Paradise Lost Text: Genesis 3:1-24 Series: Book of Genesis [#3] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl October 14, 2018 Theme: Failure To Love God Brings Disaster. Introduction. The opening chapters of Genesis are indeed beginnings to God s revelation of Himself, ourselves and His truth. They are indispensable. After the critical first two chapters, we now come to the pivotal chapter 3. To see just how pivotal this chapter is, read the first two chapters, then chapters 4-11 trying not to fill in what you know is in chapter 3. You will find that you can t understand chapters 4-11 without knowing what is in chapter 3. You see, in the first two chapters we find man and creation good, with positive qualities. But when you drop into chapter four we find jealousy, anger, murder, lying, rebellion, judgment. What happened? This chapter presents to us: God s explanation of why mankind is sinful. Some of the agenda and subtlety of Satan and his forces. The physical, social and spiritual effects of sin. The nature of people to cover our sin and shame. God s attitude and actions toward sin and sinners. In chapter 3 we are looking at Paradise Lost. John Milton s great epic poem Paradise Lost was first published in 1667. Milton s purpose in writing it was to justify the ways of God to men. 1 As you can imagine, it deals with the fall of Adam and Eve into sin and the effects of that, from Milton s perspective. Four years later he wrote a sequel, Paradise Regained, which focuses on Satan s temptation of Christ as Milton tries to set out the reversal of the loss of Paradise.
The title Paradise Lost is, tragically, an accurate description of what we find before us in Genesis chapter 3 this morning. Paradise Lost. The basic lesson God reveals here is a sober and negative one that failure to love God brings disaster. The Point Of Decision. Adam and Eve came to a critical point of decision at the time which chapter 3 records. The setting for this point of decision with everlasting significance is found back in chapter 2. The events of chapter 2 can be described as a time of love in Paradise. Turn back to verse 16 in chapter 2. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (verses 16-17). The last words literally are dying, you will die. This was a command, clear in scope and consequences. God spoke of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Good and evil are a unit here. The issue then is the ability to distinguish between good and evil, knowing the differences in the quality and results. God was not forbidding this knowledge. He was setting out how this knowledge should be gained. His desire was for Adam and Eve to learn it through trusting reliance on Him, not self-focused disobedience. We see very clearly here that God has given us the ability to choose. We are neither robots to be programmed nor helpless victims of circumstances or chance. Adam and Eve were created with an inherent tendency to do what was right, but with this was the freedom to choose to do evil. And so, we can describe their original state as one of untested or theoretical holiness. The correct choice would bring a confirmed and everlasting character and experience of holiness and goodness. The wrong choice would plunge the human family into disaster that they could not have imagined. So, where does love in Paradise fit into this? We know from Scripture that God is love. 2 It is an essential, unchanging part of His nature and all His actions. God created man to love to love God His creator. To love not as a result of being programmed or coerced, but by choice. And So God commanded, You shall love the Lord your God with all your 2
heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 3 Jesus said, This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 4 The central issue and point of decision is not rote conformity but to love God from the core of your being. Then out of that love to trust, follow and obey God who is good, to follow His ways, which are perfect. Up to this point Adam and Eve had enjoyed an open and loving relationship with God and each other. But at the beginning of chapter 3 we are introduced to the tempter and the temptation entering this setting of love in Paradise. The serpent enters in verse 1, which in a straight forward, matter of fact way tells us Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. Satan is not named in the passage but here he is possessing the serpent. The same kind of description in the New Testament makes it clear. In the book of The Revelation, chapter 12 we read So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world (verse 9). Again, in chapter 20 where we read, the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan (verse 2). Jesus also referred to Satan as a liar and the father of lies. 5 This is not the only time Satan personally possessed another being rather than sending one or more of his fallen angels. For example, Luke chapter 22 tells us Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot (verse 3, NASB). Satan would not trust this pivotal task in Eden nor Judas betrayal of Jesus to any being but himself. He approached Eve and the carefully crafted encounter begins. It has two stages. Phase 1 opens in the last part of verse 1 and is aimed at raising doubt about God s Word. Let s pick it up at the second part of verse 1. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 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. (verses 1b-3). Whether she learned this directly from God or from Adam we are not told. But she knew the command. Satan did not begin with a direct, frontal attack. He simply raised a question, he suggested, raised doubt. Did God really say that? Why did God say it, if He did? Why 3
would He forbid something so wonderful if He really loved you? We also see his devious manner as he bypassed Adam in this opening volley. The truth and it s application to us should be clear: Satan is subtle and devious; he raises questions, doubts. Remember, the chapter opens telling us Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. Other versions read more crafty (NASB, ESV) or the shrewdest (NLT). 4. This lays the ground work for phase 2: A direct denial of God s Word. We go on at verse Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 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 (verses 4-5). Here is a direct, clear, specific, explicit denial of God s Word. It also is outright slander. He was telling Eve, God doesn t want any rivals! If you eat, you will be just like Him! That s why He put the tree off-limits! Of course, all of this sounded plausible to Eve. And Satan certainly didn t point out to Eve the choice of loving and trusting God and making the right choice to resist evil, which would have lead to having the knowledge of good and evil without the contamination of sin. For Eve to be tempted did not amount to sin, was not sin. From the temptation we move on to the decision. The focus zooms in on Eve. Look at verse 6. So 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. There is a progression here. It started with a practical and good thing food. Then there was the beauty or attraction the tree was pleasant to the eyes, or a delight to the eyes (NASB, ESV), or beautiful (NLT). Next there was a proposed personal benefit desirable or able to make her wise. Notice the self-centered focus and the rationalization. The last feature is really the driving force: to be wise, to be like God in knowing the difference between good and evil. The value of the food, and it s attractiveness were real, but Eve used them to rationalize her self-centered desire. The apostle Paul tells us in the New Testament that Eve was, deceived by Satan. 6 That does not, of course, excuse her. The sin was born in her heart before she took the first bite of the fruit, whatever that fruit was. 4
What is the lesson for us here? Paul warned the church at Corinth, I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ (ESV). 7 It brings us back to truly loving and trusting God, and so obeying Him rather than being deceived by Satan and his forces. The account continues. We pick it up at the last part of verse 6. She [Eve] also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. John Milton took the poetic liberty in his Paradise Lost to add a song of praise for the beauty, taste and rush from eating. Meanwhile, in his imagination, in his picture, Adam was worrying while she was gone so long. Eve rushes to Adam, tells him she had missed him greatly. Then, fruit in hand she tells him, This Tree is not as we are told, a Tree of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown op ning the way, but of Divine effect to open my eyes, and make them Gods who taste. 8 Milton imagines that as soon as Adam heard of Eve s fatal trespass he stood astonished while the horror chill ran through his veins, standing speechless and pale. 9 In Milton s scene Adam finally gains the ability to speak, laments her fatal choice and trespass but, because he cannot think of living without her even if God would create someone else for him, resolves to eat and die. 10 This is all Milton s imagination. The Scripture does not record Adam s thoughts. It tells us Eve offered him the fruit and that Adam ate it. However we know from Scripture that when he ate he was not deceived but that he knew, was fully conscious of his disobedience. God tells us through Paul that Adam was not deceived. 11 His sin was with understanding. It was willful, even though not as Milton suggests. His sin is imputed, or attributed, assigned to the human family because Adam was created with the position and responsibility of leadership. Since this fall into sin we all are born sinful, and because of that we sin. Failure to love God brings disaster. The Consequences Of Decision. Now we move on to the consequences of the decision, and to judgment in Paradise. We go to verse 8 where God confronts Adam and Eve and their sin. And they [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid 5
themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? So he [Adam] said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He [God] said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Then the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate (verses 8-13). God always confronts and judges sin. Even when the person and others think they got away with it, God always confronts and judges sin. For everyone today our sin is either judged at the cross of Christ with mercy, forgiveness and life, or there is the final judgment of justice, condemnation and death. The effect of Adam and Eve s sin was immediate, even before God came and spoke to them. They now had shame that comes from a sin-sensitized conscience. No one had to tell Adam and Eve they had sinned. They had no shame before. Now they looked at themselves and their whole world through sinful eyes, sinful hearts. God coming to them before this was a cause for joy. Now it was a cause of shame. They tried to hide from the All-knowing and loving Creator. There was separation between them and God. God s warning of death, of separation had come to pass. Death to the free, open acceptance and relationship with God. It is here where physical death also began to be worked out in them over time. None of the rationalization and excuses Adam and Eve thought of and used could cover this sin, let alone make it go away. Ever since then people naturally try to excuse themselves from their sin. Ever since then people do what Adam and Eve did in trying to shift responsibility for their sin. First, Adam said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate (verse 12). God, it s Eve s fault! Eve joined in as we look at verse 13. The serpent deceived me, and I ate. God, it s the serpent s fault! But there is even more blame shifting. Go back to Adam in verse 12. He told God, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. God, You gave me Eve, 6
so ultimately it s Your fault! Because they sinned and now were sinful, they were trying to hide and cover up from God. That brings us to verse 15 and God s judgment on Satan. Look at this verse where God says to the serpent, 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. The judgment goes beyond the serpent to Satan. Satan would strike a blow, bruise the Savior on the heel. While the spiritual struggle pictures people, the ultimate image and truth here is of Christ. We know what Jesus suffered. We know He died on the cross. But we also know that God raised Him up, as the book of Acts tells us, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 12 There is no doubt of victory, for Christ will bruise Satan on the head. Down through the history of the church this statement has been rightly called the first gospel, the first statement in the Bible of the Savior defeating Satan and redeeming people. The apostle Paul described Christ s redeeming work in part by telling us, Having disarmed principalities and powers, [Christ] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 13 As Martin Luther s hymn puts it, his [Satan s] doom is sure. 14 Christ s victory is certain, complete, and final. The next verse reveals God s judgment on Eve. Verse 16. To the woman He [God] 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. Greatly multiplied pain in childbirth. The original command to be fruitful, to fill, subdue and rule over the earth remains. Now, however, it is with much more difficulty. The last part of the verse is interpreted in different ways. We don t have the time to explore the options today, which could take us a sermon or two. Note a few points briefly as I see it. First, the judgment. While man was given leadership from the beginning, the relationship between husbands and wives from that day on would never be without dangers and difficulties. Second, the command recorded in the New Testament for husbands to love their wives sacrificially and for wives to submit to the leadership of their husbands was required by the self-centered, sinful nature of all of us. 15 There is both attraction and conflict. 7
The next chapter gives some light to the last phrase of the verse, your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Chapter 4 gives us the account of Adam and Eve s sons Cain and Abel. In short, God respected, regarded or accepted Abel s sacrifice but not Cain s. Verse 5 tells us Cain was very angry. He was angry about God rejecting his sacrifice while accepting his brother s. He was angry at the situation, his brother and, it seems, at God. God mercifully engages Cain. Verse 6, So the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (verses 6-7). Sin s desire was to control Cain, but he must not give in, must withstand it. We know the outcome sin ruled over Cain and he then killed his brother (verse 8). The phrase that sin s desire is for you, but you should rule over it mirrors what God told Eve in chapter 3 verse 16, your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Adam was given the position of leadership before the fall, but now it was dramatically, tragically different because of sin. Eve would try to control her husband because of sin. Adam s leadership remained, but his exercise of it would now be impacted by sin. The harmony and teamwork which flowed so freely and well would be marred going forward because of their sin. Yes, failure to love God and to love God by obeying Him brings disaster. God now pronounces judgment on Adam. We continue at verse 17. Then to Adam He [God] 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. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 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 (verses 17-19). 8
Milton was correct at least in the point that Adam chose to follow Eve s arguments, even though he knew they contradicted God s word. Work was part of Adam s role from the beginning, but from now on it would be painful, death-bringing toil. The ground would not be as fruitful, from then on would abound with thorns and thistles, with weeds and diseases. Failure to love God brings disaster. This is not a nice picture. It is the world in which we live: a world with sin, shame, violence, separation, death, pain, hard work, limited positive results. Yes, there was judgment in Paradise. Yes, failure to love God brings disaster. But this is not the end. God records for us that there is mercy in Paradise lost. We have already noted verse 15. Go back up to it again. God said to the serpent, 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. In His love, in His plan and action, God did not abandon Adam and Eve. There was great mercy. The separation of sin was beyond their ability to repair, but not God s. He could. He would. He did. God the Son, Jesus did. What great mercy! God is still the same for you and me! God did not leave all of this to the future. In His mercy He immediately provided a covering for their sinful shame. Verse 21, Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. The fig-leaf coverings were their own work. This act of God was practical, but it also was a symbol of God s mercy and grace, a symbol of the truth that only God in His mercy and grace can cover our sin and shame. There is another merciful and gracious act of God here, although it is not always seen that way. We go on to verse 22. Then the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life (verses 22-24). There is judgment here, but also great mercy. You see, God prohibited them from eating of the tree of life because if they did they would have lived forever in their sinful state, 9
separated from God, condemned, with no hope. The angel guards were not placed to keep them from God or life, but from everlasting separation and death. What great mercy! Yes, failure to love God brings disaster. But even in that, even in Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve found God s great mercy. Conclusion. There is history here, but so much more. Failure to love God brings disaster for you and me. There is salvation in Christ. And after we have accepted that everlasting gracious gift, we still carry around that old, self-centered, sinful human nature. We still see and experience sin, shame, violence, separation, death, pain, hard work, limited positive results. But because of Christ we now are no longer slaves to any of that. As you enter the next few moments of reflection with God, begin with this question: Do I really love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind? Do I really love God and so follow, obey Him from and with the core of my being? It is not a question to be answered lightly. The living out of this may fall very short of the desire and commitment. Yes, in Jesus we are God s children forever. But we should never presume on His mercy and patience. 17 Don t let your self-centered nature rationalize the alluring and wrong choices around and within because the stakes are high failure to love God brings disaster. In these moments then, thank God for His love, grace and mercy, and recommit yourself to love Him, to choose Him and His truth daily out of that love. 1 John Milton. Paradise Lost. Edition: Paradise Lost: With bonus material from The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper. Simon & Schuster, Kindle Edition, page 3. 2 1 John 4:8, 16. 3 Deuteronomy 6:5. 4 Matthew 22:38-39. 5 John 8:44, NASB. 6 1 Timothy 2:14. 7 2 Corinthians 11:3, ESV. 10
8 Milton, IX, 863-866, page 69. 9 Milton, IX, 889-895, page 70. 10 Milton, IX, 895-917, page 70. 11 1 Timothy 2:14/ 12 Acts 2:24. 13 Colossians 2:15. 14 Martin Luther. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Public Domain. 15 Ephesians 5:22-33. 16 Romans 6:15-23. 17 See, for example, Romans 2:1-9; 2 Peter 3:8-10. For positive response, see Romans 12:1 etc. 2018, Lyle L. Wahl Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture marked (NASB) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. 11