2019.01.05 Hopewell @Home ▫ Genesis 3:16-19

Read Genesis 3:16-19

Questions for Littles: To whom does God speak immediately after to the serpent (v16)? What will happen to her sorrow and conception? Who will multiply them? What will happen to childbirth? Whom will she desire to control? Who will crush her? To whom did God speak after to the woman (v17)? What is the first thing that God points out that Adam has done? What was the second thing that Adam had done? What does God actually curse? How will Adam eat of it? For how long? What will the ground bring forth (v18)? What will he have to eat? By what will he eat bread (v19)? Until what happens? From what was Adam taken? What is he? To what will He return?

In the Scripture for tomorrow’s sermon, we will be seeing some of the grievous results of the fall. The woman’s anguish in general will increase, including and especially pregnancy and childbirth. However, it applies to more of her life, as certainly being a mother of sinners will be agonizing all their lives long.

Her marriage is going to be painful as well. 15 verses after v16, the Lord will say to Cain, “sin’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it”—using the exact same language as with the woman and her husband. Sin didn’t desire to have a cozy relationship with Cain; it desired to control him. And Cain wasn’t being instructed to take the lead with sin; he was to ruthlessly dominate it. The curse at the end of v16 is that women will try to control their husbands, and that husbands will ruthlessly dominate them—both exactly opposite God’s design.

For the man’s part, he has already admitted (!!) that he has opposed God’s design (“because you have heeded the voice of your wife”) and God’s command. The garden had been his special gift—even before he received his wife and the promise of children. Now he has lost everything. His work will be agonizing. The ground will rebel against him, just as he has rebelled. And he will die (“all the days of your life” … “till you return to the ground” … “to dust you shall return.”).

But let’s go back to the beginning of v16 for a moment: “I will multiply.” Who will multiply her anguish? The Lord. The Lord who just finished cursing the serpent. The Lord who promised that she would have many godly seed. The Lord who promised that she would have a Seed who crushes the serpents head—who undoes all of this misery.

Yes, the curse is a penalty for sin. But it is a penalty that comes within the promise and hope of grace. Whether it is seen in believers’ faith, promised land productivity, or godly families, these are all ultimately reminders that the creation that now groans is sustained by the grace of God as it awaits the revealing of the sons of God at the return of the Son of God. No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found!

What agony have you experienced? How has Christ blessed it to you? What relief from the agonies of the curse have you experienced? How do these point you to the resurrection?

Suggested Songs: ARP98 “O Sing a New Song to the Lord” or TPH265 “In Christ Alone”