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• LESSON 3 (January 15) •
The God Who Promises & Works to Defeat Death
While the words promise and covenant are not found in Genesis 1-3, in order to most fully grasp what God reveals in Genesis 4 and beyond, we need to spend some time “in the beginning.”
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:15-17)
Let’s not take anything for granted here.
❖ What right does “the LORD God” have to “take the man” and “put him” in the garden of Eden “to work it and keep it”?
❖ What right does “the LORD God” have to “command the man” concerning what he “may” and “shall not” do?
❖ You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” What is this?
❖ What reason or reasons did Adam and Eve have for believing what God said in Genesis 2:16-
17?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had
made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the
garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “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.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen 3:1-6)
Let’s think through what we’re being told.
❖ Now the serpent was more crafty…” (Gen 3:1). How does this relate to what we have learned
so far in our study of promises and covenants?
❖ But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die’” (Gen 3:4). What is this?
In Genesis 3:14-19, the LORD God pronounces judgment on the serpent, the woman, and the man.
❖ Meditate on what the LORD God said to the woman in Genesis 3:16. What is God doing and what does it mean?
❖ Meditate also on what the LORD God said to the man in Genesis 3:17-19. What is God doing
and what does it mean?
Finally, let’s pay careful attention to what the LORD God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:14-15.
The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel."
❖ What is God doing and what does it mean? Specifically, how does it relate to our overall study of the promises and covenants of God?