24.Oct09
The Final Act of Sin
2 Chron.9:2 “Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her.”
King Solomon was blessed by God with great wisdom and knowledge because he feared the Lord and sought after Him.
Psalm 115:13 “He will bless those who fear the Lord – small and great alike.”
The Bible says in another place that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Eve did not fear or reverence God. We can reverence somebody only when we love that person. God never forces anybody to either reverence him or love him. This is to come freely and willingly from the heart, only then this will be true love and true reverence. I think this is what even we expect from others who love us.
But then why did Adam and Eve eat the fruit ? It was because of their desire to become like god. There was nothing wrong in their desire, because God himself had already created them in His likeness and they were already like god but without the knowledge of good and evil.
They did not believe God but chose to believe in the lie of Satan when he said that they were not yet like god, but will become like god after they eat the fruit..Gen 3:4 “and you will be like god, knowing good and evil.” But they were already like god.
Knowing good and evil, was not necessary in God’s scheme of things for man. But after eating the fruit they came into the knowledge of good and evil, which for man meant, suffering, injustice and death and God had clearly foretold about this to Adam and Eve.
Maybe Adam and Eve desired to have the knowledge of good and evil without having to suffer death. And it was here Satan conveniently lied to them that they will “not surely die” by eating the fruit. In pursuit of their desire they chose to believe in one more lie, because they thought that there is no punishment for sin.
God had created man with the wonderful capacity to ‘desire’.It is because of this quality there is so much of progress in all fields.
Is it not, only because of this ‘desire’, we wish to know and experience God ? So there is nothing wrong in desire as such. God fulfilled all of man’s desire to the minutest detail. When God created every good thing for Adam and found that he still lacked something, the Bible says in Gen. 2:22 that God made a beautiful Eve and brought her to Adam and Adam was delighted. God knows our every desire and He also knows which desires are good and wholesome for us because He loves us. We do not know with our limited intelligence and knowledge which desires are good and wholesome for us. And only God can fulfill all of our desires.
Now let us turn to Gen.3:6 “When 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. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
Eve has lost faith in God, and emboldened by Satan’s false promise that there is no punishment for sin, she lifts up her eyes and focuses her attention on the fruit which has become attractive and tantalizing. She now uses her own sense knowledge and human judgement and rationalizes that the fruit will fulfill her physical desire of hunger,satisfy her sensual desires of the body, and fulfill her god-like desires of worldly and spiritual knowledge and wisdom. Since the fruit would satisfy all her desires ,she can become independent of God her creator. Thus she rejects God and proceeds to break the commandment of God. Their inappropriate desires and also their rebellious desire not to be under the control of God, drove Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and sin against God. God gave them complete freedom in the choice of their desires but warned them about the consequences of wrongful desire.
Adam and Eve relied on their own senses, intelligence and judgement, having been misled by satan, to doubt God’s Word about which they were casual, and by a weakened faith, they finally disbelieved God,in their desire to gain the wrong type of knowledge,and chose to rebel against God by breaking His commandment and thus incurred on themselves suffering, injustice and death.
The punishment for sin was automatically tied to God’s commandment as a deterrent to sin, and this cannot be undone , even if God so desires.If it can be so undone then the commandment loses its validity and God’s ‘justice’ is derailed.
God wishes to be ‘merciful’ and also ‘just’ and that is the reason why Jesus Christ our God-man took upon himself our punishment for sin on the cross, and thus fulfilled the requirements of the commandment of God (Law) and freed all those who believe in Him from the curse of suffering and eternal death stipulated in the Law of God.
Lesson for Today.
We should always align our desires to the desires of God. This means knowing God’s will for us and living in tandem with God’s will in order to please God. Then God is pleased to shower his choicest blessings and fulfills all our desires. We know God’s Will only If we know God’s Word and act in faith. Adam and Eve did not know God’s will correctly and so did not act in faith.
Jesus Christ knew Gods will and faithfully obeyed God’s will.
Let us always lean on God and humbly walk with Him in love.
Prayer
Almighty and eternal Father , we worship and praise you, for your mercy and justice. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and enlighten our minds, to read carefully and understand the Holy Scriptures, so that we may discern your loving will and perform them faithfully.
Be pleased Lord God to shower all your choicest blessings upon us as we trust in your word ‘that whatever we ask in Jesus’ name
you will grant us without fail’.
We promise to act in faith and claim all your promises.
In Jesus’ Holy Name we pray. Amen.
Be Blessed and Be a Blessing to others!
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