Let children play with the snake. Have them guess at what part a snake would play in the creation story.
In the beginning, God created all things. One creature He made in His image–man. He named him Adam. The Lord God took Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
God didn’t want Adam to be alone so He created a woman–Eve.
The garden was a beautiful place where they lived with God. There was no sin. Everything was perfect.
But then sin entered the world for the first time.
In the garden lived a crafty serpent. He convinced Eve that he (and she) knew more than God. Eve believed him, and she chose to sin. She told Adam, her husband, and he chose to sin too.
Sin was now in the picture. God’s perfect creation–broken and needing a savior.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Was God surprised that Adam and Eve chose to sin? Why or why not?
God has a perfect plan. We don’t always understand it, and sometimes that’s hard, BUT we do know that He is always good. God would send His son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins, and He will come again!
Were Adam and Eve who you would expect to be first in Jesus’ family tree? Definitely not. They sinned almost right away! BUT God knew this beforehand and created them and used them still. They were sinners who needed a Savior, and so are we! Jesus is coming!
