ADAM AND EVE
Our Design
Genesis 1:26
However, apart from a design, a call, and a helper, God also gave Adam a command. There was only one command. It was to refrain from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Living in our day and age, when there are countless of laws and policies we have to live by, one would think that the commandment Adam and Eve were given would have been easy to keep. But Adam and Eve’s violation of this law shows us quite a number of things. It certainly is worth our while to pay attention to the first ever sin in the history of man because it gives us a glimpse of our own hearts and how sin can come in to our lives that we may avoid it.
For one, we see from the example of Adam and Eve that laws test a man. God’s commands reveal the heart of man. Thus, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was placed there for a purpose. God had to test Adam and Eve. In the same manner, God’s commands will also test us. God is looking for a people who will love Him out of their own free choice. But these men and women are revealed by the tests of life.
The second thing we see is how even one command can be violated. However simple or however big, in order to keep God’s command, we need grace. We cannot underestimate the power of sin.
Genesis 2:16-17
And 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.”
How did the first sin take place?
1. Doubt in God’s Word
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Satan’s first attack at Eve was through doubt. He sowed doubt by questioning whether or not God really gave an instruction. In our lives, when God gives us a command, the enemy will also seek to make us doubt if we have really heard from God.
Then the woman said:
Genesis 3:2
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
To this the serpent replied.
Genesis 3:4-5
Then the serpent said to the woman, “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.”
The enemy questioned God’s character and love. He was implying that God did not want His people’s eyes to be opened. Satan will seek to mar God’s image in man’s thoughts. But people are often not aware that this is taking place. For instance, when thoughts of insecurity come to your mind such as "I am not good enough" or "I do not have enough", these actually subtly question God’s character. They question His faithfulness to provide or question His thoughts toward us. We certainly need to guard our minds against negative thoughts and only meditate on the truth.
He denied that men will die by eating the fruit. This was a lie. He sought to deny that the sin had a consequence. We see here how Satan tempts man. He makes sin attractive but at the same he either denies or downplays the consequences of sin. But certainly every disobedience to God has a consequence. Immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they died spiritually and were expelled from the garden. Our God is just and we shall all be repaid according to our works. There are those who take sin lightly because they have not yet received any punishment for their sins. However, we must never forget that our God cannot be mocked. In His time, all shall receive their due reward.
Romans 11:22
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
2. Pride, ambitions and desires
Then the serpent followed up his lie with truths. “For God knows that when you eat the fruit your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Satan surely mixes up lies with truths so that he can deceive men. Today, this is being used on the church by the enemy to make God’s people accept false doctrines.
He also offered to Eve the possibility to be like God. It is true that we are destined to be like God in the sense that He desires to impart His nature unto us. However, God knew that this will require that man go through His processes so that He can deal with our hearts. Satan, on the other hand, offered a shortcut. He said that by just simply eating of the fruit, they will be like God. The very thing that he desired and caused his fall, he was using to lure men. We must be careful that we are not lured by shortcuts to God’s promises over our lives. Abraham was given a promise by God but he couldn’t wait so he took things into his own hands and birthed an Ishmael. Taking shortcuts never get us to the promises of God; they keep us away from it. We must allow God’s molding and timing to do its work in us so that we can one day see the realization of God’s promises.
3. Curiosity in things that are forbidden
Of the thousands of fruits in the garden this was the only one forbidden which stirred up Eve’s curiosity. How many people have been hooked to pornography, drugs, gambling, and sexual sins because they got curious. There is such a desire in fallen man to try out things that our conscience goes against. This generation’s love for the underworld, darkness, psychic world, and the mysterious will lead to destruction. We need to exercise self-control not to always give in to the desire to satisfy our curiosity especially when we sense a warning of the Holy Spirit.
4. Listening to Appetite, Desires, and Appearances
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Doubts and listening to the voice of the enemy made Eve very vulnerable. As she heard him, she also received more of his nature. We truly get an impartation from the people or things we look at or listen to.
So as Eve looked at the fruit and saw that it was good for food, she began to desire it. Her appetite was aroused and she gave in. How we need to gain control over our appetites. How we need the discipline to say NO!
Then she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes. She lusted over the beauty of the fruit. The lust of the eyes can break a man.
Then she found out it could make her wise. The pursuit of wisdom particularly the wisdom of the world can lead to spiritual death. There could be no true wisdom in disobedience to God because wisdom is rooted in the fear of the Lord.
5. Human love Above God’s Love
Then we are told she gave some to her husband and he ate. Eve failed to fulfill her call to be Adam’s helper. Rather than help him fulfill his call, she got him disqualified. Her wrong desire and actions led her husband to sin. We must be careful how we influence others. For those who are married, we must be careful that we do not lead our spouses to sin because of untamed passions and desires or our disobedience. Women must be very careful in this area as women have the capacity to make men decide a certain way through manipulation.
The results of the first ever failure of a woman to be helpmeet underscores how critical it is for a woman to fulfill her role. It demonstrates to us the grave consequences of not being able to live out our call as women.
On the part of Adam, we see how he chose Eve over God. He ate the fruit with a full understanding of God’s command.But the fear of being separated from Eve led him to disobey God and break ties with God. All of us in one way or another will be tested in this area. We will be made to choose between love for God and human love for God needs to see who matters most in our lives. It can come in the form of choosing who we will listen to, God’s counsel or man’s? It can also come in the form of whose desire will we choose to satisfy, God’s or man’s? What Christians who get into relationships with unbelievers do not realize or choose to turn their back on is that such a relationship shows they have chosen man’s love over God’s.
6. Fear of Coming to the Light
Genesis 3:7-10
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
The Lord told the serpent that God will put an enmity between his seed and the woman’s seed. While he will bruise His heel, Jesus will bruise his head, which will render a deathblow to the enemy.
Despite the failure of Adam and Eve’s love for God, His love for them still endured. When they sinned, Adam and Eve sought to hide from God. They did not run to Him. But God sought for them. He came to the Garden. Of course, He knew what went on. But He still came. He looked for them. He initiated restoration. This still remains true today. When we sin, God in His mercy brings conviction to our hearts to cause us to recognize we have sinned and also to pave the way for repentance. Therefore, we must not ignore God’s conviction. Because to ignore it is to ignore His mercy and love.
When Adam and Eve realized their nakedness, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But before they were expelled from Eden, the Scripture tells us God made tunics of skin and clothed them. God knew the fig leaves will not be enough to see them through the harsh realities outside of God’s Garden. God made the first sacrifice when He killed an animal to make tunics to clothe Adam and Eve. It was a foreshadowing of the restoration God was going to bring to humanity. He will in later time make the greatest sacrifice of the Lamb of God so that we can be clothed with His righteousness.
But Jesus did not only lay down His life for us so that we can be saved. He also provided for us the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness so that we can truly have dominion over sin. Man was created to have dominion over creatures. And this was a dominion bestowed upon them by appointment. However, God also destined us to have dominion over the flesh. But this is an authority gained through victory in battles as we appropriate the abundant grace and gift of righteousness Jesus has granted us.
Those who will love God by seeking to obey Him will live in this abundant grace and receive the gift of righteousness. And they will reign with Him.
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis Chapter 1 gives us a clear word on our design as human beings. The Lord created us according to His image. This means that our physique resembles that of the Lord.We ought to be thankful then for how God created each one of us. We truly have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
The Lord also said that man was to be created according to His likeness. This speaks of His soul and character. Thus, we have emotions and the capacity to think and reason. We can also exhibit God’s attributes of love, joy and the other fruits of the Spirit. We were designed to reflect God in our lives. Have you ever heard it said before, “Well, He is God that’s why He can be that merciful or that kind. But I am not God so do not expect the same from me.” This kind of thinking does not factor in how God designed us to be: creatures that conform to His likeness as we allow God to deal with us.
God also made man to have dominion over every other living thing. Men were made superior over every other creature on earth. However, this also means that we have been given the greatest responsibility to steward this earth and the other creatures.
Our Call
God also specifically gave Adam a call of tending the Garden of Eden. The Lord when He created us had a design and a purpose for each of our lives. In the same way, that it was the Lord who gave Adam his call, we also have to receive our call from God. Man-made callings will not lead us to our ultimate call because man cannot fathom on his own what is in the depths of God’s heart and mind. God has to reveal it to us.
Helpmeet
Genesis 2:18
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
God also supplied Adam a helper to fulfill his call. No man can ever reach God’s fullest for his life alone. He needs others. He needs faithful helpers, whether it's the brethren, a spouse, or teachers or fathers and mothers in the faith. We all need help. God has prepared people who are specifically designed to partner with us. Thus, even in this matter we need to seek God. We need to pray to God that He will lead us to the right friends, teachers, spiritual parents, and spouse. Dr. Bailey said that God reserves the right to select a mate for us. However, we need to be willing to choose His choice and not be disobedient or self-willed.
Genesis Chapter 1 gives us a clear word on our design as human beings. The Lord created us according to His image. This means that our physique resembles that of the Lord.We ought to be thankful then for how God created each one of us. We truly have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
The Lord also said that man was to be created according to His likeness. This speaks of His soul and character. Thus, we have emotions and the capacity to think and reason. We can also exhibit God’s attributes of love, joy and the other fruits of the Spirit. We were designed to reflect God in our lives. Have you ever heard it said before, “Well, He is God that’s why He can be that merciful or that kind. But I am not God so do not expect the same from me.” This kind of thinking does not factor in how God designed us to be: creatures that conform to His likeness as we allow God to deal with us.
God also made man to have dominion over every other living thing. Men were made superior over every other creature on earth. However, this also means that we have been given the greatest responsibility to steward this earth and the other creatures.
Our Call
God also specifically gave Adam a call of tending the Garden of Eden. The Lord when He created us had a design and a purpose for each of our lives. In the same way, that it was the Lord who gave Adam his call, we also have to receive our call from God. Man-made callings will not lead us to our ultimate call because man cannot fathom on his own what is in the depths of God’s heart and mind. God has to reveal it to us.
Helpmeet
Genesis 2:18
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
God also supplied Adam a helper to fulfill his call. No man can ever reach God’s fullest for his life alone. He needs others. He needs faithful helpers, whether it's the brethren, a spouse, or teachers or fathers and mothers in the faith. We all need help. God has prepared people who are specifically designed to partner with us. Thus, even in this matter we need to seek God. We need to pray to God that He will lead us to the right friends, teachers, spiritual parents, and spouse. Dr. Bailey said that God reserves the right to select a mate for us. However, we need to be willing to choose His choice and not be disobedient or self-willed.
Also, those that God gives, we must accept and embrace the way the Adam welcomed Eve. He did not look at Eve and considered her a threat, competition, enemy, or an inferior being? He saw her as part of who he is.
The Command
The Command
Copyright © 2013 CreationSwap LLC
However, apart from a design, a call, and a helper, God also gave Adam a command. There was only one command. It was to refrain from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Living in our day and age, when there are countless of laws and policies we have to live by, one would think that the commandment Adam and Eve were given would have been easy to keep. But Adam and Eve’s violation of this law shows us quite a number of things. It certainly is worth our while to pay attention to the first ever sin in the history of man because it gives us a glimpse of our own hearts and how sin can come in to our lives that we may avoid it.
For one, we see from the example of Adam and Eve that laws test a man. God’s commands reveal the heart of man. Thus, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was placed there for a purpose. God had to test Adam and Eve. In the same manner, God’s commands will also test us. God is looking for a people who will love Him out of their own free choice. But these men and women are revealed by the tests of life.
The second thing we see is how even one command can be violated. However simple or however big, in order to keep God’s command, we need grace. We cannot underestimate the power of sin.
Genesis 2:16-17
And 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.”
How did the first sin take place?
1. Doubt in God’s Word
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Satan’s first attack at Eve was through doubt. He sowed doubt by questioning whether or not God really gave an instruction. In our lives, when God gives us a command, the enemy will also seek to make us doubt if we have really heard from God.
Then the woman said:
Genesis 3:2
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
To this the serpent replied.
Genesis 3:4-5
Then the serpent said to the woman, “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.”
The enemy questioned God’s character and love. He was implying that God did not want His people’s eyes to be opened. Satan will seek to mar God’s image in man’s thoughts. But people are often not aware that this is taking place. For instance, when thoughts of insecurity come to your mind such as "I am not good enough" or "I do not have enough", these actually subtly question God’s character. They question His faithfulness to provide or question His thoughts toward us. We certainly need to guard our minds against negative thoughts and only meditate on the truth.
He denied that men will die by eating the fruit. This was a lie. He sought to deny that the sin had a consequence. We see here how Satan tempts man. He makes sin attractive but at the same he either denies or downplays the consequences of sin. But certainly every disobedience to God has a consequence. Immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they died spiritually and were expelled from the garden. Our God is just and we shall all be repaid according to our works. There are those who take sin lightly because they have not yet received any punishment for their sins. However, we must never forget that our God cannot be mocked. In His time, all shall receive their due reward.
Romans 11:22
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
2. Pride, ambitions and desires
Then the serpent followed up his lie with truths. “For God knows that when you eat the fruit your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Satan surely mixes up lies with truths so that he can deceive men. Today, this is being used on the church by the enemy to make God’s people accept false doctrines.
He also offered to Eve the possibility to be like God. It is true that we are destined to be like God in the sense that He desires to impart His nature unto us. However, God knew that this will require that man go through His processes so that He can deal with our hearts. Satan, on the other hand, offered a shortcut. He said that by just simply eating of the fruit, they will be like God. The very thing that he desired and caused his fall, he was using to lure men. We must be careful that we are not lured by shortcuts to God’s promises over our lives. Abraham was given a promise by God but he couldn’t wait so he took things into his own hands and birthed an Ishmael. Taking shortcuts never get us to the promises of God; they keep us away from it. We must allow God’s molding and timing to do its work in us so that we can one day see the realization of God’s promises.
3. Curiosity in things that are forbidden
Of the thousands of fruits in the garden this was the only one forbidden which stirred up Eve’s curiosity. How many people have been hooked to pornography, drugs, gambling, and sexual sins because they got curious. There is such a desire in fallen man to try out things that our conscience goes against. This generation’s love for the underworld, darkness, psychic world, and the mysterious will lead to destruction. We need to exercise self-control not to always give in to the desire to satisfy our curiosity especially when we sense a warning of the Holy Spirit.
4. Listening to Appetite, Desires, and Appearances
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Doubts and listening to the voice of the enemy made Eve very vulnerable. As she heard him, she also received more of his nature. We truly get an impartation from the people or things we look at or listen to.
So as Eve looked at the fruit and saw that it was good for food, she began to desire it. Her appetite was aroused and she gave in. How we need to gain control over our appetites. How we need the discipline to say NO!
Then she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes. She lusted over the beauty of the fruit. The lust of the eyes can break a man.
Then she found out it could make her wise. The pursuit of wisdom particularly the wisdom of the world can lead to spiritual death. There could be no true wisdom in disobedience to God because wisdom is rooted in the fear of the Lord.
5. Human love Above God’s Love
Then we are told she gave some to her husband and he ate. Eve failed to fulfill her call to be Adam’s helper. Rather than help him fulfill his call, she got him disqualified. Her wrong desire and actions led her husband to sin. We must be careful how we influence others. For those who are married, we must be careful that we do not lead our spouses to sin because of untamed passions and desires or our disobedience. Women must be very careful in this area as women have the capacity to make men decide a certain way through manipulation.
The results of the first ever failure of a woman to be helpmeet underscores how critical it is for a woman to fulfill her role. It demonstrates to us the grave consequences of not being able to live out our call as women.
On the part of Adam, we see how he chose Eve over God. He ate the fruit with a full understanding of God’s command.But the fear of being separated from Eve led him to disobey God and break ties with God. All of us in one way or another will be tested in this area. We will be made to choose between love for God and human love for God needs to see who matters most in our lives. It can come in the form of choosing who we will listen to, God’s counsel or man’s? It can also come in the form of whose desire will we choose to satisfy, God’s or man’s? What Christians who get into relationships with unbelievers do not realize or choose to turn their back on is that such a relationship shows they have chosen man’s love over God’s.
6. Fear of Coming to the Light
Genesis 3:7-10
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
As soon as they ate, their eyes were opened and shame struck them. Shame is one of the most powerful tools of the enemy to keep man from overcoming sin. When shame is allowed to control us, rather than turning to God, it causes man to cover up for his sins. Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of God. The effect of sin is clearly shown here as Adam and Eve sought to draw away from God’s presence.
There was a fear to come into the light. Men fear the light because it exposes them. It is pride that makes man want to hide his sins. At times, people would rather not be honest with God on important issues because they already have their plans and they do not want God to change it. They try to make it up with God by doing their own thing with an attempt to do it the godly way but it is still a disobedience to God.
7. Finding Others to Blame
Then Adam and Eve sought to blame others for their sins. When a person seeks to find others he can blame, this shows a lack of acceptance of one’s wrongs. This attitude will not lead to repentance but rather to hardness of heart. Overcoming the issues in our lives begins with confessing and admitting our sins.
Genesis 3:11-13
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The first sin of man shows us what sin really is. If you look at what Adam and Eve committed it seems to be very far from what people would consider bad. They simply ate a fruit. But this really defines for us what sin is. It is disobeying God’s voice. An act does not have to be morally impure or violent or outwardly wrong for it to become sin. Anything we do against the will of God is sin. In the lives of Adam and Eve, we also see what drove them to disobey God. There were desires and loves in their hearts greater than their love for God.
I used to wonder why is it that God said that to love God is to obey His commands. I saw love as having to do with relationship but not exactly with my obedience. But obedience does link with relationship.
John 14:23-24
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
When we are walking in obedience to God, He is able to come to us and dwell in us. And it is in God dwelling with us that our relationship with Him is nurtured. If we take the example of Adam and Eve, they were given the privilege of communing with God in such an intimate way. Genesis 3 tells us that God walked in the Garden. They saw God. He walked in the garden with them. He was there with them physically. We know this because they heard His footsteps.
When Adam sinned before God it was willful disobedience. He knew the consequences. He knew that this will take him away from the presence of God. And the sad part is, he could bare it. He could bare being away from God but not from Eve. He loved Eve more than God. Every time people sin, they create a gap between them and God and this gap hinders intimacy.
John 15:9
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
But the good news is that Jesus made provision for us.
Romans 5:17-19
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
There was a fear to come into the light. Men fear the light because it exposes them. It is pride that makes man want to hide his sins. At times, people would rather not be honest with God on important issues because they already have their plans and they do not want God to change it. They try to make it up with God by doing their own thing with an attempt to do it the godly way but it is still a disobedience to God.
7. Finding Others to Blame
Then Adam and Eve sought to blame others for their sins. When a person seeks to find others he can blame, this shows a lack of acceptance of one’s wrongs. This attitude will not lead to repentance but rather to hardness of heart. Overcoming the issues in our lives begins with confessing and admitting our sins.
Genesis 3:11-13
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The first sin of man shows us what sin really is. If you look at what Adam and Eve committed it seems to be very far from what people would consider bad. They simply ate a fruit. But this really defines for us what sin is. It is disobeying God’s voice. An act does not have to be morally impure or violent or outwardly wrong for it to become sin. Anything we do against the will of God is sin. In the lives of Adam and Eve, we also see what drove them to disobey God. There were desires and loves in their hearts greater than their love for God.
I used to wonder why is it that God said that to love God is to obey His commands. I saw love as having to do with relationship but not exactly with my obedience. But obedience does link with relationship.
John 14:23-24
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
When we are walking in obedience to God, He is able to come to us and dwell in us. And it is in God dwelling with us that our relationship with Him is nurtured. If we take the example of Adam and Eve, they were given the privilege of communing with God in such an intimate way. Genesis 3 tells us that God walked in the Garden. They saw God. He walked in the garden with them. He was there with them physically. We know this because they heard His footsteps.
When Adam sinned before God it was willful disobedience. He knew the consequences. He knew that this will take him away from the presence of God. And the sad part is, he could bare it. He could bare being away from God but not from Eve. He loved Eve more than God. Every time people sin, they create a gap between them and God and this gap hinders intimacy.
John 15:9
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
But the good news is that Jesus made provision for us.
Romans 5:17-19
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
The Lord told the serpent that God will put an enmity between his seed and the woman’s seed. While he will bruise His heel, Jesus will bruise his head, which will render a deathblow to the enemy.
Despite the failure of Adam and Eve’s love for God, His love for them still endured. When they sinned, Adam and Eve sought to hide from God. They did not run to Him. But God sought for them. He came to the Garden. Of course, He knew what went on. But He still came. He looked for them. He initiated restoration. This still remains true today. When we sin, God in His mercy brings conviction to our hearts to cause us to recognize we have sinned and also to pave the way for repentance. Therefore, we must not ignore God’s conviction. Because to ignore it is to ignore His mercy and love.
When Adam and Eve realized their nakedness, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But before they were expelled from Eden, the Scripture tells us God made tunics of skin and clothed them. God knew the fig leaves will not be enough to see them through the harsh realities outside of God’s Garden. God made the first sacrifice when He killed an animal to make tunics to clothe Adam and Eve. It was a foreshadowing of the restoration God was going to bring to humanity. He will in later time make the greatest sacrifice of the Lamb of God so that we can be clothed with His righteousness.
But Jesus did not only lay down His life for us so that we can be saved. He also provided for us the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness so that we can truly have dominion over sin. Man was created to have dominion over creatures. And this was a dominion bestowed upon them by appointment. However, God also destined us to have dominion over the flesh. But this is an authority gained through victory in battles as we appropriate the abundant grace and gift of righteousness Jesus has granted us.
Those who will love God by seeking to obey Him will live in this abundant grace and receive the gift of righteousness. And they will reign with Him.
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