It’s entirely possible that the Bible could have been only 3 chapters long. In fact, it probably should have been.
You see, in chapter 3 of Genesis, Adam and Eve do the unspeakable: they willingly cut themselves off from their Creator. Instead of trusting the God who formed them and breathed life into them, they doubt his goodness and push him away. The consequences of this rebellion were devastating—nakedness, shame, confusion, strife, death.
But more than anything, we lost the presence of God. The one who made life complete—our Father, our best friend, our shepherd, our bright morning star … gone. Adam and Eve brought it on themselves. And we continue to, eagerly, to this day.
That’s why, as Sally Lloyd-Jones says, “In another story, it would all be over and that would have been the end.” Our Bibles could have stopped after three tragic chapters.
But not in this story.
In the turning point of the whole Bible, in a scene so shocking that Peter says the angels look on with stunned bewilderment, God comes looking for man. What Adam and Eve expected was God the Destroyer. What they heard was the voice of God the Seeker. “Adam…where are you?”
And this God promises to raise up one of Eve’s offspring to crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Nakedness and shame and death will not have the final say. The lost presence of God will not last forever.
That offspring, as we now know, was Jesus. As the Apostle Paul tells us, Jesus was a “second version” of Adam—a truer and better Adam (Rom 5:14). Jesus did what Adam and Eve should have, withstanding the temptation of Satan, even though the stakes were higher and the temptation was stronger.
Like Adam, Jesus was tempted by Satan. But unlike Adam, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, having fasted for forty days. Adam, you’ll recall, was in paradise!
Both Jesus and Adam were tempted. But Adam was tempted once…and failed. In contrast, Jesus received three temptations…and he resisted them all. How? By doing what Adam failed to do: focusing on what God had said. Adam doubted the Word of God; Jesus used the Word as his defense.
But perhaps most incredible, after they had been tempted, Adam and Jesus saw very different responses from the serpent, Satan. For Adam, after the serpent tempts him, he disappears from the story. But when Jesus withstands his temptation, the serpent sticks around, and the serpent bites. And in that moment, on the cross, when it appeared that the serpent had finally won, God was actually crushing his head.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate from a tree, and died. Jesus obeyed God by climbing up on a tree to willingly die for us. He took the bite of the serpent and the poison of the curse, so that we could be released from both.
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
