Gospel FoundationsSample

Man Sins

God’s creation was good; very good, in fact. The first man and woman lived together in God’s garden where He had placed them, and they did the good work of representing His image in creation and living in harmonious relationship with Him and one another.

Unfortunately, what was created good did not stay in its perfect order. While the world around us might look at earthquakes, cancer, tsunamis, poverty, and the like and call them tragedies, disasters, or just cruel twists of fate, Christians look to the storyline of the Bible and see the ultimate source of these calamities—sin.

It’s at this point in the story that we are introduced to another character—the serpent—who was not content with his place in creation. He did not want to serve God as Creator but instead wanted to be God himself. Not only that, this creature desired that people—God’s prized creation—would adopt the same self-determining attitude and throw off the loving rule and reign of God. So he tempted the first humans to violate the one prohibition God had lovingly given them—do not eat from the one forbidden tree. 

Ultimately sin became so great on earth that God decided to wipe creation clean with a worldwide flood. But in His grace, God made a way for His judgment of the wicked to lead to the salvation of Noah and his family. This event foreshadows the cross of Jesus Christ and God’s eternal plan of rescue for His people, for those who believe in His Son. 

Our sin reveals the depth of our rebellion against God and our helplessness to do anything to be right with God again. But what we cannot do, God has done through Jesus. Jesus is the Son of Eve whom God graciously provided to crush the head of the serpent Satan and rescue us from sin and death (Gen. 3:15).