Genesis 3:6 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. 8 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 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from 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 from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
It appears that the human race did not last long in the Garden before sin entered the human race. One can argue about when sin entered, but it appears that the woman was coveting what the fruit would do for her in rebellion against God. Genesis one ended by God declaring that all He had created was good. Genesis two, though many differ on this chapter, gives a different view on creation regardless of how one views it. Then Genesis 3 starts and humanity is plunged into sin very quickly.
Immediately the man and the woman knew that they had sinned. They sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness, but of course that was not something that would work. The man blamed God and the woman and the woman blamed the serpent. God’s words to the serpent are interesting. He cursed the serpent, but in cursing the serpent the first (protoeuangellion or first good news or first Gospel) Gospel was proclaimed to the human race. While Romans 9:11 sets out the glory of grace by telling us that “the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,” and then in verses 15-16 He goes on. “For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” Romans 9 tells us with great clarity that grace comes to sinners because of God and not because of what a man wills or does. Grace comes to sinners because of the mercy and grace of God and that alone.
But in the Garden we see that the Gospel of grace alone is spoken in the context of a curse on the serpent. It was not even spoken directly to a human being, but was spoken directly to the serpent. The man and the woman had sinned and then they did nothing but sin even more by blaming God and others. The response of God to them was mercy and grace. There was absolutely nothing in them that could have moved Him to show grace to them, but He promised grace. There was nothing about them that could have merited His favor, but God showed grace. In His wrath and judgment on the serpent He demonstrated His plan to manifest His grace to sinners. In reality the Old Testament is a map of His plan to bring forth the Lord Jesus and crush the serpent while giving eternal life to sinners. In Christ we see the judgment on the serpent and his seed, yet we see grace to the seed of the woman who are those purchased by Christ.
The earth and all things in it were created and planned by God as a means of Him manifesting His glory. Even when sin entered the world by the deception of the serpent, God demonstrated the glory of His grace then and what was to come. When we keep our eyes on the plan of God from all eternity to manifest His glory and the glory of His grace, we can see that sin did not take Him by surprise and was in fact part of that eternal plan. No, God did not work sin in the serpent and He did not work sin in the Adam and Eve. But all of this was part of His plan. By keeping our eye on this eternal plan we can see the Old Testament as God’s planning to put His grace on display. But even at the very beginning, the grace of God was seen in that He saves based on Himself.
God Loves... Himself 
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