“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. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Looking back at this pivotal moment with Adam and Eve is kind of like watching a scary movie. It’s the moment when the characters say something like, “Let’s split up,” or “I’m just going to open this door.” You’re screaming, “Don’t split up! Don’t open the door!” But in this case, it’s, “Don’t eat the fruit!!” Adam and Eve begin Genesis 3 living in perfect unity with God and one another in the perfect paradise He created for them. Don’t they know how good they have it? Yet here they are, six verses later, doing the one thing God told them not to.  

With this act of disobedience, sin entered God’s perfect world. And, with sin came death. God warned Adam and Eve that this would be the consequence of eating from the tree back in Genesis 2:17. But they allowed the serpent to convince them that God was bluffing. We too are in denial of the consequences of our sin, or, at the very least, we tend to underestimate them. Adam and Eve certainly couldn’t have fathomed how far-reaching the effects of their decision would be–how many wars would be fought, how many hearts would be broken, how many families would be dismantled as a result of the sin they brought into the world.

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We constantly see the effects of sin and death all around us in our fallen world. Amidst all the bad news we hear of and experience, we have an opportunity to share the Good News. People all around us are asking the question, “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” We have the answer, right in Genesis. But that isn’t a very satisfying place in the story to stop.  

If your non-Christian family and friends are anything like me, they might hear you explain Adam and Eve and the advent of sin and death and think, “Well that’s not fair. Adam and Eve messed up, and now the whole world is cursed and doomed to suffer?” Thankfully, the story doesn’t end in the Garden of Eden. God didn’t abandon His creation. He isn’t indifferent to our suffering. In fact, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). This is where we have the opportunity to flip the conversation from really bad news to really good news.  

Yes, the world is full of evil. This evil is the result of sin, of deviating from God’s perfect plan. But, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, “as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” The good news is we don’t have to succumb to evil or to despair. In this life, we have peace knowing chaos is not king; God is on the throne and His kingdom is advancing aggressively in spite of intense opposition.

We also have hope for eternity! In his comparison of Adam to Jesus, Paul says in verse 49, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” Our existence isn’t limited to suffering and death. Christ’s resurrection power is available to all who call on his name, empowering us to lead lives of purpose and hope both on Earth and in Heaven.  

We can point to Adam when people comment on the latest tragedy in the headlines. But we can also point to Jesus, who conquered the sin and death that pervades creation and who offers us abundant life and perfect peace both now and forever.  

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Holy God, I’ve been a sinner from the start. I inherited a sinful nature from Adam and Eve and have continued to deviate from Your perfect plan. But thank You Jesus that isn’t the end of my story. Thank You for calling me Your child and for giving me an inheritance of resurrection: of power and life! Please show me who needs to hear that there is hope in the midst of suffering and redemption in the midst of evil. Let my actions show them Heaven on Earth, and let my words make clear the good news of your kingdom. In Your mighty name, Amen.  

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