Story of the Fall
Old Testament – Talk Thru the Bible
Story of the Fall
2 Timothy 2:2 – Hear, Entrust, Teach, Multiply!
Think back to the last time you saw a newborn baby. Maybe you are a parent or a grandparent. Do you remember the awe and wonder of that moment? Perhaps you thought, “he/she is perfect.
When a new baby is born into a family, there is a “honeymoon” period of watching, touching, and cuddling. For a while, the energy of new life infuses parents and grandparents alike.
Then a new reality dawns in the middle of the night after only two hours of sleep. That beautiful baby has a mind of its own! If things don’t happen on the baby’s schedule, according to their desires, Mom and Dad are quickly informed. Suddenly, that perfect child isn’t so perfect anymore. That is when a new parent’s world is turned upside down. “My precious baby is seven pounds of sin, ready to break out at any minute!”
Sin Is Ready To Break Out
In the story of Creation, everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden for a while. The Bible doesn’t tell us how long Adam and Eve’s idyllic experience lasted. Their Creator knew it wouldn’t go on forever.
Danger to the innocent ones lurked in the garden. Satan slithered among the trees, promising the newly created, “you can be like God. He’s holding out on you. He’s lying to you. Eat the fruit. You will see, and you will know the truth.”
Read Genesis 3 now.
Rules < Relationship
There was only one rule for the man and the woman. “Don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When you do, you will die.” Up to this point in history, nothing had died. The first couple didn’t know what death was. Shame? Fear? They did not know those either.
Immediately upon taking destiny into their own hands, everything changed. Adam and Eve knew it, and they were afraid. They hid from the best parent anyone has ever had. Their relationship with Him was broken.
Think & Discuss
- Why did God come looking for Adam and Eve after their willful rebellion? Support your reasoning.
- At what point did the actual sin take place?
- Make a list of other potential sins committed by Adam and Eve in this account. Make separate lists for each person.
- What logic might there be to God’s pronounced judgment on Satan first, Eve second, and Adam last?
Two Realities
Two realms, physical and spiritual, intersect the world we inhabit. Unfortunately, most moderns cannot think in spiritual terms, much less see the spiritual war waged around them.
Satan went to war with God in heaven. Read Ezekiel 28:11-19. His rebellion against God’s authority and the subsequent angelic coup resulted in his exile from heaven. Having lost the first battle, Satan took up the war with God on earth in the Garden of Eden. His strategy was to cause the man and the woman to doubt God, to call Him a liar.
The Fall
We don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the perfect garden, an earthly expression of God’s heavenly home. It could have been days, weeks, months, or even years! However long it might have been, the first humans experienced a world none of us today can imagine. And yet, they threw it all away in a single moment. Now, every single human being does the same thing.
The First Sacrifice
God is a missionary. Into the dark and chaotic world pictured in Genesis 1:2, God spoke. “Let there be light.” Darkness cannot compete with light. It loses every time.
Following the Fall, God went looking for that which was lost. Adam & Eve. Hiding from Him behind fig leaves and trees, God went looking for them to provide an escape from the evil world they initiated through their rebellion against Him. Upon finding them, the Lord did two things that forever set the course of human history.
- First, God promised that someone from the woman’s seed would one day destroy Satan’s power over this world.
- Second, the Lord killed innocent animals and made clothing for the man and the woman from their skins. In faith, Adam and Eve wore those clothes and looked forward to the Redeemer promised in Genesis 3:15. The broken relationship with their Creator was restored.
Learning to tell the story of Creation identifies a longing in every man, woman, and child.
“I want to experience a perfect world where disease, destruction, and death don’t exist.”
The Fall account demonstrates that God is ready to cover His children’s nakedness and restore them to a relationship with Him.
Are you ready for that?
Talk Thru the Bible – OT Lessons
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Talking Points
- God told the man what He wanted him to do in the garden. He also told him what not to do. This command was given to the man before Eve was fashioned from Adam’s side.
- Before Eve was made for man, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”
- The first couple was in the garden together when Satan approached them in the form of a serpent.
- Exchanging God’s truth for Satan’s lies, Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then gave it to her husband. He followed her example and ate it as well.
- Everything changed at that moment. They saw that they were naked, fled into the garden, and tried to make clothing from fig leaves to cover their shame.
- Hearing their Creator in the garden, they hid from Him because they were afraid.
- Both Adam and Eve tried to blame others for their actions when confronted with their sin.
- God declared that one day someone from the seed of the woman would destroy Satan’s power over this world forever.
- God sacrificed innocent animals, took their skins, and made clothing that would last to replace what Adam and Eve had made.
- Adam and Eve were exiled from the garden of Eden as a consequence of their sin. But God accepted them and provided hope for their future, even after their eventual death.
Points To Ponder
- There are several possible reasons that Satan approached the woman rather than the man. Name some.
- What did Eve do before she took the action of eating?
- Adam is in the background for part of this account. What do you think could have been going on in his mind? What might he have done that he didn’t?
- Patterns become evident when we look at temptation and deception. Identify those patterns that eventually lead to open sin.
Make an “I will” Statement.
- As a result of working through the Fall account, what will you say, think, or do differently starting today?
- Who will you share your “I will” statement with that will hold you accountable for follow through?
