Yea, Hath God Said

Were the Garden, the flood, and Babel actual events? Do they lean to some truth or are they an allegory to explain the early days? You’d be surprised how many people, even Christians, believe Genesis chapters 1-12 are not actual historical facts. To them they are stories told before writing was done.

We are proofs it’s true. The world is proof. The conditions of nature, the elements, and the mental and spiritual state of man all bear witness to the truth found here.  Everything that exists bears witness that it was created.  Never doubt the literal validity of this. It serves as a basis to your salvation.

This is what Satan tried to do. He wanted Eve to doubt the trueness of the word of God. For generations Adam and Eve have been looked on as a funny thing. They wore no clothes, so sometimes it’s a dirty thing. Noah is the same. He’s a storybook character with a beard that built a big boat.  Yet the flood was the worst catastrophe the world has ever known. Geological evidence has proven this completely.

We have our spiritual struggles because of Adam and Eve. Both knew all the knowledge of good and evil they needed to know. It was not an evil tree; it held the knowledge of good and evil. God said it was there but they were not to eat of it, for their own good. He warned them they would die. At that time they received the foundational knowledge of good and evil, in it’s basic, fundamental form. They needed to believe its truth. God’s word is to be obeyed.  In that simple statement they learned that to obey God was good and to disobey was evil. We obey it and believe it or we disobey and doubt.

II Corinthians 11:3 Paul said “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Paul fears this for us too. The devil uses any means he can. Here we feel the practicality of Eden. The devil beguiled Eve.  That means he deceived her by presenting himself as good, as a friend. She didn’t see the evil in it. It seemed harmless. Is this not what has happened to us before?  Satan dresses sin up to appear as if it is not. The Law is the truth of God; it shows us good and evil. It showed us we are sinners. The lawless person sets his own standard of right and wrong. This is so evident today.

Adam and Eve were in their innocence with complete freedom to eat of any tree, even the tree of life, just not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t need to, for they had access to all they could ever need. God came down to them each day. They lived in a near perfect environment. The only thing that shattered the perfection was Satan, old Lucifer. God had ONE rule. As long as Satan is around there must be rule. The devil has his set of rules. His agenda is to take us away from God. He wanted to take Adam and Eve away. There they were in harmony in a wonderful place. They had no idea how simple the rule was. Don’t eat it. That was it.

Why was it so important not to eat it? They already had the all the knowledge of good and all evil they needed to know. Remember the simplicity of God. Satan confused that, and it snowballed from there. They saw they were naked and felt the need to cover themselves. They were afraid for the first time in their lives. They knew what it was to disobey God.  The more a person goes into sin, the deeper he gets, and it gets more and more complicated. A trap is weaved, the trap of sin. That person gets to the point where he or she doesn’t know what’s right and wrong anymore.

This is a picture of our life without God. Simplicity got us out. The knowledge of evil got us there, but the knowledge of a Savior got us out.  It’s crazy to think you can be good enough to go to heaven. The devil tries to complicate it. He said to Eve “hath God said?” He insinuated that God didn’t mean it. He must be keeping something from them. Don’t doubt! If you doubt anything, doubt the knowledge of this world. Anything that contradicts God’s word is flat-out wrong. All the wisdom of the world has failed to give peace and a release from sin. One moment of faith set us free.

Paul was scared for the Corinthian people. He was scared they would be taken from the simplicity of God’s word. He used Adam and Eve as the example. Don’t allow yourself to be beguiled. Paul said our minds might be corrupted and lose the simplicity of what God said.  The rule to Adam and Eve was simple. Let’s not forget that.

When the surface of evil is breached it leads to an ever-increasing deepness and loss. Paul said “shall we continue in sin?  God forbid.” Adam and Eve had a choice. We have a choice. We’re not perfect, but we are saved. If there is one thing we could say to Adam and Eve it ought to be “thank you for believing and trusting the blood.”

We’ll pick it up next week.