Genesis 3.16-24
Messenger Dox
Call to worship / Old testamenT reading: dr. brett eckel
Deuteronomy 5.6-21
New testamenT reading:
pastor bobby owens
Hebrew 10.1-10
song:
The lord almighty reigns
Historical reading:
pastor michael champoux
Apostles Creed
song:
It is well
Confession & Pardon:
pastor Zachary mcguire
song:
Christ the sure & steady anchor
Sermon:
Dr. alex loginow
Genesis 3.16-24
Introduction
As of this year all of our kids are in school, which is a big change in the Loginow house. One thing I’ve been reminded of this year with Anabelle being in 1st grade is 1st grade homework. What is the deal with 1st graders having homework? Can any of you educators out there explain to me why, after attending school all day, my 1st grader has homework?
Anyway, even though I’m adamantly against 1st grade homework, I appreciate the way she’s learning to identify and spell words. For example, one exercise she does to learn a certain word is connect a picture with a word, and then trace the word, and finally writes the word out herself. So for instance, there might be a picture of an apple and then under the picture she’ll trace the word apple and then write out the word apple. We did similar exercises when we taught our kids some Latin when we homeschooled during covid. But that makes sense, doesn’t it? We’ve all learned that way to some degree or another where we identify word with picture in order to have mature understanding.
And in our Scripture passage this morning we see that this has been true from the very beginning. Here in Genesis 3 God gives His Word – a Word of judgment and salvation – and the Word is accompanied by a picture. In fact, the Word of God has always been accompanied by picture, sign, sacrament. Here in the moments following Adam’s fall God speaks words of judgment and salvation and these words are accompanied by the picture, the sign of a sacrificed animal that explain the Word – a tangible sign that embodies the Word of God.
Word
Let’s look at both Word and picture now together. We’ll begin with Word. Last week we considered Genesis 3.14-15 together, because those verses deserve special attention. We’re going to include those verses briefly together now, but we won’t deep dive since we did that last week. If you weren't here and want to check that out, go to our YouTube or Facebook. But have you ever been listening to a song while you’re driving, or whatever, and your mind wanders and you realize you missed the best part of the song so you have to listen to the song over again to fully appreciate the experience? I literally did that 3 days ago. We need to include Genesis 3.14-15 with the remainder of the pericope in order to fully appreciate the meaning.
Serpent
The 1st Word God speaks to these 3 unrepentant sinners is to the serpent in verses 14-15. With His Word God curses the serpent and saves humanity. The serpent is cursed, pictured by his slithering on his belly and his eating of the dust. This teaches us that Satan is eternally condemned – there is no plan of redemption for the enemy.
But in the judgment of the devil we hear the good news of our salvation. The seed of the woman will crush the head f the serpent. This is the protoevangelium – the 1st gospel. As we saw last week this promise is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, who was crushed on the cross for our sins, but who also resurrected, crushing the serpent’s head. Genesis 3.15 is the thesis statement of Scripture – all of the Bible articulates, defends, proves, assumes, explains this verse.
The Woman
Then God moves from the serpent and speaks judgment to the woman in verse 16. She followed the serpent first, so her judgment follows his. The 1st judgment given to the 1st woman, and all of her daughters, even to this day, regards childbearing and childrearing. The Hebrew literally reads: I will increase increase your pain or hard work in pregnancy; in pain you shall bring forth sons. Remember in Genesis 2 the intrinsic human experience is 3-fold: worship, wedlock or marriage, and work. Childbearing is the natural and blessed result of marriage. So the judgment for women, because of Eve’s sin, is pain or hard work in pregnancy, delivery, and raising children.
But judgment is tied to salvation here. The judgment for women is pain or hard work in childbearing and salvation comes through the seed of the woman. I’ve watched Bethany deliver 6 babies and she has looked uncomfortable for each one of them. But I’ve also watched each time she’s held that baby in her arms the joy that result from the toil of delivery. Every human birth is a vivid, tangible reminder of the judgment of sin and the joy of salvation. From the difficulties of pregnancy through the toils of delivery and even in the hard work of raising children, we see the declaration that we are sinners who deserve judgment and also that there is salvation in the seed of the woman.
But the judgment for the female sex is not just related to her children; it takes one step backward including her relationship with her husband. After the fall there is an adversarial relationship between man and woman that did not exist prior. What does this half verse mean? Moses helps us understand when in Genesis 4.7 he uses the exact same Hebrew sentence structure. There God is speaking to Cain and God says: [sin’s} desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. Compare that to Genesis 3.16: your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.
We also get help from Ephesians 5 where St. Paul explains that marriage was given by God to picture the relationship between Christ and the church. Wives are to submit to their husbands as the church does to Christ and husbands are to self-sacrificially lead and love their wives as Christ does the church. Eve (and all of her daughters) will desire to rule over their husbands as Eve did when she led Adam into sin, but the husband will rule over her. For most of human history this curse has resulted in husband’s abusing their wives, being harsh with them, treating them as less than, I mean women didn’t even have the right to vote or where viewed as full citizens in America until not that long ago, but our modern Western culture has flipped the script with feminism and the result is just as deadly. Whether men are abusively ruling women or women are ruling over their husbands, neither of these are God’s design to picture the gospel for human flourishing. God’s design is that husbands self-sacrificially lead and love their wives and that wives submit to their husbands. When anything else is happening, it is the judgment of God.
So we see both in the calling as wife and mother that God’s judgment rests on all women. The adversarial relationship with their husbands and the pain of pregnancy, delivery, and childrearing still preach God’s judgment for sin. But we also see salvation through judgment because it is between the intimacy of husband and wife that children are born and it is in the birth of children that we’re reminded of the good news of Jesus. Not only that but when marriage is healthy it most clearly displays the gospel. When husbands lead and love sacrificially and when wives submit to that leadership we most clearly see the good news of Jesus and how he saves his church.
Adam
Adam did not lead and love self-sacrificially and so finally God speaks judgment to Adam and all of his sons. In verse 17 God judges Adam because Adam listened to his wife and he did not listen to God. Adam did not lead his wife but instead followed her in her deception. God reminds Adam that He told Adam not to eat of the tree – this is different than God’s interaction with Eve; God never told Eve not to eat, God told Adam not to eat and then Adam was to lead Eve. Adam was the 1st created image bearer, the federal head of humanity; he was Eve’s husband and he was to lead but he followed.
The resulting judgment for men is that the earth has been cursed. Romans 8 expounds on this when St. Paul tells us that the creation doesn’t recognize mankind as having dominion anymore because of the fall. The earth is groaning and waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. This is why it was so unique when the Lord Jesus did take dominion over the creation by calming the storm, etc. We are conditioned to think that an uncontrollable “mother nature” is normal, but it is not, it is the judgment of God against Adam.
Notice also the repetition of the word eat in verses 17-19: because you listened to your wife and have eaten of the tree…the one I told you not to eat…in pain you shall eat…in spite of thorns and thistles you shall eat the plants…by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. Adam’s judgment is tied to his sin – he ate of the tree, so now his ability to eat, to provide for his family through his work will come through pain, by his sweat, through thorns and thistles, but he will eat of the plants; Adam will provide for his family but it won’t always be easy or fun.
And then God tells Adam that, even though it won’t be today, Adam will die – for you are dust and to dust you shall return. These famous words spoken by Christians every Ash Wednesday – last year providentially I was at Troy Beaumont on Ash Wednesday because I needed a refill on my meds after surgery. Pastor Brett, of course administers ashes to any Christians in the hospital who want them but he was kind enough to meet us in the hallway and administer ashes to Bethany, Lena, and myself. When he applies the ash to our forehead he says: “you are dust and to dust you shall return; repent and believe the gospel.” Because of sin we’re all going to die and our only hope is to repent and believe the gospel.
That’s what Adam does – he repents. How do we know? Verse 20 tells us that Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. But at this point Eve wasn’t a mother yet so why did Adam name her thus? Because he believed the promise. In Hebrew the name Eve is חַוָּ֑ה; which sounds a lot like the word living: חַיָּה֙. Adam believed God’s Word, God’s promise, the 1st gospel promise of Genesis 3.15, and then Adam repented.
That’s what we all must do – we must believe the gospel promise of Genesis 3.15, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. To have faith in Jesus means to know that God is holy and that you have sinned against Him, and that Christ Jesus died and rose again to save sinners. If you have faith, not only do you know this good news but you assent to its validity – you acknowledge that it is true and finally you transfer your trust to Jesus Christ alone. If you have received Christ by faith you will repent – you will confess your sin and you will turn from your sin. Faith resulting in repentance has been humanity’s only hope ever since we fell into sin and it is our prayer that if you have not believed yet that today would be your day of salvation.
Picture
And then in verse 21 Moses tells us that God accompanies His Word with a picture, a sign. yhwh God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Don’t miss what’s going on here because if you do, you won’t understand much of the Old Testament – God spoke the gospel, the Genesis 3.15 promise, the protoevangelium, the covenant of grace, and then God sacrificed an animal himself to clothe Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve tried to clothes themselves in fig leaves – they tried to cover their guilt and shame on their own, but it was insufficient, but God in His grace will cover them but it comes at a cost: the shedding of another’s blood.
Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. God is the 1st one to sacrifice and animal as a sign of His promise and this continues on: Abel offered an animal sacrifice because he believed the Genesis 3.15 promise; after he disembarked the ark Noah sacrificed an animal, the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob offered sacrifices and Israel sacrificed the Passover lamb – all of this before the old covenant law was formally given requiring liturgical animal sacrifice.
All of these practices lead us to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world – the Lord Jesus is the true and final sacrifice, once for all. Jesus’ heel was bruised when He was nailed to the cross and He shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. And because Christ never sinned when we receive Him by faith we are clothed in His righteousness, just as Adam was clothed in the skin of the animal sacrifice. Like Adam we try to cover our guilt and shame through our own good works, or religious acts, or whatever else, but that is insufficient. We need to be clothed in the bloodstained righteousness of the Lord Jesus.
Then Moses tells us that after He clothed them, yhwh drove Adam out of the garden of Eden to keep him eating from tree of life. God set Cherubim – warrior angels – and flaming sword to guard the east-facing garden. When Solomon built the temple he had cherubim engraved in the entrance of east facing temple as well and there were cherubim embroidered on the curtain that guarded the holy of holies. Adam didn’t guard the garden so these angels will.
But even Adam’s exile from the garden was God’s grace because had Adam ate from the tree of life in his fallen state; there would be no hope for salvation. Death is now a gracious gift of God because it means we can be resurrected to walk in new life. This pattern of exile threads through Scripture as well – Abraham sojourns; Israel wanders in the wilderness; Israel is exiled from the land; and finally the Lord Jesus is led from the garden of gethsemane and outside the camp He is nailed to the tree of death. Even now the church sojourns toward the new creation, but we are not of this world.
We are dual citizens of the city of God and the city of man awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus where He will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. And St. John tells us that in that new creation, in the New Jerusalem will be the tree of life (Rev 22.2). In Adam we have been exiled from the tree of life but in the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, we will be brought back to the tree of life. And around the tree of life we will eat with out king – we will enjoy that eternal Eucharist, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Conclusion
So as we come now to the Holy Eucharist we’re reminded, as we are every week, that God has given us His final Word and pictures, signs, sacraments, which accompany His Word. God’s Word blesses us every week by the preaching of the Word and then we are blessed by the picture, the sign, the sacrament – the Lord’s Supper. Two weeks ago we were all blessed by the other sacrament – Christian baptism. This has been so from the beginning – the Word is accompanied by the picture, the sign. We need both – for 2,000 years Christians have taken Holy Communion after the Word is preached. When these the Word and the sacrament are not together every single week, it is unusual, strange, wrong. Just as the sacrificed animal showed Adam what it meant for the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent, so the bread and the wine show us the gospel – Jesus’ body broken for us, Jesus’ blood shed for us. Hear the word, see the picture; believe the gospel.