What Did Adam and Eve Do?

Genesis 3:8-13

8And 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. 9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

God says to Eve “What is this that you have done?” What a question!! In the immediate context the answer was “I ate the fruit and gave some to my husband…” But it is hard to avoid the larger context of the question.

What is it that Adam and Eve had done? Romans 8:18-22 gives some indication.

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

And then Romans 5:18 says

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men…

The whole creation was sent onto the road to decay. Animals became carnivorous. Spiritual death became the birthright for all humanity for all time. And the Gospel was put into action.

The fall is a horrible event and we would err greatly to follow the teaching of some in maintaining that the fall was a good thing. It was not. But God uses the fall to show the immensity of His grace, the mind warping plan of salvation, the absolute defeat of Satan and all evil and evil things and evil people.

The only thing the Bible indicates that we will remember in glory from this side of the second coming is the cross. In answer to the question that God put to the woman: she did what only the incarnation of the eternal Son of God could undo. She did what only a plan formulated in the counsels of the eternal trinity could come up with. When Adam and Eve fell they also became lost and in need of salvation. And they were saved – by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. And, in keeping with the season, this is what makes Christmas a time of great joy for all the people, for at exactly the right time Jesus was born to save His people from their sins.

Today, no matter how hectic your Christmas Eve is, remember and rejoice in the manger of Bethlehem that points to the cross of Calvary – the only thing that could reverse the effects of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.