I
bet you that Adam regretted every single day, during his nine-century-plus life
(Gn 5:5), of eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
He must have mulled over it countless times, “Why did I eat the forbidden
fruit!?” After all was said and done, Adam could resolutely say, “Having lived
930 years outside the Garden of Eden, there is nothing outside of it that even
compares to Garden-life! Have we concluded that there is no comparison between
living in the will of God and outside the will of God as a believer, or might
we be still kicking that about?
We
can only imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to transition
from Garden-life to global living! From the very outset, it had to have been
hard, difficult, and challenging (cf. Gn 3:16, 17-19; Rom 8:20-22, climate
changes, wickedness, pain and suffering, death, destruction, et al). Even
Adam’s firstborn turned out to be a murderer and of the devil (Gn 4:1; 8; cf. 1
Jn 3:11, 12), and his second son was his first son’s victim. Then Seth came
along to make a world of difference (cf. Gn 4:25-26)!
Those
innumerable unanticipated consequences kept coming their way throughout the
years of Adam’s long life. Covered by the blood (cf. Gn 3:21), He and his wife
were, but the ripple effect was/is part of the law of the harvest, yes? Adam
and Eve vividly illustrate for us that it doesn’t pay to disobey God (cf. Rom
15:4). Yahweh’s negative commands are not to withhold good things from us, as
the devil might lead us to believe, but bad things (cf. Rom 8:28)! Adam could
probably literally say to all of us, “In my 930 years of living on this earth
under the sun, let me provide you with a million reasons why obedience to
Yahweh makes life better for you!”
Yeah,
violating the prohibition (Gn 2:16-17) produced some very ugly and highly
unanticipated ripple effects. There is no doubt that Adam saw it all! His
legacy, “I caused all of this (cf. Rom 5:12, 14-19)!” The endless byproducts of
the fall, known and unknown, are still rippling today…! Only in eternity will
we probably see how far that ripple ripped!
In
that monumental moment at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was
the one disobedience that literally rocked the world! Adam and Eve essentially
discovered whether sinning with direct knowledge (Yahweh to Adam) or sinning
with indirect knowledge (Adam to Eve), they both “found nothing and lost
everything” as soon as they chomped down on the forbidden fruit held in their
hands. Sin entered the world through Adam and death through sin (cf. Rom 5:12-21). We
are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Death is the
result of sin.
We
know for sure what Adam and Eve had seen the moment that their eyes were
opened; they were naked (Gn 3:7; cf. Gn 2:25)? That was a quick eye-opener of things to
come! Now, we see that they were ashamed, and how quickly they became fig-tailors
to cover themselves (Gn 3:7)!
Not
only were Adam and Eve ashamed, but they were also fearful of what Yahweh would do.
Recall …in
the day that you eat of it you shall surely die, yes? Well, they went into hiding from the presence of
the LORD God among the trees of the garden (Gn 3:8). How is camouflaging by mixing
fig-wear among the leaves of the trees going to work out since Yahweh is
everywhere present and all-knowing? It is not even rational to disobey God or
attempt to hide our disobedience from Him! You wind up losing all and gaining
nothing.
“Covering
up” is certainly not logical given the known attributes of Yahweh (cf. Jer
17:10). Tell me; have you ever been asked of God, “Where are you (Gn 3:9)?”
Yahweh is not asking for information; He is all-knowing. He is asking a question
for our benefit. “Why are you out of my will?” He wants us to know where we
are in our relationship with Him. God never moves in and out of His will; we do.
Did
they become like
God, knowing good and evil? It would appear so based on Gn 3:22a, but to what degree were
they like
God is
subject to discourse and debate. This is one rabbit hole I do not want to go
down to explore in this series, you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gn 3:5b) or the man is one of Us,
to know good and evil (Gn 3:22a); it would inflate our series.
Let
me just say that we do know that God is infinitely all-knowing and absolutely holy
and eternally immutable. So, being like God, knowing good and evil should be
interpreted in light of what we know of and about God via the Scriptures. Adam
and Eve are creatures, finite and now sinners, spiritually separated from
Yahweh (prior to Gn. 3:21). They have been exposed to the radiation of sin by
rebellion. Such exposure was terminal with that repeated refrain, and he died in Genesis chapter 5.
The
context of being like God, knowing good and evil is also tied with Gen 3:22b, having to
do with them now being sinners and barred from having access to the tree of
life. God did not want them to be left in that sinful spiritual condition
permanently; so, He prevented them from having access to the tree of life (Gn
3:23-24). Barricaded from the Garden was an act of mercy, and we know that God
had already shown Himself to be a merciful God; He provided a covering for sin for Adam and Eve (cf. Gn 3:21)!
Both
Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden (Gn 3:23-24a) in order to protect the way
to the tree of life (Gn 3:24b) by placing cherubim at the east of the garden of
Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way. Once the great flood came
upon the earth, there would be no trace of the Garden of Eden (Gn 7:11, 20).
Moving
on, after the Fall, there followed accounting for the serpent (Gn 3:14-15),
Eve (Gn 3:16), and Adam (Gn 3:17-19). Obviously, those were not the only
ripples! Isn’t it ironic? How we humans want to blame others for our
disobedience to God,
(Gen 3:12, Adam) The
woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.
(Gen 3:13b, Eve) The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
Yahweh
Elohim never asked the serpent for an explanation. The serpent knew to keep its
mouth shut (cf. Gn 3:14-15).
Those
girdles comprised of fig leaves could never provide the proper covering for sin
nor the cleansing of sin as the blood of the Lamb of God could and would.
Spiritual death or separation had to be addressed, folks, because, as you know,
if one died in such a spiritual condition, he or she would experience eternal
death or separation or the second death and be lost forever and ever in the lake
of fire. This is the sum of all fears – the second death. <><
