God’s Plan for the Family Part 3

We have seen how the family came under the curse of spiritual death, physical decay and poverty as a result of Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden. They were cast out of the perfect provision of the Garden of Eden and could not return. God declared to them that now all of creation would be affected by the consequences of their sin and rebellion. Since they no longer were trusting God, they would no longer be under God’s perfect will and provision.

To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”—Genesis 3:16

Here is the reason why the curse of sin has brought an unbalance in the affairs of life in the world. Today for the majority of the world, women are second class to men. In these male driven societies, women are ruled by men and they are not given equal opportunity. This was not the original plan of God. This was the result of sin which brought corruption and evil to the human nature. Women are not given equal job opportunities, or equal pay. Most women suffer abuse at the hands of men all over the world. Women also began to suffer greater physical pain at childbirth which they were not supposed to in God’s perfect will.

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”—Genesis 3:17-19

Here we see why men have been left to labor without fruit and grow weary. The fruitfulness of the ground was reduced by the fall. Now the man of the house is left to provide for his family through all types of difficulties. Before, he had to simply trust in God and obey Him to experience abundance. When Adam disobeyed God, he cut off God as the provider of his family; therefore, Adam was left with the heavy responsibility of having to provide for his family in his own limited natural strength. Who would you rather have as the provider and source for your family: God or natural man?

Praise be to God that He loves us so much. He is merciful to us. He saw our desperation in the future and before speaking to Adam and Eve about the result of their sin, He prophesied about the coming Redeemer, Hallelujah!

So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed… And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”—Genesis 3:14-15

The coming of the Messiah Jesus was prophesied. Jesus would come as our Redeemer and defeat the serpent, Satan, in order to restore what Adam and Eve lost in the Garden. The family is restored in Christ. There are great promises that are given to us in the New Testament about our redemption from the curse that came upon the family. Next, we will look at the Good News for the Family!