There are many people who believe that the story of Eden is just an ancient tale meant to explain the unexplainable past; and that it was meant for people with a limited capacity for understanding. Those same people believe that they are too intelligent and enlightened to believe such mythology. Either the Biblical account of creation is entirely true or it is completely false. There can be no middle of the road when it comes to truth. The story of Eden is a true story with a vital point to it that explains everything in regards to how the world is today.
Adam and Eve were told not to eat the fruit from a tree in the middle of the garden where they lived. "The Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'" – Genesis 2:17. Adam and Eve knew what tree it was. They were shown where it was and were told not to eat any of the fruit from the tree. There was really nothing special about this tree. Sure, it must have been different from the other fruit trees in the garden but it was not a tree with poisonous fruit. Adam and Eve were being tested by their Creator to see if they would believe him, and what he said. They had a choice they had to make and a test to past if they were going to be given the privilege of living for eternity.
God could have refused to allow them to be tested, but let’s not forget about Lucifer. He was accusing God of being a tyrant. If God had refused to allow Adam and Eve to be tested then Lucifer could then have had an opportunity to say something like, “What’s the problem God? You're punishing me and my followers because of the choices we have made. Are you afraid to let the rest of your creation make a choice? Are you afraid they might want to follow me instead of you? If they chose to follow my ways then it would be more proof that it is not necessary or even possible to do what you ask.”
if Adam and Eve decided to follow Lucifer then Lucifer and his pals would have a permanent place to live and would become the rulers of this world, taking the place of Adam and Eve as the owners of this planet. He would also have taken the place of God in the lives of Adam and Eve as well. That would have made him, in his mind anyway, equal with God.
Lucifer made a big mistake in that respect. People have a tendency to speak and act without really considering the consequences of their actions when they separate themselves from the source of all knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Chaos ended up being the order of the day as Lucifer's poorly thought out plans began to come apart.
Lucifer thought he could play the game his way and do a good job of it. That is one of the reasons God would not allow him to step into a position he was not fit for.
If Lucifer had done things God’s way from the very beginning he might eventually have had a higher position than Archangel. As life continues people naturally learn more of and from their environment; what can and cannot be done. As is the case with anyone who has come from the Creator's hand Lucifer would have naturally had his share of erroneous thoughts, but if he would have been willing to learn from his Creator and had continued to trust God and understand that God knew all, then it is possible that Lucifer could have eventually had a spot on the council of God. God was testing his highest ranking angel to see what he would do when he was told no. If he had listened to God and just gone about his duties then he would more than likely have been given more responsibility and greater privileges as time went by.
This is where Christ is different. Christ was equal with the Father but he did not covet the Father’s position. The Father is involved in all of the day to day complexities of the universe. A universe as large and varied as ours would require critical and precise thought. Christ does not have to take over the Father’s job because he knows that the Father understands what he is doing and he trusts him completely. We will come back later and delve into that obedience thing of Christ’s.
Adam and Eve were most likely cautioned by God not to stray too far from each other’s side; not because they were not smart enough to be on their own or anything, but God knew that if they were separated from each other then they just might be tempted to listen to the voice of someone who would try to smooth talk them.
If Eve had stayed with Adam she would have had the benefit of having another voice of reason to say, “Hey Eve, don’t you think it’s just a little bizarre that a serpent is talking to us right now and trying to get us to do something that God has told us not to do?” He could then have suggested that they talk to God first before doing what someone else told them to do.
A friend of mine once asked me what I imagined would have happened if the roles had been reversed and it was Adam who had found himself standing before the forbidden tree without Eve by his side. Could Adam have been just as easily deceived as Eve was?
Of course he could have. Adam could just as easily have made the same mistake that Eve did. According to scripture however, is it was Eve who found herself standing before the forbidden tree, conversing with a serpent who was trying to convince her that God really did not mean what he had said. Lucifer’s whole purpose was to divide and conquer and in that respect he succeeded.
The serpent was acting like a high-pressure salesperson. Eve should have said, “Let me think about this for a while and I'll give you an answer tomorrow.” Lucifer, as any good high-pressure salesperson knows, did not want Eve to “sleep on it.” He wanted her signature on the contract right then.
God had his “chain of command” in place when he created Earth. He made sure our first parents knew who the CEO was and who they could or could not trust. He had informed them of the circumstances of Lucifer’s rebellion and they were very experienced with angels.
Angels are like God’s business staff. They do what he asks them to do. Those who had normal contact with angels were aware of the rebellion that had happened in Heaven and they also understood the consequences of following along with any angel who told them to do anything contrary to what God had said.
Eve was one smart lady and she would have immediately fled from Lucifer if he had appeared to her as an angel of light, like the rest of God’s staff and then tried to talk her into following him. She was created with a brain function as superior to ours today as the world’s greatest computer is when compared with a pencil.
I do not believe that Eve purposfully wandered away from Adam’s side on that fateful day. I imagine she was just carried away with what she was doing in the Garden and suddenly found herself standing before the forbidden tree; away from Adam’s side.
Adam most likely noticed that Eve was not around but he probably thought that she was not too far away. Maybe she was working on something special, just for him, just like she had a habit of doing. Man, was he ever in love with that woman.
God called the tree that Eve was standing near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. – Genesis 2:17. God has always wanted us to know what good is because that is what his universe is all about. It is good. When he was finished creating things he said they were good…and sometimes he said they were very good. - Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31.
No one in the universe was supposed to know anything about evil. Lucifer and his followers had discovered what it was and they found themselves very unhappy and becoming unhappier all the time because of the knowledge they had acquired. They were becoming more evil and dangerous too. All they wanted to do with their knowledge of evil was to destroy everything good that God had created. They could not do it with the other worlds that God had created because they had tried to use reason and persuasion on them, mixed with their lies about God.
With this new world however Lucifer decided that he would not appear as an angel of light but as one of God’s other creatures, a serpent.
"The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field." - Genesis 3:1. I mentioned earlier that there were 3 classifications of animal life living on the surface of Earth. There were the beasts, the creeping things and the cattle. I want you to notice that Genesis 3:1 places the serpent in the same category as the beasts of the field instead of with the creeping things as we associate it with today. Biblical history tells us that the serpent was a beast of the field at one time. Because of how it was classified we know it could walk and some historic sources also say it had the ability to fly. There is no biblical proof to verify the serpent's ability to fly, one way or another. That part is left to your imagination. Whether or not it could fly has no bearing on the serpent's abilities. Its ability to walk was important however as you will shortly see.After the serpent had been used by Lucifer, God cursed the serpent to spend the rest of its days crawling on its belly with the creeping things of Earth instead of walking like the beasts of the field. A genetic change was going to take place in the life of the serpent.
We are told, "Now the serpent was more cunning (wise, or crafty) than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." - Genesis 3:1; in other words, he was intelligent. We are aware of intelligence in all of God’s animals...well, with the exception of possums that is. The real reason the chicken crossed the road was to show the possum that it could be done.
It is my personal belief that Adam and Eve could communicate with the animals to a certain extent and that they understood the way the animals communicated as well.
Eve was most likely not very afraid to hear a serpent speak to her…surprised maybe, but not afraid. She was still learning about the new world that God had created for them. When the serpent spoke to her she could very well have just thought of it as another one of God’s wonders in creation.
So, here was Eve, wandering through the garden and suddenly finding herself before the forbidden tree. I can picture her just curiously looking at it and wondering why God had told them not to eat from it. It did not look any different from any of the other fruit trees, except for the type of fruit that grew on its branches. All fruit trees were different in that way. She was not going to eat from it, but she was curious. There is nothing wrong with curiosity. There were many things to learn about the new world Eve lived in and this was just another marvel to her.
She must have been startled to hear her own thoughts suddenly made audible. Here she was, probably wondering why they could not eat from the tree and all of a sudden, the serpent said, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree in the garden'?" – Genesis 3:1.
This might sound familiar to a lot of you chemical users out there. How many times during your experiences have you had your thoughts made audible by someone else? How many times have you made the thoughts of others audible to them? You are messing with the serpent people; you are messing with the serpent.
Although Eve was possibly startled when the serpent spoke to her it probably also filled her up with a few flattering remarks, perhaps about her beauty and intelligence. I am sure that Eve, like many people, enjoyed kind and flattering words, so the "serpent" would have been wise enough to “soften her up” a little bit after the “intrusion” into her thoughts.
In reply to the serpent’s question she responded by telling it that they could eat from any tree in the garden except for the one the serpent was in. She continued by saying, “God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” – Genesis 3:3.
It is unknown what the serpent was doing while it was in the forbidden tree but it could very well have been eating some of the fruit growing on the tree. If that is the case then it would have naturally aroused Eve’s curiosity. Why could the serpent eat, or even touch the fruit and still live?
Once again her thoughts were made audible as the serpent said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”– Genesis 3:4-5.
What the “serpent” was saying was, "God does not want you to be like him; he is selfish and he wants the place of power all to himself."
After saying she would not really die, it is my personally belief that it placed a piece of fruit into her hands and then reminded her of her own words, that God had told them not to even touch it or else they would die. If that were the case he would then have naturally asked her why she was not dead.
Compare what God says in Genesis 2:17 with what Eve said in Genesis 3:3. There is no place in scripture where God says that they should not touch the fruit. God only tells them not to eat it. Eve misquoted what God had said and the serpent used her misunderstanding to turn her own words against her and to place another thought of doubt into her mind about the Creator.
She suddenly realized that no she was not dead and yes the fruit WAS pleasant to look at and it did appear delicious to eat, so out of curiosity she just took a bite and suddenly felt like she was being transported to another, higher realm of existence. Doing what she had been told not to do was a new experience for her, so that act of disobedience naturally flooded her body with chemicals that were completely strange to her. She would have naturally thought of that feeling as something that was caused by the fruit instead of it being something that was self-generated.
As she continued to eat, her thoughts returned to her husband Adam and she felt she just had to share this wonderful experience with him, so she picked some more fruit and hurried off to find him. – Genesis 3:6.
This should also sound familiar to many chemical users out there. It always seems to be true; the first thing you want to do after having experienced something which has enjoyably altered your brain chemistry is to introduce someone else to it as well.
It is open for debate what really happened when Eve found Adam and related what had just happened to her. Adam must have been extremely upset though and told her that the serpent she had just encountered was surely the one they had been warned about and that now she must die.
What do you think went through his mind when he looked at this most beautiful of God’s creation? She was literally a part of him and he knew and loved her with a love that some of us married people, or those of us with children or other loved ones, can only imagine. He must have been devastated to the point where he could not think of having to give her up to death. He evidently decided that he would rather share her fate and die with her than to live for the rest of eternity without her. He did not believe, or understand, that the one who had created her in the first place could just as easily have filled her place with someone else.
Here is where the rebellion of Adam against God was different from Eve’s. Eve was lied to by the serpent. She was tricked into doing something she should not have done. She was still wrong because she was doing what she was told not to do, so in this respect she was calling God a liar.
Adam, on the other hand, was not deceived. He knew exactly what he was doing when he ate the forbidden fruit. He just could not think of living without Eve, the woman he had come to know and love so deeply. He also might have had some thoughts that the words of the serpent could just possibly be true. After all, here was his wife, after eating the fruit from the forbidden tree, still alive and standing before him as beautiful as ever. He knew she was experiencing something wonderful, because he could tell by the way she acted that she was somehow different and more alive.
Why not? If she was going to die than he would just as soon die with her, so…he took some of the fruit and ate it as well and he began to experience the same thing that Eve was experiencing.
I'm sure those two were really enjoying themselves there in the garden, getting “high” for the first time, enjoying the shared beauty between and all around them. Unfortunately, like all good highs, you have to return to reality some time and they eventually became aware that they were no longer clothed. It's possible that they were surrounded by the same type of wonderful aura of light that also surrounds their Creator and his created angels. When they seperated themselves from God by disobedience it is entirely possible that their clothing of light faded as well. Whatever the case, they suddenly became aware that they were naked and that they had done something extremely dangerous by disobeying their Creator. Because of the vulnerability they were experiencing they found some fig leaves, wove them together and made something to cover themselves with.
Adam and Eve then became aware of the presence of God in the garden and they once again experienced something completely new. They felt extreme guilt and fear for the first time in their lives and decided to hide from their Creator. The one who started it all, the one who loved them more than life itself; they hid from him. – Genesis 3:8.
God knew what was happening. He knew what was going on in Adam and Eve’s thinking. He also knew exactly where they were and could easily have exposed them in their fearful hiding, but in love he called out to them and let them make the first contact. – Genesis 3:9.
Like children caught guilty in the act, they came before their Father and confessed that they were naked; no longer clothed in the bright coverings of light that once radiated all around them. They told him how embarrassed they were and how they had hidden because of their nakedness. – Genesis 3:10.
When God questioned them further, hoping to bring a confession from both of them, they did what their new guilty natures pressed them to do. They placed the blame for their disobedience somewhere else.
This is kind of like someone jumping off a 300-foot cliff. They know they should not be doing what they are doing, but hey, what the heck, this is really all God’s fault. He should not have created gravity or cliffs in the first place. Yes, they are going to suffer the consequences of their actions when they hit the rocks below, but those false accusations against God are not going to save them.
Adam blamed the woman that God had created for him; the one he claimed to love the most; the one whom earlier he was willing to die with. – Genesis 3:12. In doing so, he placed the responsibility for his actions on the one who created her in the first place when he said, "The woman whom YOU gave to be with me".
Eve blamed the serpent God had created. – Genesis 3:13. In doing so she also blamed not only the serpent for what she had done, but she also held God responsible for creating something as crafty as the serpent in the first place. In both of their minds God was really the one who was responsible for what had happened to them. They were just innocent victims.
I would like to ask everyone a serious question. Whom do we blame for all of the death, disease and suffering we encounter every day around us? Who is it that we blame for all of the tragic stories we hear about in the news? We have a tendency to blame God, do we not?
There is a Senator from Nebraska who once filed a class action lawsuit against God. By the wording of the papers he filed with the court he is obviously an atheist who has a lot of anger and spite in his heart, not only in regards to God but also for those whom he calls God's "agents", those who believe in God.This Senator charged God with causing tornado's, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, disease, war, deaths of all kind, especially violent deaths…etc. You get the picture. He believes these things are all God's fault; therefore, God should be brought up on charges and be held accountable for his "crimes". He is also holding God's "agents", those who are God's followers, accountable for the perpetration of terrorist threats, actions and crimes against humanity, by speaking about and obviously in favor of the judgments of God that are described in the Bible; judgments that are and will be the result of living in rebellion against God and his government.
How many times have you heard, said, or thought, “If there is a God, he could stop all of this from happening if he wanted to. He could have prevented that car from running over that little child, therefore it is really God’s fault."
Why do you think that is? All of us, when we think about it, are responsible for what goes on all around us. Our anger, our impatience, our lust and our love of things more than our love for one another, is responsible for what we see around us.
I am not going to take the time to preach here because those of you who are honest with yourselves know that what I am saying is true. I am just as guilty as anyone else because of some of the selfish things I can be blamed for. I cannot point the finger at anyone for most of what happens to me. What I do want though, is to make us think about the consequences of our actions.
Do not blame God for AIDS when it is because of the natural reaction to unsanitary behavior that, for the most part, turned it into an epidemic killing machine. Sure, there are innocent victims because of that disease, but if the unsanitary behavior were to disappear, then the results of the disease would eventually disappear too.
Do not blame God for lung cancer when we smoke like chimneys and pollute the atmosphere the way we do. As far as heart attacks are concerned look at what we put into our bodies and tell me that God made us do it. Anti-social behavior? I do not think I even need to go there because anti-social behavior is nothing more than pro-self behavior.
Most people know the truth about everything that happens to the human race and the environment we live in, but it is always nice to blame someone or something else for the consequences of our actions. We tend to sleep better when we do not have a guilty conscience. Instead of accepting responsibility, apologizing for our actions and changing our behavior, we would rather place the blame somewhere else.
Our first parents made a mistake when they placed the blame for their disobedience on someone else and ultimately upon their Creator. From then on, all people, from Cain, when he killed his brother, to the author whose words you are reading now, to you who are reading these words, have had a tendency to place the blame for our problems elsewhere instead of looking into the mirror and seeing the dirt on our own faces.
By all rights, Adam and Eve should have died the moment they separated themselves from their Creator; when they accepted the lie that Lucifer told them. They had shifted their allegiance over to the father of lies when they listened to him and did what they were not supposed to do. They remained alive only because of the grace of God. What is grace?
Being blessed by grace is being given something that you did not earn and do not deserve. It is a gift you really have no right to; but because of the love of the gift giver you are presented with that gift, free of charge. That is grace.
Because of the love God had for our first parents, he graciously allowed them to live and gave them a second chance. It is because of that same love that God graciously spared the lives of those rebellious angels. He wanted them to see the error of their ways before they went too far.
Lucifer and his followers have now gone too far and can never go back. They are destined for destruction when this is all over in the end and there is nothing they can do about it. They all crossed the line that God told them not to cross and in the end their Creator is going to dismantle them with fire, atom by atom, until they are no more.
Everyone, from Adam and Eve to the present, who have crossed the line from life into death, have also passed the point of no return. Those who died on God’s side will inherit eternal life. Those who died in rebellion against him and the natural laws of his universe will be eternally separated from him in death.
I would like to explain what I mean when I say, those who died on God’s side.
After God confronted Eve and she blamed the serpent for her downfall, I am sure that the serpent was going to try and quietly slip away. That is not what happened however, God did something rather bizarre.
God not only removed the serpent’s legs to prevent it from leaving the scene of the crime but he also stepped on its tail to keep it from crawling away until Lucifer had learned what the punishment for all guilty parties was going to be. The judgment of God fell first on the serpent, or on Lucifer, the one who had disguised himself as a serpent. - Genesis 3:14-16.
The serpent was not guilty for being used by Lucifer. It might have been one of the smartest creatures in the garden, but it was still just a dumb beast when compared with Adam and Eve and the likes of Lucifer. It was only the unlucky tool of Lucifer.
Adam and Eve were about to learn some hard lessons in quick succession concerning the results of disobeying their Creator. The first lesson they learned was that the world, specifically the animal kingdom, the kingdom that God had placed them as caretakers over, was going to suffer because of the results of their disobedience as well.
It must have really hurt them when they saw God pluck the legs off the serpent, one of the most beautiful creatures in the garden. As the serpent lay on the ground, twisting, writhing and biting at the heel of the foot of the one who was holding it down, God pronounced judgment on Lucifer.
He told Lucifer that he was going to place a hatred of disobedience, or sin, in the heart of the woman he had deceived and in all of her offspring as well. - Genesis 3:14, 15.
There is that word, sin. I figured I would finally use it and get it over with. Sin is nothing more than disobedience, or plain old rebellion. I still use the word occasionally because there are times when rebellion or disobedience is just not a strong enough word for some of the things that take place on this planet we live on. Still, sin is one of the most archaic of words to me, so you will not see me place it into print very many times. Using the word sin is kind of like using the words hither and thither, if you know what I mean. Okay, I am soap boxing again.
God said that this hatred of rebellion and disobedience (sin) would find its ultimate expression in one of Eve’s offspring. He went on to say that just as the serpent was striking at his heel, trying to destroy the one who held it down, that ultimately the one who held it down with his foot, was going to crush its head as well. Lucifer had just received notice that his days were numbered.
The one who created the world and everything within it was the Word of God, Christ. The Father gave the directions for what was to be done but Christ was the active voice, or agent of God. The one holding down the serpent and whose foot was being struck at by the serpent was Christ as well. Christ, the one whose place Lucifer wanted to take at the beginning of all of this rebellion, was going to destroy Lucifer eventually but Christ would also have to pay a price before rebellion, destruction and death could finally be done away with. Christ, talking to Lucifer said, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” - Genesis 3:15. Yes, Lucifer was eventually going to be destroyed but not before he had destroyed Christ in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ had an advantage though, as we wil see later.