Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
– Genesis 3:1–6
Today, we’re starting an advent journey on this Pray the Word podcast as we work our way up to December 25th, Christmas day. We’re going to walk through Scripture and pray the Word along the way, just thinking about how different places and Scripture, from Genesis on, point to the coming of Christ. We’ll start with Genesis 3:1–6.
These Verses Describe the Fall and Our Fallen Nature
These verses describe the defining moment of humanity in a way that has affected every single person on the Earth, seven-plus billion people today. In addition to however many throughout history before us. All affected by this event, the first man and woman turning away from God and His Word, rebelling against Him, and experiencing the results of that. This is the entrance of sin into the world, and it’s a story all too common in every one of our lives because the reality is, what Adam and Eve did here all of us have done.
Genesis 3:1–6: Realizing the Need for the Savior
We have all turned aside from God’s ways to our own ways. We’ve all rebelled against Him. We have all disobeyed God, and this is the human problem. We are separated from God as a result, and we deserve judgment from God for all of eternity, and this is the reason for Christmas. This is the reason for Christ coming. You keep reading on in Genesis 3, and you’ll come to verse 15 where God promises that He is going to send one who will crush the serpent and defeat sin, and that is why we need Jesus.
As we think about advent and we think about the Bible’s storyline, we realize the reason we need Jesus is because we are sinners. We need salvation because we rebelled against God, and we need to be reunited with and restored to Him, which is the beauty of Christmas. That is what we anticipate as we look forward to this celebration on Christmas day. The reality that we all have sin in our lives and we all need a savior. And God has made a Savior available to us, salvation possible for us.
Asking God to Help Us Flee Temptation
God, we praise You. As sinners before You, God, we have all turned aside from Your ways to our own way. We have all rebelled against You, and we’re prone to do that today. God, please, please, please, help us in our battles with temptation today. Help us to turn from sin today. We know this scene is playing out just constantly in our lives. We have the temptation to turn away from Your Word. And we have the temptation to do things our own way. God, help us. Help us not to do that.
Lord, help us to trust Your Word. Help us to follow Your ways. And even as we pray that we know that we fall short and we sin against You. We need You to save us from our sins, and we praise you, Lord Jesus, as our Savior. Our Savior who makes forgiveness of sin possible, who makes restoration to relationship with You a reality. All glory be to Your name, Jesus, our Savior, who is the solution. You are the solution to the human problem. Jesus, You are the answer, and we exalt You. We pray this in Your name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
