Lesson 2: Crisis in Eden – Discussion Starters
- Memory Verse: “‘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'” (Genesis 3:15, NKJV). To whom is God speaking? How far-reaching is the promise of this prophecy? Should we cling to God to avoid the crisis? Or can we ever totally avoid it? Compare “your seed” with “her Seed.” Are bruises enough to quell the crisis?
- Blessings. What common blessing did God give to the sea creatures (and birds) and the first human inhabitants of earth? In what ways are we, as Adam and Eve’s descendants, capable of taking charge of the animals and other living things on earth? How do you feel when you hear the idea proclaimed that everything evolved from a lower source of matter? Do you want to worship a God Who created it all, or would One who started things going be enough?
- The test at the tree. Can we even imagine the test that Eve and then Adam faced
in the Garden of Eden? Did God make it plain enough to Eve that she should not eat of the fruit of that tree? Did she understand what she was doing and what the consequences would be? Was Eve deceived to the point that she thought she was doing the right thing when she ate of the fruit? Or did she feel overwhelmed immediately by a sense of her guilt? Do we ever off-put the enormity of our decisions and counter with “oh well”? How dangerous is disobedience to God? - The snake speaks. How would you feel if a beautiful multi-colored creature resembling a snake struck up a conversation with you? You wouldn’t be the slightest bit confused or feel overwhelmed? How did Satan change his sales pitch when he “clarified” what God had told Adam and Eve? Why did he change the command that Jesus made first? Do you think Satan gets by today with mis-communicating the commands of God? We and our ancestors have been following God for over six thousand years. How is it that Satan can get our attention and even loyalty today?
- The fall. Do you think Adam and Eve fully understood that God had placed boundaries around them to protect them? Both Adam and Eve took the fall. Both sinned against God. What was lacking in their thought process that made this fall inevitable? Do you think Adam sinned at least in part because he didn’t want to lose his beautiful wife? How can you and I recognize when our decisions are alienating us from God?
- The consequences. Have you ever thought that maybe we’ll be spending at least part of the thousand years of the millennium in heaven reviewing the lessons that should have been learned at the tree in Eden? Why did God want to save the human race? If he destroyed the only two sinful lives at that time and set up a new kingdom with a new population, would anybody know? Think about it.
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Satan is our enemy and he will do anything he can to get to follow his evil and deadly path.The phrase "you will strike his heel" refers to satan's repeated attempts to defeat Christ during his life on earth."He will crush your head" foreshadows Satan's defeat when Christ rose from the dead. A strike on the heal is not as deadly, but a strike on the head is.Already God was revealing his plan to defeat Satan and offer salvation to the world through his son, Jesus Christ.
Looking at the extra blessings pronounced to man at creation,I think we fall short at how we view them. According to Genesis 1 :28, there are three extra blessings.They come in this order,1)replenish the earth. 2)subdue it. 3)have dominion.
We seem to overlook the first two and concentrate more on the last one.