Adam: 3 Days Rediscovering Our BeginningSample

A Plunge to Disaster

God gave Adam and Eve a single command:

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

Adam and Eve already knew about good, and God wanted to protect them from evil. So this command was a wonderful expression of God’s love.

The source of all evil was an enemy who came into the garden in the form of a serpent. He questioned God’s command, dismissed God’s warning, and lured Eve with the enticing prospect of becoming her own god. Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of God. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in that act of disobedience, they got the knowledge of evil. We have all lived with it ever since.

This first act of disobedience, which the Bible calls sin, led to a great catastrophe.

He [God] drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

Driven from the garden, Adam and Eve found themselves in a very different world in which pain, conflict, frustration, and death were woven into their experience. They were excluded from paradise, and there was no way back. But before they were sent out, God gave the first man and woman hope through a curse and a promise.

Before driving Adam from the garden, God cursed the serpent. “Cursed are you . . .” (Genesis 3:14). In pronouncing this curse, God was consigning evil to destruction. Evil will not stand. It will be destroyed.

Then God turned to Adam and said, “Cursed . . .” Adam must have held his breath. God had cursed the serpent, and now it seemed He was about to curse Adam too. But instead of saying to Adam, “Cursed are you,” God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17). What did the ground do wrong?

The cursing of the ground tells us something very wonderful about God. He will always deal with sin and destroy it. But God can deflect His judgment away from us, creating room for us to be reconciled to Him.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

• What is your reaction to the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience?
• Why do you think you reacted that way?