In the Beginning was the End, Part 2

Resound Missions Base Podcast with Leah Ramirez

Last week we covered a lot! Genesis 1-3, from creation through the fall of man. C.S. Lewis said this Fall could be understood as a “falling into oneself.” And I get that! Don’t you? It’s hopeless, that kind of fall. But I also want to remind you of what I am coming to call, the conspiratorial view of our history. Eve didn’t stumble. Adam didn’t just get lost. They were deceived. They were tricked. They were lied to. They were pushed.

Our God has an enemy. And because our Father loves us, His enemy has become our enemy. It’s because we are the apple of God’s eye, that the devil despises us so. He wants to corrupt all Good things. He wants to thwart all wisdom. He wants to kill all love. The enemy of God has made himself truly an enemy. There is nothing neutral about it.

I. CONSPIRATORIAL HISTORY

8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 10And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." 11He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" 12The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

A. The separation, the distrust, was immediate. I think this is the real death. This way of thinking, this way of NOT seeing the Father accurately is the true death. The accusation of Adam towards the Lord follows his sudden blindness. In essence, Adam is saying, “You are responsible for this separation. You did this!”

John 17

3And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

…14The Lord God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel."

B. This is all about genetics! This is all about the Seed of the Nachash/Satan verses the Seed of the Woman.

In human genetics, the Mitochondrial Eve is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all currently living humans. This is the most recent woman from whom all living humans today descend, in an unbroken line, on their mother’s side, and through the mothers of those mothers, and so on, back until all lines converge on one woman. (Wikipedia)

1 Peter 1

20God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days. (NLT)

C. We were part of, and are part of a coup d'é·tat of the Celestial Order. To the devil we are nothing more than pawns. Expendable. His intention was to take out the King.

D. We were in a sense, kidnapped from the Garden. We put aside the loving instructions of our Father and were swept up by an enemy we could never have fathomed. Suddenly we were separated. Suddenly we were lost. Suddenly we were cut off.

16To the woman he said,

"I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be for your husband,

and he shall rule over you."

17And to Adam he said,

"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

'You shall not eat of it,'

cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return."

E. After all of that just transpired, you would think there would be some massive event. And instead there is this…

II. AND THE ONE BECAME TWO

Genesis 3

20The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

A. It’s almost so everyday nothing, that we miss it. But there’s a whole lot in these two sentences. This is the first time that woman has been given a name. I want to submit to you that this was the judgment. All Eden had ever known was Oneness. Oneness with God, Oneness with one another, Oneness with all that was created. There was a harmony in everything created.

B. The Fall was immediate. There was distance immediately. There was discord immediately. Eve is named accurately, but also separately. This is the beginning of The Fall.

III. GOD MADE THE FIRST CUT

Genesis 3

21And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

A. Can you imagine how traumatic this would have been? It would have been utterly grotesque I think to witness this death. The message would have been clear:

· Only God can cover us.

· Blood is required in order to cover us.

B. This would not have been something easily forgotten. It was the last encounter with God before everything changed.

IV. IN MERCY WE WERE DRIVEN OUT

22Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" 23therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

A. The punishment has already happened. This was mercy!

V. CAIN AND ABEL

Genesis 4

1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord." 2And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6The Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."

A. This is not some arbitrary regarding. God doesn’t just like Abel better. There is something happening here. Abel is regarding the stories passed down. He sacrifices an animal. He sheds blood, recognizing that last act in Eden. He’s regarding the Lord!

B. Cain wants to bring a sacrifice, but he doesn’t want to obey. He wants to worship HIS way. He wants to honor God HIS way.

C. This is the same issue we have today. The real issue is about whether we are worshiping (which is always about surrender and obedience), or whether we are sacrificing. Sacrifice is costly too. The issue is that it stems from pride.

2 Timothy 2

3For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

D. God wasn’t regarding Abel from a whimsical place. He was regarding Abel’s regarding! He asks Cain a question that is still reverberating down through the ages... “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” The point is that Cain didn’t want to do well. He wanted God to bless his disobedience. He wanted to do what he wanted to do. This is a heart issue, and it would continue to play out over Cain’s life.

8Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Matthew 10

21Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

E. This is not a history lesson only! This is an end-time story. Who betrayed Jesus? One of his own disciples? Who betrayed Abel? His own brother. When Jesus talks about the end-times, which He does often through all of the Gospels, He tells us that this period will be marked by betrayal.

Matthew 24

9“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

F. Why does Cain kill his brother? It was jealousy. It was about conviction. He hates that Abel regards the Lord, and that the Lord regards the offering of Abel. He can’t stand what Abel represents.

9Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"

G. No remorse. No respect. Disdain and more disdain. You see this act of murder wasn’t really about Abel at all. It was about a hatred towards God. It was an act of rebellion against God!

10And the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. 11And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

H. Who is cursing Cain here? The very ground is cursing him!

12When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." 13Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

15Then the Lord said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

I. I don’t know if you see it this way, but it’s the Lord who is reaching out to protect Cain. Don’t you get the sense of the Lord’s sorrow for Cain? Don’t you see His love even here in the midst of Cain’s rebellion?

16Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

17Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

J. It’s these last verses that just absolutely floor me. Cain has been told to wander. He’s been told by the Lord not to settle down. But what does he do? Immediately he settles down! More than that, he begins to actually BUILD a city! I mean to the very end, he is going to disregard the instruction of the Lord. He is building a community around his rebellion.

VI. THE LINE OF SETH

Genesis 4

25And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him." 26To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.

A. Jesus was the plan from the very beginning! The Lord’s plan was Jesus through “the seed of the woman.” The devil tries to thwart his appearing by killing Abel. Within the very first offspring we see the Devil’s holocaust against the line of Messiah.

B. The line of Seth is now chosen for the lineage of Jesus. Remember, this is all about the plan of God and the Seed of the Woman. It has always been, and will be, about DNA.