Finding Jesus in the Fall of Man (Genesis 3-4)

Genesis 3-4 — “The Fall of Man”

Key Verse: Genesis 3:9 — “Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

Explanation: Among all the significant verse in this section of Scripture — not the least of which are verses 3:15 and 3:17 (see below) — this verse demonstrates that it is God who seeks us. Jesus expanded on this truth when He said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).

Man did not sin and seek God hoping for redemption. Man sinned and hid from the Holy One. Genesis says that the LORD God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day, demonstrating His pattern of relationship with Adam. Who was the person of God who walked in the Garden? We believe it was none other than Jesus — the manifest Person of God, sent by the Father to commune with man. That pattern is fulfilled in the New Testament. Jesus was sent by God “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, CSB). He still desires communion with us, but in our sinfulness, we hide from Him.

Finally, lest anyone wonder if God was perplexed and did not know where man was, His question was not a reflection of befuddlement. It was a probing question that was meant to highlight man’s condition and the breach his sin had caused. Until we understand that we are separated from God, naked and afraid in our sinful state, we do not realize the amazing grace that He offers to us. When we recognize that we are lost, we are ready to be found.

Other Important Verses

Genesis 3:15 — “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

Explanation: The messianic overtones of this verse are obvious. God’s first recorded interaction with the serpent — understood to be the devil adhering to his deceptive ways — foreshadows the drama at Calvary. Although Eve’s disobedience would result in pain during childbirth and frequent tension with her husband, she was also given the promise of bearing the seed that would culminate in the One who would reverse the curse. Satan, on the other hand, was told that he would bruise the One to come on the heel, meaning that he would seem to do great harm to the Messiah. But, the seed of the woman would bruise or crush Satan’s head.

The great conflict that continues to rage in this world actually hit its crescendo 2,000 years ago when this verse was fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What we are witnessing are the death throes of a foe already vanquished. Let us be clear: those death throes will only grow worse until they culminate with Satan’s rage during the Tribulation. He knows that He has been defeated; he is merely awaiting the final battle — hoping to deceive as many as possible to join him in his eternal fate.

Thanks be to God, although we are subjected to the devil’s fiery darts and snapping jaws, those who put their faith in Jesus — the seed of the woman and God’s only begotten Son — are sealed as His for all eternity. There is now no condemnation for us and even death cannot claim victory over us (Romans 8:1 and 1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

Genesis 3:17 — “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying “You shall not eat from it;” cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.””

Explanation: This verse explains the condition of the world today. Created to be in harmony and good, the entire Creation is under a curse. We not only work efficiently and productively, but our lives are also full of toil and heartbreak. Who can deliver us from this body of death? Thanks be to God, only Jesus Christ! (Romans 7:24-25)

The world scoffs at the concept of the Fall. They deny the historic reality of Adam and Eve, the justice of a holy God subjecting His Creation to a curse, and the promise of a Deliverer who saves us. They refuse to accept the concept of sin, and yet cling to an ill-defined and self-generated sense of moral right and wrong.

God’s Word stands as the only testimony that matters. Will you believe Him?

Genesis 4:13 — “Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is too great to bear!””

Explanation: Cain does not deny his own guilt or the justice of God’s judgment. Instead, he recognizes the weight of his own guilt. Note that the punishment itself seems mild given Cain’s response: he is doomed to become a vagrant and wanderer on the earth, and will reap meager portions instead of abundance and bounty.

But, there is something deeper going on. God has forced Cain to come face to face with his sin. He has to own it. And, fully recognizing the horror of his sin, let alone his murderous act, Cain’s guilt is crushing. He cannot imagine bearing up under it alone.

This verse points to the One who would bear all our guilt and take upon Himself all the punishment we deserve for our sin. Our guilt is too great and our burden too overwhelming. But, thanks be to God, He sent Jesus Christ to take away our guilt and wash away our sins.

The problem with modern preaching is not that it fails to proclaim the love of God. Far too often is soft-pedals the hopelessness of our condition without Christ. Until we come to the end of ourselves and cry out as Cain did, we will not recognize our own need for a Savior — let alone appreciate the great gift He offers to us.

This week we will build on that foundation by grappling with the tragedy that impacted every descendent of Adam and Eve, the Fall.

Nathan Jones: One of the common complaints against God is the presence of evil in the world. Another is human suffering. How, scoffers ask, could a supposedly loving God allow His creatures to suffer, and tolerate injustice, and fail to put a stop to evil itself? Genesis 3 and 4 answers that question.

Tim Moore: I sat down with Dr. Adam Greenway, the president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a good friend, to discuss those questions and these two key chapters in God’s narrative of human history.

Part 1: Interview with Dr. Adam Greenway at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Tim Moore: Well, I have come today to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to spend time with my dear friend, Dr. Adam Greenway, who serves as the president. Adam, thank you very much for being on this episode of Christ in Prophecy and welcoming me to your beautiful campus. I am glad to be here.

Dr. Greenway: Tim, it is great to have you here on our campus at Southwestern Seminary, and it is a delight to be with you and with you audience today.

Tim Moore: Well, you know we have served many different ways, but we first crossed paths in Kentucky, and many of our viewers, perhaps even some of your folks here at Southwestern may not know that you have a unique skill, and that you are an expert parliamentarian. As a matter of fact, at one time you offered your services to the Kentucky General Assembly, and they would have been wise to have taken you up on that offer.

Dr. Greenway: Well, we all need a hobby, and I guess my hobby has been parliamentary procedure, in addition to theology and ministry. We have had a chance to connect over that and to serve in context together. But I will be very clear to affirm that I do place the Bible on a higher level of authority then “Robert’s Rules of Order.”

Tim Moore: Here, here I would agree with that, absolutely. Well, we’ve been blessed to serve in various ministry roles together. But as you were called here to lead Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, I looked forward to serving alongside one another, close here in Texas. And indeed, we do. And then I envisioned this series that we are launching on Christ in the Old Testament. And as I did so I realized that the Fall of Man as described in Genesis chapter 3, is so very foundational. Not only to everything that follows in scriptures, but really to our understanding of the human condition. And then I felt compelled, shall we say, to invite you to participate in this specific program. And I would like you to explain how God’s own sense of humor is demonstrated in this non-coincidental choice.

Dr. Greenway: Well, some years ago I did quite a bit of study on the issues related to Genesis 3, and the Fall, and how those things affect what we do today. And it is one of those areas of where, if we don’t get the story of our origins right, then we really can’t understand what is happening in our world today correctly. A lot of people in our world think that we are here because of blind evolutionary processes that everything is just random or chance. That’s simply not the case. The Bible makes clear that God created everything that is, including you and me, including the very studio we are in, recording this episode. Including all that we see around us. And He called it good, beginning with the creation of the world and culminating in the creation of humankind, the first man, appropriately named Adam. First women named Eve. And the first dwelling place, the Garden of Eden.

But in Genesis 3 everything changed. And in that moment the course of history changed in such a way, that if we fail to understand what really happened in the Fall, in that original temptation. We really don’t understand kind of what is happening in our world today, and what is going to be happening in that which is yet to come.

Tim Moore: Well, you speak so beautifully. And obviously I didn’t even think about this, we are referring to the first Adam, we point to the Adam that replaced him, the completion, in Jesus Christ, but you being another Adam have tremendous insight, and obviously this was your dissertation topic about the Fall of Man. So, why it is so fundamental, and foundational to our understanding of everything that follows?

Dr. Greenway: Well, in the Genesis account God created the first man Adam, and the first woman, Eve, placed them in the first dwelling place, the Garden of Eden. And interestingly enough only gave them one prohibition, “Do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for the day that you do that you shall surely die.” Genesis 3 along comes the serpent, the snake in the grass. Then Revelation 12 reminds us was none other than Satan himself, the Devil himself. And he comes with a very interesting satanic strategy. He comes to the woman and says, “Kind of what are the ground rules here?” And she says, “Well, God said, that we can’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we can’t even touch the tree.” Now, God didn’t say that, she added that. And the serpent immediately says, “No, no, no, no, no, God is holding back on you. He knows if you eat of that fruit, you will be like God, knowing.” So, consider for a moment, Tim, the original strategy of the evil one is two pronged. It is to try to convince the woman, and by extension the man, who we know is there because of what happens shortly. To question or to doubt or to deny the Word of God, “Hath God really said?”

Tim Moore: Did He really say this?

Dr. Greenway: Did He really say this? And the goodness of God. God is holding back on you. He doesn’t want you to have certain things. He doesn’t really have your best interest at heart. May I submit looking ahead, that is the exact same satanic strategy that has been far too effective down through the tunnel of time.

Tim Moore: It sure is. And Satan also went on to say, “You can be like God.”

Dr. Greenway: Correct.

Tim Moore: So, in other words He is holding back but you can inspire, you can attain a godlike level of awareness, consciousness, and be like God. And that’s been mankind’s humanist endeavor throughout history.

Dr. Greenway: That’s right, don’t listen to God, listen to me, listen to my voice. And at that moment they have a choice to listen to God’s word, or to listen to other voices. And sadly, tragically, they made the wrong choice.

Tim Moore: Certainly. And by making that choice, sin was introduced to the world, and then there was a curse placed upon the world. But yet, even in the midst of that curse what kind of prophetic foreshadowing did God weave into His pronouncement of curses on the earth, on mankind that points us forward to Jesus appearing 2,000 years ago?

Dr. Greenway: Even in that moment when Adam and Eve sinned and they fell from their original state of holiness and innocence, sin was ushered in, changed everything. Immediately you see the effects of that where when God comes to meet with them as was the habit of that time, they are hiding, they are trying to conceal, they are trying to withdraw. Notice sin separates. I mean at that moment when they realized that they were sans-attire, as the Scripture attests.

Tim Moore: Yeah, naked we call here in Texas.

Dr. Greenway: We would call it that in Texas, that’s right. What do they not do? They don’t cry out to God in repentance, asking God for mercy and forgiveness because they realized they had sinned and violated God’s word. They tried to withdraw, to hide, and to conceal. And when God comes and finds them, because God is the ultimate seeker, what is the response? “We were hiding because we were naked.” “Well, who told you were naked?” And Adam says, “Well, that woman you gave to me.” By the way that woman, Genesis 1 & 2 who was taken from Adam, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, to be that perfect compliment. That perfect completion because man was inadequate in of himself. He was lonely. He was incomplete. All of a sudden now becomes his first object of blame. And yet, even in that moment God in His infinite mercy, even as He is pronouncing judgment upon them, and their sin, says, “There will be One who will come, who even though the serpent will strike His heel, He will crush the head of the serpent.”

Tim Moore: Yes, He will.

Dr. Greenway: And down through the tunnel of time, the Old Testament, the prophets of God prophesied about that One for hundreds of years. And in the fullness of time, in the right moment Jesus the Christ, the Messiah came, the One who would indeed crush the head of the serpent.

Tim Moore: Amen. And ironically it was at a moment of time when the world was in a very dark period, there seemed to be no hope in Israel, they were under oppression. And yet, that was the appointed time determined by God the Father, and it was the perfect time. You know today, Adam, some people look around the world and scoff at the very idea of God. They say if there is a loving, omnipotent God then how can you explain the existence of evil in the world? And of course, I would counter that if there were no loving omnipotent God, we couldn’t explain the presence of good in the world. And of course, if there is no God, by what external standard do people even have the right to call something good or evil in the first place? How would you respond?

Dr. Greenway: Well, I think you are exactly right. The moment that we begin using terms like evil, we are ultimately implying some transcendent standard of evaluation that makes no senses, if there is not a transcendent being who is the ground of all that is right, and good, and just. And this is one of the interesting things again, about what happens in our world today. There are many who though they reject the Gospel, and they reject biblical morality, and ethics, and teaching they still want to use that very morality and ethics to try to discredit Christianity.

And over the course of time there have been all kinds of critics out there. I’ve heard people who have said, nonsensical things like, “Christianity is responsible for more evils than all other institutions combined.” And when you start trying to press in on that they will start labeling things like the Holocaust, which of course was not a Christian act, Adolph Hitler was a follower of German paganism. In fact, did you know that more people have died in atheistic wars in the 20th Century, then perhaps in all of human history. Adolf Hitler killed 16 million people, including 6 million Jews. Joseph Stalin killed tens of millions more than that. But the real winner of that period was Mao Zedong.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Dr. Greenway: Through the cultural revolution, he killed something like 70 million Chinese people, and others for a godless ideology. It’s amazing to me that people even intrinsically know that’s not just wrong, that’s evil.

Tim Moore: It certainly is.

Dr. Greenway: Because there is that divine sense within that knows something is desperately wrong here. “There is that kind of God shaped size hole” one philosopher said, “the people long to fill, and they fill with it all of the wrong things that ultimately cannot satisfy, that only Jesus the Messiah can.”

Tim Moore: But even in Romans 1 Paul talks about how there is no excuse. In other words, we know enough, and it our conscience within us until they become hardened and cold, that recognize that there is evil, and there is a source of that. But there is also God’s grace that extends to the whole world even before knowing Christ, it is just His general grace.

One of the things that is evident even in chapter 3 of Genesis is that God’s immediate provision to cover man’s shame and recognized nakedness, involved the sacrifice of an innocent animal. As a matter of fact, blood was shed, a life was forfeit. And tellingly who did the killing? In other words, who provided that particular cover for sin, which was only temporary?

Dr. Greenway: God Himself. God Himself was the one who not just pronounced judgment upon sin, but in that moment provided atonement for sin. Now, we know of course that the blood of bulls and goats, as the writer of Hebrews said, ultimately cannot take away sin, it merely foreshadowed what would come when Jesus the Christ, who is not only God’s provision, but was Himself the atoning sacrifice. Paul uses the term the propitiation for our sins. The language that Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 5:21 is so majestic here, “That He who knew no sin became sin for us.”

That’s why you see in the powerful scene there the night before the crucifixion on that original Maundy Thursday, where Jesus looks into that bitter cup, and He sees your sin, and my sin, and the sin of the world that He will bear as our sacrifice and our substitute. And He cries out before God, “If there be any other way, let this cup pass from Me.” But in the ultimate act of submission, nevertheless, He prays, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” From the beginning of time, when Adam and Eve fell, God did not leave them, and leave humanity to our own devices, from the beginning He had a plan and a purpose to provide atonement for His people.

Tim Moore: And even before the foundation of the earth, as we will touch on. You know regardless of the sufferings that we are subject to in this life. And let’s face it in America as bad as things are getting, it just is a pale comparison to other parts of the world, even today where brothers and sisters in Christ are truly suffering and being persecuted. But Paul said also, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”

He went on to say, “For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption and into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” In other words, Paul connects the curse hanging over the world with the culmination of human history when Christ will come again and set all things right, and lift that curse forevermore.

Dr. Greenway: Indeed, Christ is the answer to the problem of humanity’s sin, and separation and alienation from God. Which of course is what separates Christianity from every other religion, every other belief system, every other plan of salvation, or pathway to Heaven, they all talk about what man, what woman, what humanity has to do to somehow find, or to make amends, or to satisfy the wrath of God, or a higher power, or a deity. Only Christianity says God Himself makes the way.

It is not what we do in order to achieve or to obtain a righteous, or right standing before God, it is all about what God has done for us in Christ.

Tim Moore: Yes, the writer of Hebrews exalts Jesus who he calls “the mediator of a new covenant,” and references His sprinkled blood which speaks much better than the blood of Abel, crying out for us. And if Abel’s blood cried out the outrage, and the injustice of sin and of murder, how much more does the shed blood of Christ cry out the love, and the grace of God that covers our sins, all of our sins if we put our trust in Him?

Dr. Greenway: Christ is the one who, the Son of God, God the Son, left the glory of Heaven to come for a singular assignment; that He would bear the weight of your sin and my sin, the weight of the sin of the world. The perfect Christ became a curse for us. And the death that I should have died, the price that I should have paid, the burden that I should have bore He took that from me and bore it in Himself. In such a way that Paul says, “So that I might bear and receive, and be credited with the very righteousness of Christ.” See that, the marvelous thing about the Gospel is not just that Christ takes away our sin, but He imputes, or He credits, or He gives to us His righteousness.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Dr. Greenway: So, I am no longer merely just a sinner, an old sinner saved by grace, I am now declared to be a saint because of Christ. Not that there is anything intrinsically good within me, but because of what Christ has done. And that in salvation I am united to Christ, His Spirit lives within me, and it is working to reproduce His character and commission within me.

Tim Moore: So, moving forward a few generations, as we will in the weeks to come even Abraham models this formula, that because he believed God, he trusted what God said, it was credited to him as righteousness. When we believe God, and He says “I have provided Christ.” He is the way, the truth, and life as Jesus Himself testified. When we believe that and trust God for that provision of salvation, then He credits us with His righteousness.

Dr. Greenway: And we see with Abram, Abraham the example of that, both in terms of what is right, and what falls short. So, we see what happens of course when God told him that he and his wife, Sarai, became Sarah would have a child. He learns that at age 75; 86 no child has come along yet, and Abraham decides maybe I just need to help God out.

Tim Moore: Yeah, a little impatient.

Dr. Greenway: Maybe I need to kind of speed things up here, because you know, we aren’t getting any younger. And Ismael is born through the relationship between Abraham and Hagar, the handmaid. And that child does end up becoming one through whom a great nation is born, but it was not the promise of God, it was not the fulfillment of God’s original intention and purpose with the child of promise. That would come of course 14 years later, at 100 when Isaac was born. And yet, even in that moment, so we see of course the challenge of obedience, the challenge of waiting for God’s promise on His time, and in His way to be fulfilled. The danger of trying to get ahead of God, or to help God out. Then we see of course God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Dr. Greenway: And we see fully, surrendered obedience, literally even to the point of where as young Isaac is there looking at his dad, saying, “Where is the sacrifice?” And Abraham says, “The Lord our God will provide.”

Tim Moore:Another beautiful foreshadowing. And Abraham gives us a great exemplar because he, although we revere him tremendously, is just a man.

Dr. Greenway: That’s right.

Tim Moore: And he had failings and shortcomings, like all of us do, but he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Let’s address another difficult question, Adam. Some people like to speculate, well, what if Adam and Eve had never sinned? Would we still be living in the Garden of Eden?

Dr. Greenway: Well, it’s interesting at times when people want to speculate about counterfactuals and things that you know, what if? And oftentimes this comes up in my world in terms of the why questions. Why does God not do something? Why does God do something? I usually point people to Deuteronomy 29:29, where the Lord says through the pen of Moses, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, the things that are revealed belong to us, and to our children, that we may walk in them.” So, if you will, Tim, God Himself divides the entire universe of possible knowledge into two categories: hidden things, and revealed things. The hidden things are the things that God has not chosen to reveal, which means we don’t know.

Tim Moore: And we don’t need to know.

Dr. Greenway: Correct.

Tim Moore: Or He would have revealed them.

Dr. Greenway: That is correct. And you and I are incapable of prying into the secret councils of God to get Him to reveal things He has not chosen to reveal.

Tim Moore: Very wisely put.

Dr. Greenway: So, the revealed things are the things that He has given to us in order to help us be able to know Him, and to walk in His ways. And I would submit the real problem that we face is not that God has not given us enough revelation to be able to find Him, and to follow His will, and His words. Our problem is we are not really committed to the kind of surrendered obedience that says we want to come under the claims of Christ, and to submit ourselves to the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture, and to really dive into what He has revealed that we can live out these teachings.

Tim Moore: Henry Morris, I was at the Institute for Creation Research last week, speaking of Revelation said, “It’s not hard to understand it is hard to believe, but if you believe it, you will begin to understand it.” And so often if we will believe God, then the things He has revealed we will understand. It is a step of belief that some are unwilling to take, and we go back and point to Abraham. Well, Adam, thank you very much for spending time with us today. For sharing your heart, your insights. How can people stay connected to Southwestern, and those who are interested in coming here to study, how could they find out more information about Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary?

Dr. Greenway: Thanks again for having me, Tim, for the conversation. If you’d like to learn more about our work here at Southwestern Seminary, you can find as online: swbts.edu, and we are also available at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at swbts, or at Southwestern Seminary. A quick Google search you will find our institution. We would love to find ways to let you know more about what God is doing here, and ways in which we can equip you for a lifetime of ministry that fulfills the Great Commission and glorifies God.

Tim Moore: Amen, amen. Adam, thank you very much, Sir.

Dr. Greenway: Thank you, Tim. God bless.

Signs of the End Times: Our Sin Sick Society

Nathan Jones: Throughout most of human history, people acknowledged the reality of evil, and the nature of sin. Western societies created laws that generally reflected a Judeo-Christian worldview, imposing limits on human depravity even as they encouraged human freedom. That balance was referred to as ordered liberty.

America was founded on just such principles. And, while we have never been without blemish, our system was designed to encourage human flourishing by reflecting an appreciation of God’s Word.

Lately, however, the cultural and political elites in our society seem determined to reject God’s laws and flaunt their wickedness. Not only has the broader civilization lost a concept of sin, it is seldom mentioned in most American pulpits.

Mankind’s rejection of God is age-old. Adam and Eve hid from Him in the Garden. Cain rejected God’s counsel and murdered his own brother. Even King David wandered away from his own Good Shepherd and engaged in adultery and murder. We all like sheep have gone astray.

And yet, in modern history there was at least a recognition that sin should be shunned, if not punished through laws enacted to protect society. But today, our society has fully embraced the toleration and celebration of sin. Paul wrote about in his letter to the Romans, listing a litany of sins committed by unbelievers who ought to know better, he said, “although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

How else to explain the LGBTQ+ movement? How else to understand our media’s enthusiasm at reporting the same-sex marriage of Colorado’s governor? How else to realize that the exponential increase in self-professing agnostics and atheists? Our society is sick, but doesn’t even acknowledge the disease of sin.

Wake up, America!

How Then Shall We live? A New Creation.

Tim Moore: When I was 18 years old, I underwent the most intense training experience of my 34-year Air Force career: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape Training.

Designed in response to the American experience in Vietnam, SERE exposed me to the physical and psychological challenges a downed airman would face in enemy territory or as a POW.

That training was cited as invaluable by a close friend who was held as a POW in Iraq.

One of my most distinctive memories of SERE occurred when the training was over. After living in the mountains of Colorado for days on end without food or showers, evading aggressor Cadre and resisting capture, I was dirtier than I’d ever been in my life. I returned to my dorm determined to take an hour-long shower and eat until I could eat no more.

I took that hour-long shower and returned to my room, only to realize that the clothing I’d removed stunk to high heaven. It was absolutely fit to be burned. But, while I had been wearing it for days on end, I never smelled it, or myself.

I’ve often thought about my experience in SERE and the spiritual lesson it affords. When we are covered in sin, stinking to high heaven spiritually, we are so used to our filth that we cannot even recognize the stench. When the Holy Spirit convicts us, we begin to comprehend our own helpless status and utter depravity. But when we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, only then can we understand how bad we stank.

Sadly, if we do not stay committed to following Jesus, making Him Lord of our lives and obeying His commandments, not to secure our salvation, but to manifest His Lordship over us, we can slowly begin to put back on the filthy rags we lay aside when we become a new creature in Christ. Not only does that grieve the Holy Spirit, over time we can lose our sense of smell. We’ve all known professing Christians who leave a trail of stench in their wake, but they do not know that they stink.

Brothers and sisters, hear me clearly. I am not suggesting that we are saved by our works. Far from it. What I am suggesting is that we daily submit to the testimony of the Holy Spirit and flee from the tug of our old sinful nature. As Scripture says, “Put on Jesus Christ, and make no allowance for the flesh.”

Closing

Tim Moore: I was so glad that I could sit down with Dr. Adam Greenway.

Did you catch the allusions to Jesus Christ in these 2 chapters of Genesis? When the Bible says God walked in the Garden, we believe that was the preincarnate Jesus Christ, the manifest person of God.

Nathan Jones: And when God provided coverings for Adam and Eve, He used the skin of an animal, foreshadowing the fountain that would open at Cavalry. The blood of an innocent animal had to be shed in order for Man’s sin and shame to be covered even temporarily. And, God pronounced a curse on the serpent, prophesying the great conflict where Satan would metaphorically strike Jesus’ heel, only for his head to be crushed by the Messiah.

Tim Moore: Did you find a key verse? Once again, there are several that stand out to us. But Nathan and I landed on Genesis 3:9, where it is God who is seeking after man who is hiding in shame. Go to christinprophecy.org and we’ll offer commentary on the other verses.

Nathan Jones: And regarding our timeline, the Bible does not say how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden in sin-free bliss. But, at some point after the Creation, they succumbed to Satan’s deception, and human sin entered the world. For that reason, we also place the Fall somewhere around 6,000 years ago.

Tim Moore: Next week we will pick up speed in the book of Genesis. Read Chapters 5-11 to be ready for another foundational truth of Scripture as we focus on “Judgment and Wrath.” Consider Jesus’ role in that aspect of God’s interaction with humanity, and thank Him for delivering you from the wrath to come.

Nathan Jones: If our deep dive into Bible prophecy focusing on Jesus in the Old Testament has sparked your hunger for more, consider ordering the “Basics of Bible Prophecy.” Just call the number on the screen or visit our online store. Until next week, I’m Nathan Jones.

Tim Moore: And I’m Tim Moore, saying, Godspeed!!

End of Program