Eden, as we read previously, was a place – a walled garden – created by God for His pleasure and the pleasure of Adam and Eve: a man, and a woman made for man, joined as one; even as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One.
God walked with man in the garden of pleasure.
And it was good.
When man is in relationship to God, in conversation with God, in prayer with God – when we are one with the Father, we mirror his holiness.
When man (woman) misses the mark of perfection, the ideal of holiness – when we do not mirror the essence of the Father’s goodness, it is sin.
Trespass, crossing the forbidden line, climbing over the hedge of protection – when a man or woman turns from the direction of perfection, it is sin.
So what was so wrong with Eve and Adam wanting to sample from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Should we not recognize evil, that we might follow good?
Should we not attain knowledge, that in ignorance we might fall from the will of God?
Genesis 3 English Standard Version (ESV)
He [the serpent] said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said…
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Wait! Let’s pause here a moment and ask, What’s wrong with this image [picture]?
First: Satan lies. The enemy of good is subtle in his lie.
Second: The woman is receiving knowledge [information] from the devil! Can that possibly be good?
Third: The woman is not seeking the answer of her husband, from whom she was made and for whom she was made. So how can her response be as a women one with the spirit and flesh of her husband? (I know this is touchy, controversial topic in a church where the wife is not expected to honor her husband as her personal lord only after the worship of the Lord they worship as one.)
Fourth, yet not least of importance: Eve, and for that matter, Adam, does not take the issue and application to God before they sin – before they act – before they exercise their Self-will over the will of God.
It is disobedience!
They have used their freedom to choose, within the hedges of the garden of good, to do what is evil in the eyes of the LORD.
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4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
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NO, Adam didn’t consult with God either. He listened to his wife, who had listened to Satan.
But was it really such a bad sin?
Allow me to play devil’s advocate for a moment. After all, don’t we hold our universities and learning in high esteem? Isn’t knowledge a good thing for us? Have we not made life on earth so much better by the great learning of man from generation to generation?
Now from the other side of the bar I ask you to judge: how good is mankind now that we have all this knowledge? How good is man?
Have you ever played the telephone game?
Suppose God tells Adam… then Adam tells Eve… Eve and the serpent whisper something back and forth… then Eve entices Adam with what the serpent has said… yet eventually, the conversation gets back to the LORD.
What has happened to truth?
It is like the telephone game, when we have listened to Satan and not God?
Eventually, news of our sin will prompt the question of conviction from the Father of righteousness. Eventually, man, made in the image of God, is accountable to the Creator who does judge that which the Lord created, even in His Image.
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9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
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After the LORD hears Adam confess his fear, the LORD asks the obvious question:
MAN, who have you been listening to that is NOT the LORD!?
Is the evidence of the sin of the telephone game not convicting?
‘Did GOD really say?’ Was this not the first deception of Satan?
So in the beginning, the good and the innocence of holiness and sinlessness is broken by one simple disobedient ‘choice’ by man (and woman) free to choose good or evil, yet destined to also receive the judgment of consequence.
And the Lord saw it was good… or must the Lord see the nakedness of your sin?
Adam rightfully fears punishment of a Holy and loving Father God, our All-Powerful Creator. FEAR now enters into the relationship of man to God – fear because of the just judgement of sin.
To be continued.
