“ADAM”

MIDWEEK LENT 1 – March 5, 2020 – Gen. 3:1-21

Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is Genesis 3:1-21. We hear from Adam, about the promise of salvation.

Of all people, I had the most disparate experience of life and human being. I was the first to see all that God had made. I was alone in the world – God’s magnificent creation! I was given access to everything, and responsibility to work the ground and keep the garden. Everything was pristine and beautiful – and I cannot begin to express how wonderfully and remarkably I was made to be.

God was there – ever present. And though I was fully aware of His gracious and loving presence, I knew that I could not see everything about Him. Yet in spite of sensing His awesomeness and incredible power and glory, I was never uncomfortable in His presence. His presence was unquestionably benevolent – like the warmth of the sun, or the rain and mist, and all of the beautiful plants and animals. I can’t even begin to explain to you just how wonderful everything was that God had made for me, for us, for all human beings.

There was no fear of anything at that time. There were no thorns, thistles, or noxious plants. There were no poisons. For that matter, there was no pain and no sweat; everything was pleasant, painless, and effortless. No animals were fearsome or frightening; there was no violence at all in nature. All was at peace and in harmonious good. It was awesome to be in such a place, and awesome to be me. But there was no point of comparison, and hence no introspection. There was only joy and wonder in being human, God’s special creature.

It got even better – when God determined to bless me with Eve, and with children and family. What a marvelous wonder when I first awoke to see her, this gift of God. She looked like me, but even better than me. She was human but she was distinctly different. She was a wonder – made to fit me and complement me perfectly! Our partnership for that short time was incredible!

A little puzzling was the two trees in the midst of the garden – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or the tree of death. God spoke clearly that to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death. I didn’t know exactly what death would be like, for there was no death at this beginning. But I knew it was adverse, that this was a serious warning of love from God. And I made sure that Eve knew about this stricture from God as well.

Then there was the tree of life! It seemed strange to have it when I already had life, an abundant life, a perfect life! Why would I need to eat of it, and what would that have been like? What would it have added? I already had everything, more than enough to make for a perfectly enjoyable and beautiful existence!

After the darkness of death came upon us, it was hard to even remember how good we had it in the garden. As time went on it became more and more difficult, and I didn’t even want to remember. To dwell upon it only made my current life miserable, and almost intolerable. I can’t believe that we could have lost such a thing, and that we had to live with the curse God placed upon His own beautiful creation! But it happened, and we did spend the rest of our lives dying.

So, I spent a great deal of time mulling over the “fall” and our destruction. It seemed unfair at the time – that Eve, God’s perfect gift, should have caused all of this. I did not want to take any responsibility – but alas, this is the effect of sin and death. It drives a person to blindness and delusion, rebellion against God and against the truth. And it effects the mind and soul so that we can’t even begin to heal ourselves.

It also seemed unfair that God allowed this beast – the serpent, to come into our garden, our paradise, with his lies and deception. Thinking back on it – after sin had infected our nature – God’s Word seemed so weak and ineffective against the luring, lying, deceiving, distorting temptation of the devil. Of course, this is not true. God’s Word is the greatest and most powerful force in the whole universe!

So it took some time for me to understand that this tree of the knowledge of good and evil was also the tree of love, enabling us to continue loving God by keeping His Word. It was the tree of freedom – giving us the option of holding fast to God or rejecting him for some other ambition. When we made the choice we did know better. But afterward all we could do was make excuses! We were reduced; we were pathetic.

We were also quite miserable! And it was about to get much worse for us. Yes, God began by cursing the serpent, the devil. At first this sounded extremely ominous. We knew that God would focus on us next, and that His Word would also “curse” us. And so it did. We could scarcely fathom what it all would mean when God looked direct at us and said to Eve: “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

And then He said to me: “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.”

Wow! Terror gripped out hearts. We could hardly begin to grasp what all of this meant! Poor Eve – she had me to rule over her, and pain in what should bring great joy. And I was chastened for picking Eve over the Word of God – how could I have done so stupidly! All of nature cursed because of me – pain, sweat, thorns and thistles! And ultimately death – a return to dust! How could this be contemplated?

Ah, but the Lord God was not done with me yet! He was not done with Eve yet! He comforted us, and clothed us, and kept us away from the tree of life! He assured us that He would still be present with us, that He still loved us, that He would still care for us, providing us with food and sustenance even though we now lived in a hostile world.

Then He reminded us of what He had spoken to the serpent – about the Seed of the woman. He would bruise the devil’s head – a fatal wound. He would undo the harm done to us and to all mankind. He would redeem us from our sins, providing us with forgiveness in the merciful love of God! There was a way back from this hostile world, back to the paradise of God! And this paradise was still our true home, our inheritance, our place of citizenship!

Now He has come for us, this Seed of the woman. He suffered and died for our sin and guilt, as the Lamb of God. He has taken away the sin of the world. God has restored His children of faith to liberty – and promised that on the Last Day a glorious new creation will rival what only Eve and I were able to experience in the Garden. Oh what a day that will be!

So join me in looking forward to that day – giving thanks and praise to God even now for His salvation. It is impossible to imagine how glorious “human being” will be when God completes His new creation and He wipes away every tear from our eyes, when death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying nor pain. Yes, you sojourn now but your journey has an end – in God’s glorious new creation!

Thank God that my error was not the last word! Thank God that He spoke again, that He gave us the Word in human flesh, and provided us with new and eternal life. Amen!

Votum: And the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting. Amen.