The Image of God Restored Part I

Order of Service

• Hymn — We Praise Thee, O God (Revive Us Again)
• Call to Worship — Psalm 47
• Hymn — We Praise Thee, O God (Revive Us Again)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Reading of the Law — Exodus 20:1-17
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon
• Confession of Faith (Apostles' Creed)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
• Scripture Reading — Genesis 3:14-24
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
• Hymn — Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Gloria Patri

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Sermon Title: The Image of God Restored Part I

Scripture: Genesis 3:14-24

I. The Image of God Restored Through Established Gospel Warfare (Genesis 3:15)

A. God establishes a new cosmic order by setting enmity between the serpent and the woman

1. The Hebrew word for "enmity" occurs five times in the Old Testament and signifies hostile intent unto the degree of murder
2. God places the word "enmity" at the front of the sentence in Hebrew to emphasize his sovereign act

B. The enmity extends to the offspring (seed) of both the serpent and the woman

1. The Hebrew word for "seed" can be both singular and plural, conveying both physical and spiritual descendants
2. John 8:44 — Jesus calls the devil a murderer from the beginning and identifies the Pharisees as children of the devil
3. The spiritual seed theology is immediately illustrated in Genesis 4 — Cain (seed of the serpent) murders Abel (righteous seed of the woman)

C. The promised decisive blow: "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel"

1. To crush the heel was a significant blow; to crush the head was the decisive, victorious, death blow to the representative king
2. Isaiah 53:10 — the Father crushes the suffering servant (the same word for "seed/offspring"), yet through that crushing the spiritual posterity of the woman is secured

D. This warfare is a gracious act of God toward fallen humanity

1. Adam and Eve were at enmity with God after the fall; God graciously redirects that enmity toward the serpent for his chosen people
2. The Christian life is not passive but one of active warfare — putting to death the old man in Adam and putting on the new man in Christ
3. The evidence of new birth is the battle with sin (Romans 7)

II. The Image of God Restored Through Faith in Gospel Promise (Genesis 3:20)

A. Adam names his wife Eve ("mother of all living") immediately after the death sentence of verses 16–19

1. This name is an act of faith in the gospel promise just given — life is named in the face of death
2. Adam and Eve's days are prolonged by common grace, though they deserved death that very day

B. Eve's words at the birth of Cain (Genesis 4:1) — "I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord" — reflect faith in the promise of the serpent crusher

1. She expects a man, not merely a child, because the promise spoke of a male seed who would crush the serpent
2. Tragically, Cain proves to be the first antichrist — the seed of the serpent (1 John 3:12)

C. Abel is the righteous seed of the woman who dies in faith

1. Hebrews 11:4 — Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice by faith and was commended as righteous; though he died, he still speaks
2. Genesis 15:6 — Abraham likewise believes God and it is counted to him as righteousness
3. Matthew 22:32 — Jesus affirms to the Sadducees that God is the God of the living, not the dead, vindicating the resurrection hope of the spiritual seed

D. The gospel is the very first word God speaks after the fall

1. From Genesis 3:15 to John 3:16, all of redemptive history flows from this one gospel promise
2. The only hope for the restoration of fallen man is the promised Messiah, the serpent crusher, who dies for our sins

III. The Image of God Restored Through Gracious Gospel Covering (Genesis 3:21)

A. God makes garments of animal skins for Adam and Eve — the first substitutionary sacrifice

1. Animal skins require the shedding of blood, establishing the foundation for the entire sacrificial system
2. The thread of substitutionary blood sacrifice runs through all of Genesis and beyond:
   • Genesis 4 — Abel's firstborn of the flock
   • Genesis 8 — Noah's burnt offering (the Noahic covenant)
   • Genesis 15 — the Abrahamic covenant ratified through severed animal carcasses
   • Genesis 22 — the ram as substitute for Isaac
3. Hebrews 9:22 — "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins"

B. God must be the one to cover — Adam and Eve's self-made loin cloths are insufficient

1. The Hebrew word for atonement (kafar) literally means "to cover"
2. God himself makes the payment that covers fallen humanity and restores them to his presence
3. Lane Tipton's term: "image endowment" — God covers the fallen, naked image of God with the righteous garment of the seed of the woman, who is himself offered in sacrifice

C. New Testament fulfillment of the clothing imagery

1. Colossians 3:10 and Ephesians 4:24 — "put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness"
2. 1 Corinthians 15:54 — "the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality"
3. Paul uses the same Greek root in all three passages that corresponds to God clothing Adam and Eve

D. Adam was to be the priest of the garden temple; now he is banished, and the way back is guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword

1. Exodus 28:2 — Aaron the high priest was clothed in holy garments for glory and beauty before entering the Holy of Holies
2. The only way back through the cherubim into God's presence is through death — through the flaming sword of God's wrath
3. At the crucifixion, the temple curtain (embroidered with cherubim) is torn in two as Christ passes through God's wrath completely naked, covered only with our sins
4. The Lord's Supper is a reminder that our only hope is to come naked in sin and be clothed in the righteous garment of Christ, the image of God perfectly restored