FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Todd Gaddis

God also plagued the earth by stating, “Cursed is the ground because of you. It will produce thorns and thistles for you” (Genesis 3:17,18). Paul elaborated on the earth’s fall when he informed the church at Rome: “The creation was subjected to frustration, not only by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it” (Romans 8:20). I believe this includes such natural disasters as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes, as well as the steady decay process to which the earth has been subjected. The key recipients of the curse, however, were Adam, Eve, and their descendants —the billions in which you and I are included. As previously mentioned, God reacted to their rebellion by initiating the death process –both physical and spiritual. And in addition to forcing Adam into hard labor upon the sin-saturated earth, God dealt with Eve by greatly increasing the pain during her childbearing. Note, too, the Lord said, “Man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). To help solidify this sentence, God banished Adam and Eve from Eden and then placed an armed angel on its east side to keep them from getting back in. Ironically, this part of the curse set the stage for correction , because, if the couple had eaten of the tree of life in their fallen condition, they would have remained forever in their sins. “They would have become like the fallen angels, incapable of death and forever locked into the guilt and penalty of their sin. It would have become impossible to renew them to repentance.” 5 Garments of skin were also included in this process of restoration and redemption. Once Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and the couple experienced guilt for the first time, they covered themselves with fig leaves. This attempt proved futile, because they couldn’t do for themselves what only God could provide. A contribution from a plant could never compare to the sacrifice of an animal. The necessity of blood and death in sacrifice is underscored later when God rejected Cain’s offering from the soil and accepted Abel’s fat portions from his

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