The Love of God Never Fails

Genesis 3:20-24                                                                                                           Lesson 3

Key verse: Genesis 3:21,                                                                  Kevin E. Jesmer   8-10-20

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”                                                                                              

Though we might have thought that God was angry with Adam and Eve and would only want to punish them, we find things are quite to the contrary. We find that God never stopped loving them. He poured out his love in so many ways; he restored the relationship between Adam and Eve; he cared about their physical and spiritual needs with the animal skin clothing; he planned to redeem them so they could dwell with him; he gave them eternal hope. God’s love never fails, even in the midst of our sin.

Though Adam and Eve had a broken relationship with each other, after God confronted them with their sin in the Garden, it appears that they were reconciled after their expulsion. Earlier Adam had blamed his wife and inadvertently blamed God also for his falling away. He told God, “That women you put here with me. She gave me some fruit and I ate it”. At that time Adam referred to Eve as, “That women”.  If he kept up with bitterness, he could have named Eve a Serpent Follower. Maybe even “Serpent-Tina”.

God helped him to have the right viewpoint of his wife. His attitude towards his wife changed. Look at verse 20, “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.”  He called her “Eve”. He saw her with new eyes. He was confident that his wife would be the mother of all the living and not the dying. Adam knew that Eve would bear children and leave a lasting legacy.  He had confidence in her and in God. And Eve has indeed become the mother of all the living.

After God cast them out of the Garden, his love for Adam and Eve was not cast out. God could have told them to, “take off… I have had enough of you both and your sinful ways. Fend for yourselves now” But God was not like this. He still loved them. God cared about their physical condition.  Look at verse 21, “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”  His love had not changed. He sacrificed a precious animal for them, to protect them. They needed warm coverings for themselves in the fallen world and God provided it.

God also cared about their spiritual condition as well. Earlier, when Adam and his wife sinned, they realized they were both naked and they felt shame. In order of cover over their sense of shame, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. It was not for staying warm. It was for their inner spiritual need to seek relief from shame. They concocted their own means to solve their spiritual problem. It was ineffective.

But here we see God himself, trying to cover their shame with an animal skin. God was doing this for them. They were not doing this for themselves. It cost God something, the death of one of his animals. It involved the shedding of blood. It was a very effectual covering. It not only covered up their shame, but it also brought them warmth. It was exactly what they needed at the time.

This is the beginning of the whole concept of animal sacrifice to help eliminate mankind’s shame caused by sin. God was willing to accept the shedding of blood as a means to procure the forgiveness of sin and free us from shame. Of course, we Christians know where this is leading. It actually points to Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God who shed his precious holy blood on the cross so that we might be forgiven and be set free from our sin and our shame and allow us to walk in newness of life.

God also cared about the quality of their eternal state. Look at verse 22-24, “And the LORD God said, ‘The 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.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.’” Why wouldn’t God want them to live forever? It is not that God does not want them to live forever. He does. But he does not want them to live together in their fallen state. After they sinned, they were full of shame, blame and a terror of God that caused them to hide from him. How could they live forever in that condition? They could not. They wouldn’t even want to live forever in that condition.

But God had a plan to make it so that Adam and Eve could live forever in a redeemed state. According to God’s plan they would eventually enjoy eternal life with God forever. While they journeyed in the fallen world, their whole inner beings would be transformed by the power of God. They would be made fit for eternity with God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.” God would make Adam and Eve, and their believing descendants into new creations, who are able to live forever with the Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven and eat freely from the trees of life. There would be no more blaming; no more shame, no more hiding from God. They would be with God forever. Joy, peace and love would be overflowing.

God filled their hearts with hope. Look at verse 24, “After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” When God cast them out of the Garden, he could have shut off access to the Garden permanently. But he did not. Yes, he did place two cherubim with swords flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. But the Garden is still there, yet it is inaccessible to fallen, unredeemed people. The fact that the cherubim are there means that we can’t just stroll back and forth there. There is no way for us to go there on our own.

If we are ever going to be able to go back to the Garden, it must be because God himself brings us there. And that is exactly what he does. He brings us there by means of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Jesus once said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?”(John 14:2) Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads his flock to green pastures and quiet waters. (Psalm 23:2) Jesus will lead us past the flaming swords or the cheribum and we will enter the Kingdom of God and eat of the fruit from the tree of life. Adam and Eve’s hearts were full of hope to one day return to perfect paradise in the Garden with God forever. We too can share in that hope.

God has kept hope of eternal life in his kingdom alive for all who believe.  The kingdom of God is our true home. This world is not our home. We are just passing through on a pilgrimage on our way to our Father’s side in heaven.  Most people are focused on living a better life in this world. They thirst for teaching from any source to bring them a little peace. They don’t care where it comes from, Buddha or Gandhi, or the Dali Lama. Though some of their teachings may be helpful at times, they are powerless to get anyone past the two cherubim with the flashing swords. They are blind guides. Only Jesus knows the way to the Kingdom of God. All others are blind guides when it comes to getting to back to the Garden.

Part 2: The Basis of Their Eternal Life

God said that Adam and Eve must not reach out their hand and eat of the tree of life and live forever. I was taken back when I heard this verse (after studying the Bible for 34 years!). The question begs to be asked, “If they aren’t living forever, and if eating the fruit will make them live forever, then had they ever eaten the fruit, before the Fall? Did they have eternal life in the Garden? What was the basis of their eternal life?” It means that Adam and Eve had never eaten from the tree of life yet, for if they had they would have lived forever. I believe that while in the Garden they had eternal life. But their eternal life was based in fact that they did not sin. Not because they were supping from the fruits of the tree of life. Where there is no sin, there is no death. Jesus was sinless and therefore the grave could no longer hold him. Jesus forgives us of our sins and thus we are granted eternal life.

After the fall, Adam and Eve were guilty of sin. With sin came a broken relationship with God and also with it came death. They only way to live forever, after the fall, was to eat fruit from the tree of life. God was making that impossible. They could only attain eternal life by submitting to God and letting God give eternal life to them in his way and on his terms. They would only be able to have be granted eternal life by God’s grace. I believe we will see Adam and Eve enjoying eternal life with God in his Kingdom. We will be all supping on the fruit of the tree of life together. Praise the Lord!

This hope makes all the difference in the world. A loved one recently passed away. I cannot see any evidence of their conversion. Their death was very sorrowful. It was the death of a man with no hope. I have seen Christian funerals. They are hopeful even in death. They have a confidence that they will be resurrected to eternal life. Their funerals are actually celebrations of life. It is because they know that God has forgiven their sins and granted them eternal life by his love.

One Word: God’s love never fails