10/19/19 - Saturday - The First Sin

For today let’s take a look at the first sin.

In Gen 2:16-17 God gave Adam a warning.  “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If you eat of its fruit you will surely die.”

Let’s remember that Adam and Eve were new creations.  They had no idea what good or evil was.  They had no idea what it meant to die.

Along comes Satan, the serpent, as the New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible puts it in Gen 3:1 the shrewdest of all the creatures God had created.

What does the word shrewdest tell us about the serpent?

• ·         Having or showing sharp powers of judgment; astute
• ·         Piercingly cold
• ·         Severe
• ·         Mischievous, Malicious
• ·         Origin from English is shrew (evil person or thing)
• ·         From Middle English – Evil in nature or character

Neither Adam nor Eve would be a match for the serpent.  Both of them were childlike and childish with no knowledge, experience, wisdom, maturity or adversity in their lives yet!

Listen to the serpent’s tone of voice throughout his conversation with Eve.

Gen 3:1 “Really?” he asked the women.  “Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?”

The serpent from the very first word he speaks sounds skeptical and invites Eve to question what God has said.  Then the serpent exaggerates.

In Gen 3:2-3 Eve answers “Of course we may eat it.  It’s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.  God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die.”

Eve responds by sounding knowledgeable and exaggerating herself.

Eve has already fallen into the serpent’s trap by trying to match the serpent’s tone of voice.

At the same time, Eve has added to God’s warning or word.

Remember.  Adam and Eve are the first humans.  They have no idea what death or to die is.

Onto Gen 3:4-6. “You won’t die!” the serpent hissed.  “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it.  You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”

Remember.  Adam and Eve are the first humans.  They have no idea what good or evil is.

Gen 3:6.  The woman was convinced.  The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise!  So she ate some of the fruit.  She also gave some to her husband, who was with her.  Then he ate it, too.

Remember.  Adam and Eve are the first humans.  They have no idea what wisdom is.

Eve made a bad choice.

Now it’s Adam’s turn.  Does Adam remember God’s warning or question Eve’s choice?  No he doesn’t.  He ate of the fruit.

If Only?

Both Eve and Adam had a choice to make.  Both Eve and Adam could have remembered God’s warning.

Once Eve made the wrong choice, Adam still could have remembered God’s warning.

Adam made the same bad choice.

Both had an individual choice to make and chose badly.

By the end of Gen 3 Adam and Eve have been kicked out of the garden of Eden and their relationship with God was broken.

This is a conversation with a HUGE aftermath.

In these first three chapters of Genesis what layers and truths are there to see?  What can we learn from them?

I see God’s relationship with Jesus.

Gen 1:26 “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves…”

Gen 3:22 “The people have become as we are…”

I see small children in Adam and Eve.  As a parent and as a person, I know that it takes repetition to build memory and recall.

I see that without God’s guidance and a good example, Christ Jesus, to follow I would forever be like Adam and Eve…childish.

I see the blame game and “Not Me”.

I see that without the serpent, I cannot truly grow and mature.  The adversity that I have and will face because of his influence and my choices is a necessary part of my journey.

I see where God created me in his image.  God would not have created me without a purpose or a plan for my good.

I see where God created, therefore, I can create too.

I see myself in Adam and Eve.

Born with a childlike faith, becoming childish, trying to live outside a relationship with God, following the examples I saw around me without questioning, playing the blame game.

It’s taken thirteen years to see these things.  I continue to learn from God, my Father, the still quiet voice of his Holy Spirit, my big brother, Christ Jesus, and all those God surrounds me with…past, present and future.

Right now for me it’s a time of letting go of my worldliness and letting Father take his rightful place in my life…in control.  That’s where he has always been.  I needed to acknowledge that in all matters.

It’s not easy.  It’s made easier knowing that Father is right here within me lovingly guiding me forward one day at a time towards fulfilling his promises and plans for me.

One last thing.  Without Father’s guidance through the Bible, I would not and could not know and continue to grow.

Having that personal relationship is what God wants.

I had to want it too.

Look at his relationship with Christ Jesus.  That’s the example to follow.

Ask Father to show you the truth.

He will.