What God Did About Sin And The Fall

WHAT DID GOD DO ABOUT SIN AND THE FALL?

Yahweh began to reveal his plan at the time of the story of the fall, and gradually made it clearer throughout the Old Testament: all the way through Torah, Nebi’im, and Kethubim.

1. Yahweh outlined his plan for Adam and Eve[i]: “…I will put enmity between you, Satan, and the woman and between your seed and her’s. The seed of the woman shall bruise your head with a fatal wound and you shall bruise his heal. Your wound won’t do any permanent harm.”

1)      Adam was given control over all of creation.

1. Sin separated Adam and Eve[ii] from Yahweh, with no conceivable hope of reconciliation.

2)      Satan took the management away when he convinced Eve that Yahweh was a liar. Mankind lost our position of power and became the victim. We were no longer in control.

3)      Yahweh promised to send someone who could take the power from Satan and return mankind to our original position.

1. This someone would be the seed[iii] of the woman.
2. It is impossible, biologically, for a woman to have seed. Women have eggs and men have seed. The conclusion is that he was speaking of a particular man.
3. He would be born of woman and not of man.

2. Yahweh began teaching mankind whet it would take to pay the wages of sin and overcome Satan at the time of the fall.

1)      He killed an innocent animal to provide a covering for the obvious corrupted state of their bodies.

1. It was probably the first death Adam and Eve had ever witnessed.

1. It was a rude awakening to the result of corruption[iv].
2. It revealed the principle of blood; the death of the innocent to provide a covering for the guilty.
3. The principle of faith; Adam and eve accepted the skins from Yahweh by faith that they would cover their sin.

a)      They had tried to cover their corruption with fig leaves and found them lacking.

2)      Yahweh taught through the Jewish feasts.

1. Passover is the first feast initiated by Yahweh.
2. The Angel of death passed over the families who had obeyed Yahweh.

¨      Their obedience was an act of faith that Yahweh would be faithful to his word.

¨      The Passover lamb was perfect, without blemish.

¨      The Passover lamb was to have no broken bones.

ii.            Unleavened bread was to be eaten.

• The Israelites were told to remove all traces of leaven from the house.

a)      Leaven is a biblical picture of sin.

b)      Unleavened bread doesn’t spoil.

c)      The unleavened bread must be stripped and pierced.

iii.            Bitter herbs were a part of the feast.

• To remind them of the bondage they were free from.

3)      Yahweh revealed more through the prophets.

1. He revealed the chosen nation who the Savior would come through.

v  From the seed of the woman, to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob narrowed down to a descendent of Judah and heir to the throne of David[v].

v  He revealed the chosen birthplace, time, and mode of the Savior’s birth.

1. Between 740 and 700 B.C. in Micah 5:2
2. Around 607 B.C. in Daniel 9:25
3. Around 700 B.C. in Isaiah 7:14
   • He revealed the details of the sacrifice.
4. Around 700 B.C. in Isaiah 53
5. Between 1171 B.C. and 1018 B.C. in psalm 69:4; 34:20
6. Between 1177 B.C. and 1018 B.C. in psalm 68:10, 18

4)      Yahweh also left a record of his plan and the history of its progress.

¨      In the written word.

v  Through the genealogy.

a)      The seed of the woman, after Cain killed Able, was to come through Seth[vi], noah, and shem; Abraham, Jacob, Judah, David, and joseph; to mane just a few.

v  Through historical events.

¨      The giving of the law, which would forever remind mankind how far from perfect we are.

¨      Declarations made by the kings of Babylon – Nebuchadnezzar, and Darrius.

¨      The establishment of the priesthood who offered atoning sacrifices for the sins of the people.

v  Through prophesy.

5)      In the history and traditions of Yahweh’s chosen people.

1. In the yearly cycle.

(1)   Rosh Hodesh celebrates the beginning of the new moon and the new month

(a)   The blessings speak of the hope of redemption.

(2)   Rosh Hashnah, the New Year celebrates the first day of a period of ten days referred to as the Days of Awe, days of repentance, or Holy Days culminating with the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

(3)   Yom
Ha-Atzmut celebrates Israel Independence Day.

(a)   A chosen people are back in the chosen land.

1. The life cycle.

(1)   Birth

(a)   The circumcision of an eight-day old new-born male is the outward sign of the Jewish covenant with Yahweh.

(b)   The principle of faith.

i)        It is by faith that the act makes the new-born male a part of the covenant.

(c)    The principle of blood

ii)      Blood has to be drawn to make the ritual valid.

(2)   Marriage illustrates Yahweh’s relationship to Israel.
(a) The groom says. “Behold, you are consecrated to me.”

(3)   Death, the preordained outcome of this life.

v  In world history.

The Roman Empire

1.1.   The Roman environment of unity of mankind was favorable to the message of the gospel.

1.2.   Relative peace and freedom of movement.

1.3.   The rejection of gods by conquered people.

The intellectual environment of the Greeks, who conquered the Romans culturally.

1.1  Greek was a universal language and Koine, which the New Testament was written in, was the dialect of the common people.

1.2  The discipline of Greek philosophy rendered polytheistic religion unintelligible; but philosophy left mankind seeking something to fill the vacuum of their spiritual lives.

1.3  Greek philosophy (Stoicism) taught the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man and had a high code of ethics, but it left mankind to work out how he was to obey natural laws he discovered by nothing but his own reasoning power.

(A)   Mankind was unable to reach Yahweh by human reason.

(B)   We were ready for someone to show us the way.

The place and state of the Jewish nation at the appointed time.

1.1  Julius Caesar was welcomed by the Jewish people as a deliverer when he conquered Pompey.

 

(a)   He gave the Jews greater freedom over their affairs and allowed them to rebuild the temple.

b)      He gave the Jews special permission to abstain from the required pagan sacrifices.

1.2  The Jewish people assumed the existence of Yahweh and granted him his due worship.

1.3  Judaism was a striking contrast to the generality of pagan religions.

(a)   It emphasized a firm spiritual monotheism and maintained an atmosphere of expectance for the coming Mashiach.

(b)   Through the institution of the Jewish Synagogue, Jew and Gentile alike could familiar with a higher approach to life.

(c)    Judaism had the purest ethical system in existence.

1. It was more than external, mechanical, contractual failure.
2. It was more than a rationalistic system of ethics.
3. It was personal and objective.

CONCLUSION

Yahweh outlined his plan of redemption at the time of the fall and began teaching mankind what it would take to overcome Satan and return us to our intended state. He left a record of his plan and its progress and prepared the world for its fulfillment.

 

 

 

[i] Genesis 3:15

[ii] Adan and Eve represent all males and all females

[iii] offspring

[iv] sin

[v] Genesis 3:15; 18:18; 17:19 – Numbers 24:17 – Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 9:7

[vi] Genesis 4:25