Are you trying to hide from God? Are you embarrassed or ashamed of something in your past or even now in the present? Then this study of Genesis is for you!

This week’s chapter is of great interest to me… we’re looking at Jesus present at The Fall. To read the previous studies you can go here to the archive.

Do:

  • Read Genesis 2:4-3:24
  • Read and complete the Personal Bible Study on pages 61 – 67
  • Read the teaching chapter on pages 68 – 85

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman.
~Galatians 4:4

Nancy describes what Eden was like and the life that Adam and Eve had in the Garden. She describes the Fall of man in her own words. She describes how satan (Who was created perfect but fell away through pride and he carried many other angelic beings with him in his rebellion against God) twisted God’s words and also added to them. The serpent was planting the idea that God had been unreasonable. Then she showed us how we still do that today. Satan still comes to us suggesting that what God has commanded is unreasonable and is intended

So the Serpent questioned God’s word and added to God’s word, and finally he denied God’s word.And both Eve and Adam fell… their eyes were opened and they saw their own nakedness. They were ashamed. Their flaws were exposed. But instead of seeking God and confessing their guilt they hid. And lied. And played the blame game. They were not only filled with shame but they lived in fear.

But where they and we hide in shame and fear, God seeks us out. In His grace, mercy and love He provides the way back to life.

On page 77, and in Genesis 3:21 we see God displaying His grace, by providing the shedding of blood – where the innocent dies for the guilty. A picture of Christ. Adam received grace in the midst of the curse – a covering for his nakedness, provided by God.

The Second Adam

Adam failed the test in the garden. He failed to live up to all that God intended for him. And because he disobeyed, Adam lost for us the perfect environment, the perfect fellowship, that he and Eve enjoyed with the Father.

Jesus is the the “last” or “second” Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). Like the first Adam, Jesus was tested by God and tempted by Satan — not in the garden, but in a barren wilderness where he was weak from hunger and dehydration. However, Jesus knew that God provided everything He would need. He didn’t believe the lie that God was holding out on them, like Adam and Eve did. Adam and Eve also allowed satan to question, to twist, to deny, add to the word of God whereas Jesus overcame temptation by the power of God’s word.

Adam and Eve faced temptation about a tree in a bright, sunny garden, a paradise with no pressure. But Christ faced temptation about a tree in a dark garden.

Through Adam, life was lost but at the cross, Christ hung full of shame. Not his own shame but your shame. And my shame. (Hebrews 12:2) Why would he do this? Romans 10:11. Hover over the scriptures with your mouse and you’ll be able to read them.

The cross of Christ reaches to all people, throughout all time- proclaiming that we do not have to hide, we do not have to live in fear, that we can be made right with God again – because of the sacrifice of Christ. His sacrifice is sufficient.

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
~Romans 5:17

Discussion

  • Share any of your responses from the Personal Bible Study section on pages 61-67.
  • Feel free to share and expand upon any of the 9 discussion points that are in the book (p. 86-87).
  • What jumped out at you this week in the study?
  • Have you been pondering a particular verse?
  • What have you learned so far?
  • Share a favourite passage or paragraph from the book.
  • You have all week to share your responses and you can come back and comment and often as you like.

For those who are trying to follow along but don’t have the book, here are a few of the discussion questions. You might like to share your thoughts with us.

~ God did not explain to Adam why eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was prohibited. He simply expected them to trust and obey him. Usually we don’t mind obeying as long as it makes sense to us. Why do you think God did not explain the logic behind this prohibition?

~ Notice that God was not in the garden all the time. He came to walk in the garden in the cool of the day, but for the most part, Adam and Eve had to operate on God’s word that had been given to them. That is what faith is still about: living according to what God has said. What makes living by faith so challenging?

~ What do we learn about how to successfully withstand temptation when we compare the way Adam and Eve dealt with temptation to the way Christ handled the temptations of the devil?

~ Though we think of Genesis 3 being primarily about sin and the curse, there are also some wonderful pictures of grace and presentations of the gospel. How do you see the gospel of grace in this part of God’s story?

~ Many people feel and express anger with God when the brokenness of this world impacts them in ways that bring pain. How could you use what you’ve learned in this study of Genesis 3 (perhaps also using the truths in Romans 8 and Revelation 21 and 22) to help someone who is angry with God to put the blame where it belongs and place their hope in Christ?