Creation and Fall

Preparing For Man's Redemption

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light" (Genesis 1:1-3). While John 1:1-3 states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made." The only thing man knows about the beginning is what God has chosen to reveal to him. Theories of "learned men" are unproven and often contrary to what has been revealed.

The last day of creation as recorded in Genesis 1:26-27 is "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." This creation was different from all His other creations as the man was made in God's likeness, in His image. Man is not an exact copy of God. Man was created flesh and blood while God is spirit.

God put man in the midst of the rest of creation to rule over and have dominion over it. He told the man, Adam, to work and take care of it. "And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die'." (Genesis 2:16-17)

The Devil took on the form of a serpent to tempt Eve, lying to her. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:6)

James defines the temptation process: "but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:14-15)

To Eve the fruit was pleasing to the eye and desirable to make her wise but disobedience has consequences. In this case, the consequence was immediate. However, in some situations, sin may not be found out until the judgment when one faces God. They were removed from paradise to a land of toil and pain. God said to the serpent "'Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 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.' To the woman he said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' To Adam he said, 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it', 'Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you

will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return'." (Genesis 3:14-19) With this sin, both Adam and Eve were separated from God and in need of being reunited with Him. This reconciliation would require a perfect sacrifice for their sin of disobedience.