.  Man now has within him a witness to his fallen and sinful condition! 

Instead of going to God and openly confessing their guilt, they attempted to conceal it both from Him and from themselves. Such has ever been the way of the natural man.  The very last thing man will do is to confess before God his sin and admit to himself that he is lost and needs forgiveness.  Aware that something is wrong with him, he seeks shelter behind his own self-righteousness and trust that his good works will more than counter-balance, his evil actions. 

When Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord God they "hid themselves" from Him.  "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:8 NIV).  Jeremiah says, "No man can hide from God."  The prophet Amos says, "There is no place where the guilty can hide from God."  Psalms 139 KJV, says, "If I should take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost part of the sea, even there thine eye would see me and thy right hand would hold me."  We cannot hide from the all seeing and all knowing God.

Now the sinners are hid and God comes to seek them out and find out what was going on.  The Lord God called to man,  "Where are you?  You used to come to me.  You had no fear at all.  You were always glad to meet God.  Where are you now?"  God forces Adam to answer, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." (Genesis 3:10 RSV). 

God asked Adam another question trying to get him to confess his sin and ask for forgiveness.  "Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree, that I commanded you not  eat from?" (Genesis 3:11 RSV).  There is no dodging that question.  Man was brought face to face with his guilt and he was given fair and full opportunity to confess his sin.  But what did he reply?  How did he confess his sin and show a repentant heart?  "...The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate."  Instead of being broken hearted and confessing his sin Adam excused himself.  It was the same with Eve.  "Then the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that you have done?  The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (Genesis 3:13 RSV)  

Man is always trying to shift the blame for his shortcomings to someone or something other than himself.  He is just not willing to accept the fact that God is a loving and forgiving God and all that man has to do is own up to his actions, agree with God that they are wrong and ask and receive God's forgiveness. 

God does not ask the serpent any questions.  He just pronounces judgment.  The judgment commences on the serpent.  "So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals!  You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  and I will put enmity between your offsprings and hers;  he will crush your head and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:15)

The judgment on the woman is severe. "I will greatly increase yours pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." (Genesis 3:16)  There was to be sorrow, sorrow centering in the area of a woman's greatest fulfillment, in the bringing forth and in the bringing up of children.  More than ever the woman would need the protective covering provided by the headship of husband and home.

The judgment on the man was to cause him to work hard against the harsh elements and to experience physical and spiritual death.  "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, you must not eat of it, Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 17-19)  From the sin of one man all men would inherit that sinful nature and would be born in sin.  From one man's sin, all men would be destined to work against the harsh elements of life and would end his days in physical death.

Adam named his wife Eve, signifying the mother of all the living.  There is great significance in that name.  In Genesis 3:15 God shows that He really loves man and His grace reaches beyond His actions.  In mercy God promised One who would redeem men from sin.  The seed of the woman (the virgin-born Jesus) would come to destroy the works of the devil. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:15).  Before God acted in judgment He displayed His mercy.  Before He sent them from the Garden of Eden, He gave them a blessed promise and hope.  Satan had caused the downfall of man, but it is announced that one shall come and bruise his head.  By woman had come the curse, by woman should come Him who would bear and remove the curse.  The Lord of glory was to be the woman's seed!  Here we have the announcement of the supernatural birth of our Savior.  This is the first prophesy of the coming Messiah.

God then made them clothing from the skins of animals and banished them from the Garden of Eden forever.  He guarded the garden so that Adam and Eve could not get back in to eat of the tree of life.  If they were to eat of the tree of life after their sin, they would be given eternal life as a sinner and there would be no salvation for them.  They would be doomed forever just as the fallen angels are doomed to be separated from God forever.

Before the fall, God had defined the penalty for disobedience - the wages of sin: "... For when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:17).  God is a loving God but He is also a righteous God.  As judge over all the earth He must do right.  His law has been broken and justice must be carried out and the penalty must be enforced.  But is justice to override mercy?  Is there no way the grace of God can override the sentence?  Thank God there is, there was.  Mercy desired to spare the offender and because justice demands death, another would have to be slain in his place. 

The Lord God clothed Adam and Eve with skins, and in order to procure these skins, animals must have been killed, life must have been taken, and blood must have been shed!  And in this way was a covering provided for the fallen and ruined sinner.  This is an action by God to show a typical picture of the sacrifice of the Son of God - "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." (Hebrews 9:22).  It was a blessed illustration of substitution - The innocent, Jesus, dying instead of the guilty, Adam.

In the Old Testament, God instructed the Israelites to offer, once a year, the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb and pour his blood on the altar as a sign of the covering of their sins for the year.  This was the Atoning Sacrifice that served to cover their sins and God promised not to punish them for these sins as long as they were covered by the blood of the lamb.  This covering was good until the Lamb of God would come and shed His blood as a permanent atoning sacrifice for their sins.  It is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that these sins are forgiven and forgotten forever.  It is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we have the promise of forgiveness and eternal life.  (John 3:16-17).

We have been created by the Eternal God and We possess a soul that will never die. Then, why can man not live on earth for ever?  Why should there be decay and destruction?  All have a common origin (Adam); all share a common heritage (the Fall); all share a common legacy (Sin).  Why are all sinful?  Why is it that there is no nation, no tribe, no family free from the influence of sin?  Only the Word of God can answer these questions!

Death is the wages of sin. Death is universal because sin is universal.  Just as physical death is separation of the soul from the body, so spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God.  Adam and Eve were separated from God because of their sin.  The natural man, today, is separated from God because he inherits the nature of Adam to do wrong rather than to do right. (Romans 7:14-23). 

When Adam and Eve were put out of the garden the scriptures tell us that God set a guard at the East of the Garden of Eden.  "... and He placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the Tree of Life." (Genesis 3:24). Many interpret this verse to mean that God dwelt between the Cherubim at the East of the Garden of Eden, under the visible symbol of the sword flame, or Shekinah Glory, and with a view to keep open the way to the Tree of Life.  This points out that man could never redeem himself by his own efforts.  Redemption would be possible only when God by his own act once again opened the way to the Tree of Life.


BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION AND MAN'S FAILURE TO PLEASE GOD