FALL OF MAN

Genesis 3:1-7

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day 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, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

INSIGHT

-The fall of man as derived from the above parts of scripture will form the basis of this weeks study. To unpack this, we will begin by thematically exposing the two main words, “fall and man.” Fall in Hebrew is written as Naphal which means to overthrow, cast down or be defeated. Man in Hebrew is written as Adam, which is the universally accepted name for man. This therefore gives us the impression of the casting down of Adam from his position of authority and favor in the garden of Eden. When Eve was lured by the devil to eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, she fell under the sin of deception but Adam committed willful sin, after eating what Eve offered him. Through sin, man was then separated from God and death entered the world. Man forfeited his immortal position and was exposed to death. The sin of the first man is founded on the tripartite nature of lawlessness as viewed from a worldly perspective. 1 John2:16 reveals that, all that is in the world is, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life which are from the world and not from the Father. The serpent lured Eve into all three. The tree was good for food relating to the lust of the flesh, pleasant to the eyes similar to the lust of the eye, and desirable to make one wise symbolic to the pride of life. When Jesus was tempted, He was confronted by the same offer as we see in Matthew 4:1-11. He was given the choice to convert stones to bread which is a display of the lust of the flesh, he was also told to throw Himself down and the angels would capture Him, and probably many would see which is symbolic to the lust of the eyes, and to worship the devil and receive all the kingdoms of the world and the glory that comes with them which relates to the pride of life. These are the three areas that satan often tempts men. As Jesus resisted and the devil left Him, we are called to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). As through one mans offense many died, the gift by the grace of one Man Jesus Christ abound to many, and by His justification we have been reconciled to God, that we may be saved by His life (Romans 5:8-15). Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he has regained what was lost in the garden of Eden for us and have sure hope in His salvation, as we share in His resurrection. 

PRAYER

Dear Almighty Father we come before You today with thanksgiving in our hearts. We thank You for the gift of life and the gift of good health. We pray for healing in our bodies and all those who are sick and suffering. May You heal all those who are suffering from COVID-19, HIV, cancer, lupus, stroke, diabetes, blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, cerebral palsy, glaucoma and other eye problems, severe pain and headaches, dental issues and other diseases. By Your stripes dear Jesus we are healed, heal all those who are sick and suffering we humbly ask You. Heal also merciful Savior all those who have been chained by the devil and wonder aimlessly in the streets, that You may deliver them by Your righteous right hand. Heal all those who are bereaved and suffer painful loss, that You may comfort them with Your merciful love. Heal our hearts dear Jesus from the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life for such things are not from You but of the world. Deliver us Abba Father from all unrighteousness and settle our hearts with Your grace and peace that surpasses all understanding. Guide us through out the week and lead us the way that we should go. Thank You loving us dear Jesus and for dying on the cross for our sins. Thank You for the gift of salvation and the gift of eternal life through Your Son Jesus Christ. Wash us with Your precious blood dear Jesus and make us whole in You. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen

Further reading: Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8-17

Genesis 4:6-8

“So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”

INSIGHT

-The seed of Adam was the first casualty of his fall. Cain, Adam first born son whose name means “here he is”, out of anger killed Abel his brother. Abel’s name means “breath or temporary” probably named so since his life was to be cut short. Although God cautioned Cain that sin was lying at his door and he should master it, he could not control his anger. Cain could not stop at a warning, his sacrifice was not acceptable probably because of his lack of faith. Hebrews 11:4 reveals that, “by faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.” Cain could not wait for the sun to go down, before he killed his brother Abel, whose blood continues to speak. Such is a common narrative in our society today. Brother kills brother, spouse kills the other, father or son kills the entire family etc. Anger and bitterness is a ticking time bomb that seeks to explode anyone who comes too close. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26-27, that “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” Cain could not spare his own brother probably because the condition of his heart was not right before the Lord and he failed to forgive. Unforgiveness becomes a major root cause of such atrocities and a total failure of one to partake of God’s grace. Jesus calls us to forgive each other seventy times seven times (Matthew 18:22). And cautions us from unforgiveness says that, “if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).  

PRAYER

Dear Almighty Father we come before You today with humble hearts. We humbly beseech You to cleanse our hearts from all forms of bitterness, anger, rage, malice, pride, deceit, lies, unbelief, unforgiveness and all evil. Wash us dear Jesus with Your precious blood and make us complete in You. Only Your blood Jesus speaks better things than that of Abel. Cleanse our society and nation from all blood shed, corruption and oppression merciful Savior. We humble ourselves before You Abba Father asking You for mercy, forgive us. Remember mercy dear Jesus. Remember mercy loving Father. Remember mercy Holy Spirit, we humbly ask You. Heal our land Lord and reign in our nation. Heal our hearts and reign in our lives. Heal our families and reign in our homes. Heal our society and reign with Your peace, our Prince of peace. May Your peace prevail dear Jesus. We call on You for peace in our society and nation. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forever more. Amen

Further reading: Matthew 23:35, Hebrews 12:24, 2 Chronicles 7:14

Matthew‬ ‭3:7-8‬ ‭‬‬

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,”

INSIGHT
-Jesus referred the Pharisees and Sadducees as brood of vipers which most probably stems from the deceitful nature of the serpent. A brood of vipers is a group of snakes whose nature is to propagate deceit. Their focus is to poison their prey with their fangs which kills gradually to fill their stomachs. They never believed in resurrection, baptism, angels and most importantly; salvation that came through the Messiah. They focused too much on the law and did accept the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They therefore hindered many from accessing the kingdom of heaven, and they themselves could not enter (Matthew 23:13). As John the Baptist points out, their hearts were not focused on Christ and did not bear fruits worthy of repentance. The Bible in 1 John 3:10 reveals that, anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. When Jesus performed acts of love by healing a man with a withered hand during Sabbath, they were quick to accuse Him and plotted to kill Him (Mark 3:1-6). Jesus was saddened by their hardness of hearts. This unrighteous seed was reproduced through the fall of man, and we see it into play by the act of Cain. God then raised a righteous seed through Seth after Abel’s death, from whom we trace the Messiah (Luke 3:36). In contrast to the Pharisees and Sadducees, John did all that the Lord commanded him to do, and better still Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. We are called to believe in Jesus Christ and His salvation, and to always do His will.

PRAYER
Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the rebellion. Father we have sinned and fallen short of Your glory, forgive us. Your grace is sufficient for us and Your power is made perfect in weakness. May Your power always be resident in our hearts Jesus, and when we are weak then we are strong for You are always in us and with us. We rely on Your grace Jesus, save us. Teach us to walk uprightly as You walked, and deliver us from all evil. Guide us in Your ways and teach us Your paths. Your word is a light to our feet and a light to our paths. Teach us to hold fast our faith in You. We come with boldness to Your throne of grace, that we may find mercy and grace to help us during our time of need. Guide us in our callings and purposes that we may accomplish all that You have called us to do and bear much fruit for the glory of Your name. You are the Vine and we are the branches, we rely on You for fruitfulness. May we bear much fruit for Your grace is sufficient for us. Fill us with Your power that we may do great and mighty deeds for the glory and honor of Your name. All our hope and trust is in You. We pray for the churches all over the world and it’s leaders, that they may only teach Your true word. May Your salvation be found in the body of Christ, in all the nations, that many will come to You Jesus. May Your name be exulted Jesus in all the heavens and the earth. We praise You and glorify Your holy name Jesus now and forever. Amen

Further reading: Matthew 13:38, John 6:70-71, Psalms 95:7-11

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

INSIGHT

-The fall of man brought forth canal mindedness in him. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their eyes were opened and realized that they were naked, and they were not ashamed (Genesis 2:25). Their canal eyes could not only see in the spirit but also in the flesh, and sin separated them from God. Before the fall, man was more spiritually inclined to God and after the fall he became carnally focused. Since man is a spirit being wrapped in a body, we are created to always be in fellowship with God. After David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, he made a confession requesting God not to take His Holy Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). He realized that he was separated from God and his heart was repentant. He could no longer worship God as he used to in that state. Our bodies are sacred and should be treated as so, by avoiding any form of sexual immorality. Be it fornication, adultery, pornography, masturbation, prostitution, incest, lesbianism, gaysm, converting another mans wife etc. The Holy Spirit lives in us and by honoring our bodies, we show respect to Him. We are called to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our true and proper worship (Romans 12:1).

PRAYER

Further reading: Romans 8:6-10, Psalm 100

Romans 5:17-19

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

INSIGHT

-A contrast between Adam and Christ has been outlined by the scriptures above. While Adam introduced sin leading to death into the world, Christ brought righteousness and life. Adams sin caused an universal ruin on human race while Christ introduced universal grace. Adam represents humanities condemnation while Christ stands for believers justification.

SUMMARY

The story of fall of man began when Eve was deceived by the serpent to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and she shared it with Adam (Genesis 3:1-7). The tree seemed good for food which relates to the lust of the flesh, pleasant to the eyes similar to the lust of the eye, and desirable to make one wise which is symbolic to the pride of life (1 John 2:16). These are worldly weapons that the devil used to attack human kind. The fall of man was characterized by selfishness. The ambition of Adam and Eve to become wiser and more like God, without knowing that they were more like God, and by eating the fruit they traded life with death. Their selfishness precipitated self-absorption apart from being absorbed by Godliness. They were then ejected from the garden of Eden where they experienced God’s presence and Cherubim guarded the way to the tree of life. Through this, God protected them from eternal death because if they ate of this tree in the state of sin, they would not live again. Man adopted a canal mind and they were not ashamed of their nakedness. Such nakedness has corrupted mankind from that time, to the time of Sodom and Gomorrah up-to date, and sexual immorality has taken center stage even in the church. God reminds us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit and we should remain pure, as we continually worship Him in spirit and in truth. We also find the adverse effects of the fall quickly stemming forth as Cain out of anger killed his brother Abel, and man literally fell. Cain’s sacrifice was not accepted and most probably this is attributed to the fact that his heart was not right with God. Abel’s sacrifice was more pleasing to God because he had faith (Hebrews 11:4). Although his blood continues to speak, the blood of Christ speaks better things (Hebrews 12:24). John the Baptist condemned the Pharisees and Sadducees, by calling them brood of vipers which means the seed of the serpent, for their lack of faith. They focused to much on the law and did not accept the message of grace. They also failed to believe in Jesus Christ, and their condemnation was eternal. When Jesus Christ performed acts of love by healing during the Sabbath, they plotted to kill Him. Jesus’ nature is love, and He came to save us from the sentence of eternal death that came with the fall. He corrected what was done by Adam in the garden, and on the cross He become sin so that we may live forever with Him. He justified us and gave us life, and whoever overcomes by faith; will eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).

PRAYER

This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Let all the nations rejoice in the Lord for He is faithful and His love endures forever. We count our blessing Jesus and name them one by one. Thank You Jesus for loving us and dying on the cross for us. Thank You for justifying us by Your blood that we may hold fast our faith in You. You are the Vine and we are the branches, all our hope is in You. You are the Tree that gives life, we put all our trust in You. We adore You Lord and give You praise, increase our faith in You that we may obey You and follow You in all situations. You are the way, the truth and the life dear Jesus, grant all people and nations access to Your grace. Many among us do not profess Your faith dear Jesus, reach out to them that they may accept Your calling. Be with all those who are bereaved merciful Savior and comfort them. Bless all those are waiting on You for marriages that You may satisfy their hearts with Your pure joy. Bless all the married couples, that You may always be at the center of their lives. Be with us always Holy Spirit that our joy may be full. Make all our plans succeed Abba Father according to Your loving kindness, we humbly ask You. Thank You for granting us victory in all things. We adore You Jesus and bless Your holy name, now and forever. Amen 

Further reading: 1 Corinthians 15:45, Revelation 22:14-15, Revelation 22:2-5