Once Upon A Time
Out Of Deep Darkness Came Great Light
Today, we will begin the journey of telling the greatest “Once Upon A Time” story ever told; the story of how Once upon a time, Out of the darkness, came great light. To fully and deeply understand this story, we have to go back to the beginning.
The Beginning: We begin this story in Genesis 2- God has already made the heavens, earth, light and darkness, seas, vegetation, sun moon, stars, and the animals (Days 1-5). Now we are on Day 6. God makes man and places him in the garden, to work it and watch over it (At this point it is just God, the animals, and man). It was here, God introduced boundaries- Vs. 16 “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.
During this process, God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so he planned to make him a helper corresponding to him; a woman.
So what do we know?
1. God creates the heavens, earth, and everything on the earth.
2. God makes Man.
3. Man gets a job – naming the animals and watching over the garden.
4. Man get boundaries- He was fine them: Eat from any tree you want except .
(The only way for death to enter was through disobedience. It was Gods desire for us to live forever).
5. Man gets a helpmate: God creates Eve from Adams’s side to come alongside him.
The Fall: Adam and Eve were in the Garden when the serpent approached them. The serpent said to the woman “Did God say, you can’t eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said you must not eat or touch, or you will die.
The serpent’s strategy was to cause the woman to question and doubt God’s word. – Did God say? Is this really what God meant?
He wanted to create confusion. A confused person is easier to manipulate.
The serpent then attempted to create a false sense of security within them.
He tells her – “No! You will not die. God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Does he have the power to overrule God?
Adam and Eve tolerated the serpent, thus allowing his deceptive words to take root in their hearts. Once their heart was penetrated by deception, their outlook changed. They felt like they were woke, causing them to redefine right and wrong. Because the tree was good for food, delightful to look at, and because she just desired it, Eve launched her tree equality campaign, and she and Adam ate the fruit. She became an activist for the very thing that would destroy them and mankind.
Once they ate, both their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
-There are things in life that you are better off not experiencing.
The Confrontation
Genesis 3:8
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (ESV)
God followed through with His promise, and man was cursed.
vs 19 “ You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.
Man was expelled from the garden and forced to labor and toil the land to make a new home
Sin and death entered the world through disobedience because of deception. Mankind had chosen darkness over light.
Atonement (Reconciliation):
The English word is a combination phrase originally meaning “at-one-meant” or at-one-with”. It means that you feel in every bit of your being the fracture in our relationship with God and you desire for it to be made right. That doesn’t mean you desire God, necessarily. But it means that you are created in the image of God and you know things are not as they were meant to be.
So what did Adam and Eve do at that moment? “And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” They were laid bare before each other and before the creator of the universe. Their solution shows us how deeply sin had already penetrated their hearts. They did not think of going to the Father who said he would provide everything they need. Instead, they attempted self-atonement. And we have been doing the same thing ever since.”
Self-Atonement never works: Deep down, even Adam and Eve knew their self-atonement wasn’t good enough; which is why they hide. But what does work, are the animal skins which God crafted into a covering for them. This is a picture of atonement.
Jon Akin says it well: “Though there is nothing explicitly stated in the text, this an early indicator of what will take place in the sacrificial system. Animals will be sacrificed and their bloodshed in the place of sinful man, culminating with the blood of the Messiah- The lamb of God”
John 8:12
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (ESV)
Why did God do it? Why didn’t he just destroy mankind and start over with a different creation? Why go through this whole story?
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV)
1 John 3:1
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (ESV)
There is a way out of your darkness.
John 1:12
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (ESV)
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (ESV)
4- Ways to Embrace the Light:
1. Recognize and be at peace with your dependency on God.
2. Find the serpent in your garden and evict him.
3. Trust Gods word.
4. If you fall short, don’t hide from God, run to Him.
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