Scripture Introduction
In certain segments of Jewish culture, there is a way of pretending to say something nice, then adding a twist that turns it into a curse. Alan King lists a number of these in his Great Jewish Joke Book:
• May you inherit a hotel and die in every room.
• May you have a son named after you soon (the name passed on only after you die).
• May the souls of all of King Solomon’s mothers-in-law inhabit you.
• May your bones be broken as often as the Ten Commandments.
Those are worth a little chuckle. Today, however, we tackle a more serious topic – the real curses which God metes out as a result of the rebellion of our first parents. We finish chapter 3 of Genesis with the beginning of… pain.
[Read Genesis 3.16-24. Pray.]
Introduction
In the introduction to The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis explains why, for him, pain argued against the existence of God and allowed him to feel secure in his atheism: “Life on Earth is so arranged that all the forms of it can live only by preying upon one another. In the lower forms this process entails only death, but in the higher there appears a new quality called consciousness which enables it to be attended with pain. The creatures cause pain by being born, and live by inflicting pain, and in pain they mostly die. In the most complex of all creatures, Man, yet another quality appears, which we call reason, whereby he is enabled to foresee his own pain, which henceforth is preceded with acute mental suffering, and to foresee his own death while keenly desiring permanence. It also enables men by a hundred ingenious contrivances to inflict a great deal more pain than they otherwise could have done on one another and on the irrational creatures. This power they have exploited to the full” (2).
Lewis then explains the problem: “If God were good, he would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both. This is the problem of pain in its simplest form” (16).
Two things I am not aiming for in this sermon. First, I do not want to peddle simplistic answers. Sometimes Christians imply that trouble is as easy to solve as “just trust and obey.” There is some truth there, but the nuances are important also. My comments are not intended as the whole story, but pointers on the way.
Second, I am not presenting a theodicy, the philosophical justification of God in the face of evil and suffering. That is a good thing for a pastor to attempt in the community of believers. I would be honored to give such a speech, but not on a Sunday morning.
My goal is to pull from the text what God is telling us in these events, and see how he uses them to point us towards his glory and our joy, the hope to which he calls us in Christ Jesus.
Prior to eating the fruit, mankind walked with God in pure happiness and holiness. In the Garden, the soul was at peace both with its Maker and with everything else he created. There was no sin, no sorrow, no selfishness, and no suffering. But then we rebelled; so where does that leave us?
On Wednesday, the lady cooking at the station next to me was speaking about how she raises her teenagers. She gives them many freedoms and speaks often of trust. She said her mantra is, “If we don’t have trust, we don’t have anything.” Here is a woman with no real commitment to religion, yet she knows there are consequences for sin.
That is an important insight, because it shows us how deeply seated is the sense of fairness and the ill effects which result from sin. Many who might criticize God for excessive harshness or unfairness in judging and punishing in this text, nonetheless adhere to the same standard themselves. They know there is right and wrong, good and evil, and that the ultimate answer is that which is righteous and loving.
C. S. Lewis makes this the center of his defense of the problem of pain: “There was one question I never dreamed of raising. I never noticed that the very strength and facility of the pessimists’ case at once poses us a problem. If the universe is so bad, or even half so bad, how on earth did human beings ever come to attribute it to the activity of a wise and good Creator? Men are fools, perhaps; but not so foolish as that. The direct inference from black to white, from evil flower to virtuous root, from senseless work to a workman infinitely wise, staggers belief” (3).
“Christianity is not a system into which we have to fit the awkward fact of pain; it is itself one of the awkward facts which have to be fitted into any system we make. In a sense, it creates, rather than solves, the problem of pain, for pain would be no problem unless, side by side with our experience of this painful world, we had received what we think a good assurance that ultimate reality is righteous and loving” (14).
Genesis three explains why there is pain in God’s world, even though the ultimate reality is goodness and love. It also point the way toward freedom from pain forever. Four things we need to know about the way back to God.
1. To Get Back to God, We Must Feel the Pain of Our Rebellion (Genesis 3.16-19)
When suffering comes upon us, we often ask, “Why me? What have I done to deserve this pain?” The Bible does teach that there are times when our misery results more directly from our rebellion than others. But we are also often reminded that suffering is the inevitable result of life in a fallen world.
In senior design class at Georgia Tech, our team worked on a bulldozer for the NASA lunar station program. We quickly discovered that many parts which functioned well here failed in the extremes of the moon’s temperature and environment. The earth’s atmosphere protects from the pain of exposure to space. In a similar way, life outside the Garden is fraught with peril and suffering; pain and grief come from living, as well as from sinning.
Unfortunately, without trials and troubles, we disbelieve in the much greater terrors of hell, and leave off all thoughts of judgment on sin or the solutions we need. These pains warn us of a much greater judgment, a pain infinitely more acute, an eternal separation from God. So God graciously disciplines to restore. God directs curses at both Adam and Eve.
First is a two-part curse inflicted on women. Genesis 3.16: “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Eve will suffer when having children. That seems to need no explanation. We should probably note, however, that more is likely included than the fact of physical pain during delivery. This is a part for the whole; God is saying that one of the greatest joy a woman has in this life (bearing and raising children), will be attended with physical and emotional hurt and heartache. Forever and always it will be a sign: something which is so good is also so hurtful, always asking us to recognize both the glory in life and its “bentness.” It’s not the way it’s supposed to be, is it? The shadows of Eden lie everywhere around us, while the heat of the wilderness scorches our world, refusing to allow us to truly enjoy. Raising children is at once our greatest happiness and deepest heartache. In this we are most like God.
The second part for women relates to desire and rule. Some see in these words the desire a woman has to be loved and nurtured, driving her to marriage, even knowing that raising children will be painful and that her husband will act as a despot, tyrannical and selfishness. I do not agree. To understanding Genesis 3.16, we must look at the almost identical construction in Genesis 4.7:
Genesis 3:16b [Hebrew text]
Genesis 4:7 [Hebrew text]
Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.
Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.
God tells Cain that sin desires him, to control his life and make him do what it wants. Cain, however, is told by God that he must control sin so that he might please God. Genesis 3.16 is an exact parallel. God tells Eve that she desires her husband, to control his life and make him do what she wants. The husband, however, must control his wife as her head and ruler, so that they might please God.
The point? in general, women prioritize relationships over tasks. Her closest and most rewarding friendship should be her husband. But, rather than supporting him, and helping him succeed, and enjoying the benefits of loving headship, she will kick against his leadership and undermine the very thing which should be a great blessing.
The solution is found in Christ, as Ephesians 5 explains. “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5.22). But this is a demand too great for you, for your heart is not naturally inclined to submission and honoring of men. So the law drives you to God for mercy and help in time of need. Fortunately, Christ (though God) submitted to the law and suffering, so that by faith in him you have access to the power of joyful obedience. In the same way, men have a command. Not to make their wife submit, but as Paul explains in Ephesians 5.25: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Here is a demand too great for you, for your heart is not naturally inclined to love God, much less sinful women, nor does it relish giving up its own desires for the sake of the wife. So it drives you to God for mercy and help in time of need. Fortunately, Christ loved us with a self-sacrificial and compassionate passion, going to the cross to give himself for us. By faith in his work, you have access to the power of joyful obedience. The curse becomes the discipline which restores.
Adam, too, experiences God’s curse. All I have time for is to ask you to note these points:
• Life is now more difficult
• Work is not more wearying
• Death is now inevitable
Each is designed to awake us to the brokenness of the world and the bentness of our own souls, causing us to seek a better home.
Because of the wealth and comforts of life in our modern world, we may be able to shield ourselves from some of these pains. Even so, an honest look will insist that life is touched by many miseries and problems that we cannot overcome. Apart from these pains, we would devote our hearts and minds to self-fulfillment in work and relationships and friendships, and we would give no thought to the full and final separation demanded by our sin. It is these very pains which speak to us of the reality of hell and judgment, and call us to look to God for help.
2. To Get Back to God, We Must Live By Faith in the Promises (Genesis 3.20)
Someone once quipped, “If God calls Eve, ‘Adam,’ then why does Adam call Eve, ‘Eve’?”
Genesis 5.2 says, “Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.” The word, “Man,” in that verse is Adam; it is like our word, mankind, or human, or even man, which can mean either male or female. But notice Genesis 3.20: “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”
The climax of God’s curse on Adam and Eve is to return to the dust from which they were made, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, a promise remembered at funerals all over the world every single day. So how does Adam respond? I’m afraid I would have been filled with self-pity: “Woe is me; the punishment of death is greater than I can bear.” But that is the response of unbelief.
Instead, Adam looks past his pain to God’s promise! “Yes, the very ground is cursed! But God…. Yes, my work is now a toilsome burden! But God…. Yes, I will die! But God—but God has promised that my descendent will overcome sin. In the instant after the curse of death, Adam names his wife, Eve, “Life” for she will be the mother of the living. The path back to God requires living by faith in the promises.
[Removed before preaching; did not have adequate time: Kiel: “It was through the power of divine grace that Adam believed the promise with regard to the woman’s seed, and manifested his faith in the name which he gave to his wife, hW"x; chavvah, signifying life.” Adam stands before God, takes his punishment like a man, and says in effect, “Though he slay me, I will believe this promise of life from death!]
3. To Get Back to God, We Must Be Covered by the Provision (Genesis 3.21)
Adam and Eve made fig leaves, but God deems them inadequate. Of course, a fur coat and leather jacket are tremendously more useful and much better protection that fig leaves. But this is more than quality shopping. Here is another prediction of the cross. God kills an animal, for without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sin. Fig leaves cannot cover us, for justice demands death.
God says, “My son will die in your place. As a sign of my provision, I have killed an animal and now cover you with its innocent hide.” Next week, Lord willing, we will see more of the significance of that event; for today simply note that it pictures the future work of Christ Jesus.
4. To Get Back to God, We Must Eat of the Tree of Life (Genesis 3.22-24)
The Bible mentions “tree of life,” eleven times. Two are in the verses I just read, one is in Genesis 2.9, where God tells us that the tree of life was in the midst of the garden. Four times Proverbs uses the phrase, all of them metaphors for something wonderful. The other four are in the book of Revelation.
Adam and Eve (and us with them), stand outside Eden, facing a harsh world and certain pain and death. Fear and suffering would drive us to do anything to save ourselves. But living forever in sin is hell.
So God at first guards the tree, and then transplants it to the heavenly city. All who desire eternal life must go that way to find it. You will find, as you do, that this path leads past the tree of suffering, where your burden can be removed. Will you travel Pilgrim’s way, trusting in the promise and eating only of Christ until you arrive?
5. Conclusion
Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, wrote a devotional on Genesis. She describes a call about a dear friend who was rushed to the hospital. Only twelve hours earlier, Ann had been talking to this friend, who was in her early 50s and in perfect health. But by some unknown method, she contracted a virus that “reacted like an internal hand grenade,” simultaneously destroying many organs. By the time Anne arrived at the hospital the friend was dead. Anne “slipped into the chapel where the husband and children were crying and praying, and to this day I hear the echo of the son’s agony as he said angrily over and over, ‘It’s not right.’ ‘It’s not right.’ ‘It’s not right.’”
It is not right; the world is broken and we are bent. Will you be like so many who spend life trying to hide from the pain, or will you reject God because he does not unmake the problems as you think he should, or will you look through the pain and see the promise, and live by faith?
