GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PLAN
I. HUMANITY WAS
INTO A WORLD WITHOUT SIN
The serpent’s attack was aimed at God’s word, the heart and soul of Creation. Satan’s temptation was as subtle as it was effective.
A. The Garden Was a Place of
Better Homes and Gardens began as a magazine showcasing beautiful landscapes and gorgeous living spaces. The publication first launched as Fruit, Garden and Home in 1922 and subsequently revised its name in 1924 to reflect its present title (www.encyclopedia.com).
B. God Wants Us to
God’s ways are always the best ways.
The Bible implies God enjoyed the walks in the Garden with His created beings. (See Genesis 3:8–10.)
Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3).
II. GOD HAS GIVEN US FREE
We may wonder why God placed a tree of temptation in that special Garden. In God’s wisdom He allowed the first couple to choose either obedience or disobedience. That is what free will means; we have a choice.
A. The Tree of
Most of the focus in the story of the failure of humanity centers on the tree that was restricted, but there were other fruitful trees in the Garden.
Knowing what we now know, surely our first choice in the Garden of Eden would have been to make our way to the Tree of Life and eat its precious fruit. However, even when offered life, we often still make the wrong choices.
B. The Tree of the
An old expression “forbidden fruit tastes sweeter” finds its origin in this early story of humanity. The assumption is that whatever is prohibited is often more coveted.
C. We Must
God will not take away our right to choose. He allows us to make wrong decisions, sometimes with disastrous outcomes. God’s ways are always right, but He will always allow us to make choices that are contrary to His purpose.
III. ADAM AND EVE
GOD
Adam and Eve may not have questioned God’s commandment, but neither were they committed to obedience. When the serpent began to question God’s integrity, it turned their hearts toward rebellion and opened up a window of doubt.
A. The
The enemy tries to get us to focus on selfish fulfillment. His line will often be, “It tastes good, it looks good, and it will make you better than others.” John identified the source of all sin when he wrote, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I John 2:16). The serpent appealed to all these areas of temptation when he spoke to Eve and she took the bait.
B. Adam and Eve
Produce from the forbidden tree may appear sweeter and may even be pleasing to the tongue, but it will leave an aftertaste of regret and become the fruit of disappointment.
C. Sin Brings
Guilt and shame are products of sin. Condemnation is the natural consequence of transgression. The guilt of Adam and Eve produced a desire to hide from the awful realization of their disobedience.
It would be good for all of us to recognize the brevity of life and the value of avoiding sin.
IV. GOD
FOR ADAM AND EVE
A. Adam and Eve
The first game of hide-and-seek ocurred when God came to the Garden to speak with Adam and Eve. But unfortunately, it was no game at all. God knew where they were and what they had done; nothing was hidden from Him. Their attempt to hide from God and their efforts to cover their guilt were insufficient.
B. God Pronounced
Adam and Eve were alienated from God because of sin and banished from the Garden because of their disobedience. God’s disappointment was evident, but His righteousness delivered the necessary sentence of their judgment. Some of the consequences were felt immediately:
- They would no longer enjoy the presence of God on their walks in the cool of the day.
- They would work and sweat to harvest sufficient food for their sustenance.
- Thorns and thistles would plague their efforts at farming.
- Eve would experience painful travail in bearing children.
C. God Provided
Sin drove a wedge into their relationships, and division was the unwelcome result of their disobedience. Yet all was not lost. God declared defeat to the serpent but planted seeds of hope in the garden of their transgression: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
Because Jesus came, we have hope. Because of His tremendous sacrifice, no one needs to be lost.
John wrote, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14, NKJV).
D. I Can Find Hope in God’s Redemptive Plan and Receive Forgiveness for My
Restoration is available to all who come to God in humility and repentance. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, NKJV).
Every believer has the promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).
INTERNALIZING THE MESSAGE
The Lord spoke through Moses as he prepared the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land. He reminded them of their past faithfulness of God, the commandments He had given them, and the choices before them.
The Lord declared, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20, NKJV).
Much like the choice of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the descendants of Israel were given the same opportunity: life or death, blessing or a curse. The prophet Isaiah spoke for the Lord and said, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:3, NKJV).
Through Jesus Christ that choice is given to all people. Jesus is the door, the access to life. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
The map of deliverance spans all of recorded history and beyond, even to the foundation of the earth. Jesus was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). His love still reaches for all humanity. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The Cross began to restore what had been lost in the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life was transplanted from the Garden to Golgotha. Through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, we have the promise of eternal life. John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and His death, burial, and resurrection provided salvation and the opportunity to be restored to the life lost in the Garden. We find hope in God’s redemptive plan and receive forgiveness for sins.