In the beginning (continued)
Adam and Eve became aware that they were naked and they felt ashamed. They covered themselves with fig leaves. God showed them a better way to cover their sin. He provided clothing, or a covering, from animal skins that were killed for that purpose
(1) (Genesis 3:21 Revelation 13:8). This was an animal sacrifice.
The first covering for sin came from an animal sacrifice that God gave. This sacrifice stood in the place of a greater sacrifice that God would someday give to cover sin. The covering of this greater sacrifice would take away sin permanently for those people who put it on. (See more about this sacrifice in the next section on Jesus.)
God gave other consequences to Adam and Eve for sinning - Eve would have pain in bearing children and be subject to the
leadership of her husband.
Adam would suffer the consequences of the ground being cursed, it would be forth thorns and thistles and require constant work.
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God told Adam that he would “return to the ground”—he would die and turn back to the dust that he came from (2) (Genesis 3:19)
God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden so they could not eat of another tree in the garden, the Tree of Life. If they ate from the Tree of Life, they would live forever (3) (Genesis 3:22).
These consequences applied to the whole human race because of Adam’s sin (also called transgression). Paul was a Bible writer who explained the connection between Adam and our own inevitable death. He wrote to a group of believers in Rome:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (4) (Romans 5:12)
Sin came into the world through Adam, and death was the eventual consequence for Adam and everyone who comes after Adam. Every human will die because of what Adam did. “Condemnation” is a word that means “death sentence”, and we are all born into a condemned position, like prison captives. We have this condemned state because we descend from Adam and also because we all commit sins.
This outcome may seem unfair for the rest of the human race until we realize that Adam should have perished in the same day he transgressed God’s commandment. The human race survived only because God showed mercy and extended Adam’s life.
The human race has a Hope as a result of God’s intervention. Instead of the human race being in a hopeless state, God provided hope for life after death. The Bible’s purpose is to explain this plan of salvation, or saving from death.
Read the next section to understand how God provided hope for humans through His son Jesus Christ.