Genesis 3 part 1 - Whats this about a snake and a Cryptic Poem ?.... Also I talk about Sunday Evening Engagement story. So I had a pretty cool life event on Sunday. I got engaged to the most amazing beautiful, funny, smart, godly young woman by the name of Ashley. Maybe I will put our story up one day. So it has been an exciting, tense, dream of hoping and planning. She and I (mostly her) are big Doctor Who fans. So sometime around August I was trying to figure out the best way to surprise her to pop the question. No offense to anyone who has ever done this, but, I figured some stroll around the lake on a beautiful day was a little, over done. So I took her favorite show and tried to figure out a way to combine her and the proposal and in the end and 2 months later I decided to build a Blue Police Call Box (The Tardis) and hide in it and come out dressed like David Tennent (The 10th Doctor from Dr Who). So if you couldnt guess she was said yes, after the shock, and the turning red, and the tears, and the big smile and more crying. So how does any of this tie in to Genesis 3? Well we read about Genesis 2 not too long ago and in Genesis 2 God creates a massive new world, free food, a relationship with his creation and he creates marriage and that should have been the happily ever after but then we turn to Genesis 3 were we read about an enemy to all that just God built. When I was just learning about the Bible I was so upset about Genesis 3! Why is that snake there? Snakes dont talk, so what is really going on? Why is Paradise lost? Lets unpack... Genesis 3 1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” 14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” It almost seems like a childrens story. You have talking animals, you have a very obvious bad guy and you have some weird cryptic poem at the end. As a person trying to read this for the first time in grade school, I was totally lost. How could Adam and Eve be so deceived? What is going on with the snake anyway? When did he get there? Why is he there? It was questions that I lived with and gave me some doubt. We lost paradise because of a talking snake? Animals dont talk, why is this taught as fact? Yet the more I learned about Jesus, and the way he called people to himself something started to become clear. Jesus told parables that didnt always make sense. 6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration (Parable) didn’t understand what he meant, John 10:6 Gods little cryptic poem in Genesis 3, isnt really suppose to be understood unless the spirit moves you to go looking! Satan as a serpent isnt going to make any sense unless you start to look at other passages in the Bible! Its like God made some things difficult for the people in our time so that we would work a little bit to pursue him and understand God wants people who want him and that means asking questions, doing research, going through the pages and seeking him and meaning. Jesus wants us, but do we really want him? After much research I came across some passages that talk about Satan in other parts of the Bible Isaiah 14 12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. 13 For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14 I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ 15 Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths. and Ezekiel 28 “You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone[b]— red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone, blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper, blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald— all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. 14 I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian.[c] You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. 15 “You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. 16 Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground Each of these passages starts to talk about a human king, but then it gets kinda alien... Like we jump from a human to a non-human, a supernatural entity who maybe even possess people, and serpents? We see this happen with demons in humans. Jesus drove out demons from people, so what if the King of Demons, Satan (Satan means deceiver) is standing behind someone pulling the strings? Demons can even go into animals as we saw with the pigs that jumped into the lake from the gospels. Yet to be honest, there are things we are not really going to be totally clear on when it comes to demons and Satan. Ephesians 2 says that Satan is the little g god of this world. He hides behind the worlds motivates, when people worship the little foolish idols of the world they are, in the end, worshiping the god of this world, satan. Is that harsh? What was behind Eves worship? She wanted to be as smart as , perhaps smarter than God. She wanted what Satan was offering. Which lead to disobedience. Why doesnt the writer of Genesis just come out and say, Satan the former angle who was kicked out of heaven, took the from of a snake and tricked Adam and Eve to rebel with Satan? Why does Jesus speak in confusing parables? Why not make everything clear? Ephesians 2 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. The ability to even posses a seeking heart, to ask questions, to be bothered until you have answers is the spirit poking you going, Find out more! Look harder, stay after the service and ask the pastor, in Jesus day it was, after he is done, go find him and ask him more questions. If we are not moved by the spirit then we will look at the Bible and Jesus as foolishness and be on our way to go spend our time on earth doing something that in the end has no meaning. God chose you, you didnt choose him! Question of the day How was Paradise lost? Who ultimately is behind evil actions? Why is Genesis and other parts of the Bible cryptic? Does God help us find the answers? How?
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:18:27 +0000
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