Genesis 3:8-24

When Satan approached Eve in the Garden of Eden, with Adam standing right by her side, he attacked God’s grace, God’s Person, and God’s Word. God graciously provided Adam and Eve with everything they could ever want or need. To allow for them to love him freely, God gave one prohibition in the form of fruit on a tree. He clearly told Adam that partaking of the fruit would be an act of rebellion and would result in death—spiritual, physical, and eternal separation. But you know the rest of the story. When they rebelled against God, their eyes were opened, “and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7).

Before disobeying, Adam and Eve were “both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). They were unclothed but felt no exposure or liability. They were completely open and safe with each other. But sin opened their eyes. They felt they needed to cover the parts of their bodies that God created for them to experience physical oneness. They covered the parts God designed for intimacy and vulnerability. Sin causes us to hide from each other, and sin causes us to hide from God.

To this point, Adam and Eve had open conversations with God. But the evening after their sin, when they heard the Lord God—Yahweh Elohim—walking in the garden, they tried to hide among the foliage.

Genesis 3:9-10
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

God is all-knowing, but he desires for us to own where we are. One can only imagine that Adam, Eve, and God had been meeting for some time, enjoying uninhibited conversation. But sin changed everything. Adam’s rebellion caused him to realize his nakedness, caused him to be afraid of God, and caused him to hide. And God called him out.

Genesis 3:11
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Adam’s rebellion against God was revealed. He couldn’t escape from what he had done. But notice Adam’s response. He did not take personal responsibility.  He blamed Eve and indirectly blamed God. Adam said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). Adam says, sure, I ate the fruit, but it’s really the woman’s fault, and it’s really your fault, God, for putting her with me. I never asked for her in the first place. She was your idea.

God then turned to the woman and asked, “What is this that you have done?” She said, don’t look at me. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13).  You are the One who created the animals, God. You should have known better than to create such a crafty animal.

We have learned well from Adam and Eve, haven’t we? How many of us blame our sin on our parents, who either demanded too much or were never present? How many of us blame our sin on a spouse who, we feel, isn’t meeting our needs? How many of us blame our sin on friends, family, people we work with, circumstances that come into our lives? Eve responded that the serpent deceived her. Satan still works to cause us not to own our sin. We like to blame others. But the consequences that God dispenses are solid evidence that he does not allow us to put the blame on others for our sin.

Consequences for Satan

God’s punishment for the serpent was to crawl on his belly and eat the dust that all the other animals kicked up. And then God spoke to Satan, who had inhabited the serpent.

Genesis 3:15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

This verse is called the Proevangelium or the first mention of the Good News. Here, we see the curse on humanity because of sin and the promise of a Savior. Satan and man would be cursed with continued hostility and antagonism. One day, Satan would bruise the heel of one of Eve’s offspring, causing much pain. But Eve’s offspring would bruise or crush Satan’s head, dealing a death blow. That’s what Jesus did! He came to defeat death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57) and “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

Consequences for the Woman

Genesis 3:16
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Graciously God allowed Adam and Eve to have children. And the painful ordeal of childbirth was a reminder of sin. Each child born would enter a world infected with the sin Adam and Eve introduced to humanity. Also, the woman and man would struggle for power in their relationship. This clash over who’s in charge is still the cause for conflict in relationships today.

Consequences for the Man

Genesis 3:17-19
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Consequences for the Man and Woman

God was clear that disobeying his command would result in death (Genesis 2:17). In Scripture, death means separation. After their sin, Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden (Genesis 3:22-24). This began spiritual separation from God. Also, Adam and Eve began the process of physical death. After their sin, God declared, “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). One of the reasons God drove them out of the garden was “lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). God graciously protected humanity from living eternally in a body that would age and wear out.

There is one more thing we need to consider in today’s passage that is so essential to our faith. Remember, when Adam and Eve sinned, they covered themselves with fig leaves. Leaves would grow again on the tree, but sin deserved death. Instead of putting Adam and Eve to death at that moment, God provided a sacrifice. God, himself, put to death two animals as substitutes for Adam and Eve.

Genesis 3:21
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Adam and Eve could not cover their sin. Only God could do that, and he did it, not with leaves that would grow again, but by the blood of a sacrifice. One commentator has well said, “We cannot rise above sin’s consequences save by the intervention of God Himself. For the chief point is that it is God who relieves man’s shame.[1] The sacrificial system, started by God, would be set in place until the perfect Lamb of God came to die for our sins—once and for all—on the cross.

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Read Genesis 3:8-24—Focus on Adam and Eve’s excuse for their sin and God’s great provision of a substitute sacrifice.

Prayer and Application
Reflect on the time you trusted in Jesus alone as your personal Savior. Thank God for providing the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, who came to take away the sin of the world and defeated death by his glorious resurrection.

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[1] Marcus Dods, The Book of Genesis, 25-26 quoted in Ross, Creation and Blessing, 149.