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What was the result of Adam's and Eve's sin?

"So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24).

God banished Adam and Eve and their descendants from the Garden of Eden. But something else happened to them that was even more far reaching. God denied access to the tree of life to Adam and Eve and their descendants until the promised Seed, the Messiah, would appear and redeem them (1 Peter 1:18-21) and permanently reconcile them to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

Their choice to listen to Satan started man down a path of ignoring God's instruction and way of life. They chose instead "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." They chose to determine for themselves right and wrong. They embraced "a way that seems right to a man" but in the end will always produce an abundance of tragic consequences (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). It is the pathway of sin, which leads to misery, violence and death (Romans 3:15-16; 6:23).

What happened in the lives of Adam's and Eve's descendants?

"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth" (Genesis 6:11-12).

As people developed their civilization apart from God, the consequences of choosing their own way of life quickly became apparent. Beginning with Cain's murder of his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8), violence multiplied.

By the time of Noah, the world had became so corrupt that "the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart" (Genesis 6:6). Except for Noah and his immediate family, everyone lost his life in the great flood that followed (Genesis 7:23).

How do God's words to Noah after the flood compare to His original instruction to Adam?

". . . In the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it" (Genesis 9:6-7)

In reminding Noah that God created human beings in His image, He reemphasized the key to right relationships. God wants people's behavior to reflect His character and way of life. That is the only way a civilization can develop peacefully and productively. It is the only way to avoid the evils that caused the flood.

The lessons of the violence and destruction before and during the flood were soon lost on the descendants of Noah. Genesis 11 describes humanity, after the flood, again openly opposing God's rule. At a place that came to be called Babel, or Babylon, men built a tower that stood as a lasting symbol of their renewed determination to build their civilization apart from God's instruction.

The very name Babylon (Babel in Hebrew) became a biblical epithet for the kingdom of Satan. In the last book of the Bible we find that Satan's kingdom at the end of our age is symbolically referred to as Babylon (Revelation 14:8).