To understand the need for the promise of Christmas, we need to understand the reason for the promise in the first place. Most of you are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, but did you realize that even in the Garden of Eden, God revealed the promise of a coming Savior.
Let’s look at the scene. Adam and Eve had it made. They lived in a perfect world created by the hand of God. They had unlimited access to God and full of enjoyment with only one stipulation. Adam and Eve could eat the fruit of any of the trees in the garden, but one. Let’s look at God’s instructions to Adam in Genesis 2:15-17:
“The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. The Lord God commanded him, ‘You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!’”
Of course we know that there was a problem. There was also a sneaky snake in the garden, and he was up to no good. Look at what Genesis 3:1-5 tells us:
“The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, ‘Did God tell you not to eat from any tree in the garden?’
The woman answered, ‘God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die.’
‘No, you won’t!’ the snake replied. ‘God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.’”
Isn’t that just like Satan? Always making things sound good. Asking those questions, that make you question. And of course Satan is always full of promises...you know the drill..."it’s only one drink"..."everybody else is doing it"...."it will make you feel good." Kind of amazing how not much has changed.
Remember though all Satan ever does is make suggestions and draw our attention, we are always left with a choice as we’ll see here in verse 6:
“The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too.”
You see the problem is this...Eve didn’t turn and run, but instead she stared. As she stared her lust became a thought...she didn’t want fruit..she wanted wisdom that was not hers....and eventually her thought became an action...she took it and ate it. Not only did Eve’s sin effect her life, but she gave some to her husband, and instead of choosing obedience, he gave in to pressure. We are not much different...none of us falls into sin, it’s a process. A thought is dwelled upon, lust begins to surface, that lust leads to action.
We learn another valuable lesson here. Satan never comes at us with a full out lie...he prefers to twist the truth. He was right, Adam and Eve immediately knew the difference between right and wrong, but instead of enlightenment, there was shame. As we read verse 7, you will see the questions immediately arise "hey, where’s our clothes?"
“Right away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.”
Remember we talked about what a pure existence Adam and Eve had. They froliced around in the all together. They talked and fellowshiped with God in the all together. Want to know how much their sin has affected you? Anyone here make a habit of praying in the buff? Didn’t thank so...we are all very aware of our nakedness. Quite a trade off for a bite of tempting fruit isn’t it. Remember anytime sin enters our life, we are trading off God’s best.
Not only did Adam and Eve become aware of their nakedness, but they were now ashamed and afraid. Look at verse 8:
“Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the Lord god walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.”
Notice what else they traded off. God was walking in the garden. Walks with God forsaken for a moment of selfish lust.
We also see that Adam and Eve are like the rest of us wanting to hide their sin. How many of us are hinding sin, even today? But as you will see, God knows it all. Let’s look at verses 9-10:
“The Lord called out to the man and asked, ‘Where are you?’
The man answered, ‘I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid.’”
Of course the ultimate consequence of Adam and Eve’s actions was the seperation from their Creator. Forget the shame, forget the nakedness...the ultimate consequence was a broken relationship with the one who loved them most. Look at verse 23:
“So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden….”
I find myself asking..."Was it really worth it?" As with any sin issue, the answer is a resounding no. And yet, there’s no going back for Adam and Eve.
Did Adam and Eve take the high road....beg for forgiveness? Of course not, just like any other marriage the blame game began. God puts Adam on the hot seat first. Why, because God’s instructions about what could be eaten were given to Adam directly. Adam being the loving, nurturing husband that he is...immediately blames it on his wife. "It was the woman..." he says. Seeing that this argument was fruitless he reminds God that it’s His fault..."It was the woman you put here with me..." You can just hear it..."It’s your fault, I didn’t ask you to put me here with her...." So then it’s Eve’s turn on the hot seat. "It was the snake..." she says. But in all of the blame one truth comes out...they’re both guilty. No one can make you do anything. Sin is a consequence of your own choices. You may be tempted...but ultimately the choice to act is yours.
Sin does not go unchecked. When we grieve God there are always consequences. God puts forth a series of curses for each party involved. God first turns His attention to the snake. The snake is cursed to always crawl on it’s belly and eat dirt. Look at Genesis 3:14:
“So the Lord God said to the snake: ‘Because of what you have done, you will be the only animal to suffer this curse – For as long as you live, you will crawl on your stomach and eat dirt.”
The woman was the next to be addressed. Because of Eve’s disobedience, all women would pay the price. Look at Genesis 3:16:
“Then the Lord said to the woman, ‘You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you.’”
So men if you’re in the delivery room with your wife and she’s yelling "You did this to me!!!", just remind her it’s all Eve’s fault. Seriously though, we see the consequences of sin to this day. My wife gave birth to our daughter 6 weeks ago. Even in spite of that pain she still snuggled up to me last night.
But ladies, don’t think for a moment that Adam was off the hook. God addressed him last. Adam’s days of easy living were over. Turn off the T.V., put down the remote...it’s time to go to work. Look at Genesis 3:17-19:
“The Lord said to the man, ‘You listened to your wife and ate fruit from that tree. And so, the ground will be under a curse because of what you did. As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food. Your food will be plants, but the ground will produce thorns and thistles. You will have to sweat to earn a living; you were made out of soil, and you will once again turn into soil.’”
Not only was Adam’s new occupation...laborer, but he would no longer live forever. His fate was death. We are reminded of this curse in Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death..." For all of his hard work, Adam would be rewarded with death. That’s an awful big price to pay for a bite of forbidden fruit.
But wait a minute, we missed something. Buried in the midst of all of this consequence was a message of hope. A Christmas promise. The promise of a coming Savior. The promise of victory. The promise of sin defeated. Look at Genesis 3:15:
“You and this woman will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.”
Look at this message of hope. From the lineage of this shameful couple would come a champion. God would bring glory from failure. Satan would win a momentary victory at Calvary, but Jesus would win the eternal war. You see the promise in the garden was a promise for you and me. That the curse of sin would be broken. That God was sending us a very special Christmas present, one that would allow a broken relationship with the one who loves us most to be restored. You see the showdown in the garden wasn’t just about Adam and Eve, it was about You and Me and God’s plan to show His love for you....Jesus Christ.
