Genesis 3: The mirror universe

Genesis 3:1-24

You know when you look at your reflection in a mirror, when you raise your right hand in the mirror your reflection’s left hand is raised. The image is flipped. Left is right. Right is left.

In the beginning God created a perfect world. People have said the Bible is divided into two parts: Genesis 1 and 2 is the first part. The rest of the Bible from Genesis 3 onwards is the second part! And there is a great deal of truth in that. In chapter 3 our universe was turned upside down. Truth was swapped for lies, love for hatred, peace for conflict, Creator for creation, “very good” for pretty bad.

We live in the mirror universe. A reflection of perfection gone wrong. We’ll look at the passage under three points:

1. The Mirror Universe

2. Who’s the Boss? (destroying God’s good order)

3. Did God really say (lies and death)

1. The Mirror Universe

Genesis 3 is the mirror image of Genesis 1 and 2. In the first two chapters we get this glorious picture of a perfect creation: God speaks, his powerful word making things happen. God speaks, and declares things “good” because they are doing what he says. Things are running according to his plan. But when he makes man and woman in his image, in the image of God they (both) are made, he says it is “very good”. Ge 1:27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them…. 31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

But we do not live in a world which is “very good” do we? We do not live in a world of perfect relationships, where God walks amongst us, where we are at peace with him and each other. We are in a world where we are excellent at murdering each other, manipulating, abusing, power-plays. This afternoon two of my friends are helping another couple divide up their things. It is a deeply painful, messy, emotional thing. It is awful. Our relationships are a wreck.
And never mind our ruling the world. What a mess we’ve made of that. We pump poisons into the air, into the water, into the soil. The same stuff we need to breathe and eat and drink! Are we completely mad?!

We live in the mirror universe. We’re on the wrong side of the looking glass (looking glass is an old word for “mirror” – a great word!)

Everything is backwards. Did you notice in chapters one and two the good order in creation set up by God. There is

· God, who rules by his word,

· then man, created to rule the world (that means look after, not abuse),

· and woman created to help the man in his task of ruling (equally made in the image of God, but with a different job), both in obedience to God.

· then creation, the animals and plants, obeying the good rule of man and God.

BUT! In Chapter 3 we have the snake (creation) ruling over the woman. The woman obeys the snake. The man then listens to the woman instead of listening to God, and together they try to be like God, defining for themselves what is good and bad (look at verse 6 She saw that the tree was beautiful (lit. “good”) and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. Just please please note that the sin of Eve has nothing to do with sex. We’re such a sex-charged society that we see naked and think SEX. Sex wasn’t the problem. Sex (in marriage) is good, says the Bible, very good. In fact, we’re commanded to have sex, and often. Sex was not the proble.m. The problem was SIN. The problem was wanting to be like God. Actually to BE God. Eve wanted to take God’s place.
She wanted, she declared it good – and so she acted. God said it was not good, she declared it good. “I am God”. Nothing has changed, we do the same thing every day.

And she suddenly received the “knowledge of good and evil” – and realised she had just moved from “good” (in line with God’s word) to “evil” (disobedience to God).

Adam and Eve in 2:25 were naked without shame, joyously free. Now in v7 they are naked, defenceless before God. Naked and ashamed. The mirror universe.

There is a play on words in the Hebrew between naked ʿārôm in 2:25 and the next verse where the shrewd ʿārûm serpent is. Another mirror, contrast. Adam and Eve, innocent, free. The serpent, crafty, shrewd. In our world innocence does not survive very long. We have all experienced the hard school of life giving us “knowledge”, sometimes deeply shameful knowledge, as our innocence is snatched away from us. You may be sitting here today with deep shame. You do not have to bear your shame – Christ has borne it for you on the cross. Praise God that through Christ our innocence, at least before God, can be restored. And in eternity, we will be without shame, for Christ has taken our shame.
And if you need help in taking that shame to the cross, naming it “this is what I have done” or “had done to me” we can pray together after the service, and give it to the Lord who bore the stripes on his own body to erase the stripes on your heart. Your innocence can be restored in Christ, and only in Christ. Nothing else helps.

You see, this may be a passage of the Fall of Man, and God’s right judgement – but there is hope, there is life, the story continues. Yes, God bars the way to the tree of life with a flaming sword. But that’s because he himself will go through the looking glass, he will go to the cross, the tree of death, in order to bring us back to the tree of life and smash the mirror universe and restore all things. Praise God! That’s Genesis 3:15 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.
Here is the first promise given that one day the serpent, the symbol of evil in this passage – he will be destroyed. His head will be struck by the offspring of the woman. There will one day be born someone who can strike down the serpent. But that strike will be costly, for his heel will be struck by the serpent.

The rest of the Bible is then looking for that serpent-crusher. That is the hope as each child is born: perhaps he can defeat evil. And the promise is added to with Noah and the Ark, with Moses rescuing the people, King David leading his people – but none of them were enough. Until suddenly Jesus arrives, the better Noah, the better Moses, the better King, rescuing the whole world from slavery and defeating evil on the Cross forever. That is our King, our God.

That’s the glimmer of hope. We are not cursed to live in this mirror universe forever. Jesus Christ has opened the way back to the Real World. We can even begin to feel the warmth of the Real Sun, the Real Truth, the Real relationship as His Spirit lives within us and breathes new life. But Oh! The day when we see him face to face, whether we see him coming in the clouds or see him after we pass through death to eternal life. What a day! To see the world reborn, and our King and Saviour. That is what we live for. That is what we were made for. All of us. Let us keep that in mind.

But there’s more of the serpent’s lies that we need to expose and bring to light so that we are not fooled by the mirror image.

2. Who’s the Boss

Now this point continues on from the first (the mirror universe) but I’ve put this on its own because it is a particular problem for us in our society. Because we have swallowed the lies of the serpent.

We either believe that “Men and women are different, but not equal” Traditionally it has been that men are better than women, I think in the last 20 years or so the lie has been that women are better than men.
The other lie is that “Men and women are equal, but not different” – and that’s something we hear all the time: there’s nothing special or unique about a man as opposed to a woman, or a woman as opposed to a man. Just swap them out interchangeably. It is a lie from the mouth of the serpent, and it is destructive, especially to women (which is ironic since it is often so-called women’s interest groups which say it).
By contrast God says “Men and women are different. Men and women are equal.” We are both made in the image of God, but with different roles. God lifts us up and celebrates our differences and our equality. There is honour both for the man and for the woman.

You see we must remember the curse or judgement in v15 where the serpent and the woman are destined to be enemies until the end of time: And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. The voice behind the serpent is revealed later in the Bible to be Satan, an angel created by God who wanted to be like God and tried to overthrow God. He was thrown out of heaven and banished from God’s presence. He is the ruler of this mirror universe, given the reigns by God for a short time in order that sin may be revealed, exposed and dealt with either by repentance and acceptance of Christ, or eternal expulsion (being thrown out) from God’s presence. So Satan is very active trying to destroy and bring down humanity, and he particularly hates women: there is hostility between the serpent and the woman.

And we have seen that. Throughout history women have been abused, mistreated, oppressed, kept down, raped, beaten, starved, ignored. I read an article recently on women’s experiences during war – and it’s awful. Men have used their superior strength to keep the little woman under control. In many societies, even today, beating your wife when she steps out of line is a perfectly acceptable and normal way of behaving.

Men, let me say at this point that if any of you have done this or are doing this stop it right now. It is sinful and wrong and is not Biblical at all. You have believed Satan’s lie that you are more valuable than she is. You’re falling right into the trap of v8 And you (the woman) will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over (oppress) you. Let’s sit together and pray for repentance and ask the Lord to show you how to be the servant leader instead of bully in your house. Bullying can also be done with words. It’s easy. It comes naturally. (The wives can also do it!) If you’re doing it we’re not judging or condemning you – we are all sinners here. But stop it, be the man you were born to be a Real man, not a twisted mirror image!

However, let me also say that if you are disobeying God by not being the leader in your family, taking responsibility for your wife and children, providing for them, feeding and clothing them, loving them, caring for them, teaching them spiritually, praying with them, then repent! This is the second lie. Again, this is an easy trap to fall into since our society tells us that men, husbands, Dads, are not needed. That women are capable.

And women are capable: at being wives and mothers. But women can’t be husbands and fathers! The woman cannot be the man. And it is Satan’s lie that says to women that being a mother and a wife is not valuable, that it’s unimportant, that it’s rubbish or beneath you. And all that counts is working, for money. No, that is a lie. God created you to be a woman. Let us honour womanhood, honour motherhood, honour wives. We love you and honour you.

But let us too honour manhood, and being husbands and fathers. Look at the creation of man and woman. Did you notice that he was created first. Man was given headship over woman, which means he has the responsibility to look after her, like the rest of creation. It is part of his job. Did you notice that he named the woman, just like he named the animals? It’s clear that she’s completely different to the animals – she’s created out of him (bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh), made in the image of God. But she is also under his protection, she is his responsibility.

But in this chapter, the mirror image, we immediately see the man’s failure to be a man: to take responsibility and to care for his wife. Now Adam had obviously told her what God had said about not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - look at her answer in v3 “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” (If you look back at chapter 2 you’ll notice God told Adam before he made Eve. It was Adam’s job to teach Eve the word of God. Still our job guys.) So Adam gets top marks there.

But then he fails to protect her from the serpent, then he listens to her when she’s obviously wrong, then he obeys her command to eat.

Because look at verse 6. Where is the man during this interchange? With her. What was he doing? Picking his nose?!
Adam gave up his responsibility. He was a lazy man – and the world was plunged into darkness. And there are many lazy men in this world. Passive men, “nice” men who say “whatever you want, dear”. Oh it sounds so loving – but it is evil.
The good man will stand up and say no. Adam should have stood up to Eve and said “no”. A good man would have grabbed the snake and flung it out of the garden saying “you stay away from my wife”. But Adam was not good – he was “nice” and meek and mild, and because hey, I didn’t do it, I didn’t disobey God – she did… it’s her fault. Look at the nice man Adam and his excuse in v12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Not my fault. It’s hers, and yours. I was just being nice. Didn’t want to rock the boat, destroy the peace.

We are cursed with “nice” men.

I remember teaching a Bible study on Ephesians to a very mixed group of men – and we got to chapter 5 the passage about marriage. Some guys had very traditional African thinking: the man is the boss, his family exists to serve him. Others were very Western, modern, the woman is the boss, I do what she says. Passive. “Nice”. Both were blown away by the Bible’s teaching: Husbands are to be SERVANT LEADERS. Both. Like Christ.
One guy from Angola told me that changed his life. He went home that night and apologised to his wife. He realised that he is the head of the home for the benefit of his family, so he can lead them well – not so he can lord it over them. A highly educated guy from Tanzania was deeply challenged in how passive he had been in his family. Went home, apologised to his wife for his what he realised was laziness.

The Bible cuts right across both these lies of Satan. Be servant leaders, men, like Jesus. Not like Adam.

3. Lies and death

Because we live in the mirror universe which is full of the lies of Satan. The lies sound so wise, so loving. And it always begins like this “Did God really say”. Notice that in v1. And he lies about what God says. Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?

What did God actually say? You may eat from ANY of the trees – just not that one, because it’s bad for you. It was a good command. Satan twists it to sound like a bad one. And oh how we fall for his lies.

Marriage is bad. Sex outside of marriage is good. Porn is good, it’s harmless. Money will make you happy. A new girlfriend will make you happy – drop the other one. The problem is with everyone else, not with you, you don’t need to change. God’s a killjoy. Christianity is booooring. Have your fun now, come to God later (you never will). Iæm sure you can think of more. What Satanic lies are tempting you now? Name them, and repent. They are lies, damned lies. (Yes, damned in the proper use of the word as in leading to Hell).

Satan lied to the woman 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “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.”

Well, they did die. Death entered the world and they were barred from the tree of life. And he told a bit of the truth, as always does: the man and the woman did indeed become “like God” as soon as they ate of the fruit. But the horrible irony, the awful lie, was that they were already “like God” because they had been created in his image (1:26). They threw away everything for something they had already been given.

And we fall time and again for the same trick. That’s why thankfulness is such a powerful antidote (medicine that works against poison). When we thank God for what we DO have, we’re much less likely to fall for Satan’s lies. But when we fill our minds with discontent, when we, like Eve, forget all the trees we do have, including the tree of life, and focus on the one we don’t, and allow ourselves to be tempted into thinking that it’s beautiful. Oh it wasn’t beautiful. They were naked, ashamed, at war with each other, and thrown out of paradise. What a cost.

As I said, two people we know are going through a divorce now. It’s not beautiful. It’s horrible, and painful. How much better to have climbed down from you pride and arrogance and said sorry and worked hard at your relationship instead of letting it go to pieces. Trust God, his word does not lie. Oh, it may be hard, very hard, but it is the truth. It is life. Anything else is a lie.

We live in the mirror universe at war. Satan is at war with us, and us with him. He seeks to destroy us. Work is hard. The ground is cursed. 17 And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose 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. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.

Childbirth is pain .” 16 Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And our marriage relationships are a battleground And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

Death is in the world 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

We live in the mirror universe, under judgement.

But there is hope. Remember 3:15 a serpent-crusher will come! And look at v21 And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife – God makes clothes, not out of plants, but animal skins. And there is just a hint here of the sacrificial system, where blood is shed in order to cover the sins of the people. The animals died to cover Adam and Eve’s shame – pointing ultimately to Christ who covers our shame.

There is much more to say, if you’ve got questions we’ll have an opportunity for you to ask in a moment. But now let’s focus our attention on the great rescue act where Jesus on the cross opened the way back to Paradise, for all those who take refuge in him. Let’s celebrate Communion together.