The Unraveling of Perfection and the Plan of Salvation

By Danny Saavedra

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened.”—Genesis 3:6–7 (NIV)

Yesterday, we God made everything in the beginning, and after creating a perfect universe with everything we needed, He created humanity. Man—the crowning jewel of the Lord’s good and perfect creation (Adam, which is also the Hebrew word for “man”) was given life, but not just any kind of life. He wasn’t just spoken into being. Instead, “The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7 NIV).

It's easy to pass this over, but it’s so important. Adam wasn’t spoken into being like everything else. Rather, he was given a spirit and made alive by the breath of God. In the Greek, the word here for “breathed” is pneuma . . . a word used to refer to 1) our literal breath in our bodies, 2) our literal spirit within us, and 3) the Holy Spirit. So, the creation story is showing us how unique mankind is among all of God’s creation. We were meant to be the cross section between earth and heaven, the natural and the eternal, brought to life by the Holy Spirit through the working of the Son (John 1; Colossians 1:15–17). This is what it means to bear the image and likeness of God.

As He looked upon His creation, including us, God saw it was “very good.” But as was mentioned yesterday, the universe didn’t remain perfect. You see, a serpent (whom we know by another name: Satan; the devil) came along to plant a simple seed in their minds telling them God was holding them back from something better. And sadly, it worked as we see in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve disobeyed and rebelled against God. According to Romans 5:12 (NIV), “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people.”

In that moment, the breath and spirit of life God breathed into them died, and they also began to die slowly—aging and subject to disease and decay. The perfect puzzle was thrown into chaos!

But that wasn’t the end of their story or ours. You see, God loved Adam and Eve. And so, in order to cover the debt of sin, Genesis 3:21 says, “God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” In order for God to cover the shame of Adam and Eve’s sin, an innocent animal had to be sacrificed.

This first sacrifice to cover the shame of sin was the first step in God’s master plan to restore us. God was beginning to move all the pieces in place for the salvation of the world. Each and every story of the Old Testament was another piece being moved into place to bring about the fulfillment of this plan. And this is what this Christmas season is all about! It’s the celebration of the moment when “the fullness of time had come” for God to send forth “his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4–5 ESV).

Biblical meditation is about filling your mind with God’s Word, not emptying it. Some good ways to practice meditating on Scripture include reading it quietly, then out loud, and then praying it. You can do this individually or in a group! Today, practice meditation by reading Galatians 4:4–7. Read it on your own first, then out loud, and then write down your favorite part. Finish by praying the Scripture out loud!