CHAPTER FOUR

GOD’S HISTORY IN TIME 
(FROM THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE 
TO THE FINAL JUDGMENT 
AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE— 
GENESIS 1:1—REVELATION 20:15)

(3)

SAVING MAN FROM HIS FALL

Scripture Reading: Gen. 3

OUTLINE

1. Realizing the fall of man—Gen. 3:1-8, 22-24:
   1. The fall was through the deceiving of the serpent, the embodiment of the devil, Satan the tempter, who is the enemy of God—vv. 1-6; 1 Tim. 2:14; Rev. 12:9; Matt. 4:3; 13:39a.
   2. In man’s eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to forsake God as the tree of life in His economy—Gen. 3:6.
   3. The issue of man’s fall:
      1. Satan entered into man to be man’s indwelling sin—Rom. 7:17, 20-21.
      2. Sin entered into mankind—5:12a.
      3. Sin brought death to mankind—v. 12b.
      4. Sin brought vanity and the slavery of corruption to all the creation—8:20-21.
      5. Man was constituted inwardly a sinner, with the soul corrupted, the body changed in nature, and the spirit deadened—5:19a; Gen. 3:7.
      6. Man was condemned outwardly—Rom. 5:18a; Gen. 3:8.
      7. Man attempted to cover himself and hide himself from God—vv. 7-9.
      8. God would not permit man to eat the tree of life until his fallen nature would be dealt with—v. 22.
      9. God drove man out of the garden of Eden and closed to man the way to the tree of life—vv. 23-24.
2. Saving man from his fall—vv. 8-21:
   1. God came to seek the lost sinner—vv. 8-13:
      1. God cursed the tempting serpent more than all the cattle and the animals of the field, saying that he shall go upon his stomach and eat the dust—v. 14.
      2. God will greatly multiply the woman’s pain in her childbearing; in pain she will bring forth children; and her desire will be to her husband, and he will rule over her (1 Tim. 2:15)—Gen. 3:16.
      3. God cursed the ground so that it will bring forth thorns and thistles, whereby man will in toil (in Heb. the same word as pain in v. 16) and by the sweat of his face (1 Pet. 4:1b-2) eat of the ground all the days of his life until he returns (his body dies) to the dust—vv. 17b-19.
   2. God promised that Christ as the Son of God will come as “the seed of woman”:
      1. To bruise the head of the deceiving “serpent” for man—v. 15; 1 John 3:8b.
      2. To release man from the fear and slavery of death—Heb. 2:14-15.
      3. In this promise of God Adam believed and called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living—Gen. 3:20.
   3. God redeemed man by the shedding of the blood of Christ (typified by the slain sacrifice—Heb. 9:22; Matt. 26:28) and justified man by Christ as righteousness to man (typified by the coats of the skin of the slain sacrifice—1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 2:17a)—Gen. 3:21.