Old Testament Encounters with Christ
Part 3: Christ in the Garden of Eden
Genesis 3:1-21 (reading vs. 7-15)
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Dec. 7, 2011
*We are looking at Old Testament encounters with the pre-incarnate Christ.
-And tonight we will look at the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, knowing that the pre-incarnate Christ was there with Adam & Eve.
*But how do we know this was the pre-incarnate Christ? -- Again, we know this because of the evidence we find in the New Testament.
-As we see in John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him”
*In other words, at that time, no one had seen God the Father at any time.
-So, whenever the Old Testament talks about someone seeing God, they are meeting with the pre-incarnate Christ.
-It was Jesus here in the Garden where we see man fall into sin.
*But how did our fall begin? -- It started in vs. 1-3 with the devil questioning the Word of God:
1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2. And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3. but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'''
*Then in vs. 4&5 the devil escalated to a bald-face lie, openly denying God’s Word:
4. The serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.''
*Sadly, we often fall for the devil’s lies, so in vs. 6: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”
*With this background in mind, let’s read Genesis 3:7-15.
7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
10. So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself."
11. And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"
12. Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
13. And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14. So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
*This story relates to us in some most important ways.
-We are all descended from Adam & Eve.
-We all inherited their sin.
-And we all inherited their death.
1. But Christ was there in the Garden of Eden. First, He was there seeking to connect with sinners.
*In vs. 8&9 we see the Lord seeking to connect with Adam & Eve:
8. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?''
*“Where are you?” the Lord asked. Don’t you think He knew? -- Of course He did.
-But the Lord wanted them to wake up to where their sin had taken them.
-God also wanted them to know that He was seeking for them.
*The Lord did not want them to be lost. II Peter 3:9 tells us that He is not willing for any to perish.
-So the Lord was there in the Garden seeking for Adam & Eve.
-And now Jesus is the Good Shepherd is seeking for us.
*Hear the Lord in Luke 15:4-7:
4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
5. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
7. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance.
*The Lord wants to connect with us in a close, personal way, so He seeks for us, and He calls out to us. In the Garden, He called out to Adam, asking, “Where are you?” And in Matt 11:28-29, Jesus calls out to us, saying:
28. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
*The Lord walked and talked in the Garden of Eden seeking for Adam & Eve.
-Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked in our world again to seek for sinners like us.
-Now the Holy Spirit of the Lord is here to seek for sinners like us.
*The Lord wants to connect with us in a close, personal way. Jim Irwin found that out in a most unusual place.
*Jim was one of only 12 men who have ever walked on the moon. Even as a child, Jim had a dream of going to the moon. And because of this dream, Jim first became a test pilot for the Air Force. Then he became an astronaut.
*Jim Irwin flew on Apollo 15, and on July 26, 1971, he fulfilled his dream of walking on the moon. Jim was the seventh man to accomplish that feat.
*But while he was standing on the moon, looking back at our world the size of a blue marble, Jim Irwin felt the presence of God like never before.
*It was an experience that literally changed his life. He left the space program and devoted himself to telling people about the life changing power of Jesus Christ. By the time of his death in 1991, Jim Irwin had told countless people about Jesus, and many of those people put their trust in the Lord.
*Jim Irwin was absolutely right when he often told them that “Jesus walking on the earth is more important than man walking on the moon.” (1)
-Christ was there in the Garden of Eden, seeking to connect with sinners like us.
2. And He was there seeing through our conniving ways. God sees right through our conniving ways.
*Adam & Eve sinned against God. The one thing God told them not to eat was the very thing they foolishly chose to eat. And they immediately tried to find a way to wiggle out of their sin problem.
-How did they do this? -- The same 3 ways we often try to get around our sin.
[1] First, in vs. 7, they tried the cover-up approach: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
*Adam & Eve found out that day that the cover-up approach will not work. President Richard Nixon found out the same thing in Aug. of 1974.
*And I have never tried to sew any leaves together, but that’s something that just can’t hold up very long.
-The fig-leaf approach will not take care of your sin problem.
[2] But Adam & Eve also tried to hide from God.
*In vs. 8, “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
*Our fear makes us want to hide from God, and our foolishness makes us think we can. But you cannot hide from God!
*Jonah found that out when he got swallowed by a whale. And in Psalm 139, David asked:
7. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8. If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10. Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me,'' Even the night shall be light about me;
12. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
*You can run, but you can not hide from God.
[3] Next our sinful couple tried to play the blame-game.
*In vs. 11, the Lord asked, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?''
*Look at God’s question in the last part of vs. 11: "Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?"
-Why did the Lord ask that question?
-Didn’t He already know what Adam & Eve had done? -- Of course He did.
-The Lord was just trying to help Adam confess his sin.
*But we like to blame others. Adam did it in vs. 12: “Then the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.’”
-Adam wasn’t just blaming his wife. He was blaming God a little bit too. “It’s your fault God! It was the woman YOU gave me!”
*Then in vs. 13, Eve played the blame-game. “And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”
*Some of you are old enough remember Flip Wilson. What was it that he used to always say? -- “The devil made me do it!” That’s what Eve said in the Garden.
*Adam & Eve both played the blame game, and we like to play it too.
-I used to have a PhD in blaming my wife Mary! I tried to blame her for just about everything that went wrong. You should have seen my world-class mental gymnastics. My twisted logic was amazing.
*Our tendency is to blame someone else for our sins, but God sees right through our conniving ways!
-Christ was there in the Garden of Eden, seeing through our conniving ways.
3. And He was there, showing us the consequences of our sin.
*Listen to the Lord in vs. 14-19:
14. So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.''
16. To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.''
17. Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, `You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
18. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.
19. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.''
*Hardship, suffering, and death are all the dreadful consequences of sin.
-And we don’t want to see that. That’s one reason why we try to run away.
*But God wants us to know that there are serious consequences for our sin.
-So Galatians 6 warns us:
7. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
*Christ was there in the Garden, showing us the consequences of our sin.
4. And He was there, showing us the cross.
*Thank God we get to see the cross, even in this story of original sin.
-Look again at vs. 14&15:
14. So the Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise (or crush) your head, and you shall bruise His heel.''
*The crushing of the serpent’s head is the ultimate and eternal defeat Satan will receive from the Hand of the Lord. The crushing of the Seed’s heel was the temporary blow that Christ received when He died on the cross for our sins.
*So in the same chapter where the first sin is recorded, God tells us about His plan to redeem us from our sins. And it was through the wounding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
*Down in vs. 21, the Lord God made clothes out of skin for Adam and his wife. Then He put those clothes on them. The Bible doesn’t tell us what kind of animal died that day. But I have to believe it was a lamb.
*Untold millions of lambs were later sacrificed to point the way to Jesus.
-And when the Lord came into the world, John the Baptist proclaimed: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
*Jesus allowed His heel to be bruised when He died on the cross. He did that for us, because it was the only way for our sins to be forgiven. He took the punishment for every single one of our sins. Then He rose again to crush the head of Satan, and give everlasting victory to all who trust in Him.
*There was nothing we could do to defeat the Serpent by our own goodness or power.
*I read about a man who bought a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the mouse into the snake's glass cage where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust.
*That tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment, he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, he needed to come up with a brilliant plan. So, what did he do? -- He quickly went to work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. And with that, the little mouse seemed to think he had solved his problem.
*But the only real solution had to come from above. And it did when the man took pity on the little mouse and removed him from the cage. (2)
*No matter how hard we try to cover or deny our sinful nature, it will not work.
-We must have the saving grace of Jesus Christ or our sin would eat us alive.
*Thank God that Christ was there in the Garden with Adam & Eve.
-Thank God that He was there on the cross to die for our sins.
-And thank God that the same Lord is here tonight!
*He wants to show us the consequences of our sins and connect with sinners like you and me.
-Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
1. Adapted from “In Other Words” - Winter 2001 (Produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - 6130 Barrington ~ Beaumont, Texas 77706 (800) 553-4697 - www.iows.net)
2. Original source unknown - Found at Sermonillustrations.com
