The Fall as described in Genesis 3 is not a sad story about man's plunge from paradise to perdition, but rather an encouraging story about God's desire to teach us the essentials of our existence and His intent to save us from evil and sin forever.
SABBATH Knowledge of Good and Evil.
1. God wanted us to know good, but did not want us to know (or endure) evil.
2. Evil doesn't work like that though; It can come in and defile us and separate us from God whether we know about it or not.
3. The offerings for sin were always sins committed in ignorance.
Eze 45:20, Num 15:27 and throughout Exodus and Leviticus
1. The serpent is a fitting description of Satan and those who align with evil:
2. It is small and elusive (e.g. white says it was a dazzling creature, but WAS)
3. It comes in through deceit – a mix of error with truth Gen 3:4-5
4. Snakes are usually small but can be deadly. They kill usually without the human seeing it come.
5. The snake ends up falling from elevation in a tree to slitering on the ground with no arms, no legs, no wings; eating dust – ultimately dying which is the fate of those who don’t chose God.
6. Humans can usually easily catch and kill snakes - We can have victory over sin and evil. ‘ “...You shall bruise his heel.”
1. Satan attacks us at our most vulnerable, using the good, healthy things that God gave us: our desire for beautiful things, our desire for wisdom and knowledge, our desire for food, sustenance and life; our desire to be one with our spouse (physically and mentally); our desire to be like God (in a good sense, not to be gods, but to be closer to Him);
2. God most likely also wanted man to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, eventually
- He put it in the middle of the garden (along with the tree of life)
- He can communicate with us on a deeper level when we have this knowledge
- We can better avoid sin and seek redemption with such knowledge (Psa 19:13)
- It was not the knowledge of good and evil that caused death; but the removal from the garden and tree of life that causes death.
3. God most likely did not put the tree of knowledge in the garden to tempt but to teach. To tempt would be cruel and would not work anyway because someone soon in Adam and Eve’s offspring would eat of it.
4. Sin comes in through temptations of the things that are desirable as redemption comes from the opposite.
- humility “Desire for husband”: embracing our position in life and reverencing elevating God
- childbirth and child-rearing (learning to love and putting others first)
- hard work Gen 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. (We can conquer evil as we can overcome weeks and serpents (You shall bruise his heel.)
TUESDAY-HIDING BEFORE GOD
1. Sin isolates us from God, even if it is unintentional.
2. God wants to reach out (Gen 3:9) and has a plan for the great controversy between good and evil.
3. His plan is what allows us to come to him and to call on him (Gen 4:26)
4. Blaming others doesn’t help us to make the decision to trust and obey God, a decision which is ours alone and for which we will have to accept the outcome.
We have ourselves to blame because ultimately it is our decision whether or not to listen, trust and obey God
"Moral and spirtual choices have an impact on biological life."
Our decision whether or not to obey God (shama, shama kole YHWH), yes even or especially with what we don't know or can't clearly see, is what will determine our fate
