Adam had the run of the trees in
the Garden of Eden (Gn 2:16); all, except for one, that is. This tree
represented the one and only prohibition; he was warned not to eat the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gn 2:17a). The reason to keep it
off of his menu of trees was made very clear by the LORD God in Genesis 2:17b, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (emphasis mine). There was no
misunderstanding on the part of Adam concerning the danger behind this
prohibition (cf. 1 Tim 2:14).
Recall the serpent’s words to
Eve, “You will not surely die” (Gn 3:4)? Did you realize that this was the
first doctrine denied by Satan – Divine judgment? “No, we are not accountable
for our actions,” says he! To the contrary, our adversary knows he is ultimately going to wind up in the
lake of fire with the rest of his demonic horde (Rev 20:10), and I think he wants to drag as many humans with him
as demonically possible. If God allowed it he would take the whole lot of us! Lucifer
is not fond of humans, particularly Christians (1 Pet 5:8).
Satan’s indwelling of the
serpent and tempting Eve to rebel against God’s prohibition argue that God had
already judged the angels who rebelled against Him by following Lucifer’s
insurrection, and approximately a third of the angelic host turned into demons (cf.
Rev 12:4). Note that these verses cited below, as well as the presence of the serpent in the Garden, indicate Lucifer had fallen prior to the dialogue with
Eve, but they do not pinpoint the timing of it, which fuels endless debates (cf.
Gn 3:1; Isa 14:12-14; Ezek 28:13-17; Lk 10:18; Rev 12:8-10).
Satan knew God had judged sin and rebellion in the angelic ranks. The dragon’s strategy or payback, if you will (permitted by Yahweh, was to get the pinnacle of God’s creation, humankind, created in the image of God, to rebel against God and experience separation from God as Satan and his demonic host had undergone. The devil’s problem was now wounded pride which isbe notoriously vicious (cf. Ezek 28:17; 1 Tim 3:6; 1 Pet 5:8).
Satan’s sights were set on Eve to bring his plan to fruition, the fall of man. Perhaps his spiteful actions were driven out of jealousy and rage to prove the man was unworthy to have dominion over the earth? I think we will find out once we get topside. This once-anointed cherub had delusions of grandeur and tempted Eve with the same illusion that did him in, “I will be like the Most High (Isa 14:14) – “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” (Gn 3:5, emphasis mine). He got Eve thinking! Every time we seek to kick God off the throne of our lives for something we shouldn’t desire, that helpless feeling is just around the corner.
Satan knew God had judged sin and rebellion in the angelic ranks. The dragon’s strategy or payback, if you will (permitted by Yahweh, was to get the pinnacle of God’s creation, humankind, created in the image of God, to rebel against God and experience separation from God as Satan and his demonic host had undergone. The devil’s problem was now wounded pride which isbe notoriously vicious (cf. Ezek 28:17; 1 Tim 3:6; 1 Pet 5:8).
Satan’s sights were set on Eve to bring his plan to fruition, the fall of man. Perhaps his spiteful actions were driven out of jealousy and rage to prove the man was unworthy to have dominion over the earth? I think we will find out once we get topside. This once-anointed cherub had delusions of grandeur and tempted Eve with the same illusion that did him in, “I will be like the Most High (Isa 14:14) – “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” (Gn 3:5, emphasis mine). He got Eve thinking! Every time we seek to kick God off the throne of our lives for something we shouldn’t desire, that helpless feeling is just around the corner.
Meanwhile, Adam had a
non-tested nature like Eve, sinless but still possessing the potential to sin,
hence the tree of the knowledge of good and evil living in the Garden of Eden
with its dangling, titillating fruit. Interestingly, unlike the first Adam,
Jesus Christ, the second Adam, was born of a virgin, having an eternal sinless
nature incapable of sinning because He was God incarnate or God in the flesh.
So, why did God, who is all-knowing, put that one particular tree in the Garden
knowing Adam and Eve would eventually
swing by there and picnic on the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, ushering in disastrous and monumental consequences in creation?
I am of the opinion that if God
gave me the answer to that very question, there would be many out there who
would absolutely not believe me anyway. So, I will offer my two cents for what
it’s worth. What comes to my mind is this matter of choice, a free will to
choose between good and evil. Sovereignty and choice are so vital to
Christianity that we have battled among ourselves over reconciling free will
being truly free and God being truly God in the process of salvation for
centuries. Somehow, what seems to be contradictory is probably nothing more
than another providential paradox.
Reconciling free will with
verses like Jn 6:44 is admittedly challenging in satisfying all concerns. “No
one can come to Me unless the Father draws him” and “Whoever believes” (Jn
3:16) are paradox-worthy for sure. Both are true and part of God’s revelation
to man though they seem to contradict one another. To adequately explain
“called” (Rom 8:30) and choice (Jn 3:18, 36), I cannot. For the world, this is
just another example of the Bible contradicting itself because it is considered
nothing more than a book authored by man. We can’t expect the world to understand the miracle of
inspiration; I don’t fully understand it myself!
Many see God as cruel for the
existence of hell. So horrifying is the thought of it, people either deny its
existence or question God as a God of love. We could ask the question why would
God create man anyway, knowing many would reject their Creator (Mt 7:13) and
wind up in the most dreadful place in existence – the lake of fire? Why would the
Apostle Paul risk life and limb on his missionary quests if the number to be
saved was fixed?
If the elect is pre-determined, it is only in the
foreknowledge of His omniscience. There is something about God’s all-knowing
(past, present, and future), particularly of what is up ahead, that engenders
this notion that the system of salvation is “rigged,” and evangelism is
non-sensical. Any artificial tension between God exercising Sovereignty and man
having free will is solely on man; ostensibly, God sees no contradiction or
friction because He has revealed both concepts through inspiration. You believe Yahweh or you do not!
If we amended the word “world”
in Jn 3:16 to mean only the “elect,” then we are interpolating the truth,
much in the same way that Eve did, “You
shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it,
lest you die” (Gn 3:3, emphasis mine). We know that the elect is those whom
God has predestined for salvation (cf. Rom 8:29-30; 9:15; Eph 1:5, 11; Jn
10:16). However, if the offer was not for the whole world, “whoever believes,”
then it doesn’t make any sense in the passage; of course, the elect will
believe!
Helplessness is seen in
man’s inability to save himself; God must initiate salvation; man cannot according
to John (Jn 1:13). It was God providing a covering for Adam and Eve (Gn 3:21);
their only immediate solution was donning fig leaves, hiding from God, and
passing the buck, and for their effort, they are still spiritually separated from
God. Work-related salvation produces the same results. I hate to talk about
the parents of the human race in this way, but this was their historic response
to all this rebellion of theirs. We will look at this later – was Adam
representing mankind or was mankind in Adam making those decisions? There are two
major schools of thought on this. It is some heavy-minded stuff but not heavy-handed!
Unless we are drawn by
God, we are helpless and hopeless in reaching heaven. When we draw near, God is
behind it. We can’t even walk the new life apart from God (Jn 15:5; Gal 5:16).
Positional, progressive, and ultimate salvation is all of God; this is why a believer cannot (1) save himself, (2)
lose his salvation, or (3) avoid the lust of the flesh on his own! There is simply
no biblical evidence to support anybody deciding
to be saved or keeping salvation or living a life pleasing to God apart from
God. Beloved, when we are in Christ, we are in Christ forever and ever! If we mess
up He is going to discipline or chasten us (cf. 1 Jn 1:9; Deut 8:5; Heb 12:6),
not send us to hell, for goodness sake! To send us to hell, He would have to
go to hell with us because the Holy Spirit lives within us!
Called and choice will
forever remain a providential paradox on this side of eternity, and theologians
will continue to debate this until the cows come home. In the meantime, what we
need is to continue to follow the New Testament pattern to live a chaste life
in Christ according to the Scriptures and be a witness to a lost and dying
world, telling everybody we come into contact with about Jesus by our words and
walk and leave the saving business up to the Holy Spirit.
Entertaining these kinds of
questions is appropriate as long as we do not mentally drift toward questioning
or challenging God in the matter. We are not dealing with a capricious and
whimsical God, but a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnisapient,
omnipresent, infinite, and eternal, a God of love and a God who is holy, the
Creator of the universe. All other so-called “gods” are false and of demonic
derivation. We are His creatures and finite, by the way.
We are in no position to demand
answers from our Creator God. Whenever I go down these rabbit trails, I keep
the cross in plain sight to ever remind me of God’s overtures of love for me
through Jesus Christ and my responsibilities to God as a believer according to
the Word. You would think after all of these centuries, great men of the faith
should have been able to reconcile the paradox of being called and free to
choose if it could have been resolved to everyone's satisfaction who are of the faith. By keeping the cross in view, it
helps to keep things in perspective; Jesus suffered and died for us. Spiritual
warfare is not a cosmic game; it’s real and lethal, and God is still on the
throne for the helpless that can neither save themselves nor keep themselves
saved or even live for God apart from Him! We are more helpless than we realize
without Him.
You know the cool thing about realizing
just how helpless we are? We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us
(Rom 8:37). Indeed, when we are weak then are we strong (2 Cor 12:10)! We who
are helpless need to keep our eyes on the Helper at all times like sheep following its Shepherd! <><
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