Fall

Throughout 2020 we will be reading through the Bible together using the 2020 Reading Plan which is broken up into 16 sections, each of which follows the narrative thread of the Bible by incorporating both Old Testament and New Testament passages. In conjunction with the reading plan we will post blog articles for each of the 16 sections in hopes that they will help to shed light on what you are reading. As always, our prayer is that this is deeply beneficial to your soul and your personal walk with Jesus.

Blessings,

Gavin

FALL

The events in Genesis 3 are commonly described as “The Fall.” It’s a fitting term because what occurs is really a fall from grace. Genesis 1 contains the powerful and beautiful descriptions of how God created the world and everything in it solely by the power of his Word. The end of the chapter and chapter 2 zooms in on God’s creation of Adam and Eve specifically. God blessed them as the pinnacle of his creation and endowed them with his image - his sole representatives on earth. The mission they were given was clear: multiply God’s representatives, filling the earth with them, and extending the sanctuary of the Garden of Eden by “working and keeping it” (Gen. 2:15). And while Adam and Eve were given the entire Garden from which to eat, God instructed them to keep away from the tree in the middle of Eden… an instruction they violated spectacularly.

Adam and Eve’s decision to give in to temptation was effectively a choice of themselves over God. They didn’t see God’s plan for them as good, right, or fulfilling. God was the villain trying to rob them of good things and keep them from doing what they believed would make them happy. The serpent, on the other hand, offered their heart’s desire. The serpent promised that eating the fruit - revolting against God - would cause them to gain superior wisdom and happiness that God didn’t want them to possess. Of course, they didn’t get anything the serpent promised. Instead, they got what God promised if they ate from the tree: death.

This has been the story of humanity ever since. We wrestle with our own desires and often feel compelled to follow them. Yet, we can be blinded by those desires and unable to see the roads they will inevitably take us down. Roads that eventually lead to death. Even more, when someone comes along and presents who God is according to the Bible and what he desires, many people scoff at it. Christianity is painted as a polarizing faith in mainstream media, and because of that many would rather believe that God isn’t real or that his desires wouldn’t fit what the Scriptures say. So, they suppress what they know to be true about God (Rom. 1:18) and turn to their own understanding or whatever idea is popular at the moment and choose to pursue that. It’s the Garden of Eden on repeat and it leads us all to death.

Death is both the punishment for sin and the ultimate consequence of it. Remember God’s promise to Adam, “In the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” Romans 5 assures us of the truth of that promise, stating that sin came into the world through one man and death also came through sin. We die because sin exists.

This past Sunday we all learned of the devastating news about Kobe Bryant and his 13-year old daughter Gigi, two of nine people to have lost their lives in a helicopter crash. The heartbreak that seemingly our entire country is experiencing is powerful. It also speaks volumes to what we all know intuitively: death doesn’t belong here. Losing close loved ones, or in this case a cultural icon and children just feels wrong. It is wrong. Adam and Eve were supposed to live on in the presence and grace of God forever. Being made in the image of God and descendants of Adam and Eve means we, too, are intended to live forever. Death is a violent and somber interruption to eternal life.

But death isn’t the end of the story for all. See, Romans 5 also describes another man - one not like Adam. Rather, in contrast to Adam this one man through his life of obedience would bring life. And unlike death, which is the payment for sin, this one man’s gift of life is free. This man is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and he defeated death by his own sacrifice on the cross. The Puritan John Owen has a classic book entitled Death of Death in the Death of Christ - a fitting summary of what Jesus has accomplished. By his death on the cross as a righteous man, without sin, he created the opportunity for all who trust in him to have that eternal life. He takes our sin and the punishment for it upon himself and credits us with his right standing before God in exchange. It’s a gracious gift that none of us deserve, but we all desperately need.

The biblical concept of sin teaches us that our fundamental issues are spiritual. Not political, emotional, material, or philosophical. Educational reforms, economic reforms, self-care, physical fitness, traveling, and “looking within” will not solve your deepest needs. They may improve your circumstances or those whom you love for a period of time, but none of them address the root issue. Every person in this world needs his sins forgiven by God and equally needs the presence of God’s Spirit in order to experience true transformation, faith, and be granted eternal life by God’s grace alone.

Jesus is the God who came to save sinners. The only God.

Helpful Resources

“The Faces of Sin” - a sermon series from Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“Created, but Fallen” - a sermon from New Springs Church

“Bondage of the Will” - a book by Martin Luther

“What is Repentance?” - a booklet by R.C. Sproul