The Fall, the Curse, and the Promise... Notes on Genesis, Chapter Three (part 2)

Before Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says, "...they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Ch. 2 Vs. 25). After they sinned, the Word tells us, "...the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings." (Ch. 3 Vs. 7).
I do not believe they suddenly realized they were not wearing clothes. I think the term "naked" has a deeper meaning than that. God had said, that in the day they would disobey, and eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil (blessing and calamity), they would "surely die" (Ch. 2 Vs. 17). Adam did not die physically at the time he ate of the fruit--he died spiritually. Ultimately, this spiritual death would result in his physical death as well. But many other changes took place within the man and the women beginning at the moment of spiritual death. They were suddenly cut off from the source of true life. This is the reason they "knew" they were "naked". The glory and presence of their Creator had been manifest within them prior to this--to the point, they had also been 'clothed' in the same. No one, since that day, has ever seen the appearance of a man in whom was no sin or corruption--whose outward appearance was arrayed in the glory of God from within... That is, until Jesus allowed three of His disciples to see Him on the Mount of Transfiguration--when He literally shone with the brilliance of the sun, allowing the glory within, to adorn Him without (Matt. 17). To some degree at least, I am convinced Adam and Eve had been 'clothed' in similar fashion. And of this glorious 'clothing', they were stripped, and found themselves naked.
Fear, shame, and the vain attempt to hide from God and 'cover' themselves were also immediately manifest. To this day, unregenerate man, those who are lost, without true faith in Jesus Christ; make the same vain attempts to 'hide' from God, or to 'cover' (justify) themselves in their own minds through good works or false religion.
In addition to spiritual death, out of which would eventually come sickness, mental and emotional torment, aging, feebleness, anger, envy, jealousy and every other physical and mental problem--would be the necessity of toil and trouble due to God's curse on the very ground (Ch. 3 Vs. 17, 18). Cursed also, was the woman's general relationship with the man--to whom, apart from the God's blessing and mercy, she would become subservient. In addition, she would be cursed with 'much pain' in childbirth.
[ In Christ, according to her faith, the Christian woman can be free of the effects of that curse. (1 Tim. 2:15). ]
Only through a relationship with Christ and faith in His Word, can we now have victory over the physical, mental, and earthly problems of life. Those problems have not been eliminated, but according to our faith, we can overcome, to the glory of God. The promise of this is revealed in the New Testament, as a result of the finished work of redemption in Jesus Christ, but it was foreshadowed in this prophetic Word, given directly from God to the serpent...
"...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." (Ch. 3 Vs. 15).
It would be through much pain and suffering, endured by Jesus at Calvary, but the 'Seed of the woman' (Christ) would there, 'bruise the head' of the serpent--taking back from him, the authority over mankind he had gained through Adam's treasonous transgression.
Thus, the gospel of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus was actually first proclaimed in God's message to the serpent in the garden of Eden. It would come to fruition when Jesus rose from the dead, having 'spoiled principalities and powers' (Col. 2:15), and declared to His disciples, "..All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth..." (Matt. 28:18). That means Satan no longer has any authority (his head has been crushed). "All authority" now belongs to Christ, in heaven (as the Lord, the Head of the church) and in earth (in His body, who IS the church). It was in this "authority" Jesus then commanded His followers to go into all the earth (until He comes again) and make disciples.