Curse and Consequences...

This week, we have been asking the question “If everything that God created was good, then what happened?” Wednesday, we discovered that while everything that God created was good, God’s creation has been cursed as a result of selfishness and rebellion…and that curse brings consequences. As a result of our first parent’s act of selfishness and rebellion, sin entered into the world. And sin’s entrance into the world corrupted God’s creation and brought a curse upon the creation. And the curse that Adam and Eve brought upon God’s creation has consequences for all of humanity and for all of creation throughout history.

We discovered that all of the animal kingdom would be impacted by sin’s entrance into the world. We also discovered that the serpent would provide a word picture for the humiliation that the consequences of selfishness and rebellion produce and of what Satan would eventually experience at the end of God’s story here on earth. After revealing the consequences that Satan and the animal kingdom would experience, we see the specific consequences of our first parent’s sin in the life of Eve, and women throughout history, in Genesis 3:16:

 To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."

God confronts Eve over her selfishness and rebellion and reveals two consequences that she, and women throughout history, would experience. First, God explains that He would greatly multiply the pain of giving birth. Thus the moment that a woman often experiences her greatest joy in life would now be mingled with pain and agony as well. Second, God explains that a women’s desire would be for your husband, but he will rule over you”. But what does that mean?

What is so interesting here is that this phrase “your desire will be for your husband” is not referring to a sexual or relational desire. We know that to be the case because this phrase is used just one chapter later, in Genesis chapter four. After God rejected an act of worship that was offered by Adam and Eve’s son, named Cain, Cain was very angry. He was so angry that his anger was revealed in his countenance or body language. And it is in this context that we see this phrase appear again in Genesis 4:7:

"If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."

You see, sin was crouching at Cain’s door, desiring to dominate and manipulate Cain into rebelling against God. And in the same way, as a result of our first parent’s sin, all women throughout history have a natural bent and desire to rebel against God’s design in creation by seeking to usurp and rebel against God’s design for marriage relationships by attempting to exercise leadership and domination over men. God then reveals the specific consequences of our first parent’s sin in the life of Adam, and men throughout history, in Genesis 3:17:

 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

God confronts Adam over his selfishness and rebellion and reveals two consequences that he, and humanity throughout history, would experience. First, God reveals the reality that the earth itself would be impacted by sin’s entrance into the world. The earth, which previously was fertile, would now experience consequences that would make it much more difficult for it to produce fruit and food. Droughts, floods, extreme heat and cold would impact the planets ability to produce fruit.

Second, God reveals the reality that work would become exhausting, disappointing, and difficult. You see, prior to Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, God had created work and had given Adam a job. And Adam never complained about his job. Now, as a result of sin’s entrance into the world a job is, well, a job that can be exhausting, difficult, and disappointing. And God explains that work would be that way for the entirety of one’s life. Death would be the only release from the consequence that has been placed upon work as a result of our selfishness and rebellion.

Then, after revealing the consequences of the curse that Adam and Eve’s selfishness and rebellion had brought upon the creation, we see God extend grace in two significant ways. We see the first way revealed for us in verse 20:

 Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

In these verses we see God do for Adam and Eve what Adam and Eve could not do for themselves. What Adam and Eve attempted to do for themselves in verse 7 by covering themselves with fig leaves failed to cover their guilt and shame so they could have fellowship with God. In verse 21, God responds by doing for Adam and Eve what they could not do for themselves by killing an animal in order to provide coverings for Adam and Eve.

The animal substituted its life in order to cover the selfishness and rebellion of Adam and Eve. These coverings restored fellowship between God and Adam and Eve, but did not remove the consequences of their selfishness and rebellion from Adam and Eve. We then see God extend grace in a second significant way as this story concludes in verse 22:

 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever "-- therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

God responded to the selfishness and rebellion of Adam and Eve by sending them out of the Garden of Eden. However, the word sending is a little soft. Actually, the word send conveys the sense of throwing them out. Now you might be here this morning, and you may be thinking to yourself “Well Dave, that does not sound like God is extending grace. That sounds like God is punishing Adam and Eve”.

If I have just described what is running through your mind, here’s the thing:  selfishness and rebellion against God and the word of God is serious. And selfishness and rebellion against God and the word of God brings consequences. And as part of those consequences, Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden and prevented from ever reentering. You see sin separates us from God. And sin replaces intimacy with God with alienation from God.

However, in God’s consequences here, we also see God’s grace at work. If Adam and Eve would have remained in the Garden of Eden and had access to the tree of life, the result would have been for them to live forever in their selfish and rebellious state separated from God. Removing Adam and Eve from the garden created the space and the opportunity for humanity to be rescued from an eternity separated from God.

And that opportunity would come as a descendant of Adam, named Jesus Christ would enter into humanity in order to live the life that we refused to live, and then allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives as a substitute in our place, so that God the Farther could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

Because as we have seen God’s creation has been cursed as a result of selfishness and rebellion…and that curse brings consequences. And as we will see, in the midst of the curse, in the midst of the consequences, we will discover how God continually pursues humanity and extends grace and the opportunity for forgiveness and relationship with Him.