Gods Glory At The Fall
God’s Glory at the Fall“God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.”Genesis 3:23
What did God do at the Fall? The answer may surprise you.
First, God rested. After God completed His work of creating the universe, He ceased from creating
On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
This rest continued throughout all of history, right up to this very day
Hebrews 4:3For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, "In my anger I took an oath: ÔÇÿThey will never enter my place of rest," even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.Thus, when mankind fell into sin, God didn’t start His creation work over, as if there was a flaw in His original purposes and designs. Rather, He knew the Fall would happen and responded by continuing His cessation from creating, fully knowledgeable of what was transpiring and fully in control.
Second, God exercised perfect justice. The punishments at the Fall perfectly fit the crimes committed. For example,
The serpent sinned by exalting himself above his created place, and God punished him by bringing him lower than all animals Genesis 3:14Then the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursedmore than all animals, domestic and wild.You will crawl on your elly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.The serpent tried to destroy mankind; God ordained the serpent’s destruction by the hand of his intended victim Genesis 3:15And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring.He will strike your head,and you will strike his heel."Eve exalted herself above her created place; God punished her by frustrating her exalted role in helping Adam rule
Genesis 3:16Then he said to the woman,"I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. and you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you."Adam exalted himself above God; God desecrated his office with a curse on the earth that Adam was created to rule Genesis 3:17-19 And to the man he said,"Since you listened to your wife and ate from the treewhose fruit I commanded you not to eat,the ground is cursed because of you.All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you,though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your browwill you have food to eatuntil you return to the groundfrom which you were made.For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return."
Only God did not receive the justice due Him. Why were these three acts of cosmic dishonor to His glorious character not greeted with swift retribution?
It’s because God also exercised mercy.
In judging the serpent, God was ordaining the vehicle of the gospel–the “seed” which is Christ.
And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."
God did not deny Himself justice; rather, He postponed His wrath and poured it out on Christ for those who believe in Him.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
What God, but ours could rule so perfectly through man’s sin?