If you’re a Christian girl, you’ve probably sat through at least one sermon where women were the villain in the Garden, the catalyst of all life’s misery, and the source of temptation. And then comes the infamous verse about filthy “rags,” exacted in humiliating detail, with a reference to the adulterous woman thrown in for good measure—again.

So when I returned to church soul-starved after a long COVID break, and the pastor turned to Genesis 3, my heart sank.

Here we go, I thought, readying myself for women to be the butt of every joke for the next hour.

But I was about to hear Genesis 3 shared in a way I’d never heard before—a story so beautiful, it changed the “fall of man” into a love story.

The pastor summarized up to the part where Eve does what she was forbidden to do, which was to take into herself something that would destroy her.

Nevermind what her motives were when she reached for what appeared to be able to make her body and mind more able. She was, after all, the mother of all living things.

What comes next is what matters.

It was done, and the man knew that what had just happened to Eve sent a shock wave through the cosmos, changing everything forever. The Bible says he was not deceived. Already, things were changing…Something was happening that couldn’t be undone; a door had been opened.

So Adam had a choice. He could let Eve suffer alone, being crushed alone under the consequences of believing the Accuser, or…he could choose to fall with her, with the intention of somehow finding a way to undo it all, to redeem her.

So he took the fall.

Genesis 3:12 has Adam saying to God, You gave this woman to me to be with me, and she gave me of the Tree, and on purpose I ate it with her.

See? A love story.

Everything in the Old Testament helps tell the Story of Jesus and His mission to save us, so this is of excruciating importance.

It’s a shadow of what was to come, how the world, like Eve, would fall into sin, causing irreversible damage, and Jesus would choose to enter into our suffering and our consequences with us, to redeem us.

The story of the Fall is deep with mysteries, pulsing with the love of God for His Creation.

Many of us have missed the essence of the Bible because of how it’s been taught to us, or the way we’ve chosen to read it.

But when we hear it through the music of God’s heart, it’s a whole other story. Suddenly, the sound is on.

Childbirth seemed to me like a scathing punishment by God who was so angry at women, He just wanted us to hurt.

But I was so wrong. So, so wrong.

She’ll be redeemed through the bearing of children.

The verse means Eve would have children, who would have children, all down the line until finally, Jesus would be born—redeeming Eve and all her children after her, including us.

But that’s not all. The pain of childbirth is certainly not a gift, but it is a prophetic part of The Story, and only women get to tell it in this way.

Childbirth tells the story of a spirit being born again.

Giving birth to children is a sacred picture of Christ’s intense suffering, labor, and joy over every human soul, His anguish in blood to deliver us safely back into the realm of God where we belong.

So the two stories mirror each other like this:

A man leaves his parents and marries his wife, and they become one, joining together as only a man and a woman can. The man shields her, willing to give his life for her, and she honors him for it, because he’s responsible to take very good care of her, loving her more than he loves his own body. A child is conceived from love, and after months of aching to hold their child, the baby is finally born through suffering and spilling. A new life enters the world, and the whole family celebrates with ecstatic joy!

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Jesus left Heaven to redeem humans; we who believe in Him are like His Bride. His life was labor to tell everyone why He came, and His death was horrific suffering as He accomplished a way for us to go home to God’s Kingdom forever. The way into the Kingdom of God is for our spirit to be born again, brand new. So on the Cross when Jesus died, a soldier stabbed Him with a spear, fulfilling prophecy that blood and water would spill from His wound—just like childbirth, just like Adam’s rib—bringing forth life for you and me. And all of Heaven celebrates even one new life with ecstatic joy!

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So what it’s like to be a woman in God’s Church, is to be loved as His Bride—precious to Him, protected by His love, welcome to all that He has, and honored to tell His Story to all the living. This, of course, is a gift to men too.

But we are Eve.

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You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

~ Song of Solomon 4:7

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