MenuAdam & Eve’s Family as part of God’s plan
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. – Genesis 3:20
Moses records this event in the lives of Adam and Eve right after their fall into sin, right after God declares the curses upon the serpent, the man and woman, and the earth. Why is that significant?
We notice first that immediately after the Fall, God starts picking up the pieces with His plan of salvation for humanity. Just as the entire human family begins with the family of Adam and Eve, so too does God’s plan of salvation. For even as God curses the serpent, God plants the seed of the Gospel for mankind when He mentions the woman’s Seed in His curse of the serpent: “…I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The Seed of the woman would crush the devil’s head, though not without cost.
When Eve conceived and gave birth (in pain) to her first son, Cain, she thought that this was God’s fulfillment of His promise. But after the devil tempted Cain to kill Eve’s second son, Abel, it became obvious God’s plan would take longer to develop. God’s plan of salvation would be worked out through her third son, Seth, and his descendants, which would lead to Jesus. The coming of the Son of God into human flesh, His death on the cross for all the sins of humanity, and His resurrection proves how much God loves and values His human creatures. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). The Son of God did not come as an animal nor as an angel. He came in human flesh – a descendant of Adam and Eve – just like us.
Eve is “the mother of all living” because we all are descended from her, including Jesus. Ever since Adam and Eve, God has been building His human family in order that we, by His grace in Jesus Christ, may share in His care and dominion over all creation. The marriage of a loving husband and a loving wife is His blueprint for building healthy families so that children have a loving father and a loving mother. The devil wants to destroy God’s “building” by altering God’s plan for marriage and family. Indeed, he hurts us. Our healing comes through the forgiveness shown us and taught us by Christ.
In the same way, the marriage of Christ to the Church builds the family of God. Christ loves the Church (the family of all believers in Him) so much that He suffered and died on her behalf. And the devil still seeks to destroy the Church by tempting us to take our eyes off Christ. Indeed, we may be bruised for now by his machinations. But God gives us the ultimate victory through Jesus Christ, the Seed of the woman, our brother, our Savior and our Lord.
~Pastor Nickel
