We saw that the immortal Adam and Eve were placed in an idyllic world. In this paradise, God gave them only one admonition:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely (unconditionally) eat [the fruit] from every tree of the garden; but only of the tree of the knowledge (recognition) of good and evil you shall not eat, otherwise on the day that you eat from it, you shall most certainly die [because of your disobedience].” Gn. 2:16 AMP
Why this rule? The obvious reason is because it was true; eating of the fruit would result in death. However, I believe that the primary reason was to give them an opportunity to exercise their free will, making the choice to obey God.
This is important to understand, because Jehovah God and His Son both measure our efforts to love them, by our labors to obey Them:
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Jn. 14:15 NASB
So, choosing to obey is choosing to love. It must be a free-will choice, because conscripted love is not love; it is an obligation. God is only about true love…
Things were going great in the Garden, until Eve received a visitation from Satan himself.
Satan, the devil, the dragon, Lucifer, the adversary, is an angel – a rebellious lying angel. To lie, is to sin. Thus, Satan is an evil angel. Yet, God is 100% goodness; He cannot create evil. What this imputes then, is that angels have free will as well.
“He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Jn. 8:44 ESV
The devil begins his enticements through his devilish indoctrination:
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” Gn. 3:1 ESV
Satan is purposely misquoting God, (Jehovah did not say that they could not eat from all the trees). This was to both confuse and sow seeds of doubt in Eve’s understanding of the accuracy of the word of God.
Eve corrects the fallen angel by pointing out that the only forbidden tree was that of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil responds:
“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Gn. 3:4, 5. ESV
Satan is calling God a liar. He is also lying about the outcome of what he’s suggesting, because in fact, they do die – making him an accomplice to murder.
This is what I call the devils ‘Big Lie;’ and at the core of that falsehood, where he promises Eve that she would be like God, is the suggestion that she was missing something. Satan was appealing to the desire of her flesh, a desire that was already stirred up by her consideration of it.
Eve partook, as well as Adam, in the co-commission of the ‘original sin’ – and the change was instantaneous. They were acutely aware of their sin nature, feeling shame over the corruption of their nakedness, and plagued with fear over the possibility that God might reject them (Gn. 3:10).
Okay, you know all of this; but let’s consider just how devastating the consequences of this act was, both for them and all of humankind that would ever live:
It led to self-rejection, because they accepted the Big Lie that there was something missing from how God created them, inferring that they were inadequate. They had chosen to exercise their new-found sin expression of pride, grasping for something they didn’t have (which was the knowledge of evil; they already had the knowledge of good).
And so, they became something less, because they were formerly perfect as God made them. Now, they would die in the flesh – cutting themselves off from God because sin cannot coexist with righteousness.
This sinful taint is passed vertically through all successive generations, robbing all people of the original paradise, the gift of immortality, our direct love connection with God, and of the peace and freedom from the anxiety, guilt and shame that accompanies living a sinless life.
It was the beginning of all human suffering, at the hands of themselves. Man shifted his relationship with God from one of love, to one based upon fear and shame – stemming from their disobedience. What results is that humankind suffers from an indelible imprint upon their souls that would have them believe that God will not accept them.
The Big Lie is the devil’s masterpiece, because in the end, many were infected with the final evolvement of that lie – a belief that they are unacceptable and / or unlovable. This drives an unrelenting cycle of fear and shame that perpetuates our transgressions against God:
Man is afraid that God does not love him; so, he acts contrary to God’s word, hoping it will bring some temporary relief to his flesh, to ease his spiritual pain. Shame kicks in, and he tries to bury it in addictions or obsessions, until he feels that he’s done enough penance – whereupon he rinses and repeats.
This is the corrupted Adam and Eve that resides in you as well.
A relationship with Jesus is the only way out…
In spite of the great magnitude of sin committed by Adam and Eve, God exercised His first recorded act of magnanimous mercy:
And the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), knowing how to distinguish between] good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand and take from the tree of life as well, and eat [its fruit], and live [in this fallen, sinful condition] forever” – therefore the LORD God sent Adam away from the Garden of Eden, to till and cultivate the ground from which he was taken. Gn. 3:22, 23. AMP
God clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins, (which would have necessitated killing the animals, also providing blood atonement for their sin), and He put them out of the garden. It was a merciful act – preventing them from eating from the tree of life, which would have restored their immortality, but in their fallen state. That would of resulted in them being separated from God forever.
Instead, He provided a potential pathway of salvation for them, (and all of us), through Jesus Christ, so that we may return to Him forever in that eternal paradise…
Goodnight and God bless.
👍😁