Can you imagine living in a place where nothing bad happens? Living in a place where no sin exists? That’s exactly the condition of the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve lived. After God created them, they lived for some time in complete harmony. We don’t know exactly how long they lived in this sin free condition (some say as little as 40 days), but one day the devil tempted Eve. She fell to that temptation and offered Adam the fruit. They both ate and now we have it…..sin has entered the world. How did that change Adam and Eve’s lives? We can see several things that changed for them the second that they sinned.
Adam and Eve lost their innocence
Before they sinned, Adam and Eve walked around totally naked. They were not ashamed or embarrassed. The fact that we wear clothes today shows that we all have sinned. (Rom. 3:23) But after they sinned, it was a different story. They sewed fig leaves together to make clothes when they realized they were naked. They lost their innocence that day.
Adam and Eve lost their relationship with God
Contrary to a popular doctrine, we are not born as sinners. Adam and Eve were not created as sinners! They fell from their fellowship with God when they sinned. As we can see in the creation story, when God came down to talk with them, they became afraid and hid themselves. They knew that they had sinned against God.
Adam and Eve lost their physical life
As God handed out punishments for disobeying him, he told Adam that he would one day return to the dust from which he came. “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” The Bible uses this phrase several times and we often us it in funerals. I Cor. 15 talks about that through Adam all will die, but that through Jesus all will live. Romans chapter 3 tells us that we all have sinned. Romans chapter 6 says that because we all have sinned, we all will one day die.
Adam and Eve lost their spiritual life
Remember what God did after He punished Adam and Eve? He drove them out of the Garden of Eden. He put a Cherubim at the entrance with a sword so that they could not return. Could you imagine how they must have felt? One day they are living in the presence of God, the next day they are cast out of the Garden. They no longer enjoyed the fellowship with God that they once had.
Adam and Eve had to live in a cursed environment
God punished the serpent. He punished Adam and Eve, It seems that the punishment even affected the world around them, and not just the Garden. God told Adam that he would have to work by the sweat of his face. The ground would have thorns and thistles. Rom. 8:19-22 tells us that the whole earth groans and travails in pain. Let’s face it, the earth is getting old! This all happened because of sin that entered the world.
Something had to die to cover Adam and Eve’s sins
After God cursed Adam and Eve, He made clothes of animal skins for them to wear. What Adam and Eve made was not good enough for God. An animal had to die, for what Adam and Eve did. It is very evident that what Adam and Eve did affected the whole world!
What does this mean for us?
How can we apply this to us? What does this mean to us? The fact of the matter is this…when we sin against God the same things happen to us!! We are really no better than they! When we sin against God, we lost our innocence. When we sin against God our relationship with Him will be affected. When we sin against God we die physically and spiritually. When we sin against God, it even affects the world around us. Most importantly is this……when we sin against God someone had to die. That someone was Jesus. Jesus was just like that innocent animal that died so that God could make clothes for them. Jesus is the innocent, perfect sacrifice that died for our sins. Have you accepted Him?
