In the beginning, God - came calling

Genesis 3 is the archetypal tragedy - almost a comedy tragedy - but I also read is as a sort of proto-history – an explanation of the history that followed. Although a simple story told in bright pictures, this is a profound piece of work, one that has kept theologians and philosophers busy for 3,000 years.

Chapter 3 is the 2^nd half of the story – the first half is in chapter 2 where God places man and woman in the garden with two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The setting is the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8) - the bible starts with a description of a wonderful place where God hangs out – and in Revelation 21 the bible finishes with the same picture, this time of a city. Different places but same attributes.

RoundhayParkLeeds-DSC07584 sma

The language used here helps us to imagine a large, beautifully appointed garden. It is the word that would be used for a Royal Park in the ancient world. So imagine Richmond Park in London, or Roundhay Park in Leeds (at 700 acres one of the largest parks in Europe). An archetypal sanctuary with well watered provision, sunshine, the full panoply of creation on display and at the centre the trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil. A place of peace and plenty. A paradise.

God hangs out in this place with them and they have no shame. Everything is deeply fulfilled and perfect. Nothing comes between Adam and Eve and nothing comes between mankind and God.
The garden is evidence of a loving creator who has made every conceivable provision for mankind. Here you are, it’s all yours. Eat and drink and do whatever you like. One thing only that you must not do – eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That will bring all this to an end. Death.

Chpt 3	Text	Comment	Application
V.1	Now the snake was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’	· Snake was the least “nice” creature. Came to symbolise satan. Not everything created wanted to live the way God intended. · Shrewd – play on words to sound like “nude”. Infer something not good about to happen, film music (Jaws). · Who’s meant to be in charge – usurped mankind’s role. · No outright lies or instructions, just a sceptical, distorting questions sowing seeds of doubt – “really?”. Doesn’t use God’s proper name – disrespectful.	We are faced with this voice all the time. It comes in the self-help books and the patronising put-downs about religion being a crutch. Half-truths which sow seeds of disrespectful doubt in minds. We go to pray for the sick and the enemy whispers, “You will look stupid if nothing happens? Others might get healed but not when you pray.” We decline an invitation to get drunk or make a stand for sexual purity and friends say, “Oh go on, what’s the harm”. “Did God really say that? Just myth”.
V.2,3	The woman said to the snake, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’	· Eve partially corrects serpent she also distorts God’s generosity into something less (all the trees … touch the tree)	Choosing to listen to the enemy rather than God – and as soon as we do that we start forgetting what God really said and distortions begin to creep in. We start to believe that maybe he doesn’t love us and have the best for us.
V.4,5	‘You will not certainly die,’ the snake said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’	· Deliberate double entendre in the phrase – what is certain? · What he says is in part true, he is not lying here but not telling the full truth	The root of our disobedience – wanting to be like God, wanting to assert our human autonomy. Wanting what looks good, now.
V.6,7	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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.	· Eve is seduced by her eyes, she sees something good and she wants it. · She thinks she can know something more, the first hint of asserting human autonomy. · See, good, eat, eat, see, bad. · Yes, they can see and know but what they see and know is not good – it brings shame and fear. · The creation order has been usurped – instead of God over mankind and mankind over animals, an animal has influenced mankind and mankind has tried to become like God.	At this moment God’s moral code is broken. Disobedience to his command means that we are trying to put ourselves in charge. Everything becomes relative. People think we can do OK – with a bit of education and some democracy we can fix what is broken. Like a sheet of glass – once it is broken it is broken. We can’t fix this – paradise has been shattered, irrevocably. It’s only when we give God his rightful place back that there is any hope at all.

V.8,9	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. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’	· Enticing description of the Royal Park – God going for a stroll in the evening breeze and hanging out with his creation. · He comes looking for them – always seeking them out. · Rhetorical questions from the divine detective. · Gentle inquisition · He re-asserts the creation order as he questions in the next few verses. God – mankind – creation.	We live in this shamed place – like driving the car, when we see a police car in the rear-view mirror and we panic? God knows all about our brokenness and our sin. We spend most of our hours hiding from him in guilt at what we have done and shame at who we are. But despite our disobedience, what does he do? He comes walking as usual, looking for us, and calling out, “where are you?” We see God the creator revealing himself also as God the redeemer. The beginning of the story of God’s mission to rescue us.
V.10,11	He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’	· Man unwittingly gives himself away as he reveals his shame – he wasn’t ashamed of his nakedness before? Cf: 2:25	Isn’t this always our response? This disobedience sowed in us an avoidance trait - to avoid taking the blame, to avoid responsibility for our actions. See all the time reported in press as our politicians and business leaders fail morally.
V.12	The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’	· Blames God and Eve · Classic displacement
V.13	Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’	· Blames the snake
V.14,15	So the Lord God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this, ‘Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’	· No conversation · Unusual for God to curse (did he describe, promise or will it into being?) · God re-asserts his authority · Collaborators become enemies cp Babel · Since then mankind’s battle with snakes has been a symbol of man’s battle with satan	Whenever mankind seeks to align itself with others and against God it always fails eventually and it always ends up with a enmity between those who previously collaborated. Tower of Babel – let’s join together and build something that reaches to the heavens. God disrupts their plans and they fight their way to death. Emperors who have set themselves up as gods eventually fall.

V.16	To the woman he said, ‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’	· Childbearing was not without difficulty but it would now be accompanied by the emotional pain of broken relationships · Difficulties in raising children (Cain & Abel) · Battle and tension between man and woman for authority and leadership	One of the main contributors to well-being and happiness, so we are told, is raising a family. But why is there so much pain associated with families (if marriages create the largest amount of pastoral work for us, families are close behind)? Sue Klebold,mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters who then killed himself at Columbine, “He has caused me the most pain in my life but also gave me the most joy.” It is right for us to seek to minimise the pain of childbirth and also to pray for joy-filled families. “To love and to cherish becomes to desire and to dominate” (Kidner)
V.17 18, 19	To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,” ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’	· Work would have been easy and productive and fun · Now accompanied by pain, difficulty, scarcity, barrenness · And the struggle for survival will ultimately fail in that death comes eventually, life has been lost · Not meant to be gender differentiated	Why is work sometimes so dehumanising? Why do we need to go to work but also complain how hard it is? Because when we disobeyed we forfeited much of the pleasure of work and were left with the hard toil and necessity. We are often hearing about the glass ceiling that women hit and even in the 21C there is often an underlying assumption that work is not a priority for women. But in the garden God gave all of mankind the role of looking after creation. So the pain of work and the gender inequality are results of disobedience. It is therefore right to pray for and seek out good, fruitful work – for men and women.
V.20	Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.	· Eve = Zoe = Life
V.21	The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.	· The caring God again looks after mankind · Clothing important for identity and to cover our shame · Reminiscent of the way the priests were clothed carefully for their service to God · Mankind can no longer look into God’s face or approach him unclothed · Animal skin – snake skin?	Even after their disobedience comes into the open, even after the results begin to unfold, God is still there, providing for them and looking after them. He is an immanent God, with us, amongst us – not locked away in his Royal Park but joining with us in the pain and joy of the world.

V.22,24

And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 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.

·         Life was found within the garden, the tree of life
·         By being driven out from the presence of God – strong word, forceful and permanent – man is turned away from life. This is the beginning of death and the inevitability is there
·         Guarded by human headed winged lions with proper weapons – fire symbolising the presence and holiness of God

It was the garden that man forfeited when he listened to the serpent and disobeyed.
Creation started with the Royal Garden and one day we will be restored to paradise.
This chapter of the story ends with an uncertainty hanging in the air – is that the end?
But the rest of the bible tells us of God’s immediate mission to redeem the world.

Genesis starts with an extraordinary, parable-like description of the creation of the world.
It then sets the scene for man and woman to live in harmony with creation and the creator – in close relationship, enjoying the provision of a bountiful world.
And then the cosmic tragedy of the disobedience of man and woman, choosing to seek human autonomy, to satisfy the desires of their eyes to become as God. We are left with bickering, blaming and banishment.

The instant consequence of that choice was spiritual brokenness – gone was the intimacy with God and each other that was without shame. Although he comes searching for us, even as we try and hide behind our fig leaves.

And then the practical consequences began steadily to unfold – the eternal battle with the enemy, the snake, the increased distress in child bearing, the disruption of relationship between man and woman, the mutation of work into something difficult and ultimately leading to death and finally being driven out of the garden. It’s a disaster, a train wreck.

Milton Jones: something is wrong with the world. It’s like a chocolate cake that has fallen face down on the floor of a chicken coop. So you either sweep the whole lot away or rescue as much as you can.

Mankind continues to choose between God and the enemy. Listening to God draws him closer back into the presence of God, closer to the tree of life, closer to paradise. Listening to the enemy drives him further away into harsher and harsher territory.

But as we follow the story we find that God is immanent – part of our world and lives – in the pain and the joy.

He sets about pursuing mankind, you and me, with a tractor-beam love, calling him back to himself, continuously gracious and merciful, continuously forgiving. His call is always, "don’t choose to believe the enemy, believe in me and my love for you – and turn, turn back to me".

That’s what repentance means; instead of wandering further and further away from the garden with our back to God, looking always to be in charge, autonomous, it means rather to stop, turn around and walk back toward him – and he is never far away.

Romans 1:21-23
For although they knew God they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they become fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

He is describing what has happened and the aftermath. Our perpetual desire to do our own thing, to seek to be as wise as God without reference to him, to have what our eyes delight in whether or not it is ours – to seek human autonomy – takes us further and further away from him.

We make gods of our own to worship – maybe idols and animals but maybe gods of success and material goods, of reputation and financial reward.
Maybe we just love ourselves so much that we worship our own needs and bodies and lusts?

The world is broken, the moral code is broken and the glass has shattered. Sin has entered the world and we can’t help but find ourselves choosing to do wrong.

People don't like the thought of sin - an ultimate right or wrong. Let's just let people be, so long as it isn't harming anyone...

Milton Jones: People think the concept of sin as being repressive and restrictive. And it’s true – you can drive a car a lot faster if you have no brakes.

But there is hope:

Romans 2:4
Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

In other words, God’s love and mercy is not him saying, “There ,there, that’s OK, don’t worry about it.” It’s him coming calling in the form of a man, his Son, Jesus who makes the ultimate sacrifice of paying the price for our sin. This is an immanent God.

And that clears the way for us to choose - to listen to his voice, to believe his truth and to accept the miracle of Jesus’ sacrificial crucifixion that allows the brokenness to be healed. Not showing contempt but turning back to him.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him.

We know we are created for something better. We get glimpses of God’s truth and his perfect creative plans when we see an awesome sunset, hear a beautiful song, when the sick are healed, people are rescued from the chains of debt and marriages restored.

It was there, beautiful and wonderful – it will be there again. As God comes calling for you with a message of grace and redemption through his Son, Jesus, you have a choice - you can turn your back and walk on - on your lonely, broken way or you can turn toward him in repentance and be set free of your sin and pride and addictions and brokenness.

When you choose to believe the good news about Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit of God fills you and begins a transformational work in you to restore you to what should have been. And one day you will be fully restored and find yourself in the Royal Park of heaven, waiting for the sound of God’s voice as he comes calling your name.

David Flowers, 10/03/2013

In the Beginning, God - came calling

David Flowers

In the Beginning, God - rested

Downloads:	1765
Recorded:	10/03/2013
Length:	0 minute
Reference:	Genesis 3

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