LESSON
1
The
First Judgment
V. The First
judgement
The immediate result of
man's choice to disobey rather than obey God was the first judgment on sin, in
the form of four curses and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of
Eden.
A. Serpent Is
Cursed
The first curse was on
the serpent, the devil. God said to him, "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 shall thou eat all the days of thy life"
(Genesis 3:14). There has been speculation that the serpent may have previously
had some other way of travel, since the curse involved going upon his belly. We
don't know this for sure. But if the serpent had a more noble and lofty
appearance and image before, he lost it because he was an accomplice in the
temptation of Eve.
B. The Curse Upon
the Woman
The second curse was
on the woman. To her, God 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" (Genesis 3:16). As a
result of Eve's sin, she brought upon the female population of the human race
increased sorrow and conception. Even the very blessed and joyous event of
childbirth is colored by the pain and travail. In addition, God said the man
would rule over the woman. As unpleasant as these things may be to some, they
are the consequences of sin.
C. The Curse Upon
the Land
The third curse was
upon the land. God said to Adam, "Because thou has hearkened unto the
voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee,
saying, Thou shall not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow
shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee; and thou shall eat of the herb of the field" (Genesis
3:17, 18). Have you ever noticed that you don't have to plant weeds? You must
carefully plant and cultivate the food you wish to grow, but thorns and
thistles and all manner of weeds grow naturally! This is a result of the curse
that God made. Every time you struggle to grow a beautiful flower, each time
you weed your garden, or work to free your lawn from dandelions, the Lord is
trying to remind man of the sinfulness of man, and of his need of God.
D. The Curse Upon
the Man
The fourth curse was
on the man, Adam. God said, "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" (Genesis 3:19). From this
point forward, man would find life to be a struggle. He would only live by
exertion, by effort, and would finally go back to the dust from which he was
made.
E.The First Promise
of the Redeemer
In the midst of these
curses, however, there was a promise. God said, "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" (Genesis 3:15). This was a
prediction of the ultimate triumph of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, over Satan.
Notice, from the very beginning, the devil's fate has been sealed. He has never
been within striking range of achieving victory in his evil struggle. From the
beginning, he was a defeated enemy.
This state of
innocence of Adam and Eve was ended with God giving them a promise. Also God
provided a covering of skin for their nakedness (Genesis 3:21).
F. Man Driven From
the Garden
Finally, as a direct result of their sin, Adam and Eve
were put out of the Garden of Eden. In order to prevent man from eating of the
Tree of Life, and living forever in his depraved state, the Lord God sent him
from the garden, to till the ground. At the east of the Garden of Eden, God
placed Cherubims, or angelic creatures, with a flaming sword which turned in
all directions, to protect the access to the Tree of Life. This happening to
Adam and Eve is a story of influence and what it can do to someone else. The
old gas lamps that used to light our streets tell a story. Harry Lauder said
when he was a child, he used to watch one old lamp lighter as he moved along in
the gathering shadows leaving a stream of light behind him. Harry said that
even when his little legs would not move fast enough to keep up with the
lamplighter, he could tell exactly where the lamplighter was by the trail of
light that he left behind. That is true through all of life. People can tell
where we are, how far we have gone and how much we have done by the light or
darkness that we leave behind.