Genesis 3
Genesis 3
Genesis 3 is one of those chapters in the Bible that is CRUCIAL to the overall narrative of Scripture. You can just sense it as you read it. It carries weight to it. In fact, we often refer to CREATION → FALL → REDEMPTION → RESTORATION as a simple way to condense the Biblical story line and this chapter takes care of one of those headings all by itself… FALL.
This is the chapter where everything changed. Everything went from perfect to broken... From hopeful to hopeless… from full of light to full of darkness. When you look at the world you see brokenness, disease, suffering, sin, among other things and all of those things got their start here… in Genesis 3.
The wonderful news is that we know the end of the story. Jesus comes. Jesus rescues. Jesus redeems. Jesus saves. Jesus is the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15…
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
This is the best news we can keep in mind as we read this story today but there are things we can learn as we read the interaction that Eve had with the Serpent.
Satan had many different tricks up his sleeve and he tried to get Eve to question several things about God…
1) QUESTION WHAT GOD SAID (v.1)
2) QUESTION GOD’S HONESTY (v.4)
3) QUESTION GOD’S HEART (v.5)
This was Satan’s game plan for Eve and this is Satan’s game plan for us. He wants us to play the semantics game with God. He wants us to question God’s Word and try to justify our sin. He wants us to think that God is lying to us. He wants us to think that God is holding out on us… that there is good in store on the other side of disobedience.
It has been his game plan since the beginning and what is crazy is WE STILL FALL FOR IT! We question God at the lips of Satan! When Satan spoke to Eve he did not even deserve a response but yet she, much like we do, responded to him and tried to reason with him instead of running to her Father in heaven.
Know his game plan. Don’t reason with him and his lies. Fix your eyes on what is above and your heart on what is true.
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” // Colossians 3:1-4
Questions for discussion:
1) Why is it so easy to fall for lies from Satan?
2) Why do you think Satan tried to get Eve to question these 3 things?
By: Nick Parsons
Genesis 3 is one of those chapters in the Bible that is CRUCIAL to the overall narrative of Scripture. You can just sense it as you read it. It carries weight to it. In fact, we often refer to CREATION → FALL → REDEMPTION → RESTORATION as a simple way to condense the Biblical story line and this chapter takes care of one of those headings all by itself… FALL.
This is the chapter where everything changed. Everything went from perfect to broken... From hopeful to hopeless… from full of light to full of darkness. When you look at the world you see brokenness, disease, suffering, sin, among other things and all of those things got their start here… in Genesis 3.
The wonderful news is that we know the end of the story. Jesus comes. Jesus rescues. Jesus redeems. Jesus saves. Jesus is the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15…
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
This is the best news we can keep in mind as we read this story today but there are things we can learn as we read the interaction that Eve had with the Serpent.
Satan had many different tricks up his sleeve and he tried to get Eve to question several things about God…
1) QUESTION WHAT GOD SAID (v.1)
2) QUESTION GOD’S HONESTY (v.4)
3) QUESTION GOD’S HEART (v.5)
This was Satan’s game plan for Eve and this is Satan’s game plan for us. He wants us to play the semantics game with God. He wants us to question God’s Word and try to justify our sin. He wants us to think that God is lying to us. He wants us to think that God is holding out on us… that there is good in store on the other side of disobedience.
It has been his game plan since the beginning and what is crazy is WE STILL FALL FOR IT! We question God at the lips of Satan! When Satan spoke to Eve he did not even deserve a response but yet she, much like we do, responded to him and tried to reason with him instead of running to her Father in heaven.
Know his game plan. Don’t reason with him and his lies. Fix your eyes on what is above and your heart on what is true.
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” // Colossians 3:1-4
Questions for discussion:
1) Why is it so easy to fall for lies from Satan?
2) Why do you think Satan tried to get Eve to question these 3 things?
By: Nick Parsons
3 Comments
It's so easy to fall for Satan's lies because ever since the fall we struggle with having ourselves on the throne of our hearts, not God. When we dig deep and examine the motives of everything we say and do we can see that sin motivates it all. It's not complicated. This is why it's so important to examine and guard our hearts.
Thanks for your words today, Nick.
I agree with Lindsay that part of why we fall for Satan so easily is that we trip ourselves up with our pride, insisting that we belong on the throne and that everything should go like we want. Parenting helps us see our own sinfulness/resentfulness from another perspective, when our young children's pride & stubbornness make them insist on their own way (which they've convinced themselves is so much better than the right way, even though we know better). But that kind of pride is the human way, and I know I struggle with it the same as anyone else. If we know that we're not holding out on our kids but that what we want for them is so much better than they could even imagine yet, then why do we still sometimes think God is holding out on us? Since God is a better parent than any of us could ever be, and since He loves us more purely than anyone else ever could. I think another reason, perhaps, is that it's so much easier for us to look at life with our eyes rather than with faith; and Satan knows that weakness & uses it.
I like that Nick. Don't reason with Satan... simply run to our Heavenly Father instead. That would make a world of difference if we consistently did that.