The First Sin and God's Redemption Plan, Senior - I, Lesson - 6

SENIOR

AGE GROUP: 14 - 15 YEARS

STANDARD (GRADE): IX & X

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LESSON – 6

THE FIRST SIN & GOD’S REDEMPTION PLAN

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The First Sin: 

God created the first man named Adam and a woman named Eve. God told them to subdue the earth and gave them authority over other living beings on earth. Adam and Eve were placed in a beautiful garden called Eden. Every fruit in the garden was provided for their food except the fruit from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. God told them that they would certainly die, if they eat its fruit. One day, a serpent (Refer Revelations 12:9) spoke to Eve and convinced the woman that God was preventing her from eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he did not want their eyes to be opened. Through Satan’s prompting, Eve ate the fruit of that forbidden tree and gave to Adam also. Their eyes were opened, and realised that they were naked. They lost their child-like innocence and felt ashamed. They sewed fig leaves together and made a dress for themselves.  

Did Adam and Eve die when they eat the fruit?

Even though, God had warned Adam and Eve that they would die, if they eat the forbidden fruit, from the Holy Bible we know that they did not immediately die physically the moment they ate the fruit, but lived for many years afterward. Even though Adam and Eve did not physically die that day, there were other ways in which Adam and Eve died. The Bible lists three types of death. 

                1. Physical death – This happens when the body dies.

                2. Spiritual death - The spirit which illuminates the human soul about the things of God dies within him, so the person becomes dead in his spirit and separated from God. 

                3. Eternal death - Permanent banishment / separation of humanity from God (This is the permanent separation from God after the final Judgement on the last day).

Adam and Eve did die when they ate the forbidden fruit, but their death was spiritual, not physical. Any kind of death causes separation. The death that Adam and Eve experienced when they ate the forbidden fruit was a spiritual death which caused immediate separation from God. They also experienced physical death for their disobedient act. Though it was not immediate, it still was a result from their disobedience of God. The death process began to activate in their bodies, which eventually led to their physical death also. 

Sin separates man from God:

When they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, Adam and Eve hid themselves. God asked Adam, "Why are you afraid to meet me? Have you eaten the fruit of the tree of which I told you that you must not touch it?" Instead of accepting their mistake, they blamed each other. God cursed all the three of them (Serpent, Eve and Adam).

Eve’s curse: 

Eve received curses for doubting and disobeying God. Her main curse was Labor pain. Labor pain was a part of Eve’s curse, and for all women who follow in childbirth. Child-bearing, the means of her deliverance(to understand this please read I Timothy 2:11-15), would be a painful event. Another curse was to be ruled over by her husband. 

Adam’s curse: 

Adam too received curses for his role in disobeying God's law. The ground was cursed because of him. Thorns and thistles would grow in the land and he would have to survive by sweating and toiling in the land. The next curse was that he would ultimately return to the ground. As he had come from the dust, in death he would return to the dust. 

Serpent’s curse: 

God cursed the serpent that, all the days of his life, he would eat dust and crawl on his belly. God said he would put enmity between the woman's seed and the serpent’s seed. The woman’s seed will crush the serpent’s head. 

The curses included not only Adam, Eve, and the serpent but also the future generation.  

The Redemption Plan:

However God knew the occurrence of these events through his foreknowledge, and knew of the sin and the suffering it would bring. Hence God had prepared a salvation plan for mankind before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-10; I Peter 1:19,20). God gave a hint of it when he uttered the curse on the serpent saying that He would put enmity between the woman and the serpent and the woman’s seed would crush the serpent’s head. To fulfill this eternal plan, God the Son, incarnated as a human being and was born into this world as the seed of a woman. The infinite eternal God of the universe became a man of flesh and blood. He was named Jesus. “Jesus” is the English translation of the Hebrew word “Yehoshua” which means “Yah Saves” or “Jehovah Saves”.  He lived in this world without sin, died on the cross and rose again on the third day. Jesus gave his life as an atonement for sin and overcame the curse and death which satan had brought on mankind. 

Footnotes:

Foreknowledge:

One of the important divine attributes of God is His omniscience, which means all-knowing. Because God is all-knowing, God knows what is going to happen in the future also. God knows and sees everything in advance and His will is carried out in accord with His plans and purposes. In the Old Testament God's foreknowledge is usually represented by the verb “yada”, which is the normal verb for "know." In the New Testament the main verbs are proginosko "to know in advance," and proorao, "to see what is ahead". (1) Then a question arises if God can see the future, why God doesn’t stop evil from happening? To understand this, we have to understand God’s unchanging divine attributes such as His righteousness. God has given man free-will, and when man chose to sin, it was against God’s righteousness to snatch him away from his master, the satan. That’s why He gave His son, Jesus Christ as the price to purchase man back. Through His foreknowledge when God saw man sinning, he ordained Jesus as the Lamb to be sacrificed before the foundation of this world (I Peter 1:19,20; Revelation 13:8) though the announcement of the Messiah was done after man sinned.

There are many Bible verses which tell us about the foreknowledge of God

Psalm 139:4 – For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

Psalm 139:16 – Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

I Peter 1:1,2 - Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

I Peter 1:20 – He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

Acts 2:23 – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death

Reference:

1.      Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Edited by Walter A. Elwell Copyright © 1996 by Walter A. Elwell. Published by Baker Books, a division of Baker Book House Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan USA

2.     Holy Bible Reference – Unless otherwise specified all the Scripture references are taken from NKJV.

Bible Reference: Genesis 3

Memory Verse: For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17 NKJV) 

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ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY

I.      Fill in the Blanks:

1. The …………………………………. is the Permanent banishment or separation of humanity from God.

2. The death that Adam and Eve experienced when they ate the forbidden fruit was a …………………………… .

3. The curse for Adam was, “As he had come from the dust, in death he would return to the ……………………”. 

4. “…………………….” is the English translation of the Hebrew word which means “Jehovah Saves”.

II.  Give short answers

1. What had God told Adam and Eve would happen if they eat the fruit?

 

 

2. What happened when Adam and Eve ate the fruit?

 

 

3. What was the death experienced by Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit?

 

 

4. What was God’s redemption plan?

 

 

III.          Give brief answers

1. What were the curses received by Adam, Eve and the serpent?