But prior to our creation, a dichotomy had arisen in the
Universe. Lucifer (now Satan) had
challenged the character of God – accused Him of being a tyrant who forced His
own rules or killed the opposition. One
by one, Satan presented his case to all the other intelligent beings throughout
the Universe, but none chose to break their trust in their Creator. All other worlds kept faith with God, leaving
our world as the last hope for him to gain supporters. We were the newest creations, the least
experienced. Comparatively we would not be able to stand
one-on-one with Satan and defeat him. So
one of the first counsels we received from God was to stay together – Adam and
Eve should remain in each other’s presence.
They should not separate and find themselves alone in the garden. Together they would strengthen each other,
but alone they may not be able to withstand what was coming.
God would have been guilty of Satan’s charge if He would not
permit evil any access to our world. In
order for our love for God to be real, it must be a truly free choice. If we chose it, God would allow us to choose
to break trust with Him. He would not
‘control’ our free will or our destiny.
God never forces anyone to serve Him.
It is sad how many times, religious fanatics use the name of God to take
the lives of those who disagree with them – when this is the farthest idea from
the character of God. So Satan was
permitted to establish a tree – aptly titled ‘the tree of knowledge of good and
of evil’. Given that no-one in the
Universe had ever experienced evil before, no-one really knew what evil was
like. Every being had naturally chosen
only good, therefore only really God understood the consequences of where evil
would lead. This ‘evil’ tree would bear
fruit. How highly symbolic that evil
always bears fruit, or has consequences from embracing it. I’m sure, given how well Satan markets death
to us, and sells it as if it were the greatest thing we could ever obtain –
this tree was likely stunningly beautiful.
I’m sure the fruit was easily accessible at eye-level, no work at all on
getting it. And so Satan established his foothold
on our world, and waited for a moment of our vulnerability.
And one day it occurred.
Eve found herself both alone and near the forbidden tree. God had counseled our first parents to stay
together, and away from this tree altogether.
The eating of the ‘forbidden’ fruit would symbolize the breaking of our
trust with God, and be an act of subservience to Satan. And here stood Eve. Upon realization that she was alone, she
should have immediately attempted to locate Adam, had she done this, we would
be living in Paradise. She did not. Instead she studied the forbidden tree. Studying
evil never yields a positive result; avoiding evil is FAR more
productive. She was drawn closer to the
tree by a phenomenon she did not understand.
She looked in the tree and noticed a snake. The original design of snakes included wings
allowing them flight. They were
considered one of the most beautiful creatures in the garden. But this snake began speaking to Eve. This was unheard of. The only creatures capable of thoughts, and
speech in the garden till now, had been Adam and Eve. This was no ordinary snake. It was either a snake who had been taken
over, or possessed by Satan – or it was simply Satan in the guise of a
snake. A superior intellect, that
existed long before we did, might have knowledge of how to manipulate atoms to
reshape an object, or perhaps learn how to control a willing subject
altogether. In short, a talking snake
was in the realm of the ‘supernatural’.
There was no logical explanation for Eve, and she was curious how this
could occur.
Eve fell into a trap.
You see, our enemy studies us relentlessly to determine our
weaknesses. He flattered Eve with her
beauty, then appealed to her reason, by offering her an easy way to achieve
wisdom equal to that of God Himself. He
used his deception to ease her fears.
After all He was not dead. He was
talking, a talking snake. It must be
true what he was saying, as what else could explain it. Seems
reasonable. How
often does the argument to do evil seem reasonable? How often do we accept the premise; a lesser
of two evils, rather than rejecting either choice and only doing good? How often does ‘evil’ present itself as the
only ‘logical’ explanation, therefore declaring evil as truth when it is
not? Satan was in fact calling God a
liar. It may be that he implied God was
not being straight with us for our own good, that He did not trust us with this
information. Or it may be, that Satan
implied God was jealous about His understanding of evil and did not want to
share it with anyone for fear they would be as wise as He was. Both accusations were false. In fact, everything Satan has ever accused
God with, he was guilty of himself. But
Eve, alone and relying on her own wisdom, chose to break trust with God, and
put her trust in what she could see, hear, and speak with. And sin entered our world. But it’s position of dominance was not yet
completed.
Upon eating the fruit, Eve brought some to Adam, and relayed
what had happened. Eve did not intend harm to herself or
Adam. Like most insidious evil plots,
the consequences may not be immediately seen or felt, but they come. Her motives were unimportant; her intentions
did not outweigh her actions. And
effectively Eve would be the delivery system of evil to the very one she loved
the most. Eve was stained with the
‘AIDS’ of sin, and was now eager to give it to her husband, without even
knowing. Eve was deceived. Adam was not.
Adam saw through the flimsy arguments the ‘serpent’ had made
and recognized the fallacy of evil. He
knew the real score. Now he was faced
with a decision. Eve was destined to
die. His wife, the love of his life, his
soul-mate, the perfect woman he had grown to have the perfect marriage with was
now destined to die. He could not imagine a way
out of this situation. He knew God only
spoke truth. If God had said not to do
this, or you would die, He was telling the truth. Eve must die.
Adam could not save her. And Adam
too, for completely different reasons, some might consider them even noble
reasons, chose to break trust with God.
Had he chosen not to do this, we might still be living in paradise. God’s plan would have been put into effect to
save Eve, and we would never have been subjected to Satan’s strong influence in
our world. But Adam chose to love his
wife, more than He loved or trusted his God.
How often do we do the same? How
often do we sacrifice what we know to be true for the sake of ‘love’ of a mate
who does not share our convictions of truth?
This is an age old problem, who has been claiming victims for evil ever
since the start of our world. Better to
trust God, more even than our spouse.
Upon eating this fruit, both began to decay morally almost
immediately. They realized they were
naked, and became ashamed. Instead of
craving the company of God, they had put distance between them and now feared
God’s presence. When He came calling in
the evening, they were vainly attempting to hide themselves from Him. When asked for an explanation of what
happened, they began by placing blame on other
creations of God, effectively saying “it’s Your fault for creating this
stuff.” That noble love Adam chose over
his God went right out the window, immediately selling-out Eve as the reason
for his choice. Eve blames the
snake. And the snake has got nothing to
say. The consequences were swift and
immediate. The snake was cursed to crawl
on his belly, his wings were removed, and he would be hated by almost every
other creature in nature. The ground was
cursed. Thorns, pests, and difficulty
tending the soil would now be experienced.
Death entered in the world.
Animals would now begin feeding on each other. Our parents would be forced to leave the
garden paradise, and wear the skins God gave them for clothing. God would no longer walk directly with man, as
our evil could not tolerate the presence of perfection. A new method of worship and communion would
be established (we’ll talk about this later).
Having children would now be done in much pain. A woman would not be subservient to her
husband, no longer equals. We would no
longer have access to the ‘tree of life’, and with this separation, would grow
old and as God had stated, we would die.
What a horrific burden to bear.
Imagine the guilt they would carry as they witnessed the results of
these choices.
But all hope was not lost.
God revealed his plan to man for the first time. God revealed to man that He loved us so much,
he would lay down his life for us, pay our penalty, and restore us to
Himself. Our world, and our sense of
morality would decay. We would be
subject to the influence of Satan in our surroundings. But we could choose to put our trust back in
God, and if we listened to Him, we would begin
to reconcile again with Him – we would avoid our birthright of
pain, and claim His gift of life, joy, and discernment. Therein lies a key lessen in our journey to
discover our God, listening to what He tells us is imperative to our
survival. He will not kill us if we
disobey, we will achieve this goal ourselves.
It is our misery He wants us to end and avoid. Remember He is saving us from pain and
self-inflicted misery. Oh how wonderful
we are not destined to misery, but have been reclaimed by Salvation…
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