Lenten Bible Study feat. Fr. Mike Schmitz | Adam & Eve

hello and welcome Curtis Martin I'm here with Dr Edwards 3 we're excited to walk with you through the story of Salvation we're thrilled to be able to look at the narrative that leads us from page to page to the scriptures and understand God's heart this is the most exciting Story the most important story in the world where there's so many stories on Instagram and Netflix and YouTube this is the story we want to fill our minds and shape our hearts because it's the story that matters the [Music] most now when you're thinking about this journey through scripture we need kind of a road map we need a framework to make sense of all these 73 different books and one of the things we're going to take an Insight from is from the the thought of the early church fathers I'm thinking here of people like St Augustine or thinking of St irus who was right there writing in the early 2 Century irus said this if you want to understand scripture it consists in showing why there are a number of Covenants with Mankind in teaching what the character is of those covenants and and that's what our road map is going to be we're going to be looking at the various covenants that we see in Salvation history and and and and these are key moments where God establishes a relationship with a a key leader and he's forming a covenant relationship with Adam and Noah to Abraham to Moses to David and to Jesus and what we're going to see is that at each stage in in each of those Covenant relationships God's covenant family plan expands it gets bigger so it starts off you think about with Adam where we have it's Adam and Eve and his family and then with Noah it's a whole household uh Noah his wife and his three children you have a household together and then by the time we get to Abraham Abraham goes to this distant land called Canaan with his his whole extended family 318 Kinsmen you have a whole tribe and that tribe becomes known as 12 tribes of Israel the the 12 tribes of of the great nation of Israel they become that great nation in the time of Moses when they settle in the promised land and then David expands this Nation to not just rule over itself but to rule over other nations becoming a great Kingdom and all of this prefigures God's ultimate plan which is to establish a universal family a a Catholic Family that's the word Catholic means in other words a family that is gathering all of humanity back into one Covenant family of God that's the road map we're going to be looking at in this journey what started as a universal family with Adam and Eve and was broken by sin we're going to watch how God the Father will reach into human history throughout human history to reestablish his fatherhood with each one of us through the church now one of the things we want to do here as we're beginning because we're approaching the word of God this isn't any ordinary book we want to really ask God and His assistance his grace to help us so Curtis would you open us up in a prayer be happy to in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen Lord God we are about to turn to your word we ask that you would send your spirit into our hearts and Minds so that we can discern we thank you for the gift of the church which guides us in our understanding of sacred scripture which leads us in teaches us but Lord we're asking you not just to instruct our minds but to transform our hearts be with us as we turn to you and study the great reality of Salvation history we pray this in Jesus name amen father son and holy spirit amen now before we dive in to our first Covenant with Adam we're going to hear from a special guest each week we're going to have special guests join us people that you may know from seek and the first one is father Mike schmidtz hi my name is father Mike Schmitz I want to thank Curtis Martin and Dr s for letting me be part of your a small part of this first Bible study you're celebrating today or kicking off today you when it comes to Adam there's something remarkable you know the question we get to ask is here's Adam who's without sin right he's made in God's image and likeness he is in perfect harmony with god with with his wife Eve with himself like what what causes a person like that to sin now we know why we sin we have concupisent right we have we have a darkened intellect we have a a a a weakened will we have an attraction to sin Adam didn't have an attraction to sin what would cause someone who has no attraction to sin to sin well I wonder I I don't know if this is the case but I wonder if part of that isn't the fact that what he was called to is not just he's called to stay away from sin is that he was called to love and love always requires courage as the serpent comes into the garden and goes after his bride here's Adam with no attraction to sin has no weakness of his will who has no darkness of his intellect but lacked courage and not not just lacked the courage to act but lacked the courage to love when you and I fail to have the courage to love when we fail to act when we know we're called to act we find ourselves in the same position as Adam and so he's not so different than us he's not a stranger to us in fact we know that heart because we know what it is to be called to love and to failed to love as we begin this Lent in Bible study as we move in Into the Future what we're going to see is where the first Adam failed the new Adam Jesus Christ did not fail he did not fail to love us he did not fail to Have Courage he did not fail to act and so we take inspiration we take we we learn from the old Adam take inspiration from the new Adam and look to him as a model and perfector of Faith so now Curtis as we jump in to the Bible we're going to open up and and turn to Genesis chapter 1 and just really briefly I want to just highlight here something I think is absolutely crucial for us to understand so I want you all open up your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1 and this is the story of creation God creating the world but one of the things we miss out on as moderns I think we we don't we don't appreciate how the ancient biblical writers tell the story they're not just giving a play-by-play account of what happened they they often tell the story and organize it according to various themes and they're trying to make connections and show patterns and and I think we're going to see something really beautiful in this story so first of all we're see how God creates order out of chaos think about what God makes on the first day God I just want to for a moment interrupt this would be a great time to have your Bible and a pen or maybe even a highlighter because we want to teach you not just things about the scripture but as we go we want to be teaching you how to read the scripture so that by the time we're finished you'll be able and be better equipped to read the scriptures on your own this is a big and confusing collection of books so I'm sorry back to you Genesis 1 in order well this is great so you can mark up there chapter 1 veres 3-5 we see God creating first of all day and night I would highlight that in verse five and then I would be looking at the the next part here verses 6 through 8 the second day of creation he's creating now the sky and the Sea the firment up above called the heavens and then the waters down below the Seas and then in verses nine and following he's creating land and then on land we see in verse 12 vegetation appearing that's the third day now you might read this and go okay day and night sky see land vegetation is this really 12 24-hour periods or or three 24hour periods what's going on we're looking here to understand themes we'll get back to those questions they're great questions but if we can pause that for just a moment and look at what's being said because if you watch what happen so in the first three days God's creating three major Realms he's creating time day and night he's creating space the sky and sea and he's creating the first form of life that's going to dwell in the land and that's the vegetation uh and and what we're going to see in the next three days the next three days correspond exactly to the first three days where God establishes rulers over those Realms so if you take a look next at what happens in verses 14 through 19 on the fourth day God creates the first ruler over the first realm he creates the sun to rule the day and the moon and the stars to rule the night in fact that's exactly what it says in verse 16 i i i underlined that in my Bible light to Rule the Day light to rule the night so it's it's a clear point that the the fourth day is in direct connection to the first day and you're going to see the exact same thing happen in verses 20 and following where where God is going to create the birds to fill the sky and then the fish to fill the sea so you see day five corresponds exactly to day two and then finally creates the beast on day six and they're going to realm all and rule over the the land and then but ruling over the beasts and all of of creation is man and woman created in His image and likeness so I think one of the big points we want to take away from Genesis 1 is if you notice the the way the the literary structur is put together the Bible's trying to show us that God created this great order out of chaos which is the exact opposite of what you find in all the other ancient NE Eastern myths about how the world came to be no I think we have to recognize there there are many people made comments of the similarities between some of the ancient near Eastern uh texts and the scriptures and saying maybe even the the Israelites borrowed from these nothing could be further from the truth there's a fundamental difference between what is being shared here and the Pagan Mist the first one is the Pagan myths reject or ignore the one true God I mentioned Marvel earlier today they ignore it they're not rejecting God we can recognize that even in atheistic Evolution it's a story of creation without a Creator and so there's an ignoring I'm not talking about theistic Evolution atheistic Evolution and to be able to see that's the first part the second one is that there's a rejection of vocation we're going to get there a second there's no sense of calling on our life Genesis is going to cover that and finally there there's a realization well if I don't have any purpose then I might as well pursue pleasure with all my might and the Pagan rituals the Pagan lives always were had license with regards to sexuality and when you have license with regard to sexuality lots of sexual immorality without marriage and family you end up killing your children through infanticide or abortion this pattern occurs at every stage in Salvation history including our present moment and so we're seeing that played out here what the the the Cosmetic similarities between what's going on in Genesis and other myths is there they are similar but they're counterfeits and that's what we're seeing in our world today because our modern world has lost its story again we don't know where we came from we don't know why we're here uh we don't know where we're going and and we want to give the story back so even just this little insight from Genesis 1 about about God creating with a certain order a certain purpose and what we're going to see next man's vocation our calling that that's an important message because we're living in a world that's very much like the ancient Pagan world today now let's take a look at that that calling it's fascinating there's this line that comes in chapter 1 verse 26 that many of us are familiar with it says God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the Sea and the birds of the air Etc now this idea of being made in the image and likeness CH as I was a kid I remember hearing that and I'll be honest it didn't make much sense to me I go I don't I don't know what God looks like so what does it mean I'm made in the image of likeness of him if I want to know significantly from scripture what does the bible mean when it says that we're made in the image of likeness of God how would I figure that out no exactly we want to step here from what the scriptures are saying to how to interpret the scriptures which is a tool we want to share with you so one of the things you do is say here's a phrase image and likeness and I don't quite know what it means one of the first questions you want to ask if you don't know what it means is this same phrase or a very similar phrase used elsewhere in the scriptures because elsewhere you might get the clue in context as of what it means in its original context we're going to see this with regards to people places things names there will be echoing or repetition and when it's echoed or repeated it's actually going to give us Clues as to what's really meant here and so we're going to see this right now so where's the next time that this phrase image likeness occurs yeah it's just like in you when you're reading a book you see a word and you see it used later on you read the context in both cases and you're going to figure it out and that's what we're going to do now go to Genesis chapter 5 verse three we're going to see here is the next time we see the language of image and likeness it describes how Adam was the father of a son in his likeness after his image and named him Seth so Genesis 5:3 this is one of those moments take out your pen take out your highlighter underline that one in fact you might want to put in your margin back at Genesis 1 128 or 126 you could write down you could write Genesis 53 like a little note so you remember where that is I do it both ways so next to next to Genesis 126 I'd put a little uh because it's in the same book I'd put 53 and then in Genesis 53 I'd go back and say 126 so no matter where I start I remember where to go so I don't have to remember all those things over time you'll begin to learn them so you can flip back and forth more easily but right now happy to use training wheels if you will to be able to let us understand how to get back and forth but the very next time that phrase lightess and image image and lightness is used is in Genesis 5 and we get a clue it's referring to a father having a son so let's go back to Genesis 126 in context when we say let God says let us make man in our own image and likeness there's not just a a reality of creation there's a reality of relationship a very specific relationship familial fatherly relationship that seems to Echo off and we'll see oh wait that seems to be indicate we're going to see this pattern flow through the rest of sacred scripture that God is a loving father is inviting us into life inviting us to share that life and inviting us to come spend eternity in that life and that's the reoccurring pattern of scripture but right here we see the first Echoes through image and likeness so Seth is made in the image and likeness of of his father Adam we see that in Genesis 5:3 so if Adam in Genesis 1 126 is made in the image and likeness of God what is that telling us about God God is isn't just a Creator just randomly brought us into existence he's a loving father he brought us into into relation into existence so you can have a relationship with us we're called to be his sons and and then we see and we're called to we're given a lot of responsibility the text goes on in 128 29 talks about the great Dominion that we're called to have and then in chapter 2:1 15 it tells us that Adam had a very specific mission in the garden so he has dominion over all of creation so all that God has just created is created for him for his son and and then Adam is told that he's called to cultivate the garden but what does that mean yeah so this is so our vocation we find in Genesis 28 and then 128 and we're going to go over to chapter 2 and we're going to see see it there but the first commandment somebody what's the first commandment well to love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul yes in the Ten Commandments the first one is actually be fruitful and multiply that's not a very honorous responsibility I want you to be able to have intimate relations with your spouse than to have children that's a great thing so and then to subd and rule the world but now we move over and see the the the invitation in 215 to guard and to keep the garden what do we mean by to guard and to keep it's interesting it it says in my RSV Catholic edition to till and to keep and you can just get S oh just be a gardener and that is certainly he he called to take care of the garden but the word keep there in verse 15 i i Circle this one and I write in my B Bible on the side it's the Hebrew word Shamar s h m a r you can translate it as and that Hebrew word Shamar it does mean to keep but it's used often in the books of the Bible to describe a priest guarding the sanctuary the priest protecting God's holy Sanctuary from Intruders entering the holy place and so it's very fascinating that we're hearing he Adam is there in the garden he's told to guard it not just to cultivate it that's part of it but he's called to guarded and that makes us wonder huh God must know there's going to be an intruder somebody's coming in to do some harm I wonder what that's about created his sons and daughters to rule so we're kings and queens and now to guard which is a priest Shamar to is a Priestly thing so Sons and Daughters who are priests and kings are part of the theme but you're right there an alarm goes off I'm in the Garden of Eden why do I need to guard the garden there must be something coming up that we're being warned even though it's the Garden of Eden even though it's an Earthly Paradise there's going to be a problem there's going to be an Invader we're going to see that in the next chapter but before we go to the next chapter Curtis and I want to just highlight one last thing that comes in verses 16 and 17 this is the first prohibition the first like negative command like don't do this and the first Thou shalt not is don't go to the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil if you go there in the day you eat of it you shall die now there's a lot here in this passage and so much I wish we could get into with this um but just briefly I one thing I want to highlight is that why does God give this prohibition why does he give this commandment why does God give any law any kind of restriction is it just CU he wants to control us is it just he you know he just wants to restrict us what what what does what does the text actually tell us no because you kind of feel your back stiffing a little bit like okay you created me as a son or a daughter I am in the Garden of Eden and I am going to be fruitful and multiply I'm the king or queen of creation this is all good what do you mean I can't have that tree and there's a little sense within us of why are you putting limits on me so what's going on here is God just capricious is God just mean-spirited well what we see in verse 17 is clear that God is saying oh don't go to the street because if you do you'll die it's like like why does God give law why does any good father in the home give law I've go law to my little kids like don't go play in that busy street not because I'm just trying to control you because I love you and I don't want you to get hurt like I know what's best for you and and and and and that something harmful will happen and now we don't know what this is all about and we're going to come back we'll unpack this after the break but what we're going to see is that there is a certain test that's going to be here but more than that this tree symbolizes something it's not like oh you can all these trees just don't go to that one it's going to symbolize man's Freedom this is what the catechism actually says man using his freedom not according to God's plan but to want to be like God himself in fact that's going to be the great Temptation that that the devil imposes upon Adam and Eve and they fall for it and it's the same Temptation he uh presents to us over and over again to want to use our freedom this gift of freedom for our own purposes not according to God's plan and whenever we do that it hurts us it brings spiritual death it breaks our relationship with God and we don't want to fall into the Trap that Adam and Eve did and that's what we're going to take a look at when we come back we want to trust God in all things now Chris I want to share with you and all the viewers about one young man who really lives that trust well he lived it when he was a young college student as he was out there going and evangelizing on his campus at UT Austin and evangelizing at his his fraternity bringing many others to Christ and he continues to do that as he's working living Mission while he's working in Dallas but still evangelizing and bringing the gospel to the world around him his name is JP win my name is John Paul win and I live in Dallas Texas and work at AT&T and when I think of the topic of Adam and light of mission I think of the fact that Adam was hiding and so can we we can hide of course in the ways that we ought to share faith in the ways that we should be w witnesses to our faith but we can hide from the fact that we desperately need Jesus Christ in every way at every moment and we do this by hiding behind our pride by our possessions we can hide behind the things we think we've merited over time and this ultimately Roots out or suffocates our desire and need for Jesus Christ who really is the only thing that we have to offer People in Mission so I encourage you in this Bible study to think of the ways that you desperately need Jesus which is every way and then to think of all the ways that you're hiding all the ways that you've hidden from the Lord in this need that you have for him and then to seek him out cheers all right let's get back to our question because it's fundamental why the law why rules and regulations we're told it's coming from a loving father who wants our best I think of telling my my kids please don't sit on the banister because they could fall off into the backyard you could hurt yourself but they may view my command of don't sit on the banister as dad's very restrictive so what's going on because there's a warning involved in this and God is trying to protect us so let's take a deeper look well let's take a look at I think when you look at the actual Temptation scene in Genesis chapter 3 it's going to give us some Clues into the nature of that first Temptation and and what Curtis and I want to do here is really invite you to read this with a more kind of a an a a mature understanding many of us have heard this story from our childhood we might read these books to our kids and you see a little snake kind of coming in the garden saying hey eat this apple Lady and and and okay that's fine for a kids book we want to rise about the children books understanding and understand this more as an adult because there's a lot of subtlety a lot of uh great great drama unfolding here that we might miss out so it starts off and it says in chapter 3: one now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made and he said to the woman did God say you shall not eat of any tree of the garden now I want to just highlight one thing here just about the language that's used here and in my Bible I circle the word Lord God in verse one Lord God Yahweh Elohim and you may not realize this but curtisan in our book on salvation history we we we talk about this that in Genesis chapter 2 when you see God is there with Adam he created Adam and puts Adam in this Garden gives him these Rivers the fruit vegetation they're walking in the garden they're naming animals together God is described there as Lord God in Hebrew Yahweh Elohim it's it's describing God's closeness the the close friendship and we see this many times in later in the Bible like when God Reveals His name it's Yahweh at the burning bush God's closeness now in Genesis chapter 1 when God is just the Creator he just is bringing things into existence out of nothing he's just simply called Elohim he's called lord and God is Lord but Yahweh Elohim describes the closeness so notice in the first half it says okay the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that Lord God Yahweh Elohim had made but then when the Devil comes in the very first word he speaks to Eve he doesn't use Yahweh Elohim he just uses God which is just Elohim so I Circle that word he's basically saying hey did that like distant Creator lawgiver God did he say to you yeah so very different Hebrew words and they're trying to figure out how in English to communicate this but when you see Lord God we're actually talk about Clos this when you hear God individually of that this is a distant power the devil doesn't trust God and so he's not Lord God to the devil and he and the devil's trying to share that distrust with the first our first parents yeah it's kind of like you know as fathers in the home you know like we we play many roles right we might be garbage man we could be the lawn boy we could be piggyback Rider guy we could be environmental West waste engineer as was the case last week for me anyway but there's there's a piece here also based upon that role that we could play but also looking look at the way he he addresses them he says did the did God so this is this one did did he say you shall not eat from any of the trees what a way to phrase it he created the entire garden and gave them all the other trees to eat from and the devil goes in and goes did he really say you can't eat from that tree it's unbelievable they called into creation out of nothing they're given this great blessing and not only is he is he treating the devil treating God as distant but also as arbitrary as mean-spirited all in this AC accusation and to be able to recognize he's accusing God and trying to get our first parents to lean into that distrust and I think he's trying to break that fatherly relationship right that closeness right you know so yes is it true that God is Creator and log giv yes uh the other thing is if you notice the the language so I think I'm glad you pointed out C because says sh you shall not eat of any tree I Circle the world any because what did God actually say up above in verse 16 you may freely eat of every tree I mean it's like you get the whole thing just just watch out for that one because I'm worried if you go there you'll get hurt like that's what a what a generous God yeah here here's this Buffet of great desserts and all you can eat but as you're eating don't put your finger in the light socket that that's what this is about that's what God's perspective but the devil is you got all this stuff on the table ignore that did do you have restrictions on you well yeah I mean we weren't supposed to stick our finger in in the electric socket yeah cuz you're going to get hurt but the devil's twisting it and we're going to see that he does this in our own lives to this day this has been the pattern that he's used from the beginning of human history and if if you're like me and you are in this regard he's using the same pattern with us regularly all right let's move on and see the next phase here how does the women respond the verse two the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the Trees of the garden now notice that I circled the word may there remember God didn't just say oh you might it's okay no he goes you're free to eat of all the trees great generosity and you could tell she's starting to buy into the devil's portrait of God as being restrictive uh so well we may eat of the fruit of the Trees of the garden but God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die did God didn't mention anything about touching so now she's expanding the prohibition in a way that's not accurate to what the Lord actually said to her be re this this is kind of the way it works you know oh you know I if God says I have to wait till I'm married to be intimate with a woman I'm going to have to wait for the rest of my life no no no no just till you're married and to be able to have this sense of we exaggerate the burdens of being faithful to God and and then try to justify or at least pave the way for justification of falling into sin so we're seeing the the devil's strategy is already working he's trying to divide the relationship he's not just trying to get Adam and Eve to break a rule he's trying to divide the relationship and and it's working on Eve's heart here oh so well as soon as she says that the Devil comes right back in verse four and the serpent said to the woman you will not die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be open you will be like God knowing good and evil now let's unpack that there a little bit Curtis what do you think that means when when the Devil comes back and says you will not die you you could go to that tree what's God talking about what's he ultimately saying about God God's a liar yeah God's lying to you and why is God lying to you because he wants to boss you around and he's arbitrary so he's on a power trip he's just trying to restrict you he knows that if you eat of this actually your eyes are going to be open you'll become like him knowing good and evil which is in scripture knowing good and evil isn't just like knowing the difference between right or wrong it's an expression used later in scripture to describe like a king legislating law like deter mining what's good and evil for the land and that with the devil saying no God knows if you go to this tree you could be like him you could decide for yourself what's right or wrong you decide your own rules you don't have to follow his rules anymore uh and and that's that's what what what's appealing to them no and the reality is first of all God's a liar second of all we have to recognize that the pictures we see the watercolors of a little green snake talking to a blond-haired woman who might be a little ditsy that's not if this woman Eve is amazing she's created by God she's brilliant and so there's a different attack there might also be a threat if you don't eat of it if you do eat of it you won't die if you don't eat of it I might make it so that you do die the next at the end of the Bible when we see this same serpent the nahash presented it's not a little green snake it's a giant fire giant dragon with seven heads murderous and so we don't know what the serpent looked like in the garden but the idea that there might have been some threat that kind of coerces the our first parent it seems that it might be there how do we know that well because when Jesus undo this he's going through a fair amount of duress to undo the the challenge as he's combating Satan in his passion and death yeah I think that's worth worth really highlighting there chapter 3 verse one when it says you know the serpent was more cunning so it's a serpent entering in I want you to know that that Hebrew word the Curtis just mentioned is nahash n a a s nahash which is a word used to describe Leviathan the great sea monster in Exodus Isaiah chapter 27 and as Curtis points out it's portrayed in the Book of Revelation it's this seven-headed Dragon figure again we don't know what it looks like but the word the word chosen wasn't like a little tiny worm in the ground the devil is coming and likely manifesting himself in a very Fierce intense violent life-threatening way right we're tending to think as a children we well it's it's a it's a serpent it's a little green thing that speaks with a list this was a threat of some form uh and and and a kind of encouragement to to reject God and what they know from God from their experience every other time it's presented in the scriptures you're talking about a monster and so while this may have been a small creature they were monstrous in who they were in their Rebellion against God but let's move on let's move on now think about this there is this Intruder that just came in and he's presented as a nahash you know as an intense figure whatever that is was there someone that was supposed to guard the garden protect the garden oops yeah that was the last of the vocations that we were received that Adam was supposed to receive he's the guard and yet it's interesting in this exchange between the serpent and Eve Adam is noticeably silent yeah maybe he was golfing or something right or taking TV checking his scores actually where was he Curtis um well gosh uh if you read verse six he was right there saying nothing doing nothing retired in place his mission was to guard the garden and and a levitical priest when they were guarding the sanctuary that's the same word Shamar they would have been willing to lay down their lives to protect God's holy presence the sanctuary from being desecrated from any Intruder what does the new Adam do he lays down his life for his bride the church so there's a pattern here that we see in this child story that there actually might be quite a bit more going on Adam could have acted fulfilled his vocation instead he left his wife there to be in a battle of wits with the serpent who was is introduced as more crafty or shrewd than all the other animals so she's she's playing chess with the master Chessman and her her husband is is nowhere to be seen until she eats the fruit and then turns around and hands it to him and he takes a bite two he's right there he's right there so very culpable on that front now I want to get to the heart of what this first sin is and there's a great quote from the catechism that we've been using in focus training from the very beginning 26 years ago it comes from catechism 397 that tells us what the first sin consisted in you know it wasn't just it is a rebellion and there is pride involved here but it's fascinating how the catechism describes this it was a lack of trust trust it lack of trust in the goodness of God in his creator and all subsequent sin involves that kind of lack of trust lack of trust and rebellion and so lack of trust leads to rebellion and we see it in our own lives and so do I trust that God has my best in mind even though it might be hard or will I say I don't know if he really has my best in mind I think found a better way or an easier way and so then I Rebel and I think this reminds me also of something another great quote we've used I want to put this quote up on the screen it comes from jp2 something that he wrote I think it was 1993 in a book he called crossing the threshold of Hope and he wrote about like this first sin isn't just like a little story it is the Paradigm it is the key he says for interpreting reality and that's a big deal when he when he and he put it in italics which meant he was like like really emphasizing this point I'm going to put this quote on the screen and Chris let's let's unpack this a little bit with them he says this father son Paradigm is Ageless the idea that Adam was made in the image and likeness of of of God and that sunship and the Rays of fatherhood Belong To The trinary Mystery of God himself in human history they made a first resistance and the Obscure but real fact of original sin this is truly the key for interpreting reality original sin attempts to abolish fatherhood placing in doubt the truth about God who is love and leaving man only with a sense of the Master Slave relationship yeah only a pope can write something something like this is the key for interpreting reality we're spending time here because he's right and while there's it's hidden in a children's story that we don't know quite what to do with the meaning that's going on here the challenge going on here are create a paradigm that will impact the rest of scriptures and as we recognize that that not only be be here in Genesis and throughout the rest of scriptures but they go right into our heart it's the key for interpreting your reality my reality to be able to see I am constantly challenged to deny God's fatherhood and treat him as a master a a a a master that should be rebelled against or to be served slavishly as a slave but either way I'm not living with the dignity and love and Trust of a son and this is what's happening right here at the first sin it's not just that Adam and Eve again broke a commandment it's like they they they broke their trust in God that that that that's what's the most you know I'm sure the dev most devastating thing from the heavenly father is that he sees his children saying I'm just going to choose I don't trust you that that's what St terz said was what what grieved the Father the most is when we don't trust him and so this is really the key for us to see in our own lives do we trust the father do we trust him when we sense God is inviting us to do something when I know I'm supposed to do this and this is hard or maybe there's a a teaching of the church that we don't understand and oh it's kind of complicated but do I still trust that God knows knows more than I do and he has my best interest in mind and my happiness in mind and we're ready short on time we've got to get to the consequence and see that even in the midst of God coming in recognizing their sin and punishing them he's going to he's going to give them hope so there is the punishment so it goes on in chapter 3 you may know about some of these punishments it describes how uh in in chapter 3 verse 17 that the ground is now going to be cursed so the ground where Adam was tilling the soil and it was it was being very fruitful it's not going to be cursed and it's not always going to be fruitful in verse 18 thorns and thistles come forth from it so in my Bible I I underlined in verse 17 that the ground is cursed and then in 18 thorns and thistles are going to come forth uh in verse 19 the in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread uh so the idea is that now is it's not going to be easy labor when he's working the ground he's going to sweat as he's working and then he's going to return to dust uh you are dust in the dust you shall return in verse 19 death is his ultimate part of the punishment death enters into the world through sin but in the midst of these curses this punishment you know that ultimately it's reflecting their broken relationship with God they they are broken and and and and separated from the source of Life himself so they're going to experience death in the midst of these curses there's also hope in a passage known as the Proto evangelium meaning the First Gospel Genesis 3:15 to the serpent I'll put enity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal and so what what God is telling the devil is that one day there's going to be this great Strife between you and the and the children of of Adam and Eve but one day the woman will have a son who will crush the head of the serpent and you will be defeated and man and woman will be liberated they'll be free they'll be restored to eternal life and that that hope in Genesis 3:15 actually precedes the curses that are going to come you need to understand there's going to be a punishment but don't give up hope because I'm still a father even though you betrayed me I won't betray you this is the reality of creation and be able to see we can get caught up in the timing and how long ago and how long did it take those are all great questions but as we peel them back you see there's actually something much more fundamental more real and necessary for us to navigate life and Trust our heavenly father what we're going to close with is this is the funnest part now so just in the last 60 seconds I want to share with you how God doesn't just tell us how he's going to rescue us he also shows us and that's what we're going to see over and over again not just God's words but his actions prefigure prophesy what he's going to do because let's go I I just want to share with you think about what Adam had to do he was in a garden the Garden of Eden and he was tested there and then he he fails the test he falls in the Sin and now there's going to be these various curses like the sweat of his face he's going to have to work and thorns and thistles are going to come forth from the ground that is cursed and he's going to experience death and go return to the ground well all of this prefigures what happens with Jesus right because Jesus will come the new Adam he's the child that was prophesied here in Genesis 3 he's the son of the woman and what's he going to do he's going to be in a garden and he's going to be tested but unlike Adam he's going to pass the test he's actually going to Shamar the garden he's going to lay down the his life for his bride the church and while he's in his passion there at the Garden of Gethsemane he's going to have the sweat like drops of Blood come down from his from his face and on Good Friday he's going to have the symbol of the curse the crown of thorns on him and he will experience death on a tree he'll go not to the tree of knowledge of good evil but the tree of life that brings eternal life and then he'll be buried into the ground that was cursed only to resurrect and change everything and so Jesus is going to undo he's the new Adam that's the way he's introduced in scripture or presented in scripture to be able to recognize this and so he's going right back and so God is actually showing us in the first pages of Genesis he's starting to hint at the way that salvation will be fulfilled what is a curse for Adam will be a course of salvation for Jesus Christ and for those of us who trust him well we really want to hear from you I'd love to hear about your experience in the Bible study uh where you are the the group that you're in we'd love to like you can send us pictures Link in the link below you can share your glory stories of how this Bible study is making an impact on you and your family your friends and and who you all are we'd love to get to know you and also if you haven't registered for the remaining studies you can still do that there's another link down there as well you can register for the reigning Bible studies and you can do so at the link that's found in the description so let's close with the glory be thanks for being with us in the name of the father and the son the holy spirit amen glory be to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World Without End am the father and the son and the holy spirit amen God bless you all great to be with [Music] you [Music]

Channel: FOCUS Catholic

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Id: 6DHVAqN4PuI

Length: 39min 6sec (2346 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 15 2024