The Fall and the Promise

The Bible in Art: The Fall and the Promise

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Verses for Consideration: Genesis 3:8-15

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
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.”

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Have you ever wished you could walk and talk with God as a friend? That’s how it was for Adam and Eve in God’s garden paradise of Eden. They could count on God to visit them “in the cool of the day” to fill them with joy and peace in his presence.

But their fall into sin changed all that. Where once they had been holy like God, the two sinners now felt ashamed and foolishly tried to hide from him. They blamed God and each other.

God could have destroyed his creation. Instead, he came seeking sinners as “the LORD,” the God of free and faithful grace. He showed how sin had separated them from him and from each other. But then he promised to send a child from Eve who would deliver them from sin and death.

Jesus volunteered to be our champion and to crush the head of Satan, the enemy of our souls. Jesus willingly shed his blood to wash our sins away and restore our close relationship with God.

By faith in Jesus as our Savior, we can again enjoy happiness in God’s presence. We can walk and talk with him as our best friend. He is always with us to hear our prayers and grant his blessings.

We still have a sinful nature competing against our new nature in Christ, but our heavenly Father now looks at us through Jesus and sees only Jesus’ goodness. All our sins are completely gone because Jesus paid our debt in full.

Someday the image of God will be fully and completely restored when Jesus comes to take us home. Finally, we will be free of the shameful, foolish, sin-bent nature of our old self. At last we shall see our loving God face-to-face and walk and talk with him in paradise. And nothing will ever come between us again.

Do you know anyone who could use a good friend right now? God wants to help you tell that person about Jesus.God wants to be that person’s friend while making your friendship even closer.

Prayer: Holy Lord God, we too have brought sin into your perfect creation. Seek and forgive us for Jesus’sake. Amen.

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Title: Adam and Eve Driven Out of Eden (1865)

Artist: Gustave Doré