Fri.’s Devo - Man's Fall and God's Response

Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9 The serpent was the shrewdest of the animals, so Satan choose to indwell him. He went to Eve and started sowing seeds to make her doubt God’s love for her. He made her think that God was withholding some great secret knowledge from her. When she explained that if she ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil she would die, Satan told her she wouldn’t surely die. Now, he was calling God a liar. She examined the fruit and saw that it didn’t look evil, in fact, it looked delicious. She took a bite and gave some to Adam who was right there. When nothing happened to her, he took a bite. *** The first emotion they felt was exposure. Exposure led to shame and shame led to fear. By the time God showed up they had sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves and had hidden in fear. When God questioned them about eating from the tree they started blaming anyone but themselves. Adam blamed both Eve and God because he had given her to Adam. Then Eve blamed the serpent. God didn’t ask the serpent. He cursed it and told him he would now crawl on his belly in dust. God would cause him and the woman and her offspring to be forever hostile to one another. The serpent might strike man’s head, but mankind would strike his heel. In other words, the serpent might look like he is winning in the start, but man would get the final say and win in the end. *** The woman was cursed with pain in childbirth. She would have the desire to rule her husband, but man would rule over her. God cursed man by cursing the ground. Man would have to work hard to make it bring forth food. He would die and return to the earth. *** Adam then gave Eve her name and told her she would be the mother of all who live. God sacrificed one of his animals and gave them the pelts from it to cover themselves. *** Since man now knew good and evil, God had to kick them out of Eden so they wouldn’t eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in that state. So God sent them out of Eden and placed mighty cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the entrance to Eden. *** Adam had sex with his wife and she had two sons Cain and later… Abel. Abel became a shepherd and Cain worked as a farmer. At harvest, they both brought a gift to the Lord. Abel brought the best first-born lambs of his crop. Cain gave some of his crops to the Lord. The Lord was pleased with Abel’s gift but not Cain’s. Cain felt angry and rejected. The Lord warned Cain of what would happen if he didn’t deal with his anger. He told him that sin was crouching at the door, eager to control him; he must subdue sin and be its master. Cain didn’t listen to the Lord and became a slave to sin. *** In his jealousy, he killed Abel and buried him in the field. God came to Cain and asked him where Abel was. When Cain deflected his answer, God told him that Abel’s blood was crying out from the ground. He banished Cain from the place he had buried Abel, which was probably the field he worked. He told him that he would no longer be a successful farmer but be a homeless vagabond. He put a mark on him that warned anyone who might want to kill him. They would be punished sevenfold. Cain left there and went to the land of Nod. There he and his wife began their family and it grew and spread. One of his off-spring, Lamech, killed a man who had attacked him. He made the statement that whoever killed him would be punished seventy-seven times. Shedding blood was becoming more and more costly. *** Meanwhile, Adam and Eve had another son and named him Seth which means “Substituted”. He was to take the place of Abel. Seth had a son and named him Enosh which means “mortal man.” At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name. *** In Matthew, the wise men went back east and an angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt because Herod would try to kill Jesus. God would tell them when it was safe to return. Joseph left that night for Egypt. They stayed there till the death of Herod. *** Herod was so mad when he realized the wise men were not coming to tell him where the king was. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys around Bethlehem who were two years old and younger. This was what Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 40:3. *** When Herod died, an angel told Joseph he could return home. The angel warned him not to go back to Bethlehem, so he went to a town called Nazareth. *** John the Baptist began his ministry in the wilderness. People from all over Judea went to hear him. He told them to repent and confess their sins and be baptized in the Jordan. Many repented and were cleansed in the water. *** Lord, thank you for the blood of Christ that makes us free from the power of sin. May we be a servant of righteousness instead. Thank you that you have redeemed us from the curse and showered us with blessings.