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BIBLIOGRAPHY ______17

THE FALL OF MAN Genesis I - · .

In other words, the only way the relationship between God and man can be enui e is for i to be a relationship which each side chose to enter. Therefore, man had to have an opportunity to choose to enter into that relationship. God didn't want man to be a puppet who jumped every time He pulled man's string. God wanted man to respond, not out of but out of,c..oovictioo. God would only be satisfied with moral behavior freely given and maintained, even where the possibility of doing otherwise offered itself to man. Temptation was not the problem. What destroyed man's relationship with God was man's response to temptation. Notice how this idea is developed in our text. Temptation came to man, we see in verse l, in the form of a serpent. This serpent was a real animal. It is not identified as The Reason for the Fall at this point. Perhaps that's why was so intrigued at first, because she heard an animal Man did not fall because he was speak, revealing a rational power that she did confronted with temptation. Temptation did not know animals had. not destroy man's relationship with God. Later references identify the serpent Instead temptation provided the opportunity with Satan (Rev. 12:9), and make it clear that for man to relationship with God. Satan used the serpent to tempt man to turn Meaningful relationships demand reciprocity. away from God. Brian's Lines> January/February, 1996 Page 14

Where did Satan come from? No voice from an unknown source rather than definitive answer can be given at this point. trusting God. Consequently, disobeyed Several references in Scripture have been God rather than walking in obedience to Him. developed into a tradition that Satan was The reason for the fall is that man deliberately originally an angel of God- who- rebelled chose to against God. God kicked Satan out of heaven to of man, and from the time man was created, Satan has attempted to The Results of the Fall engulf man in this rebellion. Yet, we need to confirm that Satan did Let's take the subject a step further and not cause man to reject his relationship with consider the result of the fall. What happened ft God. Satan provided the temptation. man yielded to temptation and sinned Temptation provided the opportunity. It was against God? / man's deliberate choice that actualized the sin. First we see the Notice the successive steps in the CONSEQUENCES OF SIN In verse 7 guilt actualization of sin. appears as a consequence of sin. and w. At first there was CURIOSITY Satan Eve knew they had done something wrong. spoke to Eve through the an animal They knew they had deliberately disobeyed that ordinarily does not speak (3: 1). Satan God. The result was a of guilt! used this unusual event to arouse Eve's In verse 9t lO appears as a curiosity, to capture her attention . consequence of sin. When God came to walk The next step was DOUBT. The with them in the cool of the garden as He had question in verse l seems innocent enough, done on many occasions, hid "Did God really say, must not eat from behind a tree. They kriew they had done y tree in the Written between the wrong, and they knew God knew they lines, however, was a question mark about done wrong. Thus, they were afraid to God, a suspicion about His intentions. Doubt Him. ' was one of Satan's subtle strategies. In verses 1 -19, distortion appears. Satan e ve to doubt love in statement in these verses s not a verse 1. He led Eve to doubt God's in prescription of what Goa wanted man to verse 4 with the exclamation, "You will not experience but a aescription of what man surely die!" He led Eve to doubt God's would experience as a result of his sin. in verse 5 with the "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like knowing good and ." Curiosity and doubt finally led to God created man to live at DISOBEDIENCE. Why did man fall? He garden. Instead, he would have to live in fellowshipped with temptation rather than in The reason was his sin. '' There were personal consequences to • ' ' ,1 fellowshipping with God. He trusted a strange r- Brian's Lines> January/February, 1996 Page 15

We also see some PUBLIC crush your head, and you will strike his heel." CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. A tragic truth Theologians call this verse the about sin is clearly revealed in the ensuing protoevangelium, the first . Here is a Sin begets sin. As sin came into the promise of victory in the midst of man's in this one act of disobedience, it soon greatest defeat. The serp nt represents Satan. radiated to the degree that all mankind would The seed of woman is a reference to Christ. be caught in its snare. Notice how sin On the cross, Satan would bruise the Messiah orsened. on the heel. In the resurrection, the risen When Adam and Eve sinned, they Messiah would crush Satan and deal a death immediately recognized what they had done blow to cause. and fearfully hid from God (3:8). Genesis 3: 15 points to the cross. It was Later, sinned (4:4-5). But notice that later event on the cross when ' Christ died the difference. Eve was talked into sin by for once for all, the righteous for the Cain could not even be talked out of sin unrighteous, to bring you to God" (I et. God. When Cain committed his sin, he 3: 18). would not confess it. When God pronounced The ultimate and final remedy for the the punishment for Cain, he defiantly fall of man is Christ's sacrificial death on the declared, "I didn't deserve such punishment. cross. Lamech was different in his sin (4:23- 24). Eve succumbed to sin. Cain blundered into sin. Lamech exulted in it (4:23). When The Relevance of the Fall confronted by his sin, Cain sought protection. When confronted by his sin, Lamech looked Let's bring this message to a very for further provocation practical conclusion by considering finally the What was the result of sin? Man who relevancy of the fall. The story of Adam and was created to live at Eve, described in Genesis 3, is the story of fe , and at every man. It is my story and it is yours. 1 ost that peace in his soul I, We, too, have ielded to tern tation, relationship with God and lost that peace and turned against God. with the world Man fell from his place of We, too, have kn of preeminence m God's world. estrangement from God. We, too, have The Remedy for the Fall toward each other. We, too, need someone to do for us What could save man from this what we cannot do for ourselves -- to release dilemma? What was the remedy for the fall? us from our guilt, fear, -and to The remedy is hinted at here in Genesis. It is re r estrangement with fellowshi . highlighted later at Golgotha. This hint of the - There is one who can that. His ultimate remedy is seen in Genesis 3:15: "And name is . If we will turn to Him, He will I will put enmity between you and the woman, restore us to fellowship with the God who and between your offspring and hers; he will made us.