Genesis Chapter 3 Study (2024 Version)
In many ways, Genesis chapter 3 is the most important chapter in the Bible. The remaining 99.9 percent or so of the Bible is what it is due to the foundational events in Genesis chapter 3 occurring related to the Fall of man and sin entering into the world. In light of this, here is a verse by verse study of Genesis chapter 3.
Genesis 3:1: “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
This was not a beast of the field (look at the wording carefully); or at least this was not merely a beast of the field. The verse does not say that the serpent was more subtle than any other beast of the field. It says that he was more subtle than any beast of the field. This was no ordinary serpent; and it is possible, though we can’t say for sure, that this was a spiritual vision, since it is possible that humans before the Fall could see into the spirit realm. There is even an instance of this happening after the Fall of man pertaining to the Prophet Elisha and his servant (recorded in 2 Kings 6:15-17).
But whether this was an encounter by means of a spiritual vision or an encounter with an actual serpent, this was surely Satan speaking in the form of a serpent. And at this point the serpent was standing on two legs, most likely coming across as very beautiful and certainly very friendly, with the appearance of being greatly concerned for Eve’s well-being. And that is just how those who minister false gospels, false jesuses, and all (or just about all) hypocritical false Christian ministers have always acted and always will act. Some of the biggest snakes on earth come across as being very nice people who seem greatly concerned about the well-being of others; and this is particularly true of fake Christian gospel ministers.
We see here that Satan added to the Word of God by his insinuation that God had forbidden Adam and Eve from eating from every tree of the garden. Consider what had already been established in Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This misquoting of God’s Word was a key aspect of Satan’s malicious subtlety, blurring the lines between righteousness and wickedness.
Genesis 3:2-3: “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
Some say Eve shouldn’t have talked with the serpent at all, but that would be much easier said than done. I don’t think that would have been realistic (she didn’t know the serpent was the devil at the beginning of the conversation, though she should have guessed so by the end of the conversation). Jesus did indeed talk to the devil in the wilderness when the devil tempted Him. Yet Jesus quoted “It is written” regarding what God’s Word said in regards to why acting on the evil advice being given to Him would indeed be sin. Eve could have done that; but she didn’t. The devil had thrown her off balance some already by his tricky question in verse 1; and she was too easily open to suggestions contrary to God’s Word.
Eve here misquotes God’s Word in all three ways which Scripture is twisted to teach lies to this very day. She took away from God’s Word by omitting the word “freely”, which God had spoke regarding the other trees of the garden back in Genesis 2:16; she adds to God’s Word by using the phrase “neither shall ye touch it” which God had never spoke; and she alters God’s Word regarding the consequence of eating of the forbidden tree, by saying “lest ye die” instead of echoing what God actually said, “thou shalt surely die”, the words which God actually spoke regarding the consequence of eating of the forbidden tree.
People twist God’s Word in these ways to this day; and it is especially no wonder that the unconditional security false grace preachers add to Scripture by their silly unbiblical cliches, they omit key phrases which prove their doctrine wrong, or they alter phrases where God’s Word absolutely guarantees the eternal fire of hell, the second death, for all who live in sin. Many also add to God’s Word to make true Biblical holiness seem unnecessarily burdensome (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5 for an example of that). And this is hiding or minimizing the true goodness of God, something which Scripture repeatedly emphasizes and illustrates. It illustrates and emphasizes that God will withhold no good from them that walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).
The authority of the Word of God is the basis for true Christian fellowship. And closely related to that would be the application of the principle established in Genesis that transgression against God, partaking of what He has forbidden, surely leads to spiritual death.
Romans 8:13: “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
Scriptures like Matthew 12:49-50, Luke 8:21, and John 8:51 prove our need to be subject to the Word of God in order to have a part in Christ’s salvation and to be righteously eligible for Christian fellowship.
Genesis 3:4-5: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Adam and Eve were innocent when they were created, yet they were not righteous nor faithful. They could only be made so by choosing to believe and obey God. It is through such choices that good and evil are learned according to God’s will. And that is surely learning good and evil in a way which is good for man; and in a way which man is able to handle, without harm to himself. You can learn about the evil of dishonesty through lying, cheating, stealing, etc. If you’re lucky you’ll get caught, face the righteous consequences, and get the message that it never was, and never is, profitable nor acceptable to do such things. Yet the person who is consistently honest will gain greater insight into the evil nature of lying, cheating, theft, etc. through becoming well acquainted with the good which these evil things are opposed to. Does God want man to know good and evil? Of course. Through choosing right and consistently obeying His Word.
Isaiah 1:16-17: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
Hebrews 5:14: “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Those who have diligently, consistently followed what is right discern evil- without being personally familiar with its practice and its accompanying corruption.
Romans 16:17-19: “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”
Those teachers who are not faithful to God’s Word will surely lead those who heed them into transgression. Transgression makes the transgressor personally familiar with evil.
Satan’s assertion that Adam and Eve would be as gods by eating of the tree implied that they would each actually be as God (“Elohim’). Idolatry had not yet been introduced into the world. Satan himself had been banished from heaven for aspiring to be like the most High (see Isaiah 14:12-14). He knew what temptation man was likely to respond to so that they would fall likewise. In doing so they would be brought into his service; and he would get a sense of achieving the wicked intention which he had taken up that led to his own fall. He thus enticed man to the very same thing he fell by.
Jesus told certain people in John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
So man in obeying Satan didn’t become like God but rather came under Satan’s dominion. Man had already been created in God’s image; and those who are in Christ are being restored to God’s image (which has been marred by sin in fallen mankind). In terms of things like benevolence and purity, we should want to be like God. If we don’t, then we are surely not Christ’s disciples. Yet Satan was telling Eve that she could be like God in the sense that she could govern herself and not need God to reign over her. That is blasphemous, vain, presumptuous, etc. This is chiefly the sense in which sinful man seeks to be like God. This is a wicked hope which will never be successfully achieved; and this is something which man could not handle if he ever were (in theory) to attain it.
The distinction between the Creator and His creation will never be removed.
Isaiah 43:10-11: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior.”
The distinction between the Creator and His creation will not ever be removed- even in glory for those who inherit glory.
Revelation 22:3-4: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”
And no one who exalts themselves against God, and no one who seeks to be like Him as Satan tempted Eve to will be saved and enter glory at all. Only those who humble themselves under God’s authority and God’s mighty hand will be saved (Luke 18:14, James 4:6-10, 1 Peter 5:6, etc).
Genesis 3:6: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Remember that God had freely given every other tree of the garden to Adam and Eve to eat from. They had everything they needed, and more, in the will of God. Here we see the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life as described in 1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2:15-17: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
Loving these things implies pursuing them in opposition to loving God and keeping His commandments. These also correspond to Satan’s three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus faithfully endured these under much harder circumstances. He was tempted to obtain bread unlawfully, even though He was literally starving after 40 days without food. He was tempted with the sight of the glory of the kingdoms of the world which Satan offered Him (and which Jesus would have recognized as a way around having to go to the cross and face the horror upon it which He knew He was appointed to). And Jesus was tempted with the pride of life in a way that could have actually seemed holy, since the prospect of being saved by angels in a jump from the pinnacle of the Temple would seem to give so much more credibility to His public ministry, which He was on the verge of beginning at the time. Yet to Jesus the “It is written”s in God’s Word, which prohibited the things which Satan told Him to do, was the end of the matter!
People today live in sin and turn away from the true grace God offers through Christ for the same reasons (since of course God’s true grace demands that we turn from sin and come under His authority through Christ). Sinners value their own perceived necessities, material comforts, pleasures related to the sight of the eyes, and things related to their own reputation, self-esteem, personal goals, etc. above the true God and committing themselves to wholeheartedly pursue righteousness before Him by faith.
Ecclesiastes 11:9: “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”
Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
As for Adam, the blessing that was his wife, which he had in God’s will, became a snare to him. Since she had transgressed, he knew then that he could not be with her anymore unless perhaps he transgressed too. His (most likely) lack of faithful care for her soul left him in a position where he could not have his wife without losing fellowship with God. Sadly, he chose his wife. And Satan had quite possibly this entire time intended to get to Adam through his wife! He (quite possibly) knew he could not overpower Adam to transgress by subtle reasoning like he did with Eve. For all we know, he could have even already tried that. But if he had not, it is quite possibly because he knew that would not work anyways. This should be a reminder to us that just because we can’t see ourselves ever being destroyed spiritually in ways that others get spiritually destroyed, there are yet potential ways in which Satan could greatly tempt us and cause us to fall which we may never have seen coming.
It’s key to note with verse 6 here that Adam and Eve being alive spiritually, and being whole spiritually, totally untainted by sin, did not prevent them from making a wicked choice and bringing spiritual death upon themselves. And it will be seen in the coming verses that dying spiritually did not mean that they became totally depraved, since of course they did not lose all of their spiritual senses and capabilities in their fall. Since that is so, they did not become so depraved that they couldn’t make the necessary response to enter back into God’s grace, which He could offer even then, in a way, because of the atonement that He would one day accomplish through Christ (which He would speak of before this chapter ends).
Spiritual death is rather a severed relationship with God. If spiritual death meant what the Calvinists say it means, then sinners could not even be conscious of their guilt nor recognize their need to get right with God! The Calvinists also don’t apply their doctrine logically, because if it were true, then no one would ever embrace Calvinism except by the unconditional election and irresistible grace of God! And their own actions prove that they don’t believe that. It is evident and obvious by this chapter that having spiritual life and wholeness does not remove the possibility of choosing things which lead to spiritual death and corruption; and that being in a state of spiritual death and corruption does not remove the capability of choosing that which leads to spiritual life and entrance on the road to spiritual wholeness.
Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men”
John 1:9: “That was the true Light (Jesus Christ), which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
It should also be pointed out that the first Adam knew full well what he was doing in partaking of the forbidden fruit, and thus he identified with his wife and her sin. The second man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, knew full well what He was doing when He went to the cross to bear the judgment for our sins in order to offer us redemption from sin and the Fall.
Genesis 3:7: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
Did the serpent tell the truth? Were their eyes not opened like he said they would be? No, they had not become Gods; and their eyes were rather opened to the expressions of evil which their fallen souls were now conscious of, particularly in relation to their own nakedness. Did they indeed die? Yes, they sure did! The glory of their Creator, their fellowship with Him, and the blessedness of their pure state were taken from them. We all know that it is common for people to say that something in them died in relation to a tragic event, especially in relation to something wrong that they did. Adam and Eve had also set their own bodies, and the Creation itself, on a course of death. The consequences of their sin were worse than their own immediate physical deaths would have been; and overall, way worse than they could have imagined!
It is possible that Adam and Eve had been clothed with light before they fell. There are several Scriptures which speak of God Himself dwelling in light and being clothed with light. We know that they lost the life of God in their souls when they fell.
Regardless of whether man was clothed with light before the Fall or not, it is evident that man cannot righteously handle being naked in his fallen state. We see later in the chapter that God had an animal killed to make better, more thorough clothing for Adam and Eve after they fell. God did not tell them, like many believe, “Relax. Your shame related to your nudity is just a product of your own oversensitive conscience. If you don’t act so uptight about this, you can just ignore it and it won’t affect you.” God obviously didn’t see it that way! Not even close. To not thoroughly clothe oneself, and all those under one’s authority, is to make a mock of sin, as if man has not fallen and evil has not pervaded the world. Sin is everywhere, sinners are everywhere, we are all prone to sin (note my careful word selection), and our bodies are not redeemed from the fall yet. It is no wonder that the need for modest clothing is spoken of in 1 Timothy chapter 2- a chapter where other things related to the fall of man, and the establishment of God’s order afterwards, are also spoken of (see 1 Timothy 2:8-14).
Genesis 3:8-13: “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
As has been said, obviously Adam and Eve dying spiritually didn’t make them totally oblivious to the realities of the spiritual realm. Far from it. Their fall did kill them though in that it made them incompatible with God, so that they could not dwell with Him anymore in their fallen state. They knew this very well. God obviously sought them out and questioned them to confront them with what they did. He obviously had good reasons for this. They were rightfully scared though, and they said what they said in the heat of their dread of God’s presence, as their guilt before God brought the dread of Him upon them. It’s in this context that we can understand this often misunderstood Scripture from 1 John chapter 4.
1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” It is also said shortly afterwards in 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”
Obviously, the violation of the one commandment God had given them, the drastic change for the worse this had wrought in them, and the imminent need to answer to God for this brought a fear, or it could be better said, a dread of God upon Adam and Eve. Someone who has learned of the since revealed grace of God in Christ, and is responding to that grace appropriately, should not have such a dread of God, which is John’s very point in 1 John 4:18. Those who have sinned, and have not wholeheartedly repented before God so as to righteously clear their conscience and enter into God’s remedy for man’s sin in Jesus Christ, should have dread. And they will indeed have dread when confronted with the realities of who He is and of where they stand before Him (when they can’t ignore reality anymore)!
Adam passed the blame for his sin upon his wife; and Eve passed the blame for her sin upon the serpent. God made no comment on their confessions at this moment. Adam and Eve surely did better than many do today in being confronted with their sin (though these were obviously not adequate confessions). It is at least better though to blame your wife for your sin than to say that you were loving your wife like God commanded by following her in an evil matter! And it is better to blame the devil for your sin than it is to sympathize with him and insist that you would have been judgmental and cruel to not listen to him! And things like that are normal now.
Genesis 3:14-15: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
God doesn’t question the serpent. The serpent is unredeemable. God rather goes right into pronouncing a curse upon him. Whether Satan had actually inhabited a serpent, or whether Satan had taken the form of a serpent in the spirit realm, the serpent going on his belly reflects the curse which God placed upon Satan himself. Satan is cursed above every creature, it is Satan who is the ultimate object of God’s displeasure, and it is Satan who will be constantly vexed and tormented both in this life and (especially) in the next. The concept of Satan ruling hell and torturing people there is a lie from Satan. Satan will be tormented in hell forever himself; and surely no one will be punished and tormented in hell worse than Satan will.
Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”
Revelation 20:10: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
And in God’s curse upon Satan He introduces the Messiah, who will be born of a virgin, which will ultimately execute this curse upon Satan and destroy him.
In reflecting upon the enmity between the woman and Satan, another consideration is that God will cause His light to shine in the earth so that any who heed it will be drawn towards His truth. These will thus see the devil’s lies, and the system of evil which Satan is the head of, as the corrupt and deadly things that they are. Again, John 1:9 “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (And with that in mind, also read Proverbs chapter 8).
Some teach that Cain was conceived by Satan; and that every wicked person is a descendant of Cain. But that is ridiculous. Every last descendant of Cain was destroyed in the flood in Noah’s time. Rather, the seed of the woman, (and this is implying His Christ would be born of a virgin without a human father, as Isaiah 7:14 prophecies of the wonder of the incarnation of God through a virgin giving birth), would confront and expose the works of the devil and his anti-christ system (see especially John 7:7 and 1 John 5:20). The serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman, though the serpent would bruise His heel. The bruising of the head implies being utterly crushed, destroyed, dismantled, etc. The bruising of the heel implies temporary pain that will be relieved, though it may be severe briefly. The serpent bruised Jesus’ heel in putting Him to death, perhaps even literally in nailing His feet when He was crucified. In Jesus’ atoning death He broke the grip of Satan’s power which Satan had attained in orchestrating man’s fall and the entrance of sin into the world (Hebrews 2:14, 1 John 3:8, etc). The bruising of the heel also implies Christ’s resurrection- this certifies His identity, His victory over Satan on the cross, and that He will surely eventually return and destroy Satan’s anti-christ, along with all authority and power which Satan yet retains at the time through man’s allegiance to him. Christ will then deal the final blow to the serpent’s head in casting him into the lake of fire forever (all detailed in Revelation chapters 19 and 20).
In the Seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head there is also the concept of Him destroying Satan’s plans and defeating his counsel. This has happened throughout history in various ways, but I especially think of the Tower of Babel and the Lord’s preservation of a godly remnant in Israel until Christ came through that remnant. And there is also of course the frustration of Satan’s plans to kill Christ until it was suitable for God to allow that in order to accomplish His plan of redemption. Even then, Satan thought he was victorious at the moment, though he was in truth defeated. It is said in Philippians that wicked men glory in their shame; and that tends to be more so the case the more wicked someone is. So that description of the wicked would apply to Satan above all others. What he thought was his greatest moment in killing Christ was actually, in God’s great wisdom, serving to destroy himself, to dismantle his own kingdom, and to bring about his own shame in an exceedingly massive way.
Genesis 3:16: “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
It seems fair to say that the woman’s childbearing after the Fall is similar to man’s labor after the Fall. It was (or in the case of childbearing, would have been) a bit hard before the Fall, but it increased dramatically afterwards. These are realities man faces which are sharp reminders of the true nature of sin and of our need for a remedy that provides salvation from sin. Thankfully, He has provided one in Jesus Christ! We should seek to spin the concept that Jesus is the only Way to salvation by emphasizing how amazing and gracious God is that He has provided a way of salvation (spinning something isn’t bad when it brings it right side up and into better light).
God established here that the man is to be the head of the woman, though the Fall would make the man and his wife dwelling together peaceably much more difficult. Her fallen tendency would be to crave to rule over him. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 proves that the woman’s head-covering is intended as a statement of the woman’s proper place in being subject to the man (as an extension of God’s own authority). This is why it is reasonable to believe that God’s clothing which He provided for Eve later in this chapter included a head-covering. Those who take issue with God’s order are in rebellion against Him. They should consider that societies influenced by Biblical values are where women have been safest and oppressed the least.
Genesis 3:17-19: “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
All of creation waits for redemption from the sorrowful condition which man’s sin has brought upon it. There is a key comment in the New Testament related to these verses in Romans chapter eight. And I believe in many ways Romans chapter 8, where the promises of Christ’s Gospel and the faithful Christian’s inheritance, are spelled out as clearly as words will allow, is the climax of the entire Bible.
Genesis 3:20-21: “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
Eve means life. It is interesting that the mother of death is also the mother of life.
These coats of skins which God made for Adam and Eve must have involved the death of an animal. This obviously teaches the lesson of Hebrews 9:22, that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” God obviously does care about our clothing in both the spiritual and the natural realm. Only in heeding His instructions and in applying His provision can we be acceptable to Him (see Matthew 22:1-14, Luke 14:16-35, etc).
Genesis 3:22-24: “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
God knows about evil from His omniscience; and this knowledge does not corrupt Him. Man cannot handle the experiential knowledge of evil without great harm to himself. It is fitting that man should die physically after he has been tainted by sin. It is a fit consequence of sin that all who have sinned die. Yet there is a greater death beyond this; and there is hope of life beyond this. The flaming sword guarding the tree of life signified the horrible death which the Seed of the woman would have to die in order to open the way for humans to one day eat of the tree of life; and it also signifies the symbolically bloody death to self and sin which any who would have a part with the Messiah have to die, in identification with Him, in order to partake of His redemption. That is the only way to actualize His redemption, to have a part with Him in crushing the serpent’s head, and to one day eat of the tree of life through Him (see Revelation 2:7).
For all we know, the tree of life was destroyed during the flood in Noah’s time. Yet we see it at the end of time, resurrected and freely available to those who properly valued, esteemed, and appropriated the Messiah’s mission of righteously redeeming men and bringing them back under God’s authority. In that context, God’s image is restored in them; and they are restored to Paradise.
Revelation 22:14: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Hebrews 2:9: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
Romans 6:8-11: “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him (i.e. the serpent/the devil) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Aaron’s email is: [email protected]
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