What the Story of Adam and Eve REALLY Tells Us
One of the most magical parts of Christmas is Christmas lights. Have you ever attempted to put up Christmas lights with another family member, probably your child, only to be met by a somewhat forced, “looks great,” upon completion? Or have you ever been the one trying to encourage the person putting up the lights with a “looks great?” The promise of lights is really a promise of being together.
The love for the creator or the observer isn’t based on whether the act was performed well or on how magical the house looked. The love stems from the relationship between the two.
The same can be said about our relationship with God. It’s not dependent on how well we perform.
We all have moments where we try so hard to get it right, and when things don’t go the way we hoped, we start hearing this voice in our heads.
It’s moments like this that something starts to creep into our hearts and build inside of us. It’s fear. We fear that our behavior disqualifies us, and our worst days define us. We fear that our failures somehow separate us from God’s promise. So, we walk through life afraid that what we’ve done has changed the terms of God.
God’s promises do not crack under the weight of our failure.
This is why Genesis 3 hits so hard. It’s not just a story about Adam and Eve, it’s a story about us.
Genesis 3
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
This might be the darkest chapter in the Bible, but it contains the first spark of the Christmas story.
Verses 1-5
The serpent comes and presents the first false gospel, but it’s not a political battle or some epic supernatural showdown. The very first time Scripture records an attack from the enemy, it’s an attack of insecurity.
The most insecure areas of your life are where the enemy will hit you the hardest.
When fighting an enemy, you go for the weak spot. The enemy doesn’t fight fair, and we need to stop expecting him to. One of the weakest spots of all humanity is:
Because the enemy knows the truth, he can poison your belief about God’s character; he doesn’t need to mess with anything else.
This is our wakeup call!
We scan the world for evil in politics, culture, headlines, and institutions. Still, meanwhile, our thoughts about God – our beliefs about His goodness, His nearness, His promises, His love – are left completely unguarded and unchecked.
If he can get you to doubt who God is, he can get you to doubt who you are and who you are to God. If he can shake your confidence in God’s promise, he can unravel your confidence in God’s presence.
This is why Genesis 3 matters.
Verses 9-13
Here’s the moment they get caught.
Think of when a child disobeys. Usually, the first question asked by an adult is, “What did you do?” And we ask this because we’re allowing the disobeyer to confess.
But that’s not what God asks.
The very first sentence after sin enters the world is not, “Do you know what you’ve done?” “Why did you do this?” “Look at the mess you’ve made.”
Instead, God says, “Where are you?”
He doesn’t ask because He lacks information. He’s not confused. He’s asking because He’s inviting relationship. He’s seeking His children and pursuing what’s lost – not interrogating. He wants them to know that even in their shame, hiding, or fear, He’s still drawing near.
God doesn’t run from sinners; He runs toward them.
Matthew 1
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
In Genesis, God asks, “Where are you?” In Bethlehem, He answers His own question, “I am with you.”
The question of Eden becomes the declaration of Advent. The real story of Scripture is God relentlessly coming toward us.
God always comes looking for us – always.
Not because we deserve it. Not because we apologized. Not because we wanted Him first. Not because of anything we could do. God comes looking for His people because of who God is. He doesn’t come looking for us after we’ve changed. He seeks us while we are still sinners.
Advent is not about humanity climbing back to God; it is about God coming down to us. The manger is proof that God doesn’t wait for the world to be ready for Him – He enters a world that will NEVER be ready apart from Him moving in our direction.
Verses 14-15
Because sin has entered the world, God has to judge it. But notice who the judgment and curse are directed at first. It’s not Adam or Eve. It’s the serpent.
God is talking to the serpent, a real animal used in the temptation. But He’s also talking to Satan, the evil behind the serpent, the enemy of our souls. The pronouncement is also of Satan’s humiliation and defeat.
Before God ever announces our redemption, He announces evil’s defeat.
That order matters. It tells us that God isn’t improvising in response to sin. He’s not scrambling to rescue humanity. He’s sovereign, aware, and entirely in command. Redemption is not God reacting to evil; it’s God overthrowing it.
Genesis reminds us that the battle didn’t start with us, and it doesn’t end with us. God stepped into the conflict first, confronting the enemy before comforting His people. The Christian life is not fought for victory – it’s fought from victory.
Imagine taking a final exam, knowing your grade is already secured. That’s the Christian life. We’re not trying to pass the test. In Christ, the outcome is settled. Victory is secured. God declared evil’s defeat before He declared salvation’s plan.
We fear the things we’ve done disqualify us from God’s love and promises. We fear we’ve blown it, gone too far, or that God is looking to punish us, not rescue us. But Genesis 3 disproves that.
If God declares that the enemy is defeated, then nothing about your past, behavior, or brokenness can stop Him from loving you, coming for you, or saving you.
Genesis 3
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
Enmity means deep hostility, active opposition, or intense conflict between two parties. God’s declaring a lifelong, multigenerational conflict between the serpent (evil) and humanity – a spiritual battle that runs through Scripture until…
Genesis 3
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
This is a birth announcement – the first Christmas prophecy. Someone is coming.
So right there in Genesis 3, before Adam and Eve even step out of the garden, God says, “Someone is coming – Someone who will put everything back together.”
And here’s what’s so personal about it – God isn’t just making a theological point; He’s making a family promise. He’s telling His children, “I know you’re hiding. I know you’re afraid. I know you think you’ve ruined everything. But I’m not leaving you this way. Someone is coming… for you.”
That’s Advent.
Not just a manger scene, but a promise fulfilled. Advent is God telling us He hasn’t given up on us and that Jesus is already on His way.
Pastor Joey explains that even in our failure, fear, or even when we deserved judgment and condemnation, God promised anyway.
The love for the creator or the observer isn’t based on whether the act was performed well or on how magical the house looked. The love stems from the relationship between the two.
The same can be said about our relationship with God. It’s not dependent on how well we perform.
We all have moments where we try so hard to get it right, and when things don’t go the way we hoped, we start hearing this voice in our heads.
- “You should be doing better.”
- “You’re letting people down.”
- “God must be tired of this by now.”
- “You messed up the moment – and now you’ve messed up the promise.”
It’s moments like this that something starts to creep into our hearts and build inside of us. It’s fear. We fear that our behavior disqualifies us, and our worst days define us. We fear that our failures somehow separate us from God’s promise. So, we walk through life afraid that what we’ve done has changed the terms of God.
God’s promises do not crack under the weight of our failure.
This is why Genesis 3 hits so hard. It’s not just a story about Adam and Eve, it’s a story about us.
Genesis 3
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
This might be the darkest chapter in the Bible, but it contains the first spark of the Christmas story.
Verses 1-5
The serpent comes and presents the first false gospel, but it’s not a political battle or some epic supernatural showdown. The very first time Scripture records an attack from the enemy, it’s an attack of insecurity.
The most insecure areas of your life are where the enemy will hit you the hardest.
When fighting an enemy, you go for the weak spot. The enemy doesn’t fight fair, and we need to stop expecting him to. One of the weakest spots of all humanity is:
- Am I still loved?
- Am I still accepted?
- Have my failures separated me from God?
Because the enemy knows the truth, he can poison your belief about God’s character; he doesn’t need to mess with anything else.
This is our wakeup call!
We scan the world for evil in politics, culture, headlines, and institutions. Still, meanwhile, our thoughts about God – our beliefs about His goodness, His nearness, His promises, His love – are left completely unguarded and unchecked.
If he can get you to doubt who God is, he can get you to doubt who you are and who you are to God. If he can shake your confidence in God’s promise, he can unravel your confidence in God’s presence.
This is why Genesis 3 matters.
Verses 9-13
Here’s the moment they get caught.
Think of when a child disobeys. Usually, the first question asked by an adult is, “What did you do?” And we ask this because we’re allowing the disobeyer to confess.
But that’s not what God asks.
The very first sentence after sin enters the world is not, “Do you know what you’ve done?” “Why did you do this?” “Look at the mess you’ve made.”
Instead, God says, “Where are you?”
He doesn’t ask because He lacks information. He’s not confused. He’s asking because He’s inviting relationship. He’s seeking His children and pursuing what’s lost – not interrogating. He wants them to know that even in their shame, hiding, or fear, He’s still drawing near.
God doesn’t run from sinners; He runs toward them.
Matthew 1
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
In Genesis, God asks, “Where are you?” In Bethlehem, He answers His own question, “I am with you.”
The question of Eden becomes the declaration of Advent. The real story of Scripture is God relentlessly coming toward us.
God always comes looking for us – always.
Not because we deserve it. Not because we apologized. Not because we wanted Him first. Not because of anything we could do. God comes looking for His people because of who God is. He doesn’t come looking for us after we’ve changed. He seeks us while we are still sinners.
Advent is not about humanity climbing back to God; it is about God coming down to us. The manger is proof that God doesn’t wait for the world to be ready for Him – He enters a world that will NEVER be ready apart from Him moving in our direction.
Verses 14-15
Because sin has entered the world, God has to judge it. But notice who the judgment and curse are directed at first. It’s not Adam or Eve. It’s the serpent.
- Now, YOU are cursed.
- Now, YOU are going to crawl on your belly.
- Now, YOU will eat dust.
God is talking to the serpent, a real animal used in the temptation. But He’s also talking to Satan, the evil behind the serpent, the enemy of our souls. The pronouncement is also of Satan’s humiliation and defeat.
Before God ever announces our redemption, He announces evil’s defeat.
That order matters. It tells us that God isn’t improvising in response to sin. He’s not scrambling to rescue humanity. He’s sovereign, aware, and entirely in command. Redemption is not God reacting to evil; it’s God overthrowing it.
Genesis reminds us that the battle didn’t start with us, and it doesn’t end with us. God stepped into the conflict first, confronting the enemy before comforting His people. The Christian life is not fought for victory – it’s fought from victory.
Imagine taking a final exam, knowing your grade is already secured. That’s the Christian life. We’re not trying to pass the test. In Christ, the outcome is settled. Victory is secured. God declared evil’s defeat before He declared salvation’s plan.
We fear the things we’ve done disqualify us from God’s love and promises. We fear we’ve blown it, gone too far, or that God is looking to punish us, not rescue us. But Genesis 3 disproves that.
If God declares that the enemy is defeated, then nothing about your past, behavior, or brokenness can stop Him from loving you, coming for you, or saving you.
Genesis 3
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
Enmity means deep hostility, active opposition, or intense conflict between two parties. God’s declaring a lifelong, multigenerational conflict between the serpent (evil) and humanity – a spiritual battle that runs through Scripture until…
Genesis 3
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
This is a birth announcement – the first Christmas prophecy. Someone is coming.
- He will be born of a woman – God Himself will enter our world through the very humanity that fell.
- He will be wounded but victorious. The cross will cost him, but the wound won’t define Him – the victory will.
- His victory will be final and complete. Crushing the serpent’s head means total, irreversible defeat.
So right there in Genesis 3, before Adam and Eve even step out of the garden, God says, “Someone is coming – Someone who will put everything back together.”
And here’s what’s so personal about it – God isn’t just making a theological point; He’s making a family promise. He’s telling His children, “I know you’re hiding. I know you’re afraid. I know you think you’ve ruined everything. But I’m not leaving you this way. Someone is coming… for you.”
That’s Advent.
Not just a manger scene, but a promise fulfilled. Advent is God telling us He hasn’t given up on us and that Jesus is already on His way.
Pastor Joey explains that even in our failure, fear, or even when we deserved judgment and condemnation, God promised anyway.
Posted in Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve
Posted in Adam and Eve, The Book of Genesis, Christian Blog, Christian Church New Jersey, Long Hill Chapel Chatham, Chatham New Jersey, Christian Sermon Online, Christian Sermon Series, Christian Church NJ, Long Hill NJ, Long Hill Chapel, LHC Anyway, Pastor Joey Monteleone LHC
Posted in Adam and Eve, The Book of Genesis, Christian Blog, Christian Church New Jersey, Long Hill Chapel Chatham, Chatham New Jersey, Christian Sermon Online, Christian Sermon Series, Christian Church NJ, Long Hill NJ, Long Hill Chapel, LHC Anyway, Pastor Joey Monteleone LHC
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