The Fall Day 2

I really don't like those pictures of Adam and Eve dressed in fig leaf aprons standing next to a fruit laden tree with a snake wrapped around a branch. I think it's the fig leaves more than anything that makes me sad. Ever since that day in the Garden we've been sewing fig leaves together trying to cover our sin. For centuries, people have been striving to fix themselves. If we can just be good enough, if we say the right things, do more right things than wrong things maybe we can earn Eden back. So we help old ladies cross the street, refrain from kicking puppies, turn the lights out when we leave a room, and try really hard to not use certain naughty words. The problem is that everything we try to do to save ourselves is like a fig leaf apron over our naked sin, foolishness.
Please read Genesis 3: 8-19. Really take your time and savor it. Imagine God, not full of wrath and throwing curses (except at the snake) but as a Father who is brokenhearted, but cannot protect His children from all their consequences.
I have no idea how long our all-knowing God let Adam and Eve try to cover themselves with leaves. Somehow in His great mercy I imagine it was only long enough for them to see that they would never be able to cover their sin on their own. However many fig leaves they had sewn together, when they heard the LORD walking in the Garden they knew they were still naked, so they hid, but it is hard to hide from a God who knows everything.
Just because you know something is coming doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't hurt when it arrives. God knew that Adam and Eve were going to sin, He had even planned for it, but it still broke His heart to know that even though He had given them everything, including Himself, they rejected it and chose to be independent. Unfortunately, actions have consequences and choosing independence from God had some big ones, but our gracious and loving Father began with a promise that He would fix what Adam and Eve had messed up.
Talking to the serpent, God said,
"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." Genesis 3:15
Since the second century this verse has been considered (by most scholars) the protevangelium which is just a fancy of way of saying the first glimpse of the gospel.* You might also call it a declaration of war. Either way God proclaimed victory over the serpent who is both literally and figuratively sin and death.
For the sake of time and getting to the good part, I will operate on the assumption that you know that the serpent was really Satan in disguise (if you don't trust me, it's always better to check for yourself, look at Revelation 12:9).
Enmity is exactly as it sounds, an enemy.** God promised Satan he would have an Enemy. Satan would manage to hurt Him (strike His heel) but his Enemy would eventually crush his head. Thousands of years later, our Savior hung on a tree. I have no doubt that as He took His last breath Satan and his minions celebrated what appeared to be their victory. I once heard a preacher speculate that the darkness that came over the Earth in Matthew 27:45, as Christ hung on the Cross was Satan and his angels filling the sky as they rejoiced over His death. It paints a gruesome scene, but what Satan thought was a death blow was merely a bite in the heel. "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day." Luke 24:46.
Three days after Satan's big celebration, Jesus stepped out of the grave. Having conquered sin and death, He dealt the death blow that would crush Satan's head. Though we are still waiting for the sentence to begin, the judgement has already been made. On the Cross, Jesus paid the price for all of our sins and began the restoration of what Adam and Eve lost. Satan's fate is sealed (check out Revelation 20), unfortunately the battle isn't quite over. Thankfully, in Christ we can have victory.
"Finally, be strong in Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:10-12
"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:56 & 57
We may still live in a post-Fall world, and we may share the same enemy as Adam and Eve did, but in Christ we have the power to no longer be deceived and can reclaim the relationship with the Living God that was lost.
God is so awesome! It never ceases to amaze me that from the moment (and even before) sin entered into this world, He was already laying the foundation for Restoration. God didn't let Adam and Eve suffer unbearably in darkness, but even before explaining to them the consequences of their actions, He told them He would fix it.
" For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might have the righteousness of God in Him ." 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)








*Arnold, Bill T. Encountering the Book of Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Books. 1998. pg. 39
** Hebrew- Greek Key Word Study Bible, NIV. Chattanooga, TN. AMG Publishers. 1996. pg. 1503