The Lord’s Message: Eve: From Eternal to Disgrace to Hope

The Lord’s Message: Eve: From Eternal to Disgrace to Hope
Date: June 28, 2026
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Genesis 2:19-25

            We are kicking off our sermon series of Summer entitled Faithful Women of the Bible.  This morning, we are going to look at a woman who, at times, in the church has been considered as the cause of the downfall of humanity.  That woman is Eve.  I think that if we look closely at Eve, we will find that even though she sinned, she becomes a woman of great faith.

            Let us pray. 

            In Genesis 1, we discover that God is behind the creation of this world.  All we know and see in the world was created by God.  God created all the planets, including earth.  God created all the celestial beings, including our sun and moon.  God separated the waters to form dry land on the earth.  The flowers and trees, the birds, the fish, and all the land animals were created by God.  Even our pets were created by God.  Last in Genesis 1:26-27, God created us in His image. 

            In Genesis 2, we have starting in verse 4, how God went about creating the world and us, male and female.  It is pointed out in verse 5, that there were no living plants on the earth, no rain, and there was nobody to work the ground.  In Genesis 2:7, God created a man by modeling dust and then breathing into man and he became alive. The man is not given a name until verse 20. We find out his name is Adam.  Adam may have come from the Hebrew word for ground which is adamah.

            In verse 8, God created a garden and man was placed in this garden.  Now when God placed the man in the garden, it was not just to enjoy the beauty, but to take care of the garden.  This is found in verse 15.  So, what is the oldest profession in the world?  Farmer. 

            Now in verse 18, God sees that man is lonely.  God says, “I will make a helper suitable for him.” So, God created all the animals as it says in verse 19 for man not to be lonely.  God brought the animals to the man to have him name them.  Even after doing this the man was still lonely.  We know this because in the end verse 20 closes with this phrase, “But for Adam no suitable helper was found.”

 The Hebrew word for helper here is “ezer.”  Ezer means rescuer, protector, or strong ally.  This word is used 21 times in the Old Testament. This word is often used to describe God.  Some examples are Psalm 121:1-2, Psalm 33:20, & Exodus 18:4.   Three times this word is used to describe other nations coming to aid Israel.  Then there are two other times that this word is used not to describe God, but someone else.  Those times are found here in Genesis 2:18 and in verse 20, where it says, “But for Adam no suitable helper (ezer) was found.”   

But God had a plan.  In verses 21-22, God put man asleep and took a rib from the man and made a woman.  The man has a suitable helper.  In verse 23, the man is filled with joy and declares that this new creation of God shall be named woman.  This establishes the divine origin of companionship and the foundation for marriage.  “Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” is a Hebrew idiom signifying a profound kinship and shared identity, “made in the image of God.”  Unlike the animals that Adam just named, he recognizes the woman as his own kind and an equal partner in the kingdom of God.  That leads us into the marriage covenant as stated in verse 24. 

Man and woman are going to live forever in the kingdom of God, unless one of them disobeys God.  Of course, that is what happens in chapter 3.  They were eternal until the fall.  They fell into the devil’s trap of sin which leads to death.  God declares that for the man caretaking will become difficult, because of weeds and thorns, which if anyone has ever tried to farm or maintain a garden well knows the difficulty, Genesis 3:17-19.  The woman’s punishment is that her pain will greatly increase in childbearing, which many women here can confirm, Genesis 3:16.  Both the man and woman are disgraced by their actions. 

Now, we do not know how much time passed between chapter 2 & chapter 3.  When you are eternal, time means nothing.  I would like to ask a question.  Do you think that Adam and Eve had children before the fall?  Yes or No.  Well, I cannot say definitely yes.  What I can say that this is a strong possibility.  I have two reasons for my answer.  What is the first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve?  In Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.”  God was telling them to have lots of children.  This would explain why God told Eve that her pain would increase in childbearing.  So, it is a strong possibility that Adam and Eve had children in the Garden of Eden.  Most of the time the next question becomes if Adam and Eve had children in the Garden of Eden were those children punished for sin as well as their father and mother? Yes!  Paul writes in Romans 5:12-15.  If Adam and Eve had children before the fall, then the children fell under the same curse as them.

In the midst of the disgrace that Adam and Eve caused by sinning against God, God provides hope.  In Genesis 3:15, after God tells the snake that it will crawl on its belly for all the days of its life, God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offsprings and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” 

This hope came to be true with Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave.  Now Adam and Eve were not made bitter by the punishment that God gave them.  They had lost their eternal life.  She was forced to endure more pain when giving birth.  He was forced to try to grow something in the midst of the weeds and thorns that the ground produced, but they were never bitter towards God.  Matter of fact in Genesis 4:1, after the birth of Cain, Eve replies, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”  Even after Cain killed his brother Abel, in Genesis 4:25, after the birth of Seth, Eve responds with, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”  We are told in Genesis 5:4, that God continued to bless Adam and Eve with other children.  They continued to trust in God and remained faithful to Him.  God continued to love them.

So, Eve went from being created to be eternal, to losing her eternity and being filled with disgrace to be given hope by God and through all of this God stilled loved her.  For us, God loves us despite our failures and our sins.  God loves us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for sin.  This was death on a cross.  Jesus loved us so much that He became our atonement for sin.  God raised Jesus from the dead.  All who open their hearts and receive the relationship that Jesus offers, will live forever with God and Jesus in the New Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve will be there as well. 

So, let us continue to listen to God and do what He says.  Amen.