The Garden of Eden was a wonderful place where Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. What went wrong?
Before You ListenTheme: Doing What’s Right - The Story Begins
2. What did God say would happen to Adam and Eve if they ate from the tree in the middle of the garden?
A: They would die.
A: Be like God, knowing good and evil.
Adam and Eve had everything they could ever want. Then, the serpent tempted them with a false promise of getting even more. They disobeyed God and sinned against him. From then on, everything changed. They hid from God because they were ashamed and afraid. Their punishment was separation from God and a broken relationship with him. But, it is essential to see that the punishment wasn’t the end. Even though Adam and Eve had sinned, God promised that the Messiah would one day crush the head of the serpent - who we know is Satan. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people waited long for the promise of a Messiah to come true. That promise came true when Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead. The punishment for sin was real, but the promise of a savior was also real!
You can read the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Want to dig deeper and learn more about God’s promises? You can read the fulfillment of God’s promise in all of the gospels. Check out Luke 24:1-12 or John 20:1-10 for more about Jesus' resurrection from the dead as a fulfillment of God’s promise in Genesis 3:15.
Think about a time when you've sinned and needed forgiveness. We all sin, and we experience the consequences of those sins. But, just like Adam and Eve’s sins weren’t the end of their stories, our sins aren’t the end of our stories either. We can be forgiven by the people in our lives and by God.