DAY 60 - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE FALL & THE FLOOD
“And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”
Genesis 2: 16, 17
Reading: Luke 4: 1 – 13
We hope you enjoyed our Easter devotional studies, Walk with Jesus, and found them enriching and a helpful aid to your worship of Jesus at this special time of the year. Have you yet purchased your copy of 10 Reasons To Get Hoppy About Easter? It’s a must-read for every Christian. I highly recommend it, especially as it is an absolute steal at only R50. The book presents 10 of the main facts we need to know and understand concerning the resurrection of Jesus (Hint: it’s waaaaaay more important that you ever realized).
It’s time to pick up Big Picture in a Year studies again. We’ve already spent two full months looking at the Creation and the People – Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Here we saw that God created everything and it was good. It worked perfectly and it pleased Him completely. We saw that He had made all of it as a home for His home where He intended to live with them.
Now we pick up the story from Genesis 2 and continue with it into Genesis 3. In this 'chapter' of the story of mankind, we see everything go horribly wrong. Despite the fact that God had commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a serpent succeeded in deceiving them into doing so. Immediately their perception on God, each other and their world changed. God spoke to them in judgment and they were forced to leave the Garden.
This moment in the story is what theologians call the Fall.
It is unspeakably sad that the glorious relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with the Lord in their common ground – the Garden of Eden – lasted but two short chapters. We don’t know how long that it was in ‘real’ time but in terms of the length and volume of the Bible, it is but the blink of an eye. It’s a sad story, a nightmare, but we cannot ignore it. We need to know what happened there, we need to understand the why’s and how’s of it so that we can join Jesus’ redemption work in our time.
If we read carefully we are able to see that hints of the Fall occur earlier than Genesis 3 in the Biblical narrative. As we saw in Genesis 1 and 2, man is not simply a part of creation as the other creatures are. While we were made of the same dust as they were, we were uniquely endowed as the only creatures created in the image and likeness of God. This means, amongst many other things, that mankind in a very real sense, determines his being by the free and responsible choices he makes. This is a frightening and often, unwelcome, reality. How many times haven’t you moaned, “God, just tell me what to do?” or “Lord, come and do this for me.”
We get the first inkling of the vast implications of this freedom in Genesis 2: 17 where Adam and Eve are told by God that they may eat from all the trees, except one. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For the first time in Scripture the words occur: “you shall,” and “you shall not.” Man’s glory involves a choice, and choice implies the awful possibility of failure and misery.
If mankind proves obedient, they will be confirmed in righteousness, a state of peace and harmony symbolized by the tree of life in the midst of the Garden. But if they fail, if they are disobedient, they will be confirmed in sin, and marked for death.
Do we mistake the grace of our sin-substitute as a license to disobey God? If we do, we err seriously.
Prayer
How often I’ve wished I had no freedom of choice! Forgive me Lord and rather, help me to make right choices that please You.
For the family
Parents, click on the link below to find some helpful tips on how to help your children make good choices
Explain
Explain the study in an age-appropriate way.
Engage
Present the children with a real decision that needs to be made. Follow the steps below to help them practice making choices.
- What decision needs to be made
- What are the options
- Evaluate the options and pick the best one. Ask yourself: what does my mind tell me, what does my heart say, what does my experience show me?
- Act on your choice and see how it works out
Craft
Click on the link below to find a super-easy, very enjoyable and inexpensive craft to do with the kids.
Easy autumn tree of life craft