In verse 7 and following, the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin are made known. It is evident that the rest they once enjoyed in the garden has been profoundly compromised. Instead of finding themselves freely enjoying the presence of God, they now find themselves fearing him, hiding from him as he approaches (v.8), shirking their responsibility for their actions, and shifting the blame to one another (v. 12) and to the serpent (v. 13). They now find themselves standing with the serpent on the receiving end of God’s judgment, instead of with God on the receiving end of his blessing.

To the serpent, God sends him to his belly and to the eating of dust for the rest of his days (v . 14). Enmity is placed between him and the woman, and between their respective offspring (v. 14). Notably, however, in this curse of the serpent there lies a glimmer of hope for humanity. God declares that the power of the serpent is temporary and that his doom is sure, as he awaits the crushing of his head by the heel of the woman’s seed (v. 15).

God then turns his judgment toward the man and the woman. To the woman, he increases her pain in child bearing (v. 16) and informs her that her “desire” will now be for her husband (v.16). There has been much debate surrounding the implications of the word “desire” and its use within this text; however, from the context it seems clear that the term is employed with a negative sense, possibly denoting that she will now somehow harbor an improper desire to usurp the authority of her husband and will attempt to assume his role as leader (cf. 4:7). Furthermore, there now exists within the original authority structure a tendency within the man to rule harshly over the woman, setting the stage for a constant struggle between the man and the woman within the marriage union: as she seeks to rule over him, he will carry out his authority over her ruthlessly. To the man, God provides two reasons for his judgment against him: he listened to the voice of his wife (v. 17a) and disobeyed the commandment of God (v. 17b). As a result, man will be forced to toil and labor over the thorns and thistles of the now cursed ground (v. 17-18). He will only eat by the product of his labor and the sweat of his brow, only to be relieved when he returns to the ground from which he was created (v.19).

Despite this clear judgment of God, hope for humanity still remains. The human race will not end with the death of Adam and Eve (v. 20) and God will remain the source of their provision (v. 21). All would seem to be lost, however, in their banishment from the garden of Eden (v.23), as Cherubim and a flaming sword now stand in the way of their access to the tree of life, a clear symbol of their now broken communion and fellowship with God (v. 24). Nevertheless, as the biblical storyline of the Old Testament progresses, God will continue to provide in a limited fashion a way back to the rest that humanity once enjoyed in Eden. This, then, sets the stage for the coming of Jesus Christ who will provide a way back in an unlimited fashion. Even with his arrival, however, the consummation of all things awaits its full realization to be effected at his second coming. This age to come, the book of Revelation describes, will be a time when we will once again see the tree of life and enjoy perfect communion with God anew.

Sin and suffering remind us that there is something to be awaited, that creation groans together with us in anticipation of its restoration, and as we reside in this fallen world, let us find our assurance not in those things which are merely momentary and fleeting, but in the One who is eternal, who will one day usher in his kingdom, and who presently awaits all his enemies to be relegated to their final destination: his footstool (Heb 1:13).

Audio from this week’s lesson: Genesis 3:7-24.

~TDG

Genesis 2 ends with man and woman “naked and not ashamed.” By the middle of chapter three, however, they were hiding themselves among the trees, attempting to escape the presence of God. What happened in the course of these eight verses that caused the shift from no shame to shame is one of the most significant events in the storyline of the Bible. It is here that history moved from Creation to Fall.

This cosmic shift is, for the Christian, the explanation for the existence of evil. It is an historic account that makes sense of the world as we experience it. Man, as moral creature made in the image of God, has rebelled against his Creator, plunging himself and the rest of God’s creation over which he was to have dominion into a state of shame and curse. The one given the charge to “rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (1:28) was instead ruled over by another creature – the serpent.

As Adam’s descendants, we not only inherit the guilt of his moral failure (Rom. 5:12-14), we also find ourselves committing shameful acts similar to his. We too align ourselves with the serpent and forfeit our responsibility to take dominion over the earth.

All of us are those who do not practice what we would like to do, but do the very things we hate (Rom. 7:15). What is needed is a man who has not inherited the guilt of Adam and who can succeed where Adam failed. In Christ alone this is accomplished! “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19).

One day men and women will again seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. When the day of judgment comes, they will say “to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb’” (Rev. 6:16). May we not be found among those ashamed in their fig leaves on that day, but may we be found among those “standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes” (7:9).

Audio from the lesson can be found here.

~DGG

Though chapters 1 & 2 take up a relatively small portion of the total book of Genesis, these chapters contain much information that is important for Christian reflection. Therefore, this week we pause to consider three themes in Genesis 1 & 2 before moving on to Genesis 3.

First, the seventh day is truly unique among the days of creation. We read in Gn. 2:1-3 that God had finished his work and that he “blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creation that he had done.” When we read that God rested, we should not imagine God taking a sigh of relief after working hard all week. Even though he rested, he still upheld all that he had made in the previous six days. Instead the idea of rest should be seen in relational terms. Now that God had finished his work of creation, he would enter into full relationship with his creation, especially man. Man likewise would enjoy a relationship with God. Missing is the phrase that accompanies the other six days, ‘and there was evening and there was morning’. This makes an important theological point: this day of relational rest was to be perpetual. Adam and Eve were to enjoy a covenantal relationship with God as they expanded the borders of the garden over the earth. However, this relational rest was lost, as we will learn next week in Genesis 3.

Closely connected to the seventh day is the Biblical theme of rest, especially Sabbath rest. The fourth commandment to ‘remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy’ harkens back to this creation account. The Sabbath was a day of rest set aside for God (Ex. 20:8-11). The theme of rest is also associated with the entrance into the Promised Land. This is seen especially in the book of Joshua. As the theme of rest unfolds throughout the Bible, the author of Hebrews teaches that the people of Israel gained a rest that was not complete. The rest in the land and the Sabbath day were types pointing to the final rest found in Jesus Christ. Therefore, today to obey the Sabbath we must believe in Jesus Christ and put our full trust in Him for salvation (Heb. 3 &4). As Christians we already enjoy the rest in Christ that will be fully realized in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21-22).

Second, we learn basic truths about the created order that form our worldview such as the norms for marriage, family, and human sexuality. In a culture that constantly goes against these norms, we must ground our views solidly in scripture. Research that proves that these norms are good for society and arguments from observing our world are important, but ultimately our convictions must rest on the words recorded here in Genesis 2:20-24 and elsewhere in the scripture. We know that homosexuality, adultery, and other forms of sexual deviance are ‘deviant’ because scripture gives us the norms.

Also, a look at later scripture reveals that much more is going on here than just the norms for human marriage. In Ephesians 5 scripture reveals that human marriage is actually a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Therefore, when we honor the norms given for marriage we are also honoring Christ and His church.

Finally, another worldview forming theme for reflection is the sanctity of human life. This year, on January 22, marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Since then our culture has spiraled further down in its regard for human life. As those who believe the Bible is the word of God, we realize that every life is valuable because every human life is made in the image of God. This should influence how we view many things in the world. As Christians we should honor the value of every human life in the way we vote, spend our money, and not least, in the way we treat people in our daily living.

Audio from this week’s lesson: Important Themes in Genesis 1-2.

~TWM

From the Anizors!

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to let you know that on Monday morning at 6:01am, Mel gave birth to our beautiful little girl! Zoe weighed in at 6lbs and 5 oz and is 19 inches long. The labor was pretty intense (as all labors are, I suppose), but Mel did wonderfully, making it the whole way through with no drugs. I am happy to report that both mom and baby are doing fine and just got home this afternoon. We are so thankful for God’s grace in giving us a healthy daughter. We chose the name Zoe (meaning “life” in Greek) because over these past few months especially, we’ve really come to see that God truly is the giver and sustainer of life, and we are so thankful for His gift of life to us in our little girl. Isabella (meaning “devoted to God”) seemed an appropriate fit in describing our greatest desire for our daughter - that she would be someone whose life is passionately devoted to serving and loving our great God.

Thank you for all of your prayers and for rejoicing with us! Here are a few pictures of our little girl. Enjoy!

From the proud, thrilled and giddy papa,

Uche

Nearly all worldview clashes can be directly traced back to the issue to origins. For this reason, only a return to the very beginnings of humanity will bring to the fore the divinely intended purpose for our marriages in the face of an anti-Christian culture that has effectively robbed the term of its meaning.

The idea that both man and woman simultaneously share the image of God has previously been established in the opening chapter of Genesis (1:27). It is at this point in the creation narrative that Genesis 2 breaks-in and highlights the significance of the distinction in sexualities and the established order of the relationship between the two. Isolation is clearly not the purpose for which man has been created; rather, he is called to carry out the divine mandate in community and fellowship with another human being, one that Genesis 2 depicts is like him, but not like him, one who bears the image of God together with him, but complements the purpose of humanity in a way that he alone could not achieve on his own (2:18). The text carefully establishes the woman as being of the same essence of the man, and thus, does not relegate her existence to a manner of insignificance (2:21). However, there is a clear order that is to exist within the relationship as they carry out their purpose of ruling over creation. Man will do so as her leader, she will do so as his follower, and both will do so in submission to God. Only within God’s intended order do their differences align in a complementarity that prevents them from existing in antithesis. This leadership-followership structure is carefully articulated throughout the chapter: woman is “taken out of man” (2:24), named by man (2:24), and created for the purpose of being his “helper” (2:18).

The text is not clear as to when this first marriage actually takes place. Whether it was from the onset of woman’s creation or man’s acceptance of her in v. 23, it is clear from the text that present in these two first human beings exists the first marriage: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (2:24). They become a new unit within the community; more so, they now share the closest relationship possible amongst two human beings, closer than a father and a son or a mother and a daughter.

As the biblical storyline unfolds, this theme of marriage begins to be picked up as a way of describing God’s relationship to his people (Jer 2:2-3; Isa 62:5). For this reason, the New Testament very naturally appeals to this institution as a means of describing the relationship that exists between Christ and his church. (Eph 5:30-35, Rev 19:7-9). Marriage’s purpose, then, from the vantage point of all of Scripture, is to reflect this heavenly reality. It is not merely marriage that is displayed in the Gospel; but rather, it is the Gospel which is to be on display in our marriages. Just as the first man and woman were members of the same body after their union, so it is with Christ and his bride, the church.

Let us, therefore, appeal to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus as we interact with each other within our marriages, remembering we reflect the reality that exists between Christ and his bride, namely that he “gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:26-27).

Audio from this week’s lesson: Genesis 2:4-25.

~TDG