As you know, we are in a study of origins from the book of Genesis, and looking currently at Genesis Chapter 3. Admittedly, we are launching off of that Chapter some, but it at least is home base for us. And you can turn there in your Bible, as I’ll make a couple of references to this first seven verses of Genesis 7.
In the opening of the third Chapter of Genesis, you have the record of the serpent in the garden tempting Eve and her subsequent disobedience to God, and then Adam following in her disobedience. And immediately upon that disobedience, they were both filled with shame, as indicated by the awareness of their nakedness in Verse 7 and the sewing together of fig leaves to cover themselves. This incident has monumental impact. Up to this point, according to Chapter 1 Verse 31: “God saw all that He had made,” that would be everything He had created in the six days, “…and behold, it was very good.” Everything was “very good.” Chapter 2, of course, is an expansion of the creation of man on day six. And so at the end of Chapter 2, everything is still “very good.” But when you come to Chapter 3, a dramatic change takes place, and from then on everything is very bad. The simple narrative of the opening seven verses of Genesis Chapter 3 describes for us the first act of human disobedience, which brought about the curse on all mankind, the fall.
The impact of that fall has touched every part of the universe. It is accurate to say that absolutely everything wrong in our world is because of sin. If there were no sin, there would be nothing wrong. If there were no sin, everything would be “very good.” Everything created in the heavens, everything created on the earth, would be “very good,” as it was on day six. But because of sin everything is very bad; from world wars, terrorism, mass murders, serial killings, plane crashes, auto accidents, fires, crippling and maiming of people through accidents, nuclear reactor disasters like Chernobyl, radiation poisoning, pollution, cancer, heart disease, all illnesses, to all broken relationships, all divorce, all orphaned children, all drugs, all crime, all dereliction in all forms, all confusion, all conflict, all struggle, all disappointment, all anxiety, all fear, all guilt, all depression, all sorrow, all failure, all remorse, as well as all lust, and selfishness, and pride, and hatred, and covetousness, and rebellion, and murder, and stealing, and sexual acts outside of marriage, and irresponsibility, and disobedience to parents.
Summary: All evil, all sadness, all failure, all death, is because of sin. And people who don’t believe in sin and don’t understand the fall cannot diagnose properly the human dilemma. It is impossible to understand the world. It is impossible to understand the cosmos, the ordered world of creation. It is impossible to understand man. It is impossible to understand the disintegration of matter. It is impossible to understand the collapsing world and universe. And it is impossible to understand man’s behavior if you do not understand that it is all a product of sin. And all sin in the world is a result of what happened in Genesis 3.
So Genesis 3 as a point of origin is absolutely critical. In fact, it is arguably the most important chapter in the Bible, because it explains why the rest of the Bible tells the story of redemption. Everything wrong is because of sin. And ultimately, everything dies. Everything in the physical world dies. And sin is the killer. And we really do need to pull off the painted masks that sin wears, and reveal the death’s head that is behind the mask.
One old writer said:
“Who is the hoary sexton that digs man a grave? Who is the painted temptress that steals his virtue? Who is the murderess that destroys his life? Who is the sorceress that first deceives and then damns his soul? Sin.
“Who, with icy breath, blights the fair blossoms of youth? Who breaks the hearts of parents? Who brings old men’s gray hairs with sorrow to the grave? Sin.
“Who, by a more hideous metamorphosis than Ovid ever fancied changes gentle children into vipers, tender mothers into monsters, and their fathers into worse than Herods, the murderers of their own innocence? Sin.
“Who casts the apple of discord on household hearts? Who lights the torch of war and bears it blazing over trembling lands? Who, by divisions in the church, rends Christ’s seamless robe? Sin.
“Who is this Delilah that sings the Nazirite asleep and delivers up the strengths of God into the hands of the uncircumcised? Who, winning smiles on her face, honeyed flattery on her tongue, stands in the door to offer the sacred rites of hospitality and, when suspicion sleeps, treacherously pierces our temples with a nail? “What fair siren is this who, seated on a rock by the deadly pool, smiles to deceive, sings to allure, kisses to betray, and flings her arm around our neck to leap with us into perdition? Sin.
“Who turns the soft and gentlest heart to stone? Who hurls reason from her lofty throne and impels sinners mad as Gadarene swine down a precipice into the lake of fire? Sin.”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
