Adam and Eve

Adam & Eve

fter God created Adam, He gave to him dominion over all His creation and the garden of Eden as a home to tend it and keep it. But He gave one restriction:

Gen 2:16-17

And the LORD God commanded 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, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Adam would know what it meant to participate in evil, and the result would be banishment and death. Death is separation from God.

Then God created the woman:

Gen 2:18-24

And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field.

ut for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Adam loved Eve, who was later seduced by the serpent, who was actually Satan, the one who leads the evil spirits in their rebellion against God and His purposes and she ate of the forbidden fruit (the Bible doesn't say what kind of fruit it was). Then Adam, who was with her, chose to eat of the fruit also and they sinned. When they sinned, spiritual and physical death came into the world and fellowship with God was broken. Like a rose being plucked off the vine, they were immediately disconnected from their source of life. You can almost see the shame and guilt and fear of their new nature taking over:

Gen 3:7-10

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. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then 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."

But all was not lost. As God was revealing the consequences of their actions He also gave a glorious promise. God promised Adam and Eve that He would send a Redeemer (Messiah), who would destroy Satan and restore them to a right relationship with Him (Gen 3). In the meantime they could only approach God with a blood sacrifice. This animal acted as a substitute for the penalty of sin until "the lamb of God" who is Jesus Christ would come and pay the full debt.

he Bible mentions alot between the time of Adam and the Flood. For example there was the first murder. Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters but there is only two mentioned because they are important to the history of redemption. Eve thought that her firstborn, Cain, was the one who would destroy Satan and deliver them from the curse of sin and death. But Cain jealously killed his brother Abel. Cain was upset at God because He would not accept his sacrifice (the best of his good works) as he accepted Abel's blood offering (God's prescribed way) so he rose up and slew his brother. God punished him by driving him out of the midst of the people who served God. Then God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth, who replaced Abel. The redeemer of the world would come from Seth's family.

But what about Cain's family? The Bible reveals that Cain's son, Lamech, inherited Cain's evil ways (Gen 4:19-24). Sin added unto sin and Lamech boasted that he didn't need God's protection because he had his sword. He rejected God's holy standards for marriage and took many wives. He also killed a man for striking him showing his contempt for God and his disregard for human life. Evil spread very rapidly to all mankind through the ungodly line of Cain.

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