Life & Death Matter – Part 2

Genesis 3:17-24 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed  is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.” And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—  therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Our Small Group’s first lesson in this series on “Life and Death and Life after Death” transitions from “the Fall of Man” to God’s “Plan of Salvation”. From the verse above, if you stop and think about it, the first incident of physical death in the Word of God is that of an innocent animal – The animal whose skin covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness (Genesis 3:21). This is a beautiful picture, foreshadowing the later substitution of a blood sacrifice to cover the sin of mankind. Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” God explains that without the shedding of blood there is no atonement (the Hebrew word for atonement is “כָּפַר” /  kaphar meaning to cover), so no covering and no forgiveness for sin. Hebrews 9:22 “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” All of this points to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, which alone can pay for our sins in full.

The lesson explains that from the beginning, Adam had permission to eat from any tree of the garden, including the tree of life, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam had choices to make, and God was careful to tell him the consequences of his choices. If Adam had chosen to eat from the tree of life instead of the forbidden tree, he would have lived forever on fellowship with God. However, since Adam willfully chose to disobey, God in His mercy cast Adam and Eve from the garden to keep them from eating the fruit from the tree of life and living forever in a state of sin, separated from their Creator. God in His omniscience has a Savior in the wings, the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world, who would come in the fullness of time. Don’t ever let the liar, the murderer, convince you that God doesn't love you or that He does not want the very best for you!  

Hebrews 9:27 “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment.”

The decision that Adam and Eve made to doubt and disobey not only changed their lives but also reverberated through history to affect every human being who has ever lived. Because of Adam and Eve’s original sin, we all will one day experience a physical death. Dust will return to dust. What sort of judgment must we face? Did this merciful, gracious, loving God who provided a covering for Adam and Eve’s nakedness also provide a way forward for us? Next week’s small group lesson will tell us what God says. Stay tuned; it's a life and death matter.

In Christ, Brian