The events told in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis are well known. For centuries, they have provided material for many lessons and studies. I, myself, cannot count the number of times that I have used all or a portion of this passage in sermons that I have delivered.
The amazing thing about the Word of God is that just when you think you have exhausted a passage of all its potential lessons, you suddenly find spiritual insights that you had never seen and gleaned before. In fact, often you wonder why you had never seen those truths in previous studies. Verily, the Scriptures are a bottomless well from which we can always draw fresh lessons to satisfy our desire for greater spiritual knowledge and understanding.
In this lesson, I want to focus our attention on the Person behind all the events that are told in this passage. I want us to see how this passage provides us with a wealth of information about the nature and character of God. I dare say that the rest of the Bible reveals little about God’s nature and character that isn’t revealed right here in the very first three chapters of the book of Genesis.
1. THE ETERNAL GOD.
The first truth we learn about God is found in the first four verses of the Bible - "In the beginning, God". In these few words we learn that our God is eternal in nature. Before time and anything else, there was God.
I like how Moses expressed it in Psalm 90:2, "Before the mountains were born, or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God."
God has always existed and He always will exist.
The Mormons believe that the God of the Bible is the offspring of a man and woman god. They believe that faithful Mormon couples will, themselves, become gods like Jehovah and will give birth to other gods.
God refutes this in Isaiah 43:10, "Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me." 44:6, "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me."
It is difficult for our finite minds to comprehend the eternal nature of God. Until we ourselves are ushered into eternity, we must be content in accepting God’s explanation of Himself given to Moses, in Exodus 3:14, "I am Who I am."
2. GOD’S OMNISCIENCE AND OMNIPOTENCE.
The next truths we learn of God’s nature is found in the word "created". The great significance of this term is lost in the English translation. The Hebrew word translated "created" is ’bara’ and it means to create something from nothing.
Everything that we create is made-up of materials that already exist. And most inventions are based upon arrangements or systems that already exist, whether it be in nature or made-made.
But, in the beginning, God created this entire Universe from nothing but the thought in His mind and the power of His command. He thought it up and spoke it into existence.
When one considers the complexity of the Universe, one is overwhelmed to think of the Intellect required to invent it. Through the scientific method, we are just beginning to discover the particle components of the atom and how those components interact. We are just beginning to uncode the blueprint of life in DNA. We are just beginning to understand how cells function and what makes them good or bad. We are just beginning to understand the basic circuitry of the brain. Only recently, we have come to realize the complexity and fragility of ecosystems on this earth. To contemplate that a Being thought-up and designed the Universe is marvelous. Consider the knowledge and wisdom required. Proverbs 3:19, "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; and by understanding He established the heavens."
Then, consider the power it took to create what we know to exist in this Universe. It is beyond comprehension.
Let’s just take our Sun, for example. Our Sun, like all stars, is basically a huge hydrogen bomb. Some of us are old enough to remember the powerful and horrifying Hydrogen bombs that were exploded in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Sun’s power is derived from the same process as those H-bombs - nuclear fusion. However, the Sun’s explosive power produces in one second the equivalent of 90 billion of our man-made H-Bombs.
Let me give you another comparison. One day’s worth of the Sun’s energy output - if it could be harnessed - would meet the world’s total energy consumption for 27 years. Each second, the Sun’s energy output is 400 billion billion megawatts. That is to say, each second the Sun emits enough energy to light-up 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (26 zeros) 100 watt light bulbs.
Let me give you one more figure for those who fancy machines. In one second, the Sun’s power output is equivalent to 500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (23 zeros) horsepower.
Now, the Sun’s power is impressive by itself, but don’t forget that there are millions of stars like our Sun in our Milky Way Galaxy. And there are thousands, if not millions, of galaxies like our Milky Way in the known Universe.
Thus, the sheer magnitude of power necessary to create and sustain this Universe is so enormous that all one can do is stand in awe before it.
The Prophet Jeremiah (32:17) was awed by God’s power as revealed in His creation of the Universe - "Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine out-stretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee."
4. THE PLURALITY OF PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD.
The next piece of information that we learn about God is found when He created Mankind as told in Verse 26 - "Let Us make Man." Who is God talking to? Who is "Us"?
The "Us" hints at the truth that though there be one God, there are three distinct Persons within the Godhead or Deity. In fact, the Hebrew word we translate "God" in Genesis (Elohim) is plural; it denotes more than one person.
There is one God but that God is three distinct Persons. You talk about a hard thing for our minds to comprehend, in my opinion, this takes the cake! Yet, we are taught that the three Persons in the Godhead are "the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)."
Even though the triune nature of the Godhead is more clearly taught in the New Testament, God revealed it in the very first chapter of His Book.
5. GOD’S GOODNESS.
Another characteristic of God that is plainly brought to our attention in this passage is God’s goodness.
After the creation of the man, says Chapter 2:8-9, God placed him in a garden in Eden. The word "Eden" means ’delight’ and ’pleasure’ and that is exactly what God intended for Mankind.
In Eden, God provided Man everything necessary for his happiness and well-being. Physically, he had abundant food and drink. For his heart, God gave him a companion so as not to be alone. For his spirit, God gave him purpose and responsibility. God also surrounded Man with beauty. To satisfy the soul, Man had the ability and opportunity to walk and talk with His Maker, each day, like good friends.
Through His providence, God revealed His great goodness. But, there was another way in which God showed His goodness. God provided guidance and instruction to Adam and Eve. He told the first Couple to stay away from "the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."
A lot of people do not think of God’s instructions and guidance as a manifestation of His goodness. They may see God’s commandments and instructions as a manifestation of His morality and His perfect righteousness (which they are) but do not see the connection between God’s commandments and God’s goodness.
In dealing with Adam and Eve, I think the connection is boldly established. Did God tell Adam and Eve to not eat the ’forbidden fruit’ simply because he wanted to keep them from something delicious and satisfying? Or, did God prohibit their eating the fruit merely to test their loyalty and obedience?
The answer to those questions is an emphatic, "NO!"
God forbade Adam and Eve from partaking of the one Tree because the consequences of partaking would destroy their paradise. Eating the fruit would destroy their perfect happiness. Rather than increase their well-being and satisfaction in life, it would bring very negative consequences - physically (death), mentally (guilt), emotionally (fear and shame), and spiritually (the end of intimate fellowship with God).
God does not make rules just for the sake of making rules. He not a bureaucrat on some power trip who makes rules and regulations simply because He has the authority to do so. God does not lay-down commandments and instructions to keep us from fun nor to compel us to perform futile works.
His guidance is for our betterment. His instruction is for our good and the good of others around us. Psalm 25:8, "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore, He instructs sinners in the way."
6. GOD’S TRUTHFULNESS AND TRUSTWORTHINESS.
This leads to our next trait that we learn about God - His truthfulness and trustworthiness.
God warned the First Couple of the consequences of eating from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". In 2:17, God told them that if they ate they "shall surely die."
Satan told Eve that they would not die but would become just "like God, knowing good and evil." In other words, God had lied and was unworthy of their trust.
Whether it be His warnings or His promises of good, God is reliable. He is worthy of our trust. Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie.... Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" Hebrews 6:18, "It is impossible for God to lie."
7. GOD’S JUSTICE.
I think it was a sad day for God when He administered His punishment upon Adam and Eve. We must never think that God ’gets His kicks’ from punishing sinful Man.
Ezekiel 18:23,"’Do I have any pleasure in the [spiritual] death of the wicked,’ declare the Lord God. ’rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?’" 33:11, "’As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ’I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live.’"
That God has to punish the disobedient is required by His holy justice. David acknowledged, in Psalm 89:14, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy Throne." Penalties inflicted upon the disobedient reflect God’s revulsion from moral evil, wickedness. If God did not punish wrong, how could we regard Him as holy, righteous and just?
8. God’s Loving Mercy and Grace.
Fortunately for Adam and Eve and we, their offspring, God is not only a just God but He is also a God of infinite mercy and bountiful grace. God demonstrated these traits even while punishing the First Couple.
We see His mercy by making it impossible for Adam and Eve to eat again from the Tree of Life, in Chapter 3:22-24. He banished them from Eden wherein the Tree of Life grew and blocked access to the Tree by stationing cherubim and flaming sword to guard the garden’s entrance.
Why should this be seen as a display of God’s mercy?
By eating the fruit of the Tree of Life, one becomes immortal. Think of living forever with a body that is subject to pain, sickness and disease. Ponder living forever with guilt, shame, fear, disappointment, sadness and discouragement. Consider how it would be to live forever in a world of crime, oppression, betrayal, hatred, strife and war.
We all yearn for immortality. We all wish to live and never die; however, not under those circumstances. God, as well, did not want that for Adam and Eve and their descendants. Thus, in mercy, He made sure that such a tragedy would never take place.
Beyond that, God exhibited His grace - unmerited favor - by granting a promise of hope for Man.
In Chapter 3:15, God reveals that one of Eve’s descendants would crush or destroy Satan and His works. I believe it is implied that this seed or descendant would undo the damage done by Satan’s deceit and the disobedience of Adam and Eve.
Most Bible students, through the centuries, have understood this promise to refer to the mission of the coming Messiah or Christ, Who would be bruised by Satan but would overcome and overthrow him, his works and his power.
Indeed, this is exactly what occurred when the Heavenly Father sent His Son into the world. Sure, Satan tried to hinder and harass Christ Jesus, but his efforts were but a bruising when compared to the fatal blow that Jesus delivered to Satan.
1 John 3:8, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the Devil." Romans 5:6, "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Hebrews 2:14-15, "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." John 10:27-28, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My Hand." Revelation 2:7, "To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God."
