Help! I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up! The Fall that Changed Everything

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Help, I've fallen and I can't get up

Today’s Bible reading* features a turning point in the state of our standing before a holy God: The Fall. If you miss this point, you cannot understand the Gospel.

God created a perfect world, then He created a man, placed him in a perfect garden to tend it. God created a woman from the man. It was a perfect situation… until the woman was deceived and ate the forbidden fruit. She gave the forbidden fruit to her husband who was with her. The man, who received the original word from God was silent; he didn’t stop his wife from acting on her deception. Both of them were culpable.

In this simple act, the man and woman chose to follow their own will and reject that of their Creator. In this simple act, the man and woman committed High Treason against the King of the universe. And the punishment for High Treason is death. (Genesis 2:17)

Because of their disobedience to God’s only prohibition (Genesis 2:16–17), they went from looking up to take fruit from the trees to looking down to scrounge for food on the ground. The visual is powerful!

But in God’s action of throwing the man and woman out of the garden, God was gracious and merciful. Yes, while God punished the man and woman for their sin, God was gracious and merciful. To keep them from returning to the garden and eating the fruit from the Tree of Life, God set armed angels at the gate. (Genesis 3:24) God lovingly didn’t want the man and woman to live forever in their fallen condition and He took the necessary action to prevent that from ever happening.

Application

The choice made by the man and the woman affected everything in the created world. (Genesis 3:17b, Genesis 4:8) To this day, creation groans for God to set things right again. (Romans 8:22) And one day, God will do just that when Jesus returns to consummate His Kingdom.

Every one of us has been affected by the Fall. And every one of us has followed the path of our parents, the original man and woman, making the same treasonous choice they did. All of us have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23)

And like He did with our parents, God has done everything necessary to restore us to a right relationship with Him… if we will only turn from our own ways and return to Him and His ways. None of us can turn to God on our own. If we have any thoughts to turn to God, (Psalm 14:1-3) those thoughts have been graciously given by God. (John 6:44)

Have you turned from your sin and to God? Have you trusted the payment of Jesus’ death — a payment He didn’t owe — as your atoning sacrifice to cover your sin — a debt you couldn’t pay if you wanted to?

Forgiveness for High Treason and salvation from sin and eternal death is free for the asking. Turn to God today and accept His free offer of forgiveness and restoration to a right relationship with Him.

Please reach out to me if you’d like more information about getting right with God.

* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
Genesis 3
Genesis 4
Genesis 5


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