Blessings in a Fallen World, Part 1

Genesis 1:22, 28Then God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth."Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground."

God reveals Himself to us through the words of Scripture. Hence, knowing the definitions of words is critical to knowing God Himself. Fortunately for us, the Bible often defines terms the first time it uses them.

What does “blessing” or “blessed” mean? The first use of this term is in Genesis 1:22 and 1:28, when God blessed the animals and man. “Be fruitful, and multiply” immediately follows both uses of the phrase “God blessed them.” Hence, bearing offspring is one way God blesses us, implying that children are a blessing. For mankind, God added “have dominion” to the blessing. He entrusted this dominion only to man, not to the animals. Thus, for humans, blessing includes both childbearing and rule over the earth.

Why did God choose procreation and dominion as the vehicles for blessing? So that we could participate in His nature! From Genesis 1, we see clearly that God is the only Creator of and Ruler over His entire creation. By delegating childbearing to humans and by delegating rule over the animals to mankind, God granted us a measure of participation in His creativity and in His reign over creation.

Adam and Eve’s sin earned them (and us) judgment, not blessing.

Genesis 3:1-7 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?" "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied. "It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'. "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Furthermore, Genesis 1 made it clear that blessings are grace. Adam and Eve did nothing to earn God’s blessings; He freely chose to give them.

God frustrated our enjoyment of His blessings by adding pain to childbearing and hard labor to having dominion. Why? The Bible left no room for protest: Then he said to the woman,

Genesis 3:16-19"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." 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."

Conversely, He can choose just as freely not to bless. Hence, any blessing we enjoy is a privilege, not a right.

Blessings in a Fallen World, Part 2

Genesis 3:15"And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring.He will strike[a] your head, and you will strike his heel" (promise of a future to the serpent)

This famous verse–often cited as the first proclamation of the gospel–gave a silver lining of mercy to the curse that followed it. In Genesis 1:28, God made childbearing a blessing.

But in Genesis 3:16, He frustrated our enjoyment of it. Did God’s blessings end here? — No.

First, consider the context for the promise of Genesis 3:15. Prior to Chapter 3, God placed Adam and Eve in a location (Eden) literally meaning “delight–He put them in a paradise! “

Genesis 2:8Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.

At the end of Chapter 3, God banished them from the paradise

Genesis 3:23So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.. In between these two events, Satan (in the form of a serpent) deceived Adam and Eve and ruled over them Genesis 3:1-7. What is the significance of God’s promise of a future crushing blow to the serpent ? In this context, God’s promise foretold of a return to the pre-serpent, pre-Chapter 3 state, implying a return to paradise and the full blessing of God.

Second, consider the specific fulfillment of the promise ofGenesis 3:15Christ Himself. His life, death, and resurrection defeated the serpent’s rule and paved a way for us to enjoy blessings that will take an eternity to exhaust.

The irony in all this? God promised a return to paradise by means of childbearing (“her seed”)–the vehicle of the curse.

ThoughAdam likely did not know the specific fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, he seems to have believed the promise of restoration through childbearing (“seed”). He named his wife Eve (“life”) “because she was the mother of all living”

Genesis 3:20 Then the man-Adam-named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live..

For those who believe through Christ, a return to Paradise awaits.

Luke 23:43And Jesus replied, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Blessings in a Fallen World, Part 3

“Unto the woman he said, . . . in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. . . . And unto Adam he said . . . cursed is the ground for thy sake. . . . Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. . . . In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.”Genesis 3:16-19

God frustrated the blessings of childbearing and rule,

Genesis 1:28Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground."yet they contain a silver lining of mercy, which the rest of Scripture reveals.

The curse applied to all of Adam’s descendants: It was felt by Lamech long after Adam has died–“Lamech . . . became the father of a son: And he called his name Noah,

Genesis 5:28-29. When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son. Lamech named his son Noah, for he said, "May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed."

But another one of Adam’s descendants, King David, praised God as though the Curse had been lifted:

Psalm 8:6You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority

How can a descendent of Adam speak this way? David must have been prophesying.

The writer of Hebrews agreed and pointed towards a partial fulfillment in Christ: Hebrews 2:9What we do see is Jesus, who was given a position "a little lower than the angels"; and because he suffered death for us, he is now "crowned with glory and honor." Yes, by God's grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone

Yet Psalm 8 anticipated more: “Putting all things under their authority"

This aspect of the prophecy will soon come to pass

1 Corinthians 15:20-28But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man.Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.For the Scriptures say, "God has put all things under his authority." (Of course, when it says "all things are under his authority," that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God's authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

For those who are born again (organic language harkening back to Genesis 1:28 the freedom from the Curse

Revelation 22:3No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.

A restoration of the blessings of “family” and rule–await.

Mark 10:29-30"Yes," Jesus replied, "and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News,30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property-along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.

Revelation 22:5And there will be no night there-no need for lamps or sun-for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

Why would God add pain to childbearing and rule? He did so to keep us from getting comfortable on earth and to induce us to seek the eternal restoration of the blessings of family and rule through Christ–an act of mercy in light of the pleasures to come.