ADAMIC COVENANT
SIGN: ANGEL WITH FLAMING SWORD.
SEAL: ANIMAL SACRIFICE GIVEN.
MAN'S CONDITION IS FALLEN
UNTIL THE KINGDOM COMES.
1. The Serpent Is Cursed.
One of the Devil's many disguises.
2. The Redeemer Is Promised.
God freely provides a remedy for man's sin.
3. Woman's State Is Changed.
Sorrow is multiplied; pain in childbearing; under headship of husband.
4. Man's State Is Changed.
Hard work on cursed ground; sorrow is inevitable; certainty of physical death.
5. Man Is Free To Accept or Reject God.
God's Salvation is a free gift throughout the Bible.
Let us review the key verses for this Covenant.
Genesis 3:14-24
AND THE LORD GOD SAID UNTO THE SERPENT, BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS, THOU ART CURSED ABOVE ALL CATTLE, AND ABOVE EVERY BEAST OF THE FIELD: UPON THY BELLY SHALT THOU GO, AND DUST SHALT THOU EAT ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE:
AND I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN THEE AND THE WOMAN, AND BETWEEN THY SEED AND HER SEED; IT SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD, AND THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL.
UNTO THE WOMAN HE SAID, I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY THY SORROW AND THY CONCEPTION; IN SORROW THOU SHALT BRING FORTH CHILDREN; AND THY DESIRE SHALL BE TO THY HUSBAND, AND HE SHALL RULE OVER THEE.
AND UNTO ADAM HE SAID, BECAUSE THOU HAS HARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF THY WIFE, AND HAST EATEN OF THE TREE, OF WHICH I COMMANDED THEE, SAYING, THOU SHALT NOT EAT OF IT: CURSED IS THE GROUND FOR THY SAKE; IN SORROW SHALT THOU EAT OF IT ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE;
THORNS ALSO AND THISTLES SHALL IT BRING FORTH TO THEE; AND THOU SHALT EAT THE HERB OF THE FIELD:
IN THE SWEAT OF THY FACE SHALT THOU EAT BREAD, TILL THOU RETURN UNTO THE GROUND; FOR OUT OF IT WAST THOU TAKEN: FOR DUST THOU ART, AND UNTO DUST SHALT THOU RETURN.
AND ADAM CALLED HIS WIFE'S NAME EVE; BECAUSE SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF ALL LIVING.
UNTO ADAM ALSO AND TO HIS WIFE DID THE LORD GOD MAKE COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM.
AND THE LORD GOD SAID, BEHOLD, THE MAN IS BECOME AS ONE OF US, TO KNOW GOOD AND EVIL: AND NOW, LEST HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND, AND TAKE ALSO OF THE TREE OF LIFE, AND EAT, AND LIVE FOREVER:
THEREFORE THE LORD GOD SENT HIM FORTH FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN, TO TILL THE GROUND FROM WHENCE HE WAS TAKEN.
SO HE DROVE OUT THE MAN: AND HE PLACED AT THE EAST OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN CHERUBIM, AND A FLAMING SWORD WHICH TURNED EVERY WAY, TO KEEP THE WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE.
INTRODUCTION TO THE ADAMIC COVENANT
The verses given above cover God's judgments in the Adamic Covenant. However, the entire chapter three should be carefully studied to see how temptation came and turned mankind to sin. This is not the original sin because Satan sinned earlier. Even so, the sin of Adam and Eve was so severe that all of God's creation felt the consequences of it.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Romans 8:22). According to Paul, all of creation (the whole universe and all that is in it) was adversely affected by the sin of Adam and Eve.
What was the sin? It was the sin of disobedience. God commanded that they not eat of the fruit of one tree in the Garden. They disobeyed and ate of it, first Eve, then Adam.
How did this come about? Eve said she was "beguiled" (v.13). The Hebrew word used means "to lead astray, that is, mentally to delude, or morally to seduce, to deceive utterly." Paul commented on this when he wrote, "...as the serpent beguiled Eve" (2 Corinthians 11:3). The Greek word "beguiled" means "to seduce wholly, to deceive." One Greek scholar (Thayer) states that the use of a prefix on this verb strengthens the simple verb "to cheat" to the harsher meaning described.
How did Satan work his plan? First, he learned that Eve did not describe God's command accurately, because she added to it (v.3). He then brought God down to man's level by saying God lied (v.4), and that God also had a secret agenda (v.5). He also wrongly raised man up to the level of God by promising they would be "as gods" (v.5). Once the devil instilled all these doubts in Eve, he left her to her own natural desires, physical appetites and devices. His suggestion accusing God of holding mankind back from its destiny had taken effect.
Once persuaded (v.6) she saw that the fruit was practical (food), pleasing (to view), and had potential (for acquiring wisdom).
Adam's excuse was to blame God for what the woman did to him (v.12). The serpent was nowhere to be found because he left after planting the bad seed. Even so, he could not avoid God's judgment. The fact that Adam and Eve were ashamed means that they knew they had done wrong. They admitted it, they acknowledged it, and they accepted God's judgment without quarreling with it. They confessed their sin before God.
Though our study of the covenants does not allow a full investigation into the workings of temptation and sin, the reader would benefit from a personal study of the temptation of Christ by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12,13; Luke 4:1-13) and how Jesus defeated the devil by using Scripture. There is also an excellent concise description of the path from temptation to sin (James 1:13-15). John describes the presumption of sin (1 John 2:15-17). Review what Jesus said (Mark 7:20-23), Paul's comparison of pride versus love (Romans 12:3,16), and the often-heard adage "pride goeth before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18; 29:23; 1 Timothy 3:6).
The sign of the Adamic Covenant is the angel with the flaming sword. Adam and Eve saw this sign as they "were sent forth from the Garden of Eden" (v.23). Note that the task of the angel was "to keep the way of the tree of life" (v.24). The Hebrew word "keep" means to hedge around as with thorns, to guard and protect what is in the garden with exceedingly great care. Though the word "way" can mean a physical passageway in the Hebrew, there is also the figurative meaning of "way of life" along with worship.
The seal of the Adamic Covenant is God's establishment of animal sacrifices (v.21). God sacrificed two animals, probably lambs, to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. This seal, in which man participated, means that God began a sacrificial process involving the death of an animal as an offering to provide a covering for mankind over sin. This lasted until the sacrificial death of Christ. Note that the Hebrews today do not practice animal sacrifice. Christ paid that price once for all (Hebrews 1:13; 7:27; 9:12,28; 10:10,12,14).