Genesis 3:22 — Consequences of Disobedience

Explore Genesis 3:22 and the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Discover how God’s forgiveness and grace provided salvation through Christ, the ultimate sacrifice for humanity’s sin.

Genesis 3:22 Daily Word

1. [Scripture] (Genesis 3:22 – 4:1–7)

[22] Then 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—” [23] therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. [24] He 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. (Gen 3:22-24, ESV)

[1] Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” [2] And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. [3] In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, [4] and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, (Gen 4:1-4a, ESV)

5[5] but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. (Gen 4:5, ESV)[6] The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? [7] If 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, and you must rule over it.” (Gen 4:6-7, ESV)

2. [Daily Word]

# First, Genesis chapters 1–3 record God’s creation of the heavens and the earth and the fall of humankind.

What is important here is that God did not utterly destroy humanity, but instead declared that He would forgive and save people from their sin. In 3:20, Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. In verse 21, the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. God clothed the disobedient Adam and Eve with garments of skin — a sign that He was forgiving them. Even more significant, however, is that a garment of skin cannot be made without the sacrifice of another. Thus God ordained that He Himself would become our garment of skin. In giving them this covering, God was speaking today’s word: that through the “offspring of the woman” — Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah — humanity would be saved from sin.

[22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. [23] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (Heb 9:22-24, ESV)

Adam (humanity) was created from “dust” — from the ground itself. Yet into this dust-like being, God breathed the breath of life, making him a living soul. As a living soul before God, Adam was placed over the Garden of Eden to tend and rule it. But Adam sinned. And so in verse 3:23, God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

When one who belongs to heaven chooses to live not by God’s ways but only by the ways of the world, God ultimately allows that person to live entirely by the world’s ways. This is what it means to be sent out to work the ground apart from God. And so those who live only by the ways of the world cannot help but fall into sin. Yet we must remember that for those who fix their eyes on God alone — even in the midst of such a world — He grants blessing according to heaven’s ways. This is what God reveals to us through the history of Israel: that in a life marked by sin, the only way of escape is to believe that the LORD God alone is our refuge.

# Genesis Chapter 4 shows us what God’s work in history looks like.

Through the account of Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, and through the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth, God shows us what His work looks like among those who believe in Him. Let us begin with the story of Cain and Abel. Adam lay with Eve and she bore Cain and Abel. The word translated “lay with” here is the Hebrew word yada. The word yada carries the meaning “to know.”

Yet it means far more than merely knowing something intellectually — it refers to coming to know one another through deep, intimate relationship. For example, this same word yada is used in the phrase “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Adam and Eve ate the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and as a result they came to know that they were naked. To know that they were naked before one another meant that they had also come to know each other’s sin for what it truly was.

# Adam and Eve gave birth to a son.

Unlike the typical pattern in the Bible where a father names his son, here it is Eve who confesses, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” So she named him Cain, meaning “gotten” or “acquired.” She then gave birth to a second son, Abel, whose name means “vanity” or “vapor.” This foreshadows how brief and fleeting Abel’s life will be in this passage. Cain became a worker of the ground, while Abel became a keeper of sheep. As time passed and they brought offerings of thanksgiving to God, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, while Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.

Yet God accepted Abel’s offering and did not accept Cain’s. Why was this? The reason was not that Abel’s offering was an animal and Cain’s was a plant—it was a matter of the worshiper’s heart and attitude. [4] By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. (Heb 11:4, ESV) The heart and attitude that Cain brought before God were apparently not pleasing to Him.

Evidence of this appears in verse 5: “Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” The original meaning of these words conveys the idea of being dejected and hanging one’s head low—in other words, a state of discouragement. So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?” “If you do well, will you not be accepted?”

3. Application

# In the Bible, ‘sin’ refers to the condition of being out of step with God’s will.

Cain did not offer the worship that God desired and had completely strayed from God’s will. So God teaches him this: “If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.” “Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” In the world we live in, if we do not fix our eyes on God alone, sin will always be lurking and waiting at our door. Therefore, what we must do is overcome sin through faith. In fact, sin was already present even in the Garden of Eden. The warning that eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death meant that sin was lying in wait there as well.

Yet because that warning was also the word of God, the way to rule over sin was simply to keep God’s word. Sin still lurks in the world we live in today. The way to overcome it is to hear and hold fast to God’s word, which He has given to guard and protect us. Believe that when we do so, we will live fully and abundantly within God’s will — and may you walk in the victory of faith today as well.

그룹의 의미(cherugb cherubim) 14

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com