Sunday: Grace in the Garden
As we all know so well, the first humans, perfect beings created in the “image of God,” fell into sin, which brought death.
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
They had been warned, and they understood what they had been told. Eve even repeated to the serpent what God had said. Yet, they sinned anyway. At times we, like Eve, are led into sin by deceit; while, at other times, like Adam, we sin intentionally. Either way, we are sinners, guilty of transgressing God’s law.
Read Genesis 3:9-15. What was God’s response to the sin of Adam and Eve?
God held a trial, an “investigative judgment” even. The purpose of the trial was not so that God could learn the facts. He already knew them. The purpose was, instead, to give the couple an opportunity to accept responsibility for their actions, the first step toward repentance and restoration. God asked them what had happened, and they confessed, although reluctantly. Though they were guilty and though their sin brought immediate consequences—the first gospel promise was given (see lesson 6) to them in Eden.
Read Genesis 3:21. What further act of grace was revealed?
Death came in a most unexpected way. Instead of the immediate death of Adam and Eve, one or more animals died. Imagine Adam’s feelings as the animal died, perhaps in his place as a sacrifice. It was the first time that Adam had seen death, and it must have brought him enormous mental pain. Then the animal was skinned, and a tunic was fashioned from the skin. The skin was placed over Adam’s body to cover his nakedness. Every time he looked at it, or felt it, he was surely reminded of what he had done and what he had lost. More important, it was a reminder of God’s grace.
No doubt we all should be very appreciative (to say the least) of God’s grace to us. What better way to reveal that appreciation than to show grace to others. To whom, however undeserving, could you show some grace right now?
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What a merciful God that we are dealing with.His grace is abundant on us as he gave to our first parent.God is so good that when he warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the TREE OF GOOD AND EVIL,they understood what God told them but when the serpent approach Eve to beguil her,Eve quoted what God said and still took heed to the serpent and ate from the fruit.
If I were God and they disobeyed me i would have killed them instantly but God did not do so. He even made an apron for them to cover their nakedness.T he death of JESUS CHRIST has saved us and now if we sinned them and asked for forgiveness,God will forgive us without considering it anymore. The grace is there for us now to repent let us do so and we shall be saved.
Please answer me;if God had known that man shall eat from the tree why didn't He prevent SATAN by tempting EVE because God knows what will happened in future
its a freedom of choice that He gave us. He wanted to see if they could comply to the simple rule that they were given.
Boakye, the answer is in the lesson for Sabbath, "they [Adam and Eve] did have free will, a prerequisite for them to be able to love." Love is not possible without a choice not to love.
God gave them every reason to trust and love Him, and He told them to stay away from the tree where Satan could have access to them.
They used their freedom of choice to choose contrary to God's will. I wonder how often you and I have done the same.
God is Love and that's His divine character. God Created all His creatures with the freedom to choose (power Of choice). When force is apply love cease to exist. The foreknowledge of God enables God to foretold the future. God knew the possibility of man disobeying His will and the sacrifice that only God can provide (grace) to redeemed man IF man fail to choose to trust in God. This is the immeasurable love of God that is beyond our human comprehensions. God could have chosen to create man and pre-programmed them to obey His will, but that is force and will eliminate who He is, love. God's desire is for mankind to TRUST in Him and Him alone, for this is man's only source of joy, peace and happiness forevermore. There are many questions I have about God's ways, but what is revealed convinced me that our God is loving, full of mercy and grace towards all mankind. His heart is longing to reunite with us again throughout eternity.
God demonstrated His love by the ultimate sacrifice of His only begotten son on the cross of Calvary. Thank you Jesus.happy Sabbath.
The sin in the garden had a death sentence.for man to be forgiven,death was obvious so for with out the shading of blood there is no remission of sin.jesus was really a lamb that was killed from the foundation of the earth to cover adams nakedness (sin)
Here is one example. When people misjudge me and I feel their disproval, I am free to follow what I feel is right. Because of the grace of God, I can look to Him and not for the approval of people while God can extend grace through me and my attitude toward them. This grace and mercy is so great to me. I can search my heart to make certain their is nothing wrong in what I do, but I can pray for those who do not understand my heart and the reasons for my actions. With God's help, I can pray for them and return love to them inspite of their disapproval even if they never understand.
Adam and Eve thru sin forfeited God's robe of righteousness for a robe of animal hides. The new garment could no longer protect them from the onslaught of the devil. Sin, fear, despair , anxiety and unrighteousness became their new robe. Our saving grace is that Christ has promised to trade this old robe for the robe of righteousness as he had originally intended for us. All through grace and the Blood of the Lamb" Christ wants us to have His Righteousness free of charge. What a gift if we so desire. We choose and the Holy Spitit finishes the work!
Amen!
It seems strange to me that while we see obvious acts of grace in Genesis such as in the garden, the Hebrew word "chen" which is translated grace or favor doesn't show up in Genesis until the flood with Noah in Gen 6:8. Furthermore, even though the Old Testament has the word 66 times, in the New Testament the Greek word "charis" which is roughly equivalent shows up 155 times, almost double the count for the Old Testament. The whole thing is only aggravated by the fact that the Old Testament is quite a bit larger than the New Testament.
What is even more interesting concerns the sanctuary which I won't spend much time on since we will be getting into that subject in the last quarter of this year. If one studies all the plans of the sanctuaries described in the Bible he/she will notice that as things move toward the New Testament the alter of burnt offering increasingly becomes larger and more central in the sanctuary. I wonder if there is a connection.
Boakye if you have the book Story of Redemption by EGWhite available, read chapter 3. This chapter gave me a clearer understanding of how God made every provision possible to prevent man and woman from sinning while still giving them a free will. God wants our loyalty and obedience because we love Him not out of fear. What good would we be to God if we walked around as robots with no thought processes following commands like animals. I believe once you read this chapter you will see just how loving a God we serve.
[Moderator note: We have linked to the book in the comment above, so you can click on the chapter and read it online.]
God is so merciful even when we sin he showed compassion. Adam & Eve disobeyed him yet he shew mercy and covered their nakedness. God is still doing the same thing today he covered us with his blood and all we have to do is accept his forgiveness
God's mecies are ever with us. God could not wipe out Adam and Eve because, He wanted to show to the world that what the devil is accusing God of being -- unjust, cruel and unkind --was not true. He allowed Adam and Eve be what they became after partaking of the forbidden fruit to come to their senses that their Creator is Just and His Words must be obeyed. This time around it made them to view things with a different perspective.God's desire has been and will always be to live in harmony and happiness with His people which is a bitter pill for the devil to accept.
Even when we sin today, God still accords us chance to return to Him when we realise and confess our wrong doing
Now, Bavi Guye, you have only given us chptr 3 from the story of redemption by Ellen White, This book story of redemption is a compilation of 10 books i.e PP. PK.AA,DA GC any others. from which book specifically and what is the title of the subject?
Thanks
Dear Renford, you note correctly that the Story of Redemption tells the story of the Conflict of the Ages series. However, it is not a compilation of the later books you mention. It is drawn from the original Spirit of Prophecy books, Volume 1, Volume 3 , and Volume 4 , as well as Early Writings and the Signs of the Times. Thus there is no exact equivalent chapter in the later books.
If you will click on the links in Bavi's post, you will be able to read exactly what he is recommending.
death as a "reminder of God's grace". I have come close to death. This my second war with cancer and if ever new twitch I become anxious all over again but thanks to the SS lesson now instead of thinking of death I am full of joy because of His grace.
Jonathan
Thank you for answering my question.Now we are living with our own choice
Thanks Inge. I thought what was meant was "HISTORY OF REDEPTION" which has the compilation I indicated above.
Dear Jonathan, rest in the Lord, and take one day at a time. God is near to us, especially in our weakest point; nothing can separate you from Him when you trust Him.
Romans 8:35-39
New International Version (NIV)
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What does today lesson teach about God human relation and his commandments?
God has to use an alternative after the commandments failed to keep us in relationship with Him. His love for us is more than commandments, that is why He had to send His only begotten son the Messiah to die in our behalf.
Our God is truly a loving God not as scaring as Satan teaches many. His grace is real.
Kam, I believe it was as true in the Garden as it is in our day -- that the Law is only a mirror that tells us whether or not we are in relationship with God. It doesn't "keep" us in relationship, any more than a mirror can keep a face clean. It can only show us whether our face is clean or not.
Only love keeps us in relationship with God. I believe that today's story teaches us that, while God had demonstrated His love through His perfect creation, Adam and Eve still doubted Him. And when they did and fell into sin, God's self-sacrificing plan of salvation took effect to keep them from dying that very day.
Salvation is all about self-sacrificing love, and if we want to cooperate with God's plan of saving the world, we need to allow Him to love others through us.