The Garden of Eden

 

I would like to thank and dedicate this post to my First Love (God) for giving me the opportunity to see Him as He really is through Genesis 3 and for using five lovely ladies – (Muso, Mukuna, Masereti, Mwix, Lisa) and many others as instruments to draw me nearer to Him.

As ladies and gentlemen alike, there is always the temptation of talking about things that do not really build us up. We usually have this desire that when we part ways after meeting, we are updated with the latest fashion, who is dating who, the hottest movies/series, and the list goes on and on. While these things may not be bad in themselves, they are a dead end. We feel good talking about them but afterwards, well…nothing. And so when the idea came to one of the ladies that we should start a Bible study so that we can sharpen one another, it was irresistible. Unlike the other talks, this one is different. It is not an end in itself; it prepares God to bless His children as they seek out to find out more of His ways and desire to walk in obedience.

For the time being, it was decided that each person would get a chance of leading the bible study and had the freedom of choosing which part of the bible they would lead. I was humbled to conduct the first bible study.

For a while, I had been asking myself why are there so many people falling? In the sense that they are not doing what God says in His word. The title of Genesis 3 in my bible is ‘The fall of man’ and from that I gained a lot of insight which I would like to share with you, my dear reader.

The command that God gave Adam - Gen. 2:16-17 ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’ Analyzing the words, free and any – suggest that God had generously given Adam all the other trees to eat from and denied him this one tree because he knew that it was not good for him. We know that from Psalms 84:11 – No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

^1&4Satan ‘Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ …. You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened knowing good and evil.

The word has been given. Now, Satan appears. The way Satan started his conversation suggests that he wanted to engage Eve in a dialogue and make her focus on what God had prohibited (make her doubt on God’s goodness) rather than on what God had freely given. He out rightly denies that she will not die – makes her doubt on the badness of sin. In order for his mission to be successful, Satan tells the truth that their eyes will be opened. Overall, he presents to Eve the fact that by eating the fruit nothing bad will happen to her or looking from a different angle that by not eating the fruit she would be missing out on a great deal.

 Satan went to Eve as she was more vulnerable to attack and he attacked her when she was near the tree. Also, it could be that she went to her because she had not received the command directly from God. In the same way, that is how Satan tempts us - when we are near sin, he comes to those who have not found out for themselves what God really says in His word but rely on others like pastors, friends and he comes to us when we are weak.

²The woman ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. God says, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’

Comparing with what God said, Eve did not exactly say what God had commanded them. Speculating, either Adam or Eve had failed in their part. Maybe Adam did not do a good job in telling Eve the exact words or Eve was not careful in paying attention to the words given. Notice she removes the words free and any from the original command. Satan’s deception has worked – made her forget what God had generously given her. She adds the phrase you must not touch it. Tones down you will surely die to you will die. In other words she did not take God’s word seriously.

⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom; she took some and ate it.

After Satan tells her about the goodness of eating the fruit she saw it in its entire splendor. Mind you, all the other trees in the garden were pleasing to the eye and good for food (Gen. 2:9) but this one had the extra characteristic of being desirable for gaining wisdom and she took some and ate it. Not even one!

⁶She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Sin by its nature is contagious. Adam knew fully what he was doing. He must have thought to himself that since Eve had not died God must have lied to them. Furthermore, it is speculated that he ate the fruit out of romantic impulse. He did not want to lose Eve. In the same way, we may go against God’s word so that we do not lose those who are near to us – our friends, families. Instead of believing God, we believe what our eyes see.

⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Notice that their eyes were opened only after Adam ate the fruit. The man’s role is very powerful.

What regret must have filled their heart when they realized that the fruit did not seem to deliver that they were promised by Satan. Their once intimate relationship with each other became shame and separation. Their attempts to cover themselves were futile. God had to come to help them cover themselves - provided animal clothing.

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The garden once a place of joy and fellowship with God, became a place of fear and hiding from God. Spiritual death had taken place. Sin had divided man from God.

⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’

¹⁰He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’

¹¹And he said, ‘Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’

God searches out for man. He is not pleased that they have not trusted in Him and have not kept his command but He searched out for him. God questioned in the order of authority. Men once again you have a powerful authority. God confronted Adam’s problem squarely. This wasn’t primarily a wardrobe problem or a fear problem or a self-esteem problem. This was a sin problem and Adam’s wardrobe, fear, or self-understanding could not be addressed until the sin problem was addressed.

¹² The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’

The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’

Each puts the blame on the other. Eve could not force Adam to take the fruit. He did it freely and knowingly. He was responsible. Satan could not cram down the fruit on Eve’s throat. She took it herself. She should have chosen God’s way of escape – not converse with the devil, flee.

In the same way, we are all responsible for our actions. Giving in sometimes seems the easy way out. There are consequences for every action we take. We can freely choose our actions but the consequences are predetermined. 

From here we learn that God’s design for our lives is good – joy, intimacy but because of Satan and sin our lives becomes bad filled with shame, guilt, pain, suffering. As much as God loves us, He could not take away the punishment of sin because He wanted man to know that for him to enjoy His blessings, he had to trust in him. He had to obey Him. God takes His word seriously. We should too.

In today’s world, we are limiting ourselves with what we can do. Majority of us, seem to be concentrated on doing on that which I would say is controversial. It is like we are focusing on the one tree which we are forbidden, forgetting that they are many other trees in the garden which are good and pleasing to eye as well.

I got to understand why Christ’s prayer for his disciples was not anything else but that God would protect them from the evil one (He is real). That they may be one (Unity in the right direction important if we are win the battles of Satan). God would sanctify (make holy) them by His word. His word is truth (anything else is not true). (John 17:6-25).

Now, the choice is up to us. One day, we will stand before God and give an account of our lives. He has already told us what we need to do in this world through his word. He has given us everything we need in order to live a holy life. Satan will come to us to make us doubt on God and depending on how well we know God’s word and our awareness of that which He has provided for our escape - we will either rise or fall. May the present pain, suffering be a constant reminder to obey God’s word and make us believe that He only denies what which is not good for us.

My hope is that we will see each other at the wedding of the lamb and as Christ’s bride we would have made ourselves ready – clothed in fine linen, bright and clean – forever praising His name.