YEA Lesson Library
In the Garden
About This Lesson
This lesson describes Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God’s direct commandment not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the direct consequences of that choice.
Scriptures
Genesis 2:16-17
Genesis 3:1-24
Deuteronomy 30:19
1 Timothy 2:13-15
Revelation 22:1-2
Words to Know
BANISHED - not allowed to come back into a place
CHERUBIM - types of angels
CONSEQUENCE - the natural result of an action or thought
JUVENILE DETENTION - jail for kids
SINNING - disobeying God's command
The Lesson
Every day you have to make hundreds, perhaps thousands of choices. What should you wear? What should you have for breakfast? Should you make your bed before breakfast or after? What should you say to your mom when you walk into the kitchen? Many choices that you make are a matter of habit. They are the same choices you’ve been making every day for weeks. But one morning, you might decide to do things a little differently. You may choose to get up early and make breakfast for your parents and serve it to them in bed. Then you have all kinds of choices to make. What should you make? Should you actually serve it to them in bed or just call them when it's ready? Should you get your little sister to help or would she make too much noise and alert them to what you're doing before you're ready?
Other choices that you make are much more serious. You may choose to tell the truth when you're tempted to tell a lie to get yourself out of trouble. Or you may choose to shoplift with your friend because you want him to still be your friend. You may choose to obey your parents without complaining when they tell you to take out the trash. Or you may choose to play with your parents handgun when they're not home.
Each choice you make has a consequence. Making breakfast for your parents has a good consequence; they are in a much better mood, unless you made a horrible mess of the kitchen. Telling the truth makes people trust you. That's good. Shoplifting can get you into all sorts of trouble. A grocery store in St. Louis has a sign posted that advertises a free ride in a police car . . . if you're caught shoplifting. That's bad. Obeying your parents can earn you privileges because you're acting responsibly. That's good! Playing with a handgun can cause someone to be injured or killed accidentally. That's bad. In each case, the consequence can't be undone.
You can't undo a death or a ride in a police car to juvenile detention. You can't undo trust or extra privileges either, not unless you make another choice that causes negative consequences.
Well, you're not alone in the choices that you make. From the very beginning, people have been making choices. Right away in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). That's pretty straightforward. There are lots of trees in the garden. Just don't eat the fruit from one tree.
But the serpent told Eve that what God said wasn't true. "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Now Eve had to make a choice. Was God telling them the truth? Should she eat of the tree when God told them not to? Would it be nice to be like God, knowing good and evil? She made the choice to eat of the tree when she was told not to. Genesis 3:6 says, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Then she made another choice. She chose to give some to Adam. Then he made a choice. Adam chose to eat the fruit that he knew he shouldn't eat.
Of course, it wasn't long before God found out what they had done. Then Adam made another choice. God asked him if he had eaten from the tree that he'd been commanded not to eat from. Adam chose to blame Eve for it. He could have chosen to just say, "Yes, I ate from the tree. I was wrong.” He didn't do that. He chose to blame Eve, or maybe even God because God was the One who made Eve for him in the first place. And Eve made the same choice. When she was asked, she blamed the serpent.
These choices had consequences. God cursed the serpent. The serpent would crawl on his belly and eat dust. He would also become the enemy of the woman and her children down through time. The woman would now find childbirth very painful and would be ruled by her husband. The ground would be cursed. And the man would have to work very hard to grow enough food to live. Those consequences have come down to us, today, from Adam and Eve.
There was one other consequence. God banished Adam and Eve from the beautiful Garden. He never wanted human beings to go back into the garden. So He placed cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way.
Why did He do that? "The LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever'" (Genesis 3:22, 24). If Adam and Eve had been allowed to stay in the Garden, they could have eaten from the Tree of Life. Then they could have lived forever. Because they disobeyed God, there were consequences. Now the only way to eternal life would be through Jesus Christ coming to save the world.
Someday, you and I will get to see the Tree of Life. God is giving us that opportunity today. If we choose to follow Him today, if we choose the ways of God in our lives everyday, then someday we'll get to see what God kept from Adam and Eve. Someday, if we choose Jesus Christ as our Savior, the consequence will be eternal life. That’s good!
The Bible says, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." This is a great tree! The leaves are for the healing of the nations! I want to see that tree! Don't you? What choice will you make today?
Student Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for allowing me to make my own choices. Help me to always choose you and your ways in my life.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Daily Devotions
Sunday - Genesis 2:16-17
Monday - Genesis 3:1-7
Tuesday - Genesis 3:8-13
Wednesday - Genesis 3:14-19
Thursday - Genesis 3:21-24
Friday- Revelation 22:1-2
Saturday - 1 Timothy 2:13-15
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Retell the story of the fall of Adam and Eve eating the fruit.
2. Relate the command given to man.
3. Explain the relationship between action and consequence.
4. Distinguish between positive and negative consequences.
5. Relate that the only way to eternal life is through Jesus Christ.
6. Recite their memory verse.
Topics & Themes
Blessings/Cursings
Choices
Consequences of Sin
Eternal life
Jesus, Savior
Obedience
Satan
Sin
Tree of the Knowledge of Good/Evil
Tree of Life
Truth
Trusting God
Wise/Wisdom
Materials Needed
Bible, YEA students and teacher's books, pens, pencils, markers, crayons, typing paper, tape, fun- sized candy bars, name tags, blackboard, chalk, optional: trees for the Garden of Eden play, attendance and memory verse charts, stickers or stars, songbook, cassette tape/CD, player
Preparation
Set up the classroom so that the students will have a series of choices to make when they come into the room, i.e. lots of colors of markers for making name tags, lots of different fun-sized candy bars in a bowl, different arrangement of seating, written directions on the board to either come recite their memory verse, choose a candy bar, or to make a name tag, etc. You may choose to reward those who come to recite their memory verse first with an extra first star or an extra candy bar. If time and space allows, create some student-sized trees to take to class so that you can act out the events of Genesis 3 in class. Trees can be made from cardboard, draped with masses of green poster paper leaves. Note: the play acting can be done without the props, but the students' imagination and motivation will be greatly enhanced with the addition of the visuals! Be sure to read the student's lesson prior to class.
How to Teach This Lesson
Choices - Discuss the choices the students had to make as they came into class. Discuss the many choices they make each day.
Consequences - Discuss the positive and negative consequences that occur as a natural result of actions.
Genesis 3 - Review the events recorded here.
Play acting - Allow the students to choose parts. Act out the events of Genesis 3. At opportune points, do a "freeze frame." That is, you call out "freeze frame." The action then stops and you discuss what’s going on or give directions for what's going to happen next. Then call "action" again when you want to resume. The students will love "freezing" in place. In this fashion, discuss the choices made and the consequences. Begin with God's command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Work through the deception of the serpent, Eve and Adam's disobedience, the blaming, the curses, and the banishment from the Garden.
Serpent - Ask: Was the serpent really just a snake? Discuss that this word comes from a word meaning enchanting whisperer. This was Satan, not a snake.
Today - Discuss the personal application of Adam and Eve's actions, i.e. cursed ground, painful childbirth, enmity with serpents.Then ask: Will we ever have an opportunity for eternal life or to see the Tree of Life?
Revelation 22:1-2 - Visually describe the scene related in these verses. Discuss the leaves that are for the healing of the nations.
Choices - Remind the students that God does the calling (John 6:44). Once we know what God expects us to do, we have a choice: are we going to obey God or not. There is a limited window of opportunity to be obedient to God’s instructions. We can’t live our lives as we want and then decide to choose God at the end. It doesn’t work that way.
Review Questions
1. Who can summarize what happened in Genesis 3?
2. What command did God give Adam and Eve about the Garden of Eden?
3. What is a consequence? How do you get consequences?
4. What's the difference between negative and positive consequences?
5. What's an example of a positive and a negative consequence?
6. How could Adam and Eve have gained eternal life in the Garden of Eden?
7. How do we gain eternal life today?
8. Who can describe the scene related in Revelation 22:1-2?
Teacher-Directed Activity
Uncomic Strip: The students should have completed the activity in their book before class. If they didn't, allow time to do so. Once the four initial squares are completed, give them blank paper to finish the story: square five - the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience; square six - the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to provide the way to eternal life; square seven - a depiction of Revelation 22: 1-2. Display the finished uncomic strips in the classroom or on the church bulletin board.
Here are the directions for the activity in the student book: In the four squares provided, create an uncomic cartoon strip of the choices Adam and Eve made. For instance, the first square could be God commanding them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The second square could be the serpent deceiving Eve into eating from the tree. The third square could be Eve offering the fruit to Adam. The fourth square could be Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent.
REACH Activity
Word Study
In Genesis 3:1 we are introduced to the serpent. This word serpent is nachash in the Hebrew, a hissing creature, a serpent, a snake. Can you imagine a snake talking to you? What would your reaction be? We don’t know why Eve didn’t run from a talking snake. Would you stay to listen if an animal began speaking to you?
We are told, however, that the serpent was more subtle than the other creatures. This word subtle comes from the Hebrew arum. It is an adjective which means cunning, crafty, or sly.
The serpent in Genesis 3 is not really the slithering reptile to which humans, for the most part, have a natural aversion! The Apostle John identifies the serpent as “the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray,” in Revelation 12:9. How can Satan do that? Genesis 3:1 told us Satan is cunning and crafty. He knows where we are weak. He knows how to tempt us to make the wrong choices.
So what do you do? How can you stay out of Satan’s schemes? Stay close to God. Read your Bible. Pray. Go to church and really listen to what is being said. Set your mind on Jesus and what you know the Bible tells you to do. Then, when Satan tries to lead you astray, you won’t be fooled.
Did You Know?
Throughout most of the ancient Near East, people revered and often worshiped serpents as symbols of royalty, wisdom, healing, fertility, death, and other forces, both harmful and beneficent. However, in ancient writings, serpents and serpentine creatures played their most prominent roles as adversaries of both humans and gods (NIV Archaeological Study Bible, p. 8).
Back to the Bible
Adam and Eve lived in paradise in the Garden of Eden. But they chose their own way, to disobey God, and to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. What a horrible choice that was! But, praise God! He provided His Son as the remedy for their sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), and all of the sin which entered the world because of their choice to disobey God (Romans 5:12).
When Satan tempted Eve and deceived her, and when Adam disobeyed God, things looked pretty grim. The relationship between man and God was severely damaged (Isaiah 59:2). Then, when Jesus was cruelly beaten and crucified, it seemed as if Satan had won. But Jesus did not stay dead. The grave could not hold Him (Acts 2:24)! And, because Jesus died for our sins and rose again to sit at the right hand of God the Father, we have hope of eternal life as co-heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17)!
Interesting, isn’t it, that a garden is the setting for both the sin and the remedy! Thanks be to God the Father for His Son Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57)!
Just Toolin’ Around
Using a Bible dictionary, look up the word “cherub” or “cherubim.” Write the meaning in your journal. Then write down five Scriptures where you find references to cherubim.
Stretch It Out
Divide a piece of drawing paper in half. On one side, draw a picture of the cherubim guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:24). On the other side, draw the cherubim King Solomon placed in the Temple guarding the way to the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 6:23-28) or the cherubim on the atonement cover of the mercy seat (Exodus 25:17-22).
Music Notes
When you read your lesson title this week, did you think about the song “In the Garden”? It is in the CEM Hymnal on page 161. Do you know anything about this song or its author and composer? It is an interesting story:
In 1912 a music publisher, Dr. Adam Geibel, asked author and composer C. Austin Miles to write a hymn text that would be “sympathetic in tone, breathing tenderness in every line; one that would bring hope to the hopeless, rest for the weary, and downy pillows to dying beds.” Here’s what C. Austin Miles said about the experience:
One day in April, 1912, I was seated in the dark room, where I kept my photographic equipment and organ. I drew my Bible toward me; it opened at my favorite chapter, John 20—whether by chance or inspiration let each reader decide. That meeting of Jesus and Mary had lost none of its power and charm.
As I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life, when she knelt before her Lord, and cried, “Rabboni!”
My hands were resting on the Bible while I stared at the light blue wall. As the light faded, I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches. A woman in white, with head bowed, hand clasping her throat, as if to choke back her sobs, walked slowly into the shadows. It was Mary. As she came to the tomb, upon which she placed her hand, she bent over to look in, and hurried away. John, in flowing robe, appeared, looking at the tomb; then came Peter, who entered the tomb, followed slowly by John.
As they departed, Mary reappeared; leaning her head upon her arm at the tomb, she wept. Turning herself, she saw Jesus standing, so did I. I knew it was He. She knelt before Him, with arms outstretched and looking into His face cried, “Rabboni!” I awakened in sun light, gripping the Bible, with muscles tense and nerves vibrating. Under the inspiration of this vision I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the poem exactly as it has since appeared. That same evening I wrote the music. (Source: Amazing Grace, Osbeck, K., p.116.)
Journal Jot
Each day you have choices to make, just as Adam and Eve did. Write about a bad choice you’ve recently made. Then write what you can do before the wrong choice has snowballed into a really big problem.
Questions?
Reminds the child to write down (in their Bible journal) questions they may have as they are doing the activities, working through the lesson, or reading the Daily Devotionals.
Song
"I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" is on page 23 of Kids Classics Collection.
Closing Prayer
Lead the students to thank God forgiving us the opportunity to make our own choices. Thank Him for helping us to seek Him with our whole heart and to choose Him. He's given us the hope of eternal life through our Savior Jesus Christ.
Printable Pages
