Mysterious Plan
One-Year Bible: 01/02/2023
Genesis 3:1-4:26 Mysterious Plan
“I was chosen to explain to everyone this MYSTERIOUS PLAN that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.”--Ephesians 3:9
The New Testament restates the major themes of the beginning of time as stated in the book of Genesis. Here are some examples that you may want to read…
“Light to shine in darkness.” (2 Corinthians 4:6b)
“Made them male and female.” (Mark 10:6b)
“And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” (Hebrews 4:5b)
“The first man Adam became a living being.” (I Corinthians 15:45b)
We are also told about a deeper underlying drama at the center of creation. That battle involves “the elephant in the room” or, more specifically, “the trees that stand in the middle of the garden”…(Gen. 2:15-17)
As we ended our reading yesterday, we learned that God placed Adam in the garden and created Eve for Adam so that he would not be alone. They were to be “fruitful and multiply” on the earth. They were God’s own masterpiece and “Living Breath.”
It is interesting that God did not place his creation in a palace. He placed them in a garden where they were to tend to the needs of others by serving creation and worshipping God. However, at the center was “FREE WILL”; they would choose.
They were NAKED but UNASHAMED!
We see from the account here in Genesis that man had the ability to rule over the garden and to make their own CHOICES, and so came God’s warning to them. They could eat from any tree in the garden except for the tree “of the knowledge of good and evil.” God warned them, “If you eat its fruit, you will surely die.”
The “Knowledge of Good and Evil” is part of the Mystery of God. To understand all that is behind creation is to “Be Equal with God” rather than to serve HIM.
There is one who wants to be “equal with God,” and he slithers into the garden to do just that… “The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made.” (3:1)
The serpent sought out the woman God had created and began his subtle accusations… He asked her, “Did God REALLY say you must NOT eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (3:1)
The woman restates to him what God had said, and he replies, “You won’t DIE!”
“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.” (3:4-5)
This is the very moment that INNOCENCE DIED!
The woman was CONVINCED by temptation’s words…
The fruit became theirs as she shared it with her husband, and it was “Quite a Bite”!
“At that moment their eyes were opened, and they SUDDENLY felt SHAME and their NAKEDNESS, so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” (3: 6-7)
Then the LORD called out, “Where are you?”... “What have you done?” God knew exactly what they had done but gave them a chance to confess their sin. To all of mankind came separation from God, sin, and a death sentence! After all, that was the serpent’s goal as he approached the woman in the garden…
To the serpent came a CURSE and a PROPHECY, “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.” (3:14-15)
The Old Testament fulfills the prophecy, “I will put ENMITY between you and the woman.” The seed of woman for generations was the root of all the ENMITY or fighting that fills the pages of the entire Old Testament.
Let’s look at what the New Testament tells us about “He shall crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen. 3:15). “And the God of PEACE will CRUSH Satan under your feet shortly.” (Romans 16:20) Who will bring this PEACE? Here in Genesis 3:15, we see the very first prophecy of Christ’s coming!
It is a MYSTERIOUS PLAN involving “The Prince of Peace.”
