The Progress of Redemption

Fall and Flood

(or...legends of the fall)

Bible Sections Covered

Gen 3-11

Progress Events

Intro :

Week 1 (God and Creation) establishes Authority, Relationships, and Life .
Week 2 replaces these with Rebellion, Isolation , and Death .

Adam And Eve

Sin - Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit.

Satan Tempts Eve.
serpant? what?
well, notice that there aren't many details here - that should give you the sense that it's not super signficant to know.
the important part is the disobedience.

Eve eats the fruit of the tree that was prohibited by God ('tree of the knowledge of good and evil')
Adam eats it as well.

Judgement - Curse and Death

Adam and Eve's eyes 'were opened' and they knew they were naked.
Adam and Eve hid from God
God curses Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
Serpent :
Cursed more than cattle
Crawl on belly
Seed of the woman will bruise you on the head.
Woman :
Pain in childbirth
Desire for the husband, and he will rule over you.
again, as with the serpent, this isn't 100% clear what is meant.
but it is clear that relationships are affected by sin.
Man :
'Cursed is the ground because of you'
note that sin impacts more than just the sinner.
now, because of adam/eve's sin, all of creation suffers.

Have to toil to eat
Death

Mercy - Clothing, prevention from eating the 'Tree of Life'

God makes 'garments of skin' for Adam and Eve (3:21)
God drives Adam and Eve out of Eden and posts a guard (3:24)
Is this punishment or protection?
protection from eating of the tree of life? (3:22)
perhaps god is keeping them from living forever in the state they are in? unsure.

punishment/natural consequence as part of the curse ('by the sweat of your face you will eat bread')?
Sin chooses rebellion over authority.
The impact of that decision is the presence of :
Isolation : Relational changes are felt from the beginning with their nakedness and the need to hide from God.
Death : Part of the curse is death, a stark difference to the new life of creation.
We have not yet seen the full impact of sin on the man's access to God, but it is shown slightly in the removal from Eden.

Cain and Abel

Sin - Cain kills Abel

Cain kills his brother Abel (due to jealously)

Judgement - Cain is sent away

"You will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth" (Gen 4:12)

Note : Cain and God's conversation shows the impact of Sin on man's access to God - "from your face I will be hidden" (v.14)

Mercy - God warns Cain prior to the sin, then gives a 'mark of protection' afterwards.

God warns Cain not to committ the sin.
God's punishment is merely to make Cain a vagrant and wanderer.
God cares for Cain by giving him a 'mark' of protection.
Sin has spread.
The effects of sin are not liimed to Adam/Eve - it is passed to their kids.
That means that humanity is truly destroyed by the sin of Adam/Eve.

Sin has grown.
We jumped from eating the apple to murdering one's brother.

Sin has separated.
Murder being quite a superlative in separation...

Noah's Ark

Sin - Mankind is "corrupt" (v11), violent (v11), and only desiring evil (v5)

Mankind is "corrupt" (v11), violent (v11), and only desiring evil (v5)
Sin had not only spread to all humans, it had magnified.

Judgement - The Flood

"I will blot out man from the face off the land" (Gen 6:7)
God tells Noah (120 years in advance, well...assuming that's what 6:5 is talking about) to build a big boat to preserve life - because God is going to kill everyone in a flood.

Mercy - Patience in judgement (120 years), perservation of Noah, promise of the rainbow.

> God waits 120 years to destroy humanity.
God preserves Noah (ultimately part of the the channel of salvation)
quick note that we don't really have any idea how signficant this is at this point (the need for a redeemer)

God promises never to destroy everyone in a flood again - the rainbow
Sin effects all of humanity.
Sin also seems to magnify as it spreads.

Hope does not die!

A godly line is consistently preserved.

cain kills abel...but seth is born (4:25,26)
4:26 "then men began to call upon the name of the Lord"
enoch reminds us that godly men are still being born
enoch walked with god (Gen 5:24)
geneologies show us the thread of how the godly line is preserved
chapter 5, 10, and 11:10-32

noah was righteous ("Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord", 6:8)

Application

a. God is in charge

in many ways, 3-11 shows mankind running wild.
God shows that he is the one in charge every time however.
- God exerts control after the sin in the garden.
- God knows Cain will sin, even comes to him and warns him.
- God judges mankind with the flood
- God thwarts mankind with Babel
humanity is again large; still sinful, though the sin is different.
note that babel is treated as clear sin, though it's not exactly clear what the sin is (pride?)
but it shows a different side of sin from before the flood - not violent this time, but still sinful.

b. God is not in a hurry

noah and the 120 years...

Why are we waiting for redemption? Why does it not just occur in Gen 4?
If I were writing history, I would either :
just destroy mankind and be done with it
or...
just redeem mankind and be done with it.
(I am obviously not writing history)

e. God is loving

See above: God is a redeemer. He preserved a godly line; it grieved God that man was so sinful. His mercy is shown at every turn, yet without compromising his justice.
also, note that god is invested emotionally in mankind. his response to the sin of mankind is anger - he cares, he is emotionally vested.

c. What do we know so far?

What do you know about God at this point? (only from Genesis so far)
How would you expect this story to continue, if at all?


Conclusion : This section tells us our first clues about Man, God, and our 'Big Problem'.

Man :
Mankind is hopelessly sinful
even after the flood, mankind is shown to clearly be evil (Babel)

God :
God responds to Man's sin with judgement.
God will also be patient with Man's sin.

Houston, We have a problem; Man is sinful, but God hates sin.