THE END OF THE BEGINNING AND THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Today we are going to talk about the beginning, that is, Genesis.
Genesis speaks about the beginning of God's creation and, consequently, the beginning of our history as humanity.
The first expression that appears in the original language manuscripts of the work is the Hebrew expression bereshit, which means "in the beginning." However, the word Genesis, which was given as the title in Portuguese and English, was based on the term geneseôs and means "beginning." The authorship of the book is attributed to Moses.
Today, we will study Chapter 3, which I have called "The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End."
In this chapter, written about 6,000 years ago, we find the answer to some of today’s existential questions, such as:
"Why does our life often seem empty and meaningless?"
"Why do people suffer?"
"Why does sickness exist?"
"Why do we die?"
"Why is there so much sadness in the world?"
"Why does it feel like we are born to work and produce until exhaustion, barely enjoying life?"
"Why is there so much pain in the world?"
"Why is there so much evil?"
"How can a human being be so cruel?"
"Why do problems always arise?"
Before we enter Chapter 3, I would like to give you a general overview of what happens in Chapters 1 and 2 (which you can read later).
The first two chapters recount the creation—how God made the heavens, the earth, and everything in them. How God created the oceans, the day and the night, and how He filled this place with living beings. Then, He created man and woman in His own likeness and gave them a full, happy life free from evil.
However, because God wanted to give human beings the freedom to choose, He placed in this place a tree whose fruit should not be eaten, for it would bring the knowledge of good and evil to humanity and would certainly cause their death.
It would be something like this: I create you perfect, with a perfect companion in a perfect place, surrounded by perfect nature, where death does not exist. You are free to enjoy everything and be happy, but there is only one thing that, if you choose to experience, will bring catastrophic consequences.
So now we enter Chapter 3: What did we do? We ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
And we are going to read about it:
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
In verses 1-6, we can read about temptation, acceptance, and the fall.
As we read, the serpent—the personification of evil, the devil, Satan—tempted the woman with arguments. Satan cannot "sin for us"; he tries to lead us to sin. That is, he could never place the fruit in the woman’s mouth and force her to bite it. So, he used the tool of temptation, just as he still does today.
We can understand that giving in to temptation and falling into sin is a combination of three factors: dissatisfaction, desire, and lies.
That is, every time we sin, we inevitably go through a thought process of dissatisfaction and desire, often vulnerable to seductive lies.
Let's look at some examples:
What is sin?
It is any action, attitude, or thought that God would not have (we can look to Jesus as the reference of God incarnate) and that exposes our fallen nature.
Sin will always harm someone, including the sinner, in the short, medium, or long term.
It always has negative consequences. Let's look at some examples:
Adultery, for example, is born from dissatisfaction ("My marriage no longer makes me happy," "My spouse is not as attractive as before," "I feel the desire to meet other people," etc.). Then comes the desire—the urge to experience another relationship—and lies are part of this whole scheme.
Hatred for someone is born from personal dissatisfaction. Psychology explains that when you hate someone, that person often has a trait that resembles you or something you reject, or even reminds you of someone who has hurt you in the past. Feeling dissatisfied with yourself or with a "lack of love," you may desire to eliminate that person. If we remember the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that if you hate someone, you are already a murderer. And lies are part of this package—slander, justifications for canceling someone, etc.
Another common example in our daily lives: gossip, slander, envy, jealousy, idolatry… all of these are attitudes, actions, and thoughts generated by dissatisfaction, fueled by desire, and filled with lies.
What is the antidote to avoid this temptation?
We need to seek satisfaction (GRATITUDE), as the apostle Paul taught us:
"I have learned to be content in all situations ...” (Philippians 4: 11-13)
Let's move on to the following verses.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
In verses 7-13, we can clearly see the stain of sin: malice, evasion, blame-shifting, and accusation. Sin was already there.
Then, as we read in verses 14-19, the consequences came.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
I once preached here that "God does not punish." This is true! This was not a punishment but the natural consequence of their own choices. Even today, everything we experience is not necessarily a direct consequence of a wrong choice we made, but of a wrong choice made 6,000 years ago that brought death, pain, and discord among us.
But does it seem unfair to you that we suffer the consequences of the actions of someone we never even met? Would we have eaten the fruit as well?
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
Then, in verse 20 (read it), we understand that all of humanity originates from this fallen woman, therefore: "all have sinned and..."
However, the part of this chapter that impacts me the most, that guides my life and makes me trust in the Father's love for me, is that even in the midst of this disaster we caused, the Lord still cared to cover their shame and protect them. (Verse 21).
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Finally, in verses 22-24, we see what I call the end of the beginning—because we were removed from Paradise—but also the beginning of the end because, from this point on, we continue reading more and more about God's Plan B: redemption in Jesus, who promised to be with us until the end of time.
What can we do now?
To avoid repeating the actions of the fall and to try to keep our minds, attitudes, and lives focused on doing good, with the help of the Spirit of Jesus—the Holy Spirit.
Because we will continue to sin, that is inevitable, but we can repent and choose not to live in sin.
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” 1 John 3:9
Dani Caldeira