Ultimate Valentine

We now come to the kids having to face dad after a really foolish decision:

Gen 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Gen 3:9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

Gen 3:10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Gen 3:11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

It’s worth noting that God is the perfect, WOKE father, but look at how His kids act.

It gets worse.

Gen 3:12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

One can almost hear Adam blaming Eve, like a little kid. Then the woman blaming the serpent.

Genesis 3: 14 – 20 summarizes the conclusion of this really stupid moment that resulted in so many jokes and punchlines over the centuries. But Let’s focus on a few verses.

Gen 3:15

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her Seed;

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel.”

We mentioned earlier that this is the declaration of war that begins the Scarlet Thread. Yet, it is the first promise of salvation, that Messiah would come from the seed of a woman.

Gen 3:16

To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;

In pain you shall bring forth children;

Your desire shall be for your husband,

And he shall rule over you.”

Got that one. The interesting Hebrew word for ‘Rule’ at the end of the verse is Teshuquah. A lot of romantic drivel thinks that is so wonderful, but its not. This is a curse and applying the original meaning from the Hebrew, the woman would be cursed to desire her husband’s place. To usurp him. Guys, this curse alone meant we were in trouble, but God was just getting started with us.

Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it

All the days of your life.

Gen 3:18

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

Gen 3:19

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground,

For out of it you were taken;

For dust you are,

And to dust you shall return.”

Basically, Eve got one verse for her curse. Men, we got three. The bottom line is that in addition to having wives who would yearn for our position as head of the house and leader, we would work all our lives. No matter how hard we worked, weeds would always mar our efforts until we returned to the dust.

Yea, we suck, but God quickly disbanded the church of the Fig Leaf.

Gen 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

In other words, sin always required a sacrifice of blood… Until Jesus’ final sacrifice on the cross for all of us. God could have played Pontius Pilate and washed his hands of us, letting the Usurper win. Instead, even here in Genesis 3, he planned to die for us, to save us.

Four premises weave across the Scarlet Thread of salvation between the beginning and the End Times. I hope you discover this gently, but if you are like me, it will take a few two-by-fours between your eyes to get your attention and convince you. Maybe even a liver abscess. As you unwrap the Scarlet Thread between the beginning and the end, you will find these four promises…

  1. God used sinners, drunks, murderers, and dysfunctional families to make the family through whom “All the families of the Earth would be blessed.”
  2. The story of salvation is a “Scarlet Thread” from Creation to Revelation
  3. Contained in this story are the worst betrayals, most heartbreaking episodes, the sweep of armies, the rise and fall of empires, the greatest love, the deepest romance, and the best adventure… Straddling all of HIStory.
  4. In our walk across family, redemption, and forgiveness to the cross, you will find Jesus on every page.