Genesis 3

So Genesis chapter 3, this is definitely one of the most important Chapters in all of the Bible since it records the fall of man into sin. So the remaining 1186 chapters of the Bible are from this point on it's all about fixing what went wrong.

Right here in Genesis 3. So the first two chapters, we know that God created everything. He created Everything good. He said in fact, it was very good but that's until Satan shows up in the form of the serpent and Satan is here With the purpose of trying to tempt man trying to tempt Eve to sin.

So we see that Eve is what? Deceived right but Adam just flat-out disobeys God's Commands so in doing so when Adam sins that brings the entire. Not just the human race. Brings it into sin. He brings the whole creation under the curse.

Genesis 3 as Literal History

So the first thing I want to start out with and I know that probably everybody here knows this already. But just for maybe that one person or someone online. We believe that Genesis chapter 3 we believe this Really happened like literally as Written.

Yes. There was a talking snake that's that's what it says and that's what we believe and I bring it up because most of if not if not most certainly many of the denominational churches, they will either flat-out deny that Adam and Eve were real people or They'll say that the first several chapters of Genesis.

They'll say well, this is really just Poetry it didn't really happen. It's just trying to communicate something else. So ironically, I would say many ministries have fallen for the same trick that the serpent is trying to pull here.

God's Word is clear. But you know what the devil does he tries to cast doubt on whether or not like is this really true? Did God really say this did did this really happen? So a lot of churches, they don't have a biblical worldview.

So that's why they don't want to take the Bible literally and if they can just get people to not take Genesis literal. They almost certainly don't take revelation literal. Well, probably there's nothing really literal in between and that's kind of how they they get around things that they don't like.

So that's where most of the big denominations. That's where they're at. I would say they deny or reinterpret Genesis 3 or Genesis 1 through 12, but we believe that This actually happened exactly as is written.

Amen. Okay. So chapter 3 begins with verse 1 now the serpent was more cunning. Does anyone have a different word? Subtle okay subtle or cunning the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman has God Indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Did God really say that to you? And of course God didn't say that to her. God said it to who? Adam so Eve we know didn't hear this directly from God.

She got it from Adam. So we know let's start out with who the serpent is again. This is something that I'm sure everyone in this room knows but The serpent is the devil right and Satan, how do we know that are we assuming that I actually was listening to a Some pastor online and he was saying that There's no evidence that the serpent was actually the devil and I'm like what I never I never even heard anyone question that but Just in case someone isn't convinced John in Revelation 12 9 Refers to Satan as that serpent of old and then Paul in 2nd Corinthians 11 3 again refers to Satan or the devil as the serpent so there's really no question that the serpent is the devil.

Okay, so the word cunning or subtle in this context it implies deceit. So the serpent you might say is very sly. He's he's very Crafty he's he's cunning. He didn't come right out. He didn't come on too strong and deny God's Word, you know right off the bat.

First what he does he starts out. Yeah, he's subtle. So he's just planting seeds of doubt. He's just asking a question. Have you ever heard somebody? Because if they come right out and say God's Word isn't true.

That's gonna throw up red flags and Christians are gonna be like whoa, hold on. But what people will often do is they'll ask a question is that really true, you know, they're not denying it outright. But they're asking questions and what's behind the question is is doubt.

So that's how a lot of people do it and that's how the devil did it. So he he's planting seeds of doubt in Eve's Mind and then he starts out with that tactic then he goes to the outright lie afterwards.

So the fact that Satan went to Eve first. I don't think that's a mistake. Perhaps he knew that Eve would be the easier target. But we know for sure from last week that God gave the commandment to Adam and not Eve.

So let's go back to chapter 2 and just look at Genesis 2 16 through 17. Genesis 2 16 and 17 says and the Lord God commanded what? The man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it.

For in the day that you eat you shall surely die. So God gave the commandment to Adam. That means Eve heard it secondhand and when you hear something secondhand not directly from the source I mean if for no other reason Eve is more susceptible just for that reason alone if nothing else.

So when the serpent asked her did God really say it's it's meant to get her Thinking get her questioning. Yeah, did did God say that? What did Adam tell me? What did God say. And now she's thinking about it and that's where Satan comes in and Real actually from the beginning.

He's really twisting the Word of God. You hear me say this often how people twist The Word of God this is really the first time That it happened and this is the devil's tactic even today. But he's twisting the meaning like what he said sounds similar to what God told Adam.

It sounds similar but not quite. The meaning has been changed, but it still sounds close. So he asked that question and then Eve responds in verses 2 and 3. She says well we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.

But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden. That's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has said you shall not eat of it nor shall you touch it lest you die. Now, is that true?

Is that what God said? Why not Right You. Yeah, you both agree that she has added something to what God said. God said nothing about you can't touch it. He said you can't eat it. Now. It's reasonable to think maybe you shouldn't touch it either.

But still that's not what God said. So Eve is already making a few mistakes here. Number one, she's in a conversation with the devil, which you never want to do that. I don't even know if she realizes Who or what she's dealing with maybe she doesn't but you know There's a lot of people today who actually talk to the devil, you know, they bind the death.

They're rebuking the devil. They're. They're praying in Admonishing the devil and I've heard pastors do this. You don't even pay attention to the devil. Don't ever talk to him. What does the Bible say?

Resist right resist the devil. That's all we should ever do so. What? Yeah, resist and he will flee from you. You should never talk to him. I certainly don't think you can reason with him or outsmart him.

So that's maybe the first mistake. And then yeah, the second mistake is Eve is Adding to what God's Word, you know to what God has said so I think the devil knows at this point he really has his hook center and that's when he comes out with the Outright lie so in verses four and five the devil now he says no you will not Surely die for God knows that in the day you eat of it.

Your eyes will be opened and you will be like God Knowing good and evil. So the tactics the devil uses are as follows if you take notes Write this down because we want to know what tactics the devil and his people use.

So if we know the tactics then we won't fall for them. So number one Satan he always cast doubt on the Word of God. That's number one. Number two, he twists God's Word Slightly changing it a little bit adding taking away.

So he cast doubt on the Word of God. He twists God's Word and then number three he cast doubt. He'll cast doubt on whether or not God is truly good. Okay, so he's questioning The goodness of God, which a lot of people fall for this one.

They've gone through something Very difficult in their life. They've gone through some tragedies some hardship. And maybe that's when the devil sends that fiery dart and I don't know if he can put thoughts in people's minds or not, but people start to Question the goodness of God because of something that happened but here it's like here's what the devil is doing.

He's putting another seed in her mind. Like if God is so good. Why is he holding back? You know, he's made all these trees and here's this beautiful tree here and look how good the fruit is if God is so good.

Why won't he allow you? To eat of it. Why would he put it there if you can't eat it like God is. God is maybe not so good. He's holding something back. And of course, you know, there's a little bit of truth to every lie.

Anyone who's a good liar? You know politicians in particular like there's always truth to what they say. Right every good lie contains some Truth so because if you come out with just full-blown lies, it's too easy to spot.

So you have to blend it With with the truth. So that's the other tactic the devil will use he'll mix truth and error. So when they ate the fruit, let's let's look at this. Did he mix truth with error when they ate the fruit were their eyes open that's what he promised them.

Yeah, right, yeah, so that's true in a sense yes, that's that's what happened their eyes were Open. Did they now know do they now know good and evil? I mean before you say they only knew good now they know evil.

Well, but the the devil is framing this as though it's a good thing. Are they like God knowing good and evil? Well, they're not really like God. Certainly not in the way that the devil tried to make it out.

Is it's gonna be this good thing. You'll be like God that didn't really happen. But there's a little bit of truth in what he's saying. Now as far as them dying God did say the day you eat of it. You shall surely die.

Isn't that what God said? Now did they die the day they ate. No, so the way this is usually explained. They did not die physically that day. That's clear because Adam lived another 900-some-odd years.

Did they die spiritually that day and that's usually what people say they died spiritually there was a separation an alienation between them and God. You could also say they started to die the dying process even though they lived a very long time the process of Death started the clock started ticking you could say but at the very least they died.

Spiritually, I think that's true. Now. Why didn't they die physically because you take it at face value. They should probably should have died physically. Does God have the right to show grace? I mean, there's been plenty of times in the Bible.

God says hey if you do this Here's gonna be the result and then someone does it and then there's intercession. God shows mercy. So I think God probably did mean you would die that day, but he showed grace.

I think that's another way to look at it. So Romans 6 23 says that the wages of sin is death and Enrollments, but this is a very important point in Romans 5 the Apostle Paul explains. That death came into the world through through Adam through sin.

So the reason why anything dies is because of sin, so if they had never sinned. They'd still be alive today, right? So so death has come into the world because of sin. And by the way, that's another reason why I believe in a young earth why I really do believe the earth is about 6 ,000 6 ,300 years old give or take because if the earth is billions and billions of years old then you had death.

For where the dinosaurs dying, you know Neanderthal man dying you had death for billions of years before Adam came along six thousand years. So this is another reason why I believe in a young earth. Because if the earth is very old and death existed before sin Paul's words and Romans 5 are not true, which is a huge problem and has implications for the gospel and we talked about that in our Study months ago about the age of the earth, but you have something else I know it's jumping to.

Yeah, so everyone heard the question what what would have happened if if yes Eve ate but what if Adam said no. I mean, I the only thing I would say about that Adam is the one who has Headship. God made the covenant with Adam.

So Adam needed to sin for the human race to be cast into. You know darkness Adam would have had to sin. I mean God knew right he knew. I See I say I believe Lucifer is the name. That Satan was given originally.

So Lucifer would have been the Holy Angel and then he fell and became the devil. But I think he had fallen before this. Like I think we talked about this in the study in chapter 1. That I think the angels were created before Genesis 1 1 in the fall of Lucifer probably happened before Genesis 1 1 but you know, that's that speculation so.

Right. Yeah, I mean the Bible doesn't really tell us so we can't say for sure. All right any anything else before we move on? Okay, so the scripture is very clear about this the reason people die and more importantly the reason why people need to be Saved from sin and its penalty, which is death physical death and spiritual death is because of this.

What happened right here the fall of man into sin? So this chapter really sets up the whole narrative of the Bible because the Bible is one big redemption story. So chapter 1 everything's good chapter 2.

It's good chapter 3. Everything goes downhill and then yes, the rest of the Bible is the story of redemption. So the serpent is in the process of deceiving Eve look at verse 6 so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and The tree desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate.

She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings so again Satan is framing this as though this would be a good thing.

If you eat you're gonna receive you're gonna be like God you're gonna receive some special hidden You know knowledge. So notice how Eve was deceived she was lied to she was tricked into it really Satan asked to convince her but Adam, you know, on the other hand, he just goes along with it.

I'll put it this way Adam took that Universal, you know marriage advice that everyone gives to men right. Eve told him to eat the fruit and Adam was like yes, dear and that's. That's the way it was. Now as soon as they eat they instantly lose their innocence because now they're guilty in This moment now they're guilty of wrongdoing so immediately they become self-conscious and Uncomfortable they are now for the first time experiencing shame because these things always go together.

Guilt leads to shame. So first it's the nakedness and they try to cover themselves up. They make aprons made of fig leaves. So they're covering themselves. They they make these themselves and then later on we're gonna see that this isn't good enough and then God will clothe them and that clothing that God provides is symbolic for salvation and being clothed with the righteousness of Christ, but We'll get to that later on so the first thing they experience, okay, we're naked.

They experience shame because they're guilty. The next thing they experience is fear. Look at verse 8 Says then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Lord God.

These are two names. So Jehovah Elohim. So they heard God coming and it says that Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden and The way it's described it makes it sound like that that God is walking through the garden in physical form.

I mean, that's the way I Read it. That's the impression that I get you agree. This is just the way it sounds which means God could have been in Human form even and as the pre-incarnate Christ, that's again speculation.

But that's the way it sounds to me verse 9 and then the Lord God Called to so they're hiding and the Lord God called to Adam and said to him. Where are you? So he said I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he said Who told you that you were naked.

Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat now. Does God know the answer to these questions, right? He does. Why is God asking if he already knows the answer? I think I think what God wants from Adam is for Adam to come clean to just Come out and admit what he has done, right?

This is what God always wants from us when we do something wrong. This is what first John 1 9 says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So I think that's why God is asking not because he doesn't know but he wants Adam to confess. Does Adam confess. Adam does not confess. Adam Shifts the blame so he doesn't admit wrongdoing. He allows Eve's fault and then Eve what's the serpent is so everyone's blaming each other.

Janet you had a hand. Okay. All right, but what's happening here is what has happened throughout history mankind Runs from God. Mankind is hiding from God. Here they're literally hiding from God, but you know metaphorically speaking people are hiding from God.

Right now and God still today continues to seek man. It's never the other way around a lot of people believe you've heard of seeker friendly churches and people talk about. Oh, there's these people out there seeking God and we need to cater to them.

Well, the Bible says in Romans 3 that no man seeks after God. I think it's stated in Rome Psalm 14 as well. No person. No man seeks after God. It's always God seeking us. So mankind is running from God.

Hiding from God and it's God who seeks us out not the other way around. So Adam is not Seeking God. He doesn't want to find God he's hiding. But I think God is giving him the opportunity to do the right thing.

But like people normally do when they're caught they tend to shift the blame. So we see that in verse 12 the man said the woman that you gave me. That you gave to be with me. She Gave me of the tree and I ate so.

You could see this as Adam blaming God. Really it's the woman you get now. Maybe that's not how he meant it. Maybe it is at the very least Adam is blaming Eve. That's clear. So what does Eve do does she?

Acknowledge wrongdoing. No, she blames the serpent. So Adam blames Eve. Eve shifts blame to the serpent and of course the serpent Has no leg to stand on so he just kind of takes it. I know that that's getting old.

I say that every time we come to this, but yeah, okay. As long as you laugh, I'm gonna keep saying it so Verse 14, so the Lord said to the serpent because now here are the consequences. You're guilty.

Here's what's going to happen. So the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this you are cursed. More than all cattle and more than every beast of the field and on your belly. You shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Now this would imply that the serpent before this happened Walked upright or that the serpent had legs, you know something like that. But now from this point onward the serpent is seen as like a loathsome Creature right and even even that like people and snakes just don't mix.

So Most people have an inherent fear of snakes. You can see other animals out in the wild and Doesn't really bother us. But if you come across a snake usually you jump right like you have that instant reaction.

From snakes or because of snakes and that may be something that God put in us because of this. I don't know I think that's possible but God is handing out punishments and The the serpent is the first one to be punished now, obviously Satan isn't a snake okay, he inhabited the body of a snake and Because of this because that's the creature that the devil chose to possess.

Now all snakes go on their belly according to this. So I believe that's that's true. That's that's why it is the way it is. So God's handing out punishment The the devil I think it's the worst of it. Do you agree with that?

I think so. But in the midst of all of this bad news, and this is yeah, it's punishment. It's judgment. It's bad news, but in the midst of the bad news, we see some good news. So verse 15 verse 15 may be the most important verse in all of the chapter.

This is called the proto Evangelium okay, so That means the first gospel proto evangelium who's heard of that term. Okay. So halfway you say how is this the first gospel? Let's read it verse 15 God says to the serpent I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed and He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel and he said pastor.

That doesn't sound like the gospel to me. Well, it's not the gospel, but it's the first hint of The gospel if you will it's it's the first I'll be it cryptic, you know, it's not Clear, but it's the first hint that a Savior would be sent into the world.

So let's just kind of explain this verse. Enmity means what what's another word? Does anyone have a different word? Hostility or what? Separation, okay, I will put let's just go with hostility I will put hostility between you and the woman so between the serpent Satan and The woman between your seed and her seed.

So in other words for the past 6 ,000 years there has been hostility between Satan and Jesus Satan and the Lord and there's been hostility between believers and unbelievers. Okay, so Satan is the serpent and his seed or his children are unbelievers, okay Jesus calls unbelievers in John 8 44 he calls them children of the devil.

Now. There are some unbelievers that haven't been saved yet. So Technically, I wouldn't say every unbeliever is a child of the devil, but just generally speaking That's how it breaks down. So the devil has his people unbelievers Christ Lord has his people believers and there's this hostility between the two.

Okay, but How is this the gospel? It's the promise that Christ is going to crush The head of the serpent, right? So Jesus will defeat Satan. Jesus will crush the devil's head but then in the process He will bruise the Lord's heel which is probably just a reference to the temporary pain that Christ suffered on the cross.

So the cross was An immense is torture. It was a terrible but it was temporary, you know Christ rose again. But the devil wants his head is crushed. That's it. It's permanent for all time. Okay, so do you see how that's a promise of what's to come and it does sort of foreshadow?

The gospel so that's the punishment for Satan he will be crushed for Eve. We see the punishment in verse 16 The Lord says I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception in pain. You shall bring forth Children, so we see that pain in childbirth is part of the curse.

Which if that's true, then if you know in theory if Eve never sinned then you could have Child after child and it would never be painful childbirth could be Could be an easy thing to go through now. I hear that.

It's very difficult. But it wasn't that way originally. So I will great this this is one of those things we're bringing a child into the world. Should be and I guess it is still it is one of the greatest things you can do, but it's it's now going to be Accompanied by all of this pain and suffering and of course a lot of women especially in olden Times a lot of women died during childbirth.

That was very common. So but that was never the way it was meant to be originally, but that's all the result of of the curse. Okay. The next statement is Somewhat debated as to what this means. So it's translated differently depending on the Bible translation that you use.

But the New King James says this the Lord says to Eve your desire shall be For your husband and he shall rule over you. Does anyone else have something different? Your desire shall be for your husband.

Okay, shall be to your husband, what does yours say? Okay. Okay, so what do you love? Okay, so there's three main ways. This is rendered your desire shall be for your husband. Which probably is not the best way to put it because you're like, okay, what does that mean?

You're gonna desire your husband. Is that bad like I. Yeah. Yeah. So the other translation is Your desire shall be to control your husband. But you want to be in charge you want to kind of wrestle he has the headship, but you want to be in charge and then the other one was your desire shall be Contrary to your husband.

So now, you know, you would have had all these years of marriage. You're just living in harmony agreeing on everything and your partners and everything's great. But now you're gonna be fighting all the time because he wants to do one thing and you want to do something else.

So now there's this constant, you know back and forth. That's probably the best way to rent because that's I mean, what's true? Well, they're all true, I guess so. The first part is translated different, but usually the second part is always translated the same.

So the woman shall her does her desire shall be contrary To her husband, but he shall rule over you. So obviously this is One of the most controversial because we live in the 20th century. So this is maybe it was always controversial I don't know but this this idea I think we talked about it on Sunday with Ephesians 5 wives submit to your own husband's like Never a popular topic, but that's some people would say well that's part of the curse.

I Don't think that's part of the curse because Adam had headship to start with. So what's part of the curse? It's just the turmoil, you know, the the different opinion in the bickering and the The different ideas so it now there's going to be, you know strife within the marriage relationship.

Any comments on that I Think that's what's being said, but notice He says to Eve he shall rule over you and say well, okay, what does that mean to rule? Well, just at the very least you could say that throughout human history Men have been men typically are been the ones you know in leadership presidents Kings they've sort of Controlled the world ruled the world and women sort of had that desire that well Why can't we be in charge and that's again all part of you know The curse where instead of working together the way it was supposed to be now, there's this Battle back and forth.

Okay. All right, so Look at verse 17, that's the punishment for Eve. So Satan has got his Judgment. Eve has her punishment now it comes down to Adam. It's his turn verse 17 then Adam He said because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall Not eat of it.

Here it is. Cursed is the ground or cursed as the ground for your sake in toil. You shall eat it All the days of your life or eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles. It shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field and the sweat of your face.

You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it. You are taken For dust you are and to dust you shall return. So part of what God is saying is, you know, you're gonna work hard all your life and then you're gonna die.

Okay, so Death is part of the I mean, that's the big Take away that. The curse sin leads to death. So Adam you're gonna die now wouldn't have happened if he never ate now. Janet's question if Eve ate and Adam never ate and that's a hypothetical.

I don't think they would have died if Adam never ate but that's again. That's just not. That's not what happened and God knew that's not what was going to take place. What else is God saying to Adam? Well is some people think that work is part of the curse work is not part of the curse.

Because remember Adam was placed in the garden and his job was to tend and keep the garden. So man was given work to do and that's. It was a blessing work is a blessing a lot of men find joy and purpose in their work and that's the way it should be but Now work is going to be very difficult.

And of course back then Mankind originally there were farmers, you know, that's not something that a lot of people do today. But originally if you wanted to survive you needed to plant you hunted you would hunt and you planted crops.

And I think we all know anyone who's ever planted a garden. You know, it takes a lot of work to get a good crop of vegetables. It takes zero work to get weeds and thorns and that so it's a lot of hard work for things to go, right?

It's easy takes no work for things to go wrong and that's kind of the way the world is. Things are just if you just leave things as they are things tend now towards decay. So it's like with a house you have a house you need to do upkeep you constantly have to be doing things improving it fixing it because anything left to itself now is just over time gonna just break down and And crumble and be destroyed.

But again, it was never supposed to be like that all right verse 20 and Addison the the judgments have been handed out and now we see that Adam called his wife's name Eve. Because she was the mother of all the living so the name Eve literally means Life giver or the one who gives life.

Now there's something I haven't mentioned here. Because this is very another Important takeaway from chapter 3 and I didn't know where to insert it. So we'll just do it now, but because Adam ate the fruit.

He is now what he is a sinner. And Eve is a sinner. Adam really gets most of the blame but Eve is a sinner. So you have Adam a sinner. He comes together with Eve another sinner and now they're going to produce what?

Sinners, okay. So this is what we would call Original sin. So the doctrine of original sin is a fundamental Christian teaching that term is not found in the Bible, but it's very important. We understand what original sin refers to if you've heard me talk about this before I always say the same thing.

Original sin does not refer To the first or original sin it refers to the effects of the first sin. So the so original sin is not Adam eating the fruit. Original sin is the fact that Adam in the human race it is in our nature.

We are now sinners by nature. That's the effect. So original sin Teaches that mankind now has this inherited sin nature because of what Adam did. Okay, any questions on that you understand original sin.

So every person born into this world a little child. Now we do think children are innocent because they have never committed personal sin. Like a six-month-old baby cannot sin. I Don't think I mean someone who would argue with that I guess because they don't know the difference between right and wrong now as soon as they're able to they they will.

Because it's in their nature. But still we can say that all that child is a sinner because we're all sinners by nature. Okay, so that's the the sin nature. All right, any questions? All right. Let's go.

Let's just skip 21 for a moment. We'll come back to that and finish with that but look at verses 22 and 23. This appears to be a conversation Within the Godhead so God is speaking. God isn't talking to himself.

He's father is talking to son and son to father. That's that's what this looks like so verse 22 then the Lord God so Jehovah Elohim said Behold the man has become like one of us to know Good and evil and again there you see us God refers to himself in plural form.

So it's yet another hint at the triune nature of God father son and spirit. So the man has become like one of us God I do not think is talking to the angels because the angels are not Us they're not God.

So now he says let Last man put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

Okay, so what and put it another way God is saying You know we have a problem here if we allow Adam to stay in the garden now that Adam is a sinner. If we allow him to stay in the garden, he's gonna keep eating of the tree of life.

He's gonna live forever now. Why is that a problem? Maybe that's eternal life, isn't it? It is eternal life, but it's eternal life living in your sin. So is Adam a happy joyful person right now, I mean, I don't know it doesn't really say but You know, you can't really experience the fullness of God's joy.

When you're in the flesh and you're in sin. So God does not want here's the point God does not want people living in sin forever and ever because that's not really Eternal life. That's not the the life abundant that God wants for his people.

So it's better that man is removed from the garden that's his. That's his punishment. But in a sense it's an act of mercy because now man can be redeemed and live forever without sin. Instead of just leaving him there to live forever in sin.