But First, the Bad News

Gen 3.1-24 | Ps Alex Huggett | 26.10.25

Series: The Gospel

© Bentley Baptist Church Inc.
www.bentleybaptist.org

Transcript

As we approach Advent, I just felt that we should take a few weeks to get back to the basics and remind ourselves about the gospel and what we’re about God’s good news. The gospel is only good news as the gospel because there’s bad news. So if we want to understand the good news, first, we have to understand the bad news. And the bad news is found in Genesis chapter 3 and the story of the fall.

So let’s read that chapter together and then unpack it.

Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, you must not eat or touch it, or you will die.

No, you will certainly not die. The serpent said to the woman. In fact, God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. Which always true, by the way. And so she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her and he ate it.

And then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. And then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze. And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. Then he asked, who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

And the man replied, it was her. The woman you gave to me to be with me. Man, the woman you gave to me to be with me. She gave me some of the fruit from the tree and I ate. So the Lord God asked the woman, what have you done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock, and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.

He said to the woman, I will intensify your labour pains. You will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. And he said to the man, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, do not eat from it. The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labour all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it, for you are dust, and you will return to dust. The man named his wife, Eve, because she was the mother of all the living, and the Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

The Lord God said, since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat and live forever. So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim, and the flaming whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.

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Now there is a lot in there. So in the 1st chapters of Genesis, just before this, we find God creating the world and populating it with us, humanity, and it’s a very good world, we’re told, at the end of the 1st chapter. It’s a good world, but there’s more to be done. And so God invites us as humanity into his work.

He says to fill the earth and subdu it. there’s something to be done there to be subdued. Where to rule this world on God’s behalf. And God doesn’t leave the 1st people to their own devices to do that. He places them in a garden.

And the description of the garden of Eden is actually teeming with imagery of a heavenly temples. Back in ancient time. Temples were considered high places. Now sometimes that was figurative, sometimes it was literal, they were on a mountain when you read the stories or the psalms about the temple on Mount Zion. It talks about Zion being this high and lofty place above all the mountains. It wasn’t even the highest mountain in the mountains around it. It was cosmic sort of imagery.

And so Eden is actually presented as on a mountain, the prophet Ezekiel makes that clear. And here we read of a river that goes out from Eden and flows throughout all the earth. And of course, rivers go downhill. The Jewish temple was filled with images of plants and animals and guardian angels and these things are integral to the story we’re reading today. The temple, uh, utensils and the robes of the priests had gold and jewels in them, like the lands that the river of Eden flows through.

And God puts Adam into the temple to tend and keep it. And when you read the Hebrew, those words are the same words used of the priests and Levites who were to tend and keep attend the temple and keep the law. And so Eden is literally heaven on earth, a meeting place of the divine and the human where humanity lives in harmony with one another and with God and with the rest of creation. There’s no sin, there’s no guilt, there’s no shame, there’s no division. There’s only love and intimacy, the shalom of God and his good order to great place, isn’t it?

Could I have my pointer there, please? I’ve just missed my 1st slide. With the good picture. But there’s trouble in paradise, and we read that the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. You know, the Hebrew Bible makes a clear distinction between civilisation and wilderness and the things that belong in the wilderness.

And in our story, we’re in a garden, not wilderness. We’re in a place of order and safety. The serpent is a wild animal. It’s come from outside the garden. It doesn’t belong here. A boundary has been breached.

And of course, this isn’t just any wild animal. It’s the most cunning of the animals. And the word cunning as it’s used here. often has positive associations. It’s used throughout proverbs for wisdom. But here, it’s associated with a snake.

And of course, Christians have, through the ages, associated this snake, either with Satan himself or some sort of satanic agent. So this snake is a created being. It’s not equal with God, but it’s not just an ordinary animal either. And so whatever is going on in this moment, it’s not good.

But, God gave Adam clear instructions. And in fact, he made things really easy. There’s only one thing that he’s told Adam he can’t do. Don’t eat that tree. Everything else is off limits. So it’s all going to be fine, right?

The snake finds its mark, the woman. And his opening line has been devastating Christians and humanity in general ever since. God really say? The snake plants a seat of doubt in the woman’s mind and twists God’s word. Satan still uses this tactic on Christians today with great effect, actually.

You know, every generation of Christians has had its impostors who appear wise, but so seeds of doubt. And in our generation, this is especially dangerous because both the volume of snakes in the garden. And the amount of them is amplified because it’s just easier to reach. You know, social media particularly has just made it so much easier for cunning serpents to infiltrate the church.

And so we hear all the time. Did God really say? Of course, a big one today? Did God really say man and woman? Did God really say we’re image bearers? And life is sacred? Did God really say Jesus? Is the way, the truth, and the life? No one comes to the Father through him? Did God really say, rely on my word and not on your own wisdom?

You know, as Christians, we need to be on our guard constantly against the snakes that don’t belong in the garden. that want to sow seeds of doubt. Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden? Why, Mr. Snake, whatever gave you that idea. We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, you must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.

Now it’s actually helpful to track the progression of doubt and deception here. God said, see if you can pick up the differences, you are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For on the day you eat it, you will certainly die. God never said anything about touching it.

The serpent said to the woman, no, you will certainly not die. In fact, God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Now, God put 2 trees in the middle of the garden, if you remember. And he just said, don’t eat one of them. You can eat all the rest. Nothing’s off limits, not even the tree of life.

You have a choice here. But the woman focusses on one tree in the middle of the garden. It’s like all she can see. And she says, she makes this thing up, even don’t even touch it. Now, some people see this as a woman just putting a guardrail around the tree and maybe that’s the case.

But I don’t know, I just, the whole picture is one of setting God up is looking a bit stingy, really. I mean, there’s something about other trees. God said to any trees, like trees, you know, we can eat trees from trees. God says you will certainly die if you eat it. The woman acknowledges, yeah, we’ll die. This is certainly a bit, and the snake then turns it around.

Well you’ll certainly not die. The woman listens to the imposter. And there’s this subtle twisting of God’s word. She starts to doubt God’s goodness. And this, I think, is the key.

She doesn’t see the generous God who has given them an overabundance in the garden and invited them into his work of ordering creation. God is set up to look stingy. Don’t eat, don’t touch. He certainly doesn’t want you to be wise like he is. He wants to keep you in your place.

But here’s the thing. They were already like God. They were made in his image, they carried his authority. They reflected his nature, and they were stewards of his creation. What they wanted, was to be equal to him and separate, not dependent on him.

And so the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, and all of that is true. Everything’s lining up. It’s nutritious. It’s beautiful. It imparts wisdom. It’s desirable. But. That word desirable. It’s the same as the word covetousness, desiring something that’s forbidden.

And she believes the lie rather than the truth. And so Eve eats the fruit and gives some to her husband who was with her. Wait, what? What has Adam been doing this entire time? Now, we might actually cut Eve some slack.

In the story of creation, Adam is created, God tells Adam, you can eat anything except that one tree, and then he creates Eve. Adam has told Eve what the rules are. So Adam is not only complicit in Eve’s sin, Because he was with her while this was happening, He adds to it the sin of his own silence. While the serpent’s weaving its lies, he does nothing. He just goes along with it.

Well, maybe to be fair to Adam. It’s hard to stand up to a snake, isn’t it? They’re venomous. Maybe silence is the safest option for everyone. Don’t get in into an argument. Don’t be a hater.

What a disaster. Have you ever ignored the directions you were given? Uh, maybe GPS in your car. The other day I had to go pick up my daughter from Joondalup from here and plugged it into the GPS, knew how long it was going to take, left on time. Everything was going dandy until, uh, there was a problem. I ignored the directions. One wrong turn, led to another until I got the dreaded, Where are you, phone call? Thankfully, Apple Maps is patient, and I wasn’t too late.

But how often do we know better? Look, this is still what it comes down to for most people. We want to be captains of our own destiny. And look, our society has turned this all the way up to 11. The only frame of reference we’re given for our identity and our authority is us.

There’s no reference to biology, parents, community. forget about the past. Certainly don’t look to God. You make your own meaning. How’s that working out for us as a society?

Some people see God withholding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil exactly like the snake portrays it. God wants to keep you in your place. But that’s not actually what it was about. What we’re seeing is a choice between trust and dependence on God. Or choosing your own wisdom and your own destiny.

It’s a choice between relationship or autonomy. And we’re still left with this choice. Will you and I choose faithfulness to God and his wisdom, will follow the snake, and seek our own.

Well, sadly, the man and the woman get exactly what they wanted. They wanted their eyes opened. And that’s what happened. They wanted autonomy. And that’s what they get. And the fallout is devastating.

Aware of their nakedness, they cover their shame from each other, they hide from God. When God questions Adam, who clearly has responsibility here. What does he do? He throws Eve under the bus. This beautiful, transparent relationship of intimacy, and trust is shattered.

And in the mess, though there’s good news and bad news. Well, the Lord curses a snake to crawl on its belly and eat the dust. For all its cunning and for all its power and intimidation, The devil is a gutter crawling dirt eater.

And we also see hint of a redeemer. There will be enmity between the woman and the snake in between their offspring, but there’s a promise of someone to come in this. The snake will strike his heel, but he’ll crush the snake’s head. There will be an end to this.

The bad news is in the meantime, humanity has to live with the pain of this good order that’s been upset and gone bad. You know, possibly the greatest gift. Given to humanity is the ability to bring forth life. to bring forth More image bearers. And that turns into a source of pain and even death for the woman.

No longer um, caring for the garden, the man is sent out. He has to toil in the field battling thorns and thistles. The ground that humanity relies on, will work against us. And what a metaphor for life, that is.

Ominously, God says that the woman’s desire will be for her husband, but that he will rule over her. The word used for desire here in Hebrew is only used 2 other times in the Bible. One is in the song of Solomon. Where it speaks of the beauty of desire between lovers.

But it’s also used of Cain when God says sin desires to have him, but he must master it. You know, when God says that Adam that evil desire, her desire will be for her husband, but he’ll rule over her. He’s not talking about unrequited love here. He’s talking about conflict between men and women, between husbands and wives.

It’s the loss of loving intimacy. The woman who wanted wisdom, now she wants to dominate. And instead, she’s dominated. Men, there’s a warning here for us too, because we can fall into one of the two extremes that we see in this picture. We can be like Adam who was silent.

Happy wife, happy life. But then there’s too many men who live out the curse and seek to control their partner and dominate. Both responses are wrong. Silence or control. They’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Adam was given divine authority. But not to control, it was to protect and guide. You know, all Adam had to do when that that snake showed up was saying, no, go away. He failed. And creation is thrown into turmoil.

Imagine commissioning a beautiful architecturally designed home. You’ve planned it down to the tiniest detail. Everything works in harmony, aesthetically and functionally. The builder comes along and starts compromising on the hidden structural elements. Suddenly, windows don’t close properly. The roof leaks, the drains back up.

All those carefully designed features just don’t work together properly. They work against each other. It’s the essence of what was lost in Eden. The shalom of God, the good order and design was shattered.You know what? When you get a house like that, there is no easy fix and sometimes there’s no fix at all. It’s just got to be torn down. and start again. Thankfully, That’s not what God does.

There’s mercy in this story. God promises the woman’s offspring will strike the serpent’s head, which is actually kind of beautiful in a strange way. She was the channel for the fall. And the solution to the 4 will come through her as well.

And before he casts them out of heaven and his presence, God covers their nakedness with animal skins. Now, something has to die. to cover their sin and nakedness. But God provides it.

Something has to die. to cover our sin and nakedness. Pride has to die. The desire to determine truth ourselves, to maintain control, they have to die, We have to repent. But while repentance is necessary, it’s not enough.

The broken shalom of God is an offence against God’s holiness and goodness, satisfaction is required, something deeper is broken here. This can’t be fixed by saying sorry regardless of how heartfelt that sorry is. That the forbidden fruit has been eaten and it can’t be uneaten.

This is the new reality, and we're helpless before it. All of us, no matter how much, we wish it was different, are in this situation. We can't fix it ourselves. Trying to do things themselves is what got Adam and Eve and us into the trouble in the 1st place. 

We need someone to fix it for us. We need a saviour. We need someone to strike the serpent's head. We need someone who can cover our nakedness and our shame. 

And as we come to communion this morning, we celebrate the one who has done that. 
We celebrate Jesus, the offspring who on the cross, struck the serpent's head. The lamb, who covered our sin and guilt and shame.