Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:56 — 43.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Genesis 3:1-19
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can also download our service at Baptist-Christian at iTunes. It could be said that one must go back to our passage today to find the very beginning of the meaning of Christmas. The only people that know how long it was between Gen. 2 and Gen. 3 are Adam and Eve. We know Adam lived 930 years, but we don’t know how many of them he lived in Eden. They used the freedom God gave them to become like God, rather than be content to be led by God! It is interesting to find the promise of all promises located in the curse of all curses! Now, let’s consider this wonderful promise from the positive side. THE PROMISE OF A SAVIOR MEANS:
- REDEMPTION! God uses “progressive revelation” to teach us about Himself a little at a time so we can learn and understand what He is teaching. Notice the curse is humiliating, hostile, and bloody. Have you ever stopped to consider the cure was also humiliating, hostile, and bloody? In this section, we learn three things. First, the Savior will be a human being; second, death and bloodshed are the price/consequence for sin; and third, Adam and Eve accepted God’s terms of redemption by wearing the skins (which were a constant reminder of their disobedience). It would have been so easy for God to eliminate Adam and Eve and just start over, but, then He wouldn’t be a God of redemption. A savior means
- RESTORATION! Dr. Norman Geisler gives insight into the curse pronounced on Satan which established the war between God and Man; the curse on Eve which established the war between the sexes; and the curse on Adam which established the war between Man and Earth. If one were to explain the “desire to rule” it would be “you will have the tendency to dominate your husband, and he will have the tendency to act as a tyrant over you.” “Dominate” is an excellent word to describe self affected by sin. In salvation, people can enjoy a restored relationship if all are saved and all have allowed the effects of restoration to work in their hearts. There is coming a time, because of the Advent of the Savior, when God will restore all relationships to the way He intended them to be before the Fall. The promise of a Savior also means:
- RETURN. Had God just destroyed Adam and Eve He would be a God of elimination, not salvation! He can’t be like that! I am so glad God put 3:15 before 3:22-24. Why? God promised the possibility of return to paradise before He drove Adam and Eve out of His presence. Had He not done it that way, we would live forever in hell. When Christ died and the curtain tore from top to bottom, God was indicating that the way of return was now open and a proper relationship between God and Man had been restored. As we begin this Christmas season, we are obligated to thank and praise God for His redeeming grace that restored a right relationship to Him. Those two truths make the future return to Paradise (Heaven) possible. If we had no other gift from God, our salvation would be enough to cause us to humbly praise and glorify Him forever!
If we can help you with your spiritual questions, call us at (574) 643-9419.
