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Preacher: Ross Macdonald
Scripture: Genesis 3:14-24
Well, we are here.
So few of us and yet I'm so I'm so glad that we were able to meet and continue on our time in Genesis 3. If this was you hear this all the time lately, don't you this these unprecedented times, you know.
You maybe open email that way. I hope you're doing well in these unprecedented times. These are not unprecedented times.
If you're.
Even an amateur student of history, you know, this plague is not an unprecedented plague. And in fact, it's quite a mild plague. And it made me think this might be what our church would look like if there really was a true plague something on the scale of the 15th century.
This this might be.
What coming to church would look like. And so let's be mindful of God's mercies to us still. Over the past few weeks we've been considering the fall in Genesis chapter 3 and we've been considering the fallout of the fall the results.
Of the fall.
Radical separation from God was the first this this alienation between God and man and then alienation between man and man man and neighbor husband and wife man and creation. Alienation again frustration.
Where there was once a perfect harmony now man misuses abuses and Finds his efforts and labor in the midst of creation to be countered often foiled and undermined. And so there's alienation there's a radical separation.
There's a.
Contrary way now that man exists within the world which he was meant to inhabit and have dominion over. What had once been a perfect and consistent instinct for righteousness is now warped.
III.
I'll spare the story but to make a long story short I got a warped license plate on my front bumper the frame of it the steel frame and It looks like something you could easily bend back into shape and straighten out and if you've ever had something like that Just a metal frame and it's bent.
You'll never get it perfectly straight again. And so that's a that's a constant reminder to me now as I see the corners curling of what happened at the fall.
There's a warp.
That is now in our marrow it's in our blood it's in our bone it's in our DNA. We're fallen in nature. Our instinct for righteousness is now an instinct for depravity. The mind has been darkened blinded.
The affections have been disordered. No longer toward God but away from him toward things that take his place. The will has been plagued and stained by a sinful nature. This is all the result of the fall.
And as we continue in chapter 3 this morning We see God's judgment upon that condition. God's judgment upon the fall. God's curse upon the serpent the woman and the man. But praise the Lord in the very midst of that.
That's not the end of God's response to humanity. It's not the end of God's dealing with human sinfulness. It's not the end of God's plan and desire to walk with mankind in paradise. It's actually the very beginning of his response the very beginning of his desire the very beginning of the plan.
Which is going to unfold throughout the rest of Scripture. And that's all in chapter 3 you're you're just a few pages into Scripture and Present as we'll see this morning is the Lord Jesus Christ and God's perfect redemption.
Which he's prepared beforehand for all those whom he's loved and foreknown nestled within the curse pronouncement is the seed of a promised redemption and That seed of a promised redemption is in fact the promised seed.
That promised seed which is promised here in Genesis 3 15 Will go on to be identified as the promised seed to Abraham and the promised seed to David. And in the fullness of time, he'll come born of the Virgin Emmanuel God with us the Lord Jesus Christ.
We want to consider Jesus Christ this morning. We want to spend our time as we close out chapter 3 Just seeing the beauty of what God has orchestrated in seed form as it begins to unfold and unravel in the scripture.
Storyline will spend some time looking at Jesus as the second Adam. The beginning of his ministry as he's driven into the wilderness will consider What his death means and how it connects us back to Eden and what we've been considering in the first three chapters of Genesis.
So first we want to consider Christ as the promised seed. And we see that within God's curse upon the serpent. And secondly We want to consider Christ as the second Adam and then lastly briefly. We want to consider Christ and the tree of life.
So beginning in chapter 3 verse 14 the Lord God said to the serpent. Because you've done this you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly. You shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. So notice first that God is announcing something. He's declaring something.
He's declaring that there is now going to be a continual state of warfare Between the serpent that ancient dragon the serpent and the promised seed between the offspring of Satan and the promised seed there will be a in other words a long lineage of evil men godless men God hating men and women actors behind this cosmic drama.
Behind which are the principalities and powers? The serpent has entered into the world and because man and woman heeded his voice and followed his instructions He became as it were the god of the sage the prince of the power of the air.
They willingly took his dominion over them and he had legal entree Over the world as a result of that and so God is announcing he's declaring this serpent now is going to seek to establish a rival kingdom and That rival kingdom will be at constant war with the seed that will come from you the promised seed.
And we have this prophecy of victory and dominion over against the kingdom of the serpent but don't miss the fact that the kingdom of the serpent is being prophesied as extending and operating and being in conflict with The promised seed throughout human history until the end of the ages.
When the victory that was decisively won at the cross through the resurrection is culminated and fully realized. The serpents kingdom extends beyond and is part of the nations and the rulers which plot in vain behind the Ahab's and the Jezebel's.
Should we should we say now behind the the Bidens and then in the Kamala's we won't use the Harris's said it's Kamala's. Behind the murderous quest of Herod. All right. It's not just Herod Seeking to protect his throne with the massacre of the innocents is it it's the kingdom of the serpent It's the kingdom of the serpent.
It's the power and the principality of darkness. It's all contained here in Genesis 3 14. This is the enmity that God is declaring it extends generation after generation.
We'll see it next with.
Abraham we'll see it with the whole Exodus story with Moses. This is the rival kingdom which seeks to stomp out and extinguish the promised seed of the woman that God is So carefully often so fragilely protecting.
There's this vulnerability that comes as as generation after generation Transmits this promise until the fullness of time. God declares that henceforth there will be two kingdoms at total war a Kingdom of darkness utter darkness over which this ancient serpent rules with his demons and fallen angels and all in the world.
Who do the will of Satan in opposition to God. All those who have been darkened in their minds? Deluded in their thinking. All those who worship the creation rather than the Creator all those who live out the the Inclinations and will of their fallen flesh.
That is the kingdom of Satan. That is the fallen kingdom. And then there's this kingdom of God which comes from heaven. Which is a kingdom of light over which the Lord reigns. These kingdoms this cosmic struggle is being declared announced here in Genesis 3 14 and the rest of the scripture.
Storyline takes up this cosmic drama this struggle between the promised seed and the serpent. Adam and Eve think of this. Adam and Eve heard these words spoken by God to the serpent. Imagine the shock of hearing this curse pronounced.
They had never known opposition. They lived in perfect harmony with God and with creation. They had never known frustration. They had never known discouragement. They had never felt helpless or anxious.
They had never had to deal with an enemy before think of that. They had never had to deal with an enemy before but from now on this announcement declares, they'll be engaged with the war as fallen creatures in a state of fragility and now mortality.
As Perishing creatures those who are bound to return to dust their lives will be taken up in this warfare between the kingdom of darkness and.
God's kingdom and.
Yet God was also unfolding and announcing in this very curse a hopeful promise if they're listening To the curse upon the serpent and they're being filled with the dread of the fact that now their lives will be taken up in this warfare Through this counterfeit God through the serpent.
They also can hear and listen to this hopeful promise In the curse upon the serpent. They also hear the promise of the serpents defeat. Despite their fall God is ultimately going to redeem humanity. He's ultimately going to crush the serpent.
He's ultimately going to usher his people back into his presence in a paradise that Eden only anticipates. And that's what we have in Genesis 3 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed.
He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Notice that God's undertaking God's initiative is in full view. I will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed. Notice that he just says I will do this.
I am doing this. This is this is God's initiative. This is Redemption. Begun by God wrought by God finished by God. He's establishing enmity between the serpent and the promise. This is his plan. His desire and the hope is in this very curse that the promise seed will crush the head of the serpent.
We come to verse 17 and following. To Adam he said because you've heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you Shall not eat of it curse. It is the ground for your sake.
And toy you shall 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 until you return to the ground for out of it.
You were taken. For dust you are and to dust you shall return. This whole chapter is one of the many wonderful places in Scripture where we have this incredible window into God's framework of salvation.
And we saw that already in weeks past with Romans 5 Adam who is a type of him who is to come Romans 5 19 for us by one man Adams disobedience many were made sinners. So also by one man Jesus obedience.
Many will be made righteous. So when we consider this parallel between the first and the second Adam We can see the importance of Genesis 3 means that when we're reading about Jesus in the Gospels We must understand his identity as the second Adam.
We must understand that Genesis 3 is being responded to as Jesus enters into the world and begins his ministry. I just want to show you how intentional that is. The gospel writers did not miss it as they were led by the Holy Spirit.
We see the importance of Genesis 3 when we look at Jesus temptations in the wilderness. Which begin his ministry it follows immediately his baptism. Jesus baptism is his divine declaration as it were the divine announcement that this is the one that God has appointed.
This is the Messiah. The thundering approval of God from heaven reveals that Jesus is in fact the divine Messiah and it's his calling then To be Emmanuel God in the flesh. And so he begins his ministry as a result of his baptism that baptism is an identification with sinners.
So Jesus is identified by baptism with our lot with our condition. He is identified as our head our representative the second Adam through that baptism. And now that God's Messiah this promised seed has been identified from heaven.
What must happen Luke? Chapter 3 verse 22. The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven Which said you are my beloved son and you. I am well pleased. And just a placeholder there Luke goes into a genealogy of Jesus.
Very interesting, isn't it? Luke goes into a genealogy of Jesus beginning with his stepfather Joseph and Then as the genealogy proceeds he's going in reverse. He goes all the way back chapter 3 verse 38 the son of Adam.
The son of God.
That's very intentional. Luke is cluing us in on something if you want to understand what's taking place. You must know who Jesus is and you must know in.
His lineage.
He goes back as a son of Adam.
He comes through Adam and then Luke chapter 4 beginning in verse 1 Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. Returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being tempted for 40 days by the devil.
So the Spirit the Spirit immediately brings him to a deeper level of identifying with us. And then he drives him into a wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This is son of Adam son of God. Jesus picks up the trial where the fall had left us.
Jesus in his identity as the second Adam walks into the very trial the first Adam had. Here's the serpent as it were. No longer in the lush paradise of Eden but now in a desert no longer in a place where every good tree is suitable for food and Rivers flow with life-sustaining waters, but rather because of the first Adam because of the curse upon the ground.
Jesus is now in a wilderness where there's no lush rivers. No lush foliage. No fruit coming from the trees. Jesus is starving as he walks in the midst of a desolate Landscape the polar opposite of Eden.
This is his trial as the second Adam. And then notice also this mention of the 40 days. Why is that significant? Well, there's another son of God that Luke has in mind and that son is Israel the nation Israel.
Israel was described as God's son. Matthew takes us up out of Egypt. I've called my son. And he says that Christ is the fulfillment of that passage if you look at it in Micah. It's clearly speaking about the nation Israel.
Is Matthew wrong. No, he's he's right. Israel was a type of the Son of God. Israel was a type of Christ. And so the 40 days then point back to the 40 years of trial in the wilderness again. Just like Adam had failed in Eden.
When the Son of God Israel came into the desert came into the wilderness and faced their trial their temptation of hunger. They failed as well. Jesus then embodies not only Adam, but Israel in this temptation.
And in those days we read as we continue forward. He ate nothing and afterward when they had ended he was hungry and the devil said to him. If you are the Son of God command this stone to become bread.
But Jesus answered him saying it is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. So Jesus far from feasting upon fruitful trees and Eden is without food. He's starving and Satan the serpent observing this presses the announcement.
Hey, I kind of heard what was said out of heaven back at Jordan. You are the Son of God and if you're the Son of God make this stone bread. Do what Kings do if you're a king in a ruler then rule if you're the Son of God fill your stomach.
The King the Son of God the Messiah should not go hungry. And you see now we're getting close to Jesus reversing Adam's failure in Eden. There the serpent had perverted God's Word. Did God really say surely you will not die?
Here again, the serpent is trying to pervert God's Word. The logic of temptation is the same as Eden. Misuse food for selfish pleasure. That's on the surface. But deeper than that mistrust God. Mistrust God.
Misuse food that's the surface but deeper than that do not trust God. Do not trust his provisions. Would he want his son if he was a good God to be starving in a desert. Satan is goading Jesus to rely upon himself and set upon the father.
So the same dynamic is Eden where the the serpent sense the woman is God really so good. He this is why he doesn't want you in on the tree, but the knowledge is good and evil. He knows in the day of Edith it you're gonna be like.
It's the same dynamic the serpent has come to this second. Adam is saying you cannot trust your father. You cannot trust his provision. You should not listen to his word. You should not abide in this state of deprivation.
Serve yourself turn the stone into bread and you know how Jesus responds. He responds out of Deuteronomy 8. You shall remember the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you.
To know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not. So he humbled you allowed you to hunger fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your father's know. That he might make you know the man that man shall not live by bread alone.
But man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. That's what Jesus responds with so the devil tries again. Luke 4 beginning in verse 5 the devil taking him up on a high mountain showed him all of the kingdoms of the world in A moment of time and the devil said to him all this authority I will give you and their glory for this has been delivered to me and I give it to whomever I wish.
Now just pause. There do you notice again the kingdom of the serpent? Satan has a certain legitimacy of authority over the world because of the fall as we said he gained legal entree over the world as a result of man and women falling and Submitting to his Torah his law his instruction rather than to God's.
And so he has the the kingdoms as it were. He's he's sort of on the leash but God has Allowed him to have this authority and he comes to Jesus with the authority He has over the nations and kingdoms of the world and he says I can give you this.
I Can give you the kingdoms of the world? All this authority. I will give you notice. For this has been delivered to me and I can give it to whomever I wish. He's not lying. He received that authority as a result of the fall.
Therefore if you will worship before me all will be yours. Now this is elevated beyond fruit from a tree, isn't it? This is full dominion over the world. I can give you this authority. I can give you the glory of it you just have to worship me and Jesus said get behind me Satan for it is written.
You shall worship the Lord your God him only you shall serve. The fact that this is on a mountain is very significant to it draws us back to the pattern of Exodus. Israel's let out of Egypt they go through the waters of the Jordan, right?
Think of Jesus being called out of Egypt Matthew's gospel led through the baptism of Jordan into the wilderness of Sinai. Onto the mountain where they receive God's.
God's law.
And what does Israel do as Moses is receiving the law? They fall down they bow down and worship a false god. So here's the serpent coming to God's Son Israel the second Adam. Taking him to the mountain as he's come through the Jordan.
It's saying bow down before me. Bow down and worship me. Satan offers Jesus a way toward universal domain. Without obedience to God. Your father's led you into desert to starve. Look at look how generous I am.
You should switch your allegiance over to me. Not only would I fill your stomach? I'll give you the authority of the world. Who do you want to trust? Who's your friend? Remember how Adam was offered a universal domain.
You shall be as God. But the cost of that is Adam needing to reject the Word of God. Adam rejecting the command of God and this is the case for the second Adam. In fact, Satan's almost giving a parody of Psalm 2.
Remember Psalm 2. Think again of Luke saying you are my beloved son at the baptism. Very significant for some to ask of me and I will give the nations for your inheritance. The ends of the earth is your possession.
That's the father speaking to the son. Not only that but we're drawn to remember Israel at the foot of Sinai reenacting the disobedience of Adam. It is written. You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve.
So Jesus is reversing the disobedience of Adam and Israel by obeying the Lord in perfect obedience. In other words, he's fulfilling what Adam failed to do. He's fulfilling what Israel failed to do. He's triumphing where Adam failed.
Jesus is effectively saying worship you serve you serpent. I've come to crush your head. That's what's been prophesied of me not to bend the knee but to actually put you under my foot and crush you. And so then the serpent moves to the third temptation.
Luke 4 beginning in verse 9. He brings him to Jerusalem and sets them on the pinnacle of the temple and says to him. If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written. He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you and in their hands.
They shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus answered and said to him. It has been said you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So again Satan's if you really are the Son of God show us make a manifestation of your power.
We understand from this that Jesus never sought for his own reasons to manifest his power his glory. He only did it when it was willed of the father. And it seems that Jesus has been following this pattern with temptation.
You're the obedient son you're the promised one. Well, if you are the Son of God fulfill this scripture and Jesus has to refute that with scripture. So standing on the temple now Satan says throw yourself down.
You could just notice that Satan's very familiar with scripture here. It's written. He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in their hands. They shall bear you up. Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
So Satan's not only aware of scripture. He's aware that scripture is written concerning Jesus the promised seed. It is written concerning you the promised one. His angels shall keep charge over you the promised one in Their hands they shall bear you up the promised one.
And it's interesting that Satan quotes a verse that has to do with Jesus feet, isn't it? Lest your foot is dashed against a stone. It's interesting because of course. According to Genesis 3 15, it's Jesus foot that is going to crush the head of the serpent.
Satan stops short of this very thing. This is he's quoting Psalm 91 and he stops short maybe for good reason. He shall give his angels charge over you. Psalm 91 says to keep you in all your ways in their hands.
They shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the Cobra the young lion and the serpent. You shall trample underfoot. Good thing he didn't quote the whole thing.
It might have encouraged the Lord Jesus. And that's true of Satan, isn't it? He likes us to know half verses not whole verses. Satan wants Jesus to make a grand display of his sonship.
Display your power.
Gain the awe of the nation. Build yourself up according to worldly means and worldly wisdom. Do this according to your own will. Not the will of the father who's driven you into a wilderness to starve.
Disobey that. What father would leave his son to suffer? The heart of Satan's aim is to make Jesus deviate from the path of obedience. Satan's tempting Jesus to prove his sonship to prove his lordship.
To conform to the.
Expectations of the world around him the nation that he's come to to press God the father into proving his love for Jesus. The point is that all of these temptations aim at Jesus mission. How is Jesus mission going to be fulfilled?
Satan is basically coming to Jesus to say I can give you kingship without a cross. I Can give you a crown with no thorns? I Can give you Psalm to? Ask of me the nations of the inheritance without Isaiah 53 being stricken smitten and afflicted.
But Jesus resists. The second Adam resists that's what you must read. The second Adam resists Throughout his entire life not only in this wilderness. The Lord Jesus does what Adam and Eve failed to do in Eden?
He resists the temptations of Satan and he delights to do the will of God Throughout his ministry. Our Lord was confronted with many men and women and children who were possessed with evil spirits. And they were in bondage to the serpent's kingdom.
And what does he say of his ministry? I've come as a strong man. And I've bound the strong man so that his house may be plundered. That's what he's doing. He liberates them on his march toward victory.
It's like you think of the Allies coming through some of the the French towns and The every town that they are encompassing and they're liberating even though that decisive victory has yet to be won. The the enemies in full retreat the kingdom is advancing and as that kingdom advances sons and daughters are being liberated.
That's still going on today. Now the decisive victory has already taken place. It's more of a mop-up operation until the end of the age. You see the significance of this. It's all coming out of Genesis 3 the enmity between the kingdom of the serpent and the promised seed.
And at the end of his earthly ministry as Satan entered into Judas and moved him to betray Jesus. They took this faithful obedient son of God the second Adam true Israel. They took the obedient son the son who delighted to do the father's will and they tortured him and nailed him to a cross.
And that's in Genesis 3 as well. That's the Satan bruising his heel and I love what Sinclair Ferguson has to say if you want to understand Jesus whole ministry and his.
Passion.
You have to read a gospel next to Genesis 3. Sinclair Ferguson writes. What was the nature of Jesus temptation in the garden the Garden of Gethsemane? Notice the garden of Gethsemane that made him say let this cup pass from me.
Remember how Jesus go. He takes his three disciples with him and he goes Into a secret place within the garden and they fall asleep. And he goes further to pray and in that prairie saying please let this Cup be taken from me.
Ferguson says that was a perfectly holy desire. Any other desire would have been unholy a godless desire.
Why?
The holiness of the soul of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was compelled to say to the father. Speaking of the cross not that tree. And in doing so he was undoing what Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden did.
Because the tree in the Garden of Eden is described in exactly the same terms as any other tree. There's no difference other than the fact that God appointed it. Remember we said this. There's nothing magical about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
It wasn't a glowing tree wasn't magical fruit that had some some, you know Phenomenological Result on man. It's just a tree. What made it the tree of knowledge of good and evil as God said don't eat of this tree.
If you eat of this tree out of all of these trees you will die. And so it was with the cross. It's the same as any other cross many people crucified on crosses. This was the tree that God had appointed.
There was nothing in that tree itself that could make Adam say. Oh, I don't want that tree. It was pleasing to the eyes. It looked good. Just like all of the others. What Adam was called to do was to say there's no reason in that tree itself for me to say I do not want it.
Except that God has said do not touch it. And so at this point I have to bow before God and say I trust you. Even though everything in me says that tree looks wonderful. I want it. And so as it were on the other end of this strange spectrum of human history Jesus is facing another tree and everything about that tree the cross in contrast with the tree in the Garden of Eden is saying you do not want me and His father is saying that's the tree.
I want you to do it simply because I'm your father and I'm giving you a command. This is how I'm going to save men and women in this way. My son take the cup. Do you see the contrast? There's a tree in Eden that looks wonderful and the sole reason Adam and Eve are not to go near it and eat of it Is because God has said don't go do it.
Then comes the second Adam and he lives suffering through temptation and trial and he comes as it were to the garden and he's So to speak glaring at the tree and everything about the tree is horrid. It causes anguish in his soul.
He sweats blood at the thought of what's going to take him. Take place upon that tree, but it's simply that the father said take.
Eat of this tree. Take this cup.
The second Adam obeys he submits. Do you see how you see the contrast between the first and the second Adam? Adam takes and eats from the tree, which he was commanded not to eat. But the second Adam Christ he takes and eats from the tree, which he was commanded to eat.
And to be nailed to and to bleed upon and to suffocate upon. And that's why Paul has to say as we saw in our time in Philippians He became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross this is the temptation of the second Adam and He resists to the very end.
And what happens when Christ dies to keep going with this theme of Genesis 3. The inner veil it tears right from top to bottom. When Christ dies that the veil that Separated the holy of holies from the holy inner court to the temple and from the holy outer courts of the temple and from the temple complex.
You see these levels of holiness. Holiness and its most basic sense as we all know is separation. And so when God commanded and designed the the temple in which his presence would dwell He said there's only one place that I will allow my presence to be manifest and it's in the holy of holies.
And a priest can only enter into the holy of holies on the day of atonement once a year can only be the great high Priest and only the priest can enter into the courts outside of the holy of holies. Only the Levites can enter into the courts outside of that and the people are forbidden from entering the complex.
So there's these these gradations of separation. God is calling Israel to be separate from the other nations. So Israel is separate and then within Israel. There's a separation between them and the Levites and the priesthood and great high priest.
And so there's a holy.
Land and there's a holy city within the holy land and there's a holy temple within the holy land and within that temple There's a most holy place the holy of holies. Do you get the idea here. Separation?
Separation separation.
Remember what we've read in Genesis 3 already God dwelled in the garden with Adam and Eve and they enjoyed Communion with him direct access to him. They dwelt with him. But when they sinned what happened?
They're sent away they're driven out of God's presence in Eden. They're they're literally thrown out of the garden. Forced to live in a world of dust and thorns of hunger and pain and divorce and death and cancer.
Their sin required them to keep away from God and God and his mercy desires to dwell with man. But he can only dwell with sinful man by means of separation. The holy land in the holy city in the holy temple and the holy of holies and That veil that separates God's presence from all of that when Jesus dies is torn from top to bottom.
Think of the whole sacrificial system Genesis 321. We know Adam for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. This is the first sacrifice in Scripture. Right here after the fall, what do we see God?
Covering the man and his wife sacrificially. They had sewn together fig leaves to try to get some semblance of covering for their guilt, which never works. We can read between the lines here and say that God made tunics of skin God's sacrifice.
God sacrificed to make a covering for Adam and his wife and That is propelled forward into the whole Ritual of atonement for the nation of Israel the sacrifices of bulls and goats and pigeons and red heifers and sheep and doves.
And grain and all of the sacrifices the people were commanded to give. And yet we know. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. It didn't then it doesn't now it never could it was all pointing forward to the blood of the Lamb.
And what does God do when Christ dies? Now once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's Genesis 3 who has appeared to do this the promised seed. No wonder that that Genesis 3 21 is written passively.
It's prefiguring that God is making the covering for his people out of his own son. He gives his own body to be torn apart In order to put away sin and that's why the writer of Hebrews says that the veil Was actually Jesus flesh Hebrews 10 19 and following brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way, which he was consecrated for us through the veil.
That is his flesh see Jesus body. His flesh was the veil that was torn apart on the cross so that the separation That was a result of the fall would no longer borrow us from God. And then we come lastly to see the tree of life.
Where all of this comes together this beautiful tapestry that takes us from the very beginning of the Bible to the very end of it we've seen that Christ is a picture of Israel the fulfillment of it and the fulfillment of Adam where Adam failed Christ succeeded where Adam disobeyed Christ obeyed even at the expense of his own life upon the cross.
And then we look at our text and we read in verse 22 and following the Lord God said behold the man has become like one of us to know good and evil and Now lest he 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. So he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword Which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
What's going on here? It would seem that the Lord Created humanity to live forever By consuming the fruit of the tree of life. While they lived in the Garden of Eden they were able to eat of every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and So the tree of life is part of every tree of which they may eat and it seems that the tree of life Specifically was a tree that enabled their ongoing immortal status.
In a sense The tree was a sort of symbol a physical embodiment of the spiritual reality. In that sense the tree as many Puritans observed was a sacramental tree as They went and partook of this tree. They were nourished in their life was preserved As long as Adam and Eve ate of the tree of life.
They had life and They had access to the tree before the fall because they were in a right relationship with God dwelling in the midst of God in the joy of God while they trusted and obeyed God they ate freely from it and They maintained their communion with God in Eden.
They enjoyed his presence and his calling upon them, but here The Lord cannot abide with their sinful state he has to drive them out of Eden lest they partake of this tree of life less in that fallen condition of Alienation with God and from each other.
They're preserved and mortally. Some ways it's a mercy that God drives them out. Some ways death then becomes a mercy it's a release from this fallen condition. The sword of fire then that bars them from re-entry.
It's one of these things that where else does that appear in scriptures? Apparently cherubim can wield a sword of fire. But the fact that it guards the way to God's presence we've been talking about the veil right the veil that Guards the presence of God that separates the presence of God from sinful people and how Jesus body was that veil That was torn we could think of the sword of fire in this way.
He was cut down by that fiery sword upon the cross. His flesh was cut open To allow Adam and Eve to enter back into God's presence back into a paradise of communion with him.
Jesus.
Jesus removes the curse of the fall by taking that fiery sword into his person upon the tree. He becomes a curse for us. And then we get to Revelation 22 and all of the threads connect here the very very end of Scripture.
Revelation 22 Has been a vision of John seeing a new Jerusalem descending from heaven. Not like the old one because in this one the dimensions are a perfect cube just like the Holy of Holies the perfect cube.
So it's not a city that has a temple the whole city is the temple. Revelation 22 beginning in verse 22. I saw no temple in it. All right, that's been done away with now Temples no longer the house of the most holy place that that whole system that whole separation has been done away with.
For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple their their presence is everywhere. The city had no need of the Sun or of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
We go over to chapter 23 beginning at verse 1. The angel shows John he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal. Proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb and in the middle of its street and either side of the river was the tree of life which bore 12 fruits each tree yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of The nations and there shall be no more curse.
Revelation 5 is this vision of the slain lamb entering in to fulfill the will of God the one who's worthy to open the scrolls and we come to the very end of that triumph of the Lamb and The new heavens the new earth is the holy city the holy Jerusalem.
There's no temple no separation. We freely dwell in the midst of God in the temple and there in our midst is the tree of life and there's no more.
Curse.
But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.
No veil.
No chambers No cherubim with fiery swords and his servants shall serve him.
They shall see his face.
Adam and Eve Only had a memory of however God manifested his presence to them. We'll be able to see the face of our Creator in the face of the God-man Jesus Christ as We behold him. In our flesh, we'll see our God.
There will eat freely of the tree of life. All of the nations every tribe and time will come and gather. They'll be healed by eating of this tree. We'll dwell in the midst of the throne. No light no lamp.
No, son, the Lord becomes the light his glory illuminates everything and they shall reign forever and ever. Brothers and sisters the gospel is contained fully in Genesis 3 15 and I would venture to say you cannot make sense of the gospel.
You cannot make sense of what salvation really is in its fullness. Unless you understand what God has promised and what God has fulfilled in Genesis 3. It comes through the true Israel the promised seed the second Adam.
Taking the tree that God commanded him to take giving his life upon it. Becoming a lamb slain so that his blood could be splashed in the most holy place as atonement for our sins. But he might not only be the sacrificial lamb.
But our great high priest now ever living to make intercession for us preparing us for this destiny in Revelation 22 a holy city. Where the lamb is the light. A city in which you and I? Will be able to partake of the tree of life again.
Let's pray father. We thank you for your word. The beauty the beauty of your word Lord. These are just these are just Verses of skipping a stone across the water Lord. There's so much more depth and intricacy and beauty.
And what you've done how you've done it Lord. When the serpent and his kingdom was raging against your promised seed. It was his very triumph when they thought he had been defeated upon that cross.
He was actually.
Beginning his reign in utter glory The true king those soldiers mocked him as a false king. He was indeed the true king and To think that his kingdom begins with this bloody cross that it's founded upon this bloody cross And that this stretches back to the fall And to this pronouncement of the curse upon the serpent that gives us such great.
Hope knowing that at the cross.
He crushed the serpents head and.
As this serpent now 2 ,000 years on rise and wrangles in assured defeat and doom. Your people have every hope and every confidence knowing that you're coming. Knowing that the kingdom's advance cannot be halted.
It is sure. Knowing that the decisive victory has taken place and that as we press forward by faith and obedience we do so. Covered under the blood given boldness to enter into the holy places even now.
We're so thankful Lord to be a part of this holy kingdom of light. We're thankful that you delivered us from a darkened mind from rogue affections from a wayward will. You've changed us. You've given us a new birth into this holy kingdom.
And we have these glimpses Lord these glimpses of the glory that yet awaits the reversal of the fall the redemption of the curse. The fullness and finality of God being made all in all Oh Lord help us to live in light of these wonderful truths help our hearts to be sustained our faith to persevere as we consider The beauty and the depth and the awe of this calling put upon our lives.
Let us cast aside.
Every distraction every constraint every weight which so easily entangles us and let us press on To this glorious kingdom these things we ask in your son's name.