GENESIS 3
VERSE 16-24
Verse 16 – Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
The curse of the woman
I. The entire curse is a hidden blessing.
A. The curse upon the serpent (verse 14) is proof today that God’s word was fulfilled.
B. The curse upon Satan was a promise to mankind that the Saviour would redeem them from their sins, and totally destroy Satan.
C. The curse upon the woman reflects the natural desire of the woman today.
D. The curse upon the man is a blessing in that man now has to work and is to tired to get into much trouble. As recreation time increases (although all need some recreation) meanness increases. A child, teenager etc., with nothing to do will continually get into trouble.
II. Greatly multiply does not mean that the pain in childbearing and child raising will increase in the mathematical sense as 2 x 2 = 4, assuming there was pain before sin especially in a "pre-adamic" world. The word "multiply" means "abundant, to be many, make abundant."
A. Genesis 1:22 - Fowl of air multiplying (being abundant)
B. Genesis 1:28 - People multiplying (being abundant) 1 x 1 = 1 -- the word multiply is not meaning multiply in the mathematical sense, but to be abundant.
C. Genesis 16:10 - God promising Hagar that her son’s seed would be abundant, not that the seed was increasing based on a past seed that was destroyed.
D. Genesis 47:27 - Israel growing in the land of Egypt. This doesn’t mean that there was an Israel before that is now being "redone" or "increased", but that God is fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that Israel would be abundant. (Genesis 12:2, 15:5)
III. Two parts to the woman’s curse.
A. Sorrow in giving birth and raising children.
1. Genesis 35:16 - Rachel having hard labor (later dying).
2. Isaiah 13:8 - God using a woman’s pain in travail (something they all knew about) to show them something they didn’t know about. (The fall of Babylon.)
3. Jeremiah 30:6 - Israel being in travail during the time of Jacob’s trouble. This shows that the pain of childbirth is the worse pain that is to be borne (it is compared to the tribulation period -- the worse time for the Jews.)
4. I Thessalonians 5:3 - the suddenness of travail compared to suddenness of Day of the Lord.
5. John 16:21 - There is sorrow is travail, but soon joy that a man is born into the world.
6. Proverbs 29:15 - When a child does wrong, it is great sorrow to the mother.
7. Example: - the mother whose son is a drunkard or such as that, will almost always blame it on herself.
B. The woman placed in subjection to the husband.
1. Numbers 30:6-8 - the husband either approves or disapproves all vows made by the wife.
2. Ephesians 5:22-24 - the wives are in subjection to their own husbands as the church is in subjection to Christ.
3. I Corinthians 11:3 - the head of the woman is the man.
a. This is one of the reasons a woman wears a covering in church and a man does not.
b. It must also be remembered that a woman wearing a covering does not necessarily mean she is in submission to her husband.
c. True submission is in the heart, not necessarily in a physical covering.
4. I Timothy 2:9-15 - the woman is to continue in subjection in the church.
5. I remember one woman who was saved after she had children. She had another child after she was saved and she said the pain of childbirth was still on her, but the presence of the Lord was also with her, where it hadn’t been on her when she was lost. "Saved in childbearing", doesn’t necessarily mean there will be no pain or less pain in giving birth, but that the woman, continuing in faith and charity and holiness, with sobriety, will raise her children to God’s glory and they will arise and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28.
6. The curse changed the nature of submission.
a. Before sin the woman was naturally submissive.
b. The curse makes submission very difficult because it is against the sinful nature.
c. The spiritual woman will seek God’s grace in being as submissive as before the fall.
7. Now the woman must strive to fulfill the command of God.
8. The modern "women’s equal rights movement" is nothing more than Satan working in the hearts of women in an attempt to circumvent the curse.
9. Women were more equal to man before the fall. After the fall, God made it a direct command for the woman to be under the subjection of her husband.
10. It is only by submitting ourselves to the curse of God that we find peace.
a. It’s true with a lost person who submits himself to his lost condition and is saved.
b. It’s true with a saved person who submits himself to his true sinfulness after salvation and trusts God to give him grace to live daily for Him.
Verses 17-19 – And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art , and unto dust shalt thou return.
The curse upon the man
I. Voice of the woman - she must have "talked Adam into sin". Didn’t use sex. The man is guilty of following his wife instead of following God. Men need to remember this today.
II. The dwelling place of man is cursed.
A. Cursed is ground - apparently this means all the earth. Pointing toward the total destruction of the earth in the future. II Peter 3:12. Note: the continuing curse and compare to the curse of physical and spiritual death.
B. Adam himself is not cursed as the serpent was.
C. For thy sake - too tired to get in trouble.
III. His work and enjoyments
A. Verse 18 – supplying food shall be filled with work
1. Verse 19 - eat in sweat of face.
2. Ecclesiastes 6:7 - labor is for mouth, yet mouth is not filled.
B. Labor is our duty
1. II Thessalonians 3:10 - no work, no eat.
2. Do not complain of honest work or brag about dishonest gain.
C. Daniel 4:32 - Nebuchadnezzar in field until "He knew God rules."
D. This teaches us to look for the final rest (not death) that will come shortly.
IV. His life
A. Verse 19 - dust to dust
B. James 4:14 - His life is short.
C. Man is always staring death in the face - never knowing when he will die.
D. Song, "Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s me."
Comments on the entire curse
1. The curse (on the surface) seems to be mostly physical, but the carrying out of the curse leads to great and continual distress of the soul.
2. The curse upon the woman - what started out to be a great increase (according to Satan) - wound up bringing great sorrow.
3. The curse upon the man - all of his days, he’ll be plagued with making a living by the sweat of his brow.
4. Death is the final result.
How Christ took care of the curse
I. Verse 16 - woman travailing in pain.
A. Isaiah 53:11 - Travailing of soul of Christ.
B. Acts 2:24 - God loosed the pains of death. (As proved earlier, having a child is very close to death.)
C. This is the real heart of the curse - spiritual not physical.
II. Verse 16 - woman commanded to be under subjection. Galatians 4:4 - Christ was born subject to the law.
III. Verses 16-19 - Woman and Adam are cursed because of sin. Galatians 3:13 - Christ willingly went under the curse for us.
IV. Verse 18 - Thorns came with sin. John 19:2 - Christ crowned with a crown of thorns.
V. Verse 19 - sweat comes because of sin. Luke 22:44 - Christ sweat great drops of blood.
VI. Verse 17 - sorrow came because of sin. Matthew 26:37 - Christ was filled with sorrow, acquainted with grief - Is. 53:4
VII. Verse 19 - Death came because of sin. I Peter 3:18 - Christ died for us.
Verse 20 – And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Adam means
(1) red earth
(2) of the ground
(3) firm.
Eve means
(1) mother of all living,
(2) life.
I. Eve means physical mother of all living.
II. More important - spiritual mother of all living.
A. Catholics may worship Mary as mother of God. They ought to worship Eve. Adam said she is the mother of all living.
B. Shows Adam is expecting Eve to bear the Saviour. See Genesis 4:1
C. Adam shows evidence of salvation here because he is accepting his guilt for disobedience and looking for the promised redeemer.
D. Adam’s repentance and believing is heart is hidden in verse 7-19. This is because of John 3:8 - We cannot tell the hidden work of God in the heart, but (Romans 10:10) we see the results of salvation.
III. Compare Adam’s spiritual understanding of the coming Saviour (verse 20) and his lack of spiritual maturity (though full of knowledge) about the Tree of life -
A. This shows there were a lot of spiritual truths Adam just didn’t understand.
B. This shows the sinful nature of Adam - Romans 7:15.
C. Adam’s nature is just like ours. If God doesn’t reveal spiritual truths, they won’t be revealed regardless of the intelligence of the person.
D. See Adam’s lack of Spiritual understanding.
1. Didn’t understand about clothing
2. Didn’t understand that he should leave the Tree of Life alone.
3. Romans 7:14, 15 - Saved sinners are like this.
Verse 21 – Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
I. The coats of skins are made after confession with the mouth.
A. Circumcision is after belief in Christ, then service.
B. Baptism is after belief in Christ, then service.
C. They would have remained unclothed (or rather with their clothes on) if Christ hadn’t clothed them.
1. Israel wouldn’t have existed if God hadn’t made them a nation.
2. We would have no place for service if Christ hadn’t given us the church.
D. Luke 15:22, 23 - the prodigal son was clothed after he came back home.
II. The skin - the first physical death. Seen by Adam and Eve. This is something they had never experienced. Ecclesiastes 3:18 - They saw they were beasts, mortal and dying.
A. Not for sacrifice - none required skinning an animal.
1. Leviticus 4:11 reveals the skin of a sacrifice is not burnt on the altar, but rather taken outside the camp, and there disposed of.
2. The skin of the animals sacrificed in the Garden of Eden was not a part of the sacrifice, but were used to symbolize how Adam and Eve are "outside the camp of God", therefore the skins are used to cover their nakedness.
B. Not for food - they didn’t eat meat yet.
C. Shows what their sin did to others.
1. As they put on the skin of the animal, they would surely understand clearly they would die as the animal had died.
2. The animal died because of them.
3. It is still true of us today.
D. The Lord God Himself made the coats of skin.
1. God saw it was necessary, man didn’t. Compare with Adam naming the animals. Adam knew what to do then, but now he doesn’t know what to do next.
2. Shows the greatness of God’s love for mankind.
III. Clothes came in with sin.
A. No need for clothes before sin.
B. No reason to be proud because of clothes. I Peter 3:3
C. First clothes probably not very pretty, but very practical.
D. Let us be content with the necessary thing I Timothy 6:8 - being content with food and raiment.
Verses 22-24 – And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
I. Man is become as one of us.
A. 3:5 - what the devil said, God confirmed. But the result certainly wasn’t what Adam expected.
1. Genesis 3:5 – Satan declared that Adam would become as gods (with open eyes), knowing good and evil.
a. Satan used the truth to convince Adam God was keeping some good thing from him.
b. Satan did not tell Adam physical and spiritual death was part of the deal.
c. Adam died spiritually when he ate the forbidden fruit, and died physically at 130 years old.
d. Adam would have lived eternally in his physical body and never known evil, only good.
2. Adam did not become God, but changed from knowing only good to knowing good and evil.
3. Adam is not like God in that Adam has experienced evil, while God knows evil because he knows all things.
B. Knowing good and evil is what made Adam like God (having his eyes open), but he did not become God or a god.
1. Before sin Adam knew only good.
2. After sin he knows good and evil.
3. Man is unable to change evil into good. God is able. - Psalm 76:10 God used Pharaoh in evil for His glory.
C. God never withholds any good thing from his children, but continually gives them the best, according to their present situation.
1. Jesus was not promised to Adam or the world until sin came into the world, then God promised the redeemer.
2. Adam and his wife were not put out of the Garden of Eden until they revealed they would stay, regardless of God’s clear command.
3. God drove them out of the Garden because they must endure physical death or live eternally in a sin cursed body.
4. Death is the only way out of this sin cursed physical body and the way into the glorified resurrected body.
II. Tree of life.
A. Note the physical description of Adam taking of the tree of life. You can almost see the Devil "egging" him on.
B. This is the reason God removed Adam and Eve from the garden. They would live eternally in a sin cursed physical body.
1. Why didn’t God leave Adam and Eve in the garden, and remove the Tree of Life? He’s going to "transplant" it anyway!
a. To further reveal His anger for sin. We always must pay the consequences of our sin even if we are forgiven.
b. To be a witness to future generations of the wrath of God toward sin. This should show people what was lost in the fall and help them realize their need to trust Christ.
c. Parents should not simply remove things from the path of their children, but parents should teach their children to listen and to obey, not touching certain things.
2. God said Adam and Eve would live forever in their physical bodies if they partook of the Tree of life. This is not spiritual life for they already had eternal life.
a. This would be a most horrible thing for Adam and Eve to never die.
I Corinthians 3:21-23 - Death is a gift from God.
I Corinthians 15:53-54 - They would never have a perfect body - I John 3:2
b. God is keeping intact His plans for the New Heaven and New Earth.
Satan had an opportunity to spoil all of God’s plans if he could have gotten Adam to eat of the Tree of Life.
God kept Adam from sinning to the extent His plans would be spoiled Ps. 76:10.
c. Foolish sins of our youth, we bear all of our lives.
Young spiritual life.
Young physical life.
C. A physical Tree in Genesis 1-3 becomes a spiritual reality now.
1. Genesis 3:22 – Adam would have used the Tree of Life for a bad purpose, but the following scripture speak of the Tree of Life in a good sense.
2. Proverbs 3:18 - Wisdom "She is a Tree of Life to them, that lay hold on her: happy is everyone that retaineth her".
3. Proverbs 11:30 - "The fruit of the righteous is a Tree of Life."
4. Proverbs 13:12 - the fulfilled desire of hope.
5. Proverbs 15:4 - a wholesome tongue.
6. These things are withheld from Adam and Eve in the physical sense, for since they are sinners (yet saved by grace), they can only be obtained spiritually.
D. The transplanted Tree - Revelation 22:1-3
1. Not just one tree, but the only tree. Perhaps the only kind of tree - none other is mentioned. In a spiritual world, we’ll have no need of wood. We’ll be living in mansions prepared by God.
2. The emblem of immortality. Everywhere we look, we’ll see the emblem and be able to freely partake of it.
3. 12 manner of fruits
a. Constantly bore fruit, evidently a different kind of fruit every month.
b. An abundance of fruit, supply never fails. Tree is never barren.
4. Fruit and leaves - Ezekiel 47:12
a. Fruit to be eaten; not to sustain life, for Jesus did not need food to sustain a spiritual body. Luke 24:42-43
b. Leaves for "healing" - "attendance" or "household" of the nations.
E. Will there be people in physical bodies in eternity?
1. Honestly, I don’t know. I John 3:2 - Like John, I don’t know what kind of body we’ll have in eternity.
2. I don’t believe we’ll be thirty-three and a half years old in eternity like some believe. What has time got to do with eternity?
3. Yes ---- Genesis 1. This is what Christ started out with and He’ll wind up with the same thing, plus many added glories for Himself. Psalm 76:10.
F. Purpose of the Tree of Life: So that men can live eternally.
1. The Tree fulfills the desire of the saved person to really worship God, but Adam would use the Tree of Life in a bad sense – to avoid death and live eternally in a sin cursed physical body.
a. But he is never able to worship God on his own. He will always need God to bless him and enable him to worship God.
b. If a man in eternity got to the place he didn’t need God in order to worship God, he would be able to control his own will (which he lost in Adam) and he would be equal with God.
c. The Tree of Life reveals our eternal dependence on God.
2. There ought to be no objection to us needing the Tree of Life in eternity in order to really worship God.
a. God gave Adam a symbol of God’s authority in the Garden of Eden, before Adam sinned.
b. After sin is done away with, all things will be restored to God’s original plan, except that since God allowed sin to take place, and then redeem us from sin, we are able to more fully recognize His power, love, so forth.
3. We can actually worship God more because of what He has done for us.
a. The tree of life will be an eternal symbol of God’s grace bestowed upon sinful man. I do not mean to say that we will remember our sinful nature in eternity.
b. Revelation 21:4 and Hebrews 9:14 make it plain that we will not remember our sinful nature.
c. In Christ, our conscience has been purged.
d. In this life we do not mourn over our past sins.
e. We rather rejoice that God has forgiven us and we worship Him the more, so shall it be in eternity, but more perfectly.
III. Sent Adam forth to till the ground. (Compare to Genesis 2:15 – Adam is dress and keep the Garden.)
A. Sent him out - gave him a command to go. Drove him out - forced him to go.
1. Man’s nature is against following the commands of God.
2. Though lately been with God in blessed salvation, now driven from Garden (though not from the presence of God) because he:
a. Disobeyed in taking of forbidden tree.
b. Disobeyed command of God to leave. As a saved person, he refuses to recognize Christ is the Lord of his life (though he did know Christ as Lord at the time of his salvation).
3. Daniel 4:31, 32 - Nebuchadnezzar driven from throne because he refused to "Know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will."
4. Job 18:18 - Bildad said God "chased the wicked out of the world" (talking about the death of lost).
B. To till the ground - to fulfill the curse.
1. Genesis 2:15 – God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to dress and keep it.
a. Adam’s life before the fall was not in toil and despair, or in any fatigue or trouble.
b. Sweat came after the fall, not before.
c. Adam was to take care of the Garden, seeing in it the goodness and graciousness of God in daily provision.
2. Genesis 3:17-20.
a. After the fall into sin, Adam was commanded to till the ground because now there were many things to root out and destroy.
b. The ground now produces thorns and thistles more readily than fruits and vegetables.
c. Adam must now earn his living by the sweat of his brow, where before there was no effort in receiving the bounty of God.
d. Note: Adam must earn, where before the fall into sin, he was given the abundance of God.
Verse 24 – So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
I. It is amazing that recently saved Adam attempted to disobey God’s clear command.
A. In verse 23, God sent Adam from the Garden, but it appears Adam did not go.
B. In verse 24, God drove Adam and his wife from the Garden.
C. In verse 24 God placed Cherubims at the east of the Garden of Eden to keep the way of the Tree of Life.
1. It seems God believed Adam would steal the fruit of the Tree of Life if he got the chance.
2. It is not that God does not trust Adam, but God knows what Adam will do if not restrained.
3. God also knows what we will do if we are not restrained from sin by the grace of God.
4. The flaming Cherubims speak of the wrath of God.
II. East
A. Why couldn’t Adam and Eve go around the Cherubims, and the flaming sword, and enter Eden from the North, South, or West?
1. The Garden of Eden is a place of special communion with God.
2. God was in all areas of the world when He created it. He still is today, but the Garden of Eden was a special place God made for man.
3. More than likely there was a border, (boundary, or fence or barrier) around the Garden, with access only from the east.
4. The Tabernacle and every temple had only one entry – facing the east.
5. It must be remembered that the world was different before the flood.
a. There is no way of knowing the location of the Garden of Eden.
b. We might picture the Garden as being where the nation of Israel now is, but there is really no way of knowing the exact location.
B. Exodus 19:10-13 - When God gave the 10 commandments and the instructions for the tabernacle, He set bounds around Mt. Sinai.
C. The tabernacle built by Moses.
1. Exodus 27:9-19 - a description of the boards of the tabernacle. Verse 13-16 -- is a description of the east side of the court and the entrance to the courtyard.
2. Exodus 26:15-25 - a description of the boards of the tabernacle.
a. Verse 18 - the south side.
b. Verse 20 - the north side.
c. Verse 22 - the west side.
d. No boards on the east side. This is the entrance.
3. Exodus 26:31-33 - a description of the vail between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Matthew 27:51 - the vail was rent when Christ died, making the way for us to have direct communication with God, through Jesus Christ.
4. Exodus 26:36, 37 - a description of the door of the tabernacle. The door faced the east.
D. The temple built by Solomon - II Chronicles 4:9, 10 - note placement of the court, the door, and the sea.
E. The temple built by Ezra.
F. Herod’s temple faced the east.
G. Revelation 21:12, 13 - the wall around New Jerusalem.
III. This ought to reveal that God has boundaries on all things. There is a particular way to get into all things.
1. A club - there are always certain rules that must be met.
2. Salvation - there is only one way.
3. The church - there is only one way.
IV. Cherubims (We will study {A} Seraphims {B} Cherubims, and {C} Angels.)
A. Seraphims - Isaiah 6 - the only place they appear.
1. Seraphims means "burning, fiery ones".
2. They are so holy, they burn with their own holiness, yet cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts."
3. Their holiness is nothing compared to the holiness of God.
4. If Seraphims are to be compared to anything, they ought to be compared to Cherubims, but the Bible only compares them to God.
B. Cherubims - means "those grasped, held fast". Strong’s concordance says "imaginary figure". They seem to represent God.
1. According to the definition of the word Cherubim, it is God himself which stands between Adam and the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life.
a. It is God himself which assures man of the good gift of death, because after death comes the resurrection of the dead and final victory over sin.
b. No one else could give this great gift.
2. Genesis 3:24 - guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden.
3. Exodus 25:18 - placed on the mercy seat of the ark.
a. Exodus 25:18, 19 - made of the mercy seat (a part of it.)
b. The Jews weren’t given a description of the Cherubims except the wings. How did they know what a cherubim looked like? Did they remember the Cherubims guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden?
c. We can learn much about the Cherubims’ wings, but little about the shape or form of the body.
4. Many times it is said, "God dwells between the Cherubims".
a. Numbers 7:89 - God spoke to Moses from between the Cherubims.
b. II Kings 19:14, 15 - Hezekiah praying to God.
c. Psalm 80:1 - David said that God dwelt between the Cherubims.
5. A description of what Ezekiel saw - Ezekiel 1:4-14, 15-25, 26-28 - never called a cherubim.
6. Ezekiel 10:10-15 - continuing description of cherubim - and it’s called a Cherubim.
a. Verse 13, 14 - the faces are representing Jesus Christ in the Godhead.
b. Verse 14 - one of the faces is an ox or calf - compare with Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7.
7. Cherubims are not angels (angels don’t have wings).
a. Ezekiel 28:14 – "thou art the anointed cherub that covereth."
b. This scripture is talking to the King of Tyrus, not Satan.
c. May have reference to Satan or to the leadership of Satan.
d. Is not talking about Satan destroying the earth between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2.
C. Angels - do not have wings - are not Cherubims or Seraphims.
1. Sometimes when people see angels, they don’t realize what they’ve seen.
2. This isn’t so for those that come into contact with Cherubims and Seraphims. They know right off they have come into contact with God.
3. Genesis 19:5 - Men of Sodom didn’t know they were angels.
4. Judges 6:22 - Gideon didn’t realize he had seen an angel.
5. Judges 13:21, 22 - Samson’s parents didn’t know they had seen an angel.
6. Daniel 10:5, 6
a. "Man" and his description.
b. Verse 16 - one like a man touched his lips and gave him strength to talk.
c. Verse 18 - one like a man touched him and gave him strength to live.
7. Luke 2:13 - angels don’t sing, they "say".
8. Matthew 28:2-4 - description of an angel.
9. Luke 24:4 - angels described as men.
V. The flaming sword.
A. This sword assures that life and salvation would be possessed only in the right way.
1. There must be death before there can be everlasting life.
2. No person would be able to live eternally in a sin cursed, decaying body.
3. Christ would die that we might have everlasting life.
B. The sword is not in the hand of an angel, but in the hands of God.
1. The same flaming sword turns every way so none can get to the tree of life apart from Christ.
2. There is only one way to be saved, and that is through Christ.