The Creation and Fall

Long ago there were no trees on these mountains. No animals lived here. Not even water flowed in the streams.

God made all of these things just the way He wanted them. He just commanded them to begin. He said, "Let there be light; and it was light." Then He said, "Let there be rivers, and lakes, and apart let there be dry ground." Immediately it was so.

Next He said, "Green grass, trees and all plants sprout up." Up they sprouted; fruit trees, tomatoes, squash, everything that grows began to grow. In the same way God made birds, and fish, and animals; all that there is, God made in this way.

Of course, He made us, too. But at first He just made one man whom He called Adam. Later He caused Adam to sleep a deep sleep. While Adam slept God took out one of Adam's ribs and from it made the first woman. God gave the woman to Adam for a helper (to be his wife.) Adam called her Eve.

Now God had placed Adam in a good place where every kind of fruit grew. He had told Adam, "You may eat of all the trees except that one which grows in the center of the orchard. Don't eat that fruit." But one day Satan came to the garden in the form of a serpent. He told Eve that it was good to eat the forbidden fruit. Eve listened to Satan and was deceived. She ate some of the fruit and gave some to Adam and he ate of the fruit also.

Then they heard the voice of God in the orchard. They were afraid and hid themselves.

God called, "Adam, where are you?" Adam answered, "I hid myself because I was afraid." God asked, "Have you eaten of the fruit I commanded you not to eat?" Adam replied, "The woman you gave me gave the fruit to me and I ate it."

God spoke to Eve and said, "Because you have disobeyed My Word, you will have much pain each time you give birth, and you will be subject to your husband always."

To Adam God said, "Because you disobeyed Me, the ground will not produce abundantly for you. It will produce thorns and thistles. You will work hard and earn your living by the sweat of your brow. Later you will die and return to the ground from which I made you."

Then God cast Adam and Eve out of that good place and they could not live there. Off they went to find a place to farm.

My friends, we are like Adam and Eve. We disobey God's Word also. We do many other bad things that displease God. We, too, deserve to be punished. But God loves us.

That is why God sent Jesus to live in the world: to make a way for us to come back to God again. Jesus received our punishment. He died but came back to life. Because He took the punishment we deserved, we do not have to suffer. If we trust Jesus, God will receive us. You can talk to God. Thank Him for sending Jesus to help us. Trust Him and obey Him.