This famous story is often referred to in the conversations of the world, but somehow they seldom get it right. Perhaps you are hearing it for the first time, perhaps for the thousandth time, but it is most important to have the story right. Nobody likes to have their words repeated all wrong, because then people get the wrong meaning.
To begin with, God had planted a beautiful garden in Eden when He created the world, and He had arranged beautiful trees - lots of them -with fruit good for food. In the very center He had placed the wonderful tree of life. He also placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. This was the only tree whose fruit God had said not to eat.
What a wonderful parkland for Adam and Eve to enjoy and to care for. This was all pleasure for them, not work, and it cost them nothing.
BUT . . . there is always a BUT as long as Satan is active on earth, and that means today also. BUT, Satan is a hater of God and of everything that God loves, and that includes you and me.
Satan was, no doubt, very beautiful and not a slithering, legless creature as snakes are today. He came to ask Eve if God had said that they could not eat of every tree of the garden. Now this commandment had been given to Adam, but he had certainly told Eve. Did he not tell it right? or did she not listen right? or did she forget some of the words? Her answer was not correct.
Let’s read in the Bible and check to see what God said to Adam. It is always very, very important to find out exactly what God says. We can be thankful that we have God’s Word in writing. Genesis 2:1717But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) says, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Eve answered Satan that they could eat any of the fruit, but not from the tree in the middle of the garden.
Oh, Eve! Didn’t you listen? The forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not in the middle of the garden. The tree in the middle is the tree of life!
Did she want that forbidden fruit so much that it became the center of the garden for her? And to you we ask, Is there something which God refuses but which you secretly want so much that it has become the center of your life? And because of it, are you missing God’s wonderful gift of everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord? Eve’s mistake is a very old one, repeated in many lives today.
And then she added, “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Did she mean that there was a possibility that she might die? God had said, “Thou shalt surely die.” There was no shadow of doubt.
Besides, God did not say anything about touching it. I wonder if she was thinking that God was extra hard on her. It is much better to remember exactly what God has said and to add nothing.
Eve stood there looking at that wonderful fruit - good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and a temptation to make her wise. She took the fruit and ate and gave to her husband also, and he ate. And Adam and Eve, who ate of that forbidden fruit, are dead.
What they did is not hard to understand. It was simply a “Yes” answer when God had said “No.” It happened six thousand years ago, but the same story is repeated every day and everywhere. God says, “Thou shalt not,” and man says, “But I’m going to anyway.” Death results. We have sinned, and it looks hopeless.
Hopeless? God is not defeated. He has not changed His holiness or His love. He knew all about our sin, and He had a plan: “In this was manifested [made plain] the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)).
We’ll tell you more of the story next week. You can read it for yourself in Genesis 23.
ML-04/22/2001