In our weekly Bible reading plan, today is a day of reflection.
As I think back over the passages we’ve read in the past week (Genesis 1-17; Ps. 1-6), it is sobering how rapidly the story of sin progresses. Just think through the major narrative stories in these first chapters in Genesis:
- Genesis 3 — “You surely will not die…” — the entrance of sin (evidently very shortly after the creation of Adam and Eve)
- Genesis 4 — “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him”
- Genesis 4 — “Lamech took to himself two wives…”
- Genesis 6-7 — “I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh…”
- Genesis 11 — “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven…”
- Genesis 13 — “Lot…moved his tents as far as Sodom…”
- Genesis 16 — “[Abraham] went into Hagar and she conceived…”
One of the key verses in this section is found in the account of Cain and Abel — “…sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it” (4:7). While hundreds of years separate the stories of creation and Noah and then Abraham, the written account of these stories in such close proximity to one another (just four chapters separates creation and the flood!) leaves the reader with the impression of the complete and rapid progression of sin through the human race. Sin is not only at the door of Cain, it is at the door of every man, tempting him to various forms of idolatry and self-will.
Yet along with the story of sin, consider how each of these stories of sin also has a corresponding story of grace:
- Genesis 3 — “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them…[and] drove man out [of the garden]”
- Genesis 4 — “[Eve] gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for, she said, ‘God has appointed me another offspring…”
- Genesis 8 — “I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done”
- Genesis 11-12 — “…the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth…Now the Lord said to Abram…”
- Genesis 13 — “Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord”
- Genesis 17 — “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram…”
In many ways, these accounts read like the New Testament:
…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more… (Rom. 5:20)
From the very first man — Adam — there has been sin. And from that very first man, there has been a corresponding and superseding grace. Yes, there was sin, and it was pervasive, horrific, and full in its ugliness and effect. Yet, there also was an overwhelming, super-abundant, and kind gift of grace that resulted in forgiveness and restoration for those who desired it.
This account is therefore a comfort for us as well. For we too have suffered the ravages of sin and the rapid onslaught of its temptations, being born with an inherent sin nature. Yet for us too, there is grace. In the advent and subsequent crucifixion of Christ, there was the provision of grace that surpasses our comprehension and surpasses our ability to sin. Praise be to God for His indescribable gift of gracious forgiveness.
Words of Grace 