davidbowerkingwood

A Dangerous Dismissal

Too many contemporary Christians willingly overlook or minimize the vital significance of the early chapters of Genesis. The Biblical creation account is too often dismissed in favor of some variation of the theory of evolution.

The very existence of Adam and Eve is allegorized into a quaint Christian myth that can be dismissed as essentially irrelevant today. Christians who buy into this Satanic deception are falling into the same trap that Eve fell into when she believed Satan in the Garden.

The Bible is clear that the primary problem facing all of humanity is its spiritual death that occurred when Adam disobeyed a direct command from God. The primary reason for Christ’s death on the cross was to pay the debt incurred by Adam and all of his descendants at the time of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. This is made abundantly clear in Romans 5:12-21.

Marginalizing the Genesis creation account seriously compromises the integrity of the entire Bible and that is a slippery slope no believer should follow.

 The Consequences of Adam’s Bad Decision

Previously we had started our review of the series of curses pronounced on mankind and the earth as a result of the fall of Adam. Things were going to be different now and God would take the necessary steps to implement those changes.

As a part of the curse on the serpent the LORD reveals His ultimate solution to the problem by a veiled reference to the crucifixion and the resurrection. The crushing of the serpents head is believed to be the first reference to the resurrection and striking the heel of the offspring of Eve is believed to be a reference to the crucifixion.

In Genesis 3:16 God tells the woman that the woman’s pain in childbearing would be greatly increased. The Hebrew meaning of “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” is the woman would attempt to get her husband to sin but she would be mastered by her husband.

God tells the man because he listened to his wife, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of 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.”

The Third Recorded Death

In Genesis 3:21 we read, “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” This is the third death recorded in Scripture; death’s one and two being the spiritual deaths of Adam and Eve. The significance of this first physical death has been discussed in an earlier blog.

It is important to note that the provision to cover their nakedness was provided by God. In the same way God has provided a covering for our sin by the death of His Son on the cross. We, as God’s children, are clothed for all eternity with the righteousness of Christ provided by His shedding of His own blood on the cross as a covering for our sinful unrighteousness.

In Genesis 3:22-24 we read of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden; this was an act of grace and love intended to protect them from eating of the “Tree of Life” and living forever with a fallen dead spirit. I for one am grateful for God’s grace in doing that; I look forward to an eternity with God but one free from sin and most specifically free of my old sin nature.

The Birth of Cain

In Genesis 4:1 we are told of the birth of Cain and in verse 2 the later birth of Abel. It is not until we get to the birth of Seth in verse 25 that a timeframe is given; we are told Adam was then 130 years old. No reference is given as to Adam’s age when Cain or Abel were born nor is there any specific reason to believe that Cain was their first child.

In Genesis 4:17 we read, “Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.” This verse is used to challenge the Biblical account by the reasonable question “where did Cain’s wife come from?” The only births recorded in Scripture to this point were the births of two boys.

There is, I believe, a simple explanation for that; there had been a number of generations born to Adam and Eve and their descendants before the birth of Cain that are not recorded in the Bible. It is important to remember the Bible’s focus is on the history of man’s rebellion and God’s planned redemption of man through the sacrifice of His Son.

Both the Old and New Testaments are essentially about man’s need of a Savior and God’s provision of that Savior in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition one must remember that Adam and Eve were created old enough to be parents, were perfectly healthy and living in very favorable conditions.

Next we will consider the world situation leading up to the flood.