Is the Gospel Really the Answer?

Can the gospel really be the answer?  Can it really be the answer for everything from Covid-19 to social injustice?  From marital matches to parenting pains?  Is it really that simple and succinct?  Or are our fractions and anger bubbling up from a different well?

I’m trying to teach our kids how to study the Bible for themselves, so this week, I used Annabelle’s quiet time book as a guide.  She would read the scripture, and together the rest of us would answer the questions and write it down.  The book instructed us to look at the curse from Genesis 3.  I began by helping them to think about where the passage is found in scripture: “Where is the book of Genesis in the bible?”  The first book.  “Good.  What happens first?”  God created everything! “Right!  And how did He make all things?”  He made them GOOD!  “Perfect.  Then something happened…what happened?”  The snake tempted Eve!  “That’s right!  He caused her to doubt God’s goodness by saying, ‘Did God really say…?’ As she chatted with the serpent, she decided to trust him instead of God and believed that God was keeping something really good from her.  Have you guys ever thought me and daddy were keeping something good from you when we say no?”  YYYYEEEESSSSS!!  “Of course.  From your perspective we are robbing you of some joy, but from our perspective we are keeping you safe from the world or yourselves.”

“Ok, now that we know where we are in the Bible, let’s look at what happened after Eve ate the fruit and shared it with Adam.  What does verse 7 say?”

Annabelle read, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (After funny looks, I explained what fig leaves and loincloths were.)

“So, what happened?”  They knew they were naked!  (Giggle, giggle.)  They made underwear out of leaves.  “Good.  Why did they want to cover themselves?”  They felt ashamed and guilty (I worked this out of them).

“Then what happened?”

‘They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden…and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord…the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you?” (vs 8-9)

“If God knows all things and sees all things, why did He ask Adam where he was? Why do I ask you questions?”  So we can come up with the answers ourselves.  “Right!  God was showing Adam that their perfect, unashamed relationship was broken.  It’s gone, never to be the same again.  He asks Adam more questions to have Adam admit his sin.  But guess what Adam did?  He blamed Eve and God Himself! ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’  Did the woman admit her sin?”  NO!  “Who did she blame?”  The serpent!  “Yes!  This began the blame game that continues to this day.  We blame others for our sins instead of confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness, don’t we?”  Sideways glances and awkward smiles of agreement.

I then drew really bad pictures of a snake, a woman, and a man and as we read the verses, we listed the curse that God put on each subject.

• Snake:
  • cursed of all livestock and beasts (who likes snakes?)
  • move on belly
  • eat dust
  • Snake will bruise “His” heel, but “He” will crush the snakes head
• Woman
  • Pain in childbirth
  • Have a desire to rule over her husband
  • He will rule over you
• Man
  • The ground is cursed, it grows thistles and thorns
  • Work will cause sweat, its hard now
  • You will return to the ground/dust

There is so much in there.  We spent awhile dissecting this, but I will simply say, do you see the gospel in the mess?  In all of the messiness and pain of the curse…there are a couple of pronouns thrown in that change it all!  “HE” and “HIS”!  The woman will have babies and there will be grandbabies and grandbabies until one is born that will crush the serpents head.  A kill shot.  Despite the fact that Adam and Eve did all the disobeying and doubting God’s goodness, God promised them a rescuer, one that would come and destroy Satan forever.

“OK guys, almost done…what was the next thing that God does?”

Annabelle reads again, “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”  Yuck!  He covered them in skin!  “Yes, how did he get the skin?”  He had to kill an animal.  “Yes guys!  Something had to die to cover their sin and shame.  The first sacrifice.  The animal died in place of Adam and Eve, it’s blood was spilled for something it didn’t do.  And that blood allowed Adam and Eve to live, for their guilt to be covered.  In the same way, who died for us to cover our sin?”  JESUS!  “YES!  Jesus was the final sacrifice, the serpent crusher, the one who made a way for us to gain the relationship with God that Adam and Eve lost for all of us!”  I paused…I let that sink in for them…but mostly for me.  That is the good news, that is the gospel.

Is the gospel enough for the sin in this world?  Can Jesus’ death be the big answer for rebellion, hatred, greed, pain, sorrow, bad cops, infidelity, disobedience, sickness, loneliness, discontent, addictions, lies, and murder?  Jesus’ death is not enough.  If He is still in the grave, that is not good news.  But He’s not!  He rose again!  He beat death and the curse for all time.  Him coming out of that grave shows that we now have access to the Father in a restored relationship again.  He satisfied the penalty of death that sins gives.  Those that trust in Him will walk with Him again, unashamed, sinless, and perfect.

Today we feel and see the pains of sin, it’s real.  And because we are hit in the face with it every day we often doubt God’s goodness.  But God is good, because even in the midst of this horrible curse, He made a way for us to be forgiven eternally.  The gospel really is the answer.  It restores broken people like us and should propel us in our thankfulness, to love our neighbors as we have been loved.

It’s amazing how teaching the kids how to study the Bible actually taught me.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the word, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  John 3:16-17