The beginning of the redemption story ♡
Thankfully the story didn’t end with our sin! If it did, God might as well wiped out the whole earth and all of humanity right then and there! We had lost our open fellowship with God and had earned death by our disobedience. But, instead of them destitute, full of guilt and without hope, God did the kindest thing ~ He sought them out. God called to them, “Where are you?”. Did God need to ask them where they were? Did an all knowing God, somehow lose the only two people in a garden? Of course not! God did not call out to them because He required an answer, He called out to them to demonstrate His love for them despite what they had done. He cared enough to look for them, they were still worth seeking to Him. The significance of God still seeking them (and us) despite and inspite of everything they (we) had done can not be over stated. No matter how far we feel we are from God, He is still seeking us and calling to us.
Next, He brings down the consequences of their actions. They are just destroyed the world as they know it and things can never be the same again. Yet, in the midst of it all, that long list of the hardships and punishments, there is hope. It’s quite incredible that even in the midst of God’s speech, He provides them with hope. A promise of someone, who will one day defeat the serpent and restore all that which is lost. While we are not yet living in eternity where every wrong is made right, we have been restored back into relationship with God by the Son’s Great victory over the serpent.
Finally, God clothes them. It is impossible to fathom how much their rejection and rebellion would have broken God’s heart. While we tend to have this misconception that God is a unfeeling being, incapable of such degrading emotions of hurt or pain, that is simply untrue. Time and time again in scripture God is portrayed as being capable of feeling and having feelings. For example, He is a God of love, or see the shortest verse of the bible, “Jesus wept.” This betrayal by humanity, while He knew it would happen, would have hurt Him deeply and yet He still cared deeply enough about them to tend to their needs. But not only did they need clothes, an animal was required to die for their covering. While this was a precursor of what was ahead with regard to sacrifices for sin, must that not have hurt God just a bit to have to kill one of His own creations, to cover another’s sin? It’s interesting to think that such a short time, humans went from being a caretaker to the animals to a life taker.
In summary, Genesis 3, while being quite uncomfortable to read as we are confronted by our sin and failings, it is an incredibly rich chapter, full of information. It’s one of those chapters you could pick almost any verse and write a whole essay or sermon on it. I’m so thankful God included it in the Bible, because it gives such good insight into our condition and God’s heart for us ~ Even in His judgement He cares.
♡
Musings by Tee 