“When Heaven Comes Down – Our Longing is Fulfilled”
Gen. 3:1-9
What a world! What peace! Everything was perfect and beautiful. Chapter 2 of Genesis ends: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Adam and Eve had total, perfect harmony with themselves, with each other, with God, and with their world. I like the way William Willimon put it: “Once upon a time, we had it all – with no business more pressing than ‘to be fruitful and multiply.’ Once upon a time we were like children, naked but unashamed, trusting and unafraid. We were a two-year old after his bath, romping gleefully naked through the living room, free of the unnatural restraint called clothing. So we were. Undiapered and unashamed. The unselfconscious, trusting simplicity of children is the way God created us, so the story says, once upon a time.” So what happened. Where did it all go wrong? What about the mess the world’s in? How did it get from the gorgeous Garden of Eden to where it is today? What happened to the peace? How did we lose it all? To fully answer this we return to Genesis, chapter 3.
Genesis 3 teaches us why life is so out of sync and out of sorts – why we struggle so hard to live in peace and harmony. It points, first, to OUR PROBLEM OF LONGING. God had placed Adam and Eve in that total paradise. But paradise didn’t last. The serpent, the representative of evil, challenged Eve to disobey God by eating fruit from the one tree God had made off limits. Verses 5-6: Satan said, “”For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” They sinned. And as much as we’d like to blame them for our broken world, we cannot. We’re a part of the problem, which is that WE, too, LONG TO BE LIKE GOD. In part, that’s good - the Bible urges us to be God-like, to be godly in our character. But we want to be like God by being in charge like God. That was part of Satan’s ploy: "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (5) God gives us assignments - we fail; God gives us boundaries - we cross them; God gives us rules - we break them. We do not like to be told what to do and what not to do. Have you ever seen a sign that said, “Wet Paint - Do Not touch?” What did you do? Admit it - you touched it. We do not like to be told, “Do not...!” We want what we want when we want it. And we especially want what we cannot or do not have! WE WANT TO DRAW THE BOUNDARIES AND MAKE THE RULES; WE WANT TO BE GOD.
How often have you succumbed to this desire? What is your forbidden fruit? What is the one thing that you cannot have but you crave so desperately? Someone else’s spouse, job, house, position, popularity or recognition? What is the one boundary you’re tempted to cross? Carrying out a dishonest but profitable business scheme? Getting an “A” by cheating on a test? Having just one more drink? Lying on your resume so you can get the job?
The reality is we do sin; we are sinners. WE ALL SIN. We sin because we’re sinners. Adam and Eve may have been the first, but we all sin. Genesis 3 could just as well have used our names. Why is that? One of the reasons we sin is WE DO NOT TAKE GOD SERIOUSLY. Notice that Satan began with God: “Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" In other words, “You take God too seriously; you interpret Him too narrowly, too strictly. God would not limit your potential and your freedom.” It’s like an employee who loves her boss and feels she is treated well by him. Then one day someone says, “Oh he just does that so he can be popular and get a promotion. He’s just using you. You should hear what he says about you behind your back!” The doubt is cast – the employee will never again be able to have full confidence in her boss. So Eve would never have signed a paper denouncing God; she was not abolishing belief in God – she was just ready to take him a little less seriously.
Many people believe in God for the good of their children, or for some extra padding when life hits hard, or for help in emergencies. But how many people really take God seriously? Following the 911 attacks, thousands of people flocked to churches, desiring a word from God. They needed God. But where are they now? Were they willing to hear not only God’s words of comfort but also His call to repent, to become a people worthy of his blessing? Now that the years have passed how seriously do they take God? For that matter, how seriously do you take God? Once we start down the road of taking God a little less seriously, we‘re not far from displacing God and relegating him to something less than He demands. We are all sinners who sin because we do not take God seriously.
Isaiah drove home the point (64:6): “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Paul said it even more bluntly (Rom. 3:23): “...all have sinned and come short of the glory of God...” Sin is in our genes. It’s part of our inheritance. We long to be like God.
The Bible, appropriately, moves directly from our problem of our longing to OUR PAIN FROM LONGING. When we sin we do, indeed, see with new eyes – and we do not like what we see. Our longing turns to a longing for wholeness. Verse 6: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked…” Because we see with new eyes, WE EXPERIENCE A LOSS OF INNOCENCE; WE ARE FILLED WITH GUILT AND SHAME. We find it hard to live with ourselves. No one needs to tell us to feel guilty - no one told Adam and Eve they had sinned; they knew it.
They knew it because SIN CARRIES THE SEEDS OF ITS OWN PUNISHMENT. Sin brings its own consciousness; guilt is an inborn accuser. It’s like a fish that swallows the bait - no one needs to tell it something is wrong; it knows and fights for its life! Remember what Cain said to the Lord when the consequences of his sin was announced? “My punishment is more than I can bear.” He knew his guilt and could not live with himself. Remember Judas? He went out and hung himself. The Psalmist knew this truth long ago: in Psalm 32:3 – “When I kept silent my bones wasted away through My groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” He knew his guilt. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say, for example, after committing adultery – “It was so good at the time, but later…” We stand naked and ashamed. We long to be whole.
Our longing for wholeness makes our pain worse because WE TRY TO COVER UP OUR GUILT AND SHAME. “…so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” We try to deny it, cover it up, conceal it, down play it. We convince ourselves that if others can’t see it, it can’t hurt us. So we blame others, our circumstances, or our birth – “That’s just the way I am!” Anne Graham Lotz asked the appropriate question: “What fig leaves have you sewn together as a cover-up for your sin and shame before God?” Do you try to: do more good works? Be more religious? Attend church more regularly? Do more volunteer work? Try to be a more moral person? Try to be more giving?
There are also times WE TRY TO HIDE FROM GOD. Verse 8: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Maybe you’ve stopped attending church, or reading your Bible, or praying? You’ve stopped meeting with your friends? It’s like a child who puts her hands over her eyes and says, “You can’t see me!” But we all know that the child is still seen. We cannot hide our sin from God. So we are destined to live with the pain of our sin.
We also feel pain because WE EXPERIENCE A LOSS OF RELATIONSHIPS WHICH ARE BROKEN BY SIN. There is, verse 8, separation FROM GOD: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Instead of welcoming God’s presence, we fear Him. Some of you may remember a time, as a teenager, when you knew you were getting home after curfew. Did you run into the house anxious to see mom or dad – or try to sneak in? We try to hide.
Then, verse 12 points out separation FROM OTHERS: “The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." We blame others and stick up for ourselves because we don’t want God to punish us. It’s like the older sister who blames her little brother for the broken vase because she’d rather he be spanked than her!
A third separation occurs in verse 13: “Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." There is separation FROM THE WORLD around us; we no longer live in harmony with nature and other creatures. Ever wonder why the weather turns stormy and destructive or why some animals cannot be our pets, or why our wonderful mysterious sexual appetites burn with what is corrupt instead of what is spiritual? Now we know why women experience intense pain in childbirth rather than ecstatic joy, why the ground produces weeds faster than flowers and why we spend more time hoeing than enjoying and sweating more from working than from laying in the sun. It’ all part of the pain of our longing to be whole.
But fortunately Genesis 3 doesn’t stop here. It also lifts up OUR PROVISION FOR LONGING – HEAVEN COMES DOWN WITH GRACE. Verse 9 – “But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" God comes down not to judge but to give an opportunity for salvation, for wholeness. God provides for our longing in three ways.
First, GOD INITIATES A PROCESS FOR OUR GUILT SO WE CAN CONFESS. God already knew where Adam and Eve were – He wanted them to know where they were so they could admit their sin, own up to their guilt, and come clean. God could have condemned them and announced judgment but He wanted to lead them to confession! It is the first sign of grace. God comes in judgment, yes,
but also in mercy. Sooner or later God will walk by and give you the opportunity to open up to Him. In fact, He’s here this morning!
Look at the next sign of grace – verse 21: “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” God killed two animals to cover up the guilt, shame, and sin of Adam and Eve. Life had to be killed for them to be covered. GOD SUPPLIES A PROVISION FOR OUR SIN SO WE CAN LIVE IN GRACE. While we can cover our bodies we can never cover our souls. The Old Testament repeatedly makes it very clear that for there to be forgiveness, cleansing blood must be shed and life sacrificed. When someone sinned, he was required to bring a lamb without blemish to the priest at the temple. They would then perform a ritual, during which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the altar to make up for – atone for – his sin. So beginning with Adam and Eve, God covers what we lose. That’s what makes Christmas so special. GOD PROVIDED JESUS CHRIST, who was born to be the blood-shedding sacrifice so we could be cleansed. As John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
The third sign of grace through which God covers our loss is that GOD PROVIDES PROTECTION FROM DEATH SO WE CAN GAIN ETERNAL LIFE. Verse 24: “After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” If Adam and Eve had gone back and eaten again of the tree, they would have lived forever in a state of eternal damnation; they would never die and never be raised to eternal life. So God blocked the entrance. Yet in doing so He protected the way to eternal life so eventually his Son could enter. The stage was already set for the coming of Jesus Christ.
An English postal worker was in charge of letters inadequately addressed. One Christmas season he discovered a card from his own daughter to Santa. It said, “We’re very sad at our house this year. My little brother went to heaven last week. You needn’t leave me anything. But if you could give Daddy something that would make him stop crying, I wish you would. I heard him say to Mommy that only eternity can cure him. Could you send him some of that?” So God sent His Son; only He can cure us. Because of Jesus we have not been banished from God forever. The loss is not permanent; the separation need not last forever. WE MAY HAVE LOST THE GARDEN BUT WE HAVE GAINED A HOME. Jesus, in fact, has gone to prepare it for us. Peter wrote (1 Pt. 3:18), “Christ…never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God.”
Jesus is here this morning. You can be whole. When heaven comes down our longing is fulfilled. Paul wrote it beautifully in Titus 3:3-8 (NLT): “BUT THEN GOD OUR SAVIOR SHOWED US HIS KINDNESS AND LOVE. HE SAVED US, NOT BECAUSE OF THE GOOD THINGS WE DID, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS MERCY. HE WASHED AWAY OUR SINS AND GAVE US A NEW LIFE THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. HE GENEROUSLY POURED OUT THE SPIRIT UPON US BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR DID. HE DECLARED US NOT GUILTY BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT KINDNESS. AND NOW WE KNOW THAT WE WILL INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE. THESE THINGS I HAVE TOLD YOU ARE ALL TRUE.”
Fulfill your longing. Come home to Jesus.
