God gave Man everything, but we chose to live this life without His guidance. This has led us to misery, pain, and death. God desires that we be His children, growing into His Likeness, in perfect fellowship and community, governing His creations on earth. After choosing his own way, natural Man is now subject to the whims of our enemy, cursed to toil and die. We were not able to live the life of God as the second Adam, but Jesus triumphantly did. Thus the natural earthly life is characterized by consequences of a life chosen apart from God.
1. What stands out to you when you think about the Fall of Man and its consequences?
2. Read the following verses. How do you think they correlate to the temptation facing Adam and Eve in the Garden and Jesus Christ in the wilderness?
1 Jn 2:15-17 [NIV]
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
3. In what ways were the temptations of Adam & Eve the same, and in what ways different, from those of Christ?
4. Which two, of the seven consequences listed of the Fall of Man (or others that you know of) do you see in your life? How/Why?
Questions for Meditation and Application
1. All people sin because of our Adam-born nature and fall to temptations. What are the worst temptations you face today?
2. Why should you overcome them?
3. How should you overcome them?
This post, _Part 11_, is the last in a series about The Fall. To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series and then read Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5, Pt 6, Pt 7, Pt 8, Pt 9 and Pt 10.
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