The Remedy for Our Great Fall: The Greatest Savior

The devil is the father of lies. Our Lord Jesus Christ made this statement, which John recorded in his Gospel. Today, as we enter the tragic narrative of the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in our sermon series in Genesis, this statement by Jesus echoes in my heart as a powerful reminder of the danger of listening to the proposals offered by those who have only one intention: to kill, steal, and destroy.

Genesis 3 is undoubtedly the saddest and most tragic episode in the Bible and human history. How could man despise all the abundance of provision, freedom, power, and love he had received and listen to the serpent’s lies?

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Notice the detail of the lying insinuation: God had abundantly given them all the garden trees as food. Only one tree had been forbidden. The serpent’s intention was clear: to make Eve desire the rebellious independence of the Creator more than to trust in His word and be satisfied in His gracious provision.

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

That is another lie disguised as truth! In fact, Adam and Eve would not die at the exact moment they ate the fruit, but from that moment on, their physical death would be sure. Their separation from God because of sin would mean their spiritual death, which Paul calls death “in [our] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Man did indeed come to know good and evil, not as God knew it, but through experience, for he would suffer the evil of his own rebellious choice.

What is the remedy for this enormous fall? An enormous Savior! One who would be tempted like (and even more than) Adam but would never disobey the Father. One who could take the place of Adam’s descendants and bear their sins, thus making them born again to be descendants of Him, new creatures in Him. He appeared to destroy the works of the devil. He is the truth that overcomes the serpent’s lies, the light that overcomes darkness, the only way that leads to the Father. There is a remedy for death. His name is Jesus Christ.