'''CHAPTER THREE: IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN'''
CHAPTER THREE
IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
God recreated the earth in six days. He then rested from His work on the seventh day—the Sabbath. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden paradise of Eden. Their job was to populate the earth and tend and keep the garden until the entire planet was like Eden.
Meanwhile, as he watched events unfold, Satan the devil schemed for a way to stop God’s Plan.
Human Spirit Not Enough
Physically, Adam was created perfect. With Eve as his wife, the married couple was physically complete.
And yet they were spiritually incomplete. Though God created man with creative mind-power, Adam still lacked something. His human spirit was limited to physical knowledge. Adam’s mind could learn only from his five senses—sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell.
But God is Spirit, and His laws are spiritual. Spirit cannot be seen. The five senses cannot know or understand spirit or spiritual things. It would be like trying to describe colours to a person born blind. To know God and keep His spiritual laws, Adam needed something extra in his mind: the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Combined with the creative power of the human spirit, the Holy Spirit would enable Adam to develop a close, father-son relationship with God. It would also lead Adam to obey and understand God’s laws, which define right from wrong, good from evil. When you obey them, good things happen: blessings, protection, happiness, guidance, answered prayers and more.
But when you break God’s laws, bad things happen: suffering, pain, misery and even death! God’s spiritual laws define the right way to live. Based on love and outgoing concern for others, they show you how to love God and how to love and get along with other people (Matthew 22:34-40).
Adam could never discover these spiritual laws on his own. His five senses could not reveal them. God had to reveal them. Adam needed the power of God’s Spirit in his mind to lead his thoughts and desires, and to help him learn how to live.
The Two Trees
In the Garden of Eden, there were two very important trees: the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Each tree represented an opposite way of life.
The Tree of Life represented God’s way of love and outgoing concern for others. If Adam had eaten fruit from that tree, he would have received God’s Holy Spirit. And, if he used it to build godly character, God would some day change Adam from a physical human being to a spirit being.
Then Adam would live forever in the God Family.
But there was a second tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It represented Satan’s way of life—the way of selfishness, greed and hate. Eating its fruit would lead to vast suffering and pain, and eventually death!
The Big Lie
After creating Adam, God warned him, “You may eat of every tree in the garden. But do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
For in the day that you eat its fruit, you will surely die!” (Genesis 2:16-17).
The devil saw this as his chance to do evil.
Disguising himself as a serpent, he approached Eve and said, “Has God really said that you can’t eat of every tree in the garden?” Satan wanted Eve to doubt God’s warning. He tried to get her to focus on the one tree she was forbidden to eat of, instead of appreciating all the other trees that were freely available to her (Genesis 3:1).
Eve replied, “We are allowed to eat fruit of any tree in the Garden. But we are not allowed to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or even touch it. If we do, we will die” (Gen 3:2-3).
In a calm, soothing voice, the devil said, “You will not die. You have an immortal soul. You can never die!” (Gen 3:4).
This was one of the biggest lies ever told—that people have immortal souls and cannot die. Even today, millions of people believe this lie.
Yet the Bible teaches that God created people to have temporary, physical lives. As with animals, all people eventually die (Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Romans 6:23).
The devil continued to spread more of his lies. Satan said, “Besides, God knows that if you eat that tree’s fruit, your eyes will be opened.
You’ll get special understanding. You will become so wise that you will be just like God. Then you won’t need Him to tell you right from wrong, or good from bad, anymore. You will know everything you need to know to make your own decisions!” (Genesis 3:5).
As Eve listened to Satan’s cunning string of lies, Adam stood silent.
As her husband and leader, he should have led her away from the ser- pent and his deceit—away from anything contrary to God’s commands. But instead of leading Eve away from trouble, Adam followed his wife into the path of evil.
Eve thought about what the serpent had said. She allowed her mind to be filled with wrong thoughts. She looked at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and focused her mind on what she was not allowed to have.
She thought, “This fruit looks harmless to me. It even looks tasty. I bet it tastes sweet.”
So she stepped closer to the tree.
“What if the serpent is right?” she wondered. “Perhaps I can get special knowledge if I eat this fruit. Why, I would become just like
God! Maybe that’s why God is trying to keep it away from me.” With her mind filled with doubt and clouded by vanity, Eve reached for the nearest, juiciest-looking fruit and took a bite (Gen 3:6). Then she gave a piece of it to her husband. Adam followed her lead and ate.
Cause and Effect
God saw what was happening. He had the power to stop it, but did not.
He allowed Satan to tempt and deceive the woman. And though He had commanded them not to, God allowed Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
This was a test of their character. God wanted to know whether or not they would obey Him or rely upon themselves.
Remember, God cannot instantly create His holy, righteous character in people. Godly character is so precious and special, it takes much time, patience and learning to develop. It does not happen overnight.
Also, God does not force His ways on people. He does want everyone to be happy and live forever, just as He does. But as with the angels, God gave Adam and Eve free choice—the chance to choose for themselves whether they would obey or disobey Him. God wanted them to choose to obey Him, to want to follow His lead. The Creator knew that if they did, they would live happy, healthy lives.
But when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, something strange happened. Up until this time, they were naked. Since there were no other people around and the weather was perfect and sunny, they felt no need to wear clothes. But upon eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve looked at their naked bodies and felt ashamed. They decided for themselves that it was wrong for them to be naked. They did not rely on God to teach them.
So they rushed to sew together clothing made from fig tree leaves (verse 7).
Shut Out of Paradise
When they heard God drawing near as He walked through the garden, Adam and Eve tried to hide.
God called out, saying, “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). He already knew where Adam and Eve were hiding—God knows everything (Jeremiah 23:23-24). Nothing can be kept from His knowledge. Rather than approaching the man about the sins he had just committed, God gave Adam a chance to show some character and admit his mistakes.
Reluctantly, Adam came out from behind the trees. Trembling with fear, he looked down to the ground and said, “I’m here. When I heard your voice, I was afraid and ran to hide myself.”
“Why were you afraid?” God asked.
In a small voice, Adam said, “Because I was naked.”
“And who told you that you were naked?” God said. “Have you eaten fruit of the tree I expressly told you not to eat?” Adam pointed to Eve and said, “The woman You made for me—she ate the forbidden fruit, and then I ate.” In saying this, Adam blamed
God and his wife for his own wrongs.
God turned to the woman. “Eve, what is this that you have done?”
Eve followed Adam’s example and shifted the blame to someone else: “The serpent deceived me! He made me eat it!”
God was very disappointed with Adam and Eve. They had disobeyed Him—sinned. Instead of relying on their Creator to reveal His spiritual laws and the right way to live, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of self-knowledge. They decided for themselves what was good and evil.
Since they had rejected their Creator, God had no choice but to reject them. From animal skins, He made clothing for the man and woman to wear. Then He drove Adam and Eve out of Eden. To make sure that neither they nor their children got back in, God set up two angels— cherubim—to guard the entrance. He also placed a flaming sword that blocked the path of anyone who dared to enter the garden. Adam and Eve were no longer allowed to live in the garden paradise. Nor were the generations of their future children.
God was not being cruel. He knew that man, after eating the forbidden fruit, could not be allowed to enter the Garden of Eden and eat of the Tree of Life. Otherwise, man would have been doomed to live forever in misery, suffering and unhappiness, just like the fallen angels. Although He sent him out of Eden at that time, God would give man an opportunity to eat of the Tree of Life much later.
But first, people must learn the hard way that they cannot decide for themselves right from wrong. God gave mankind 6,000 years to live as it chooses. That is why there has been so much war, violence, hatred, death, pain and sadness.
When the 6,000 years are over (which will be very soon), God will offer everyone His Holy Spirit and teach them His ways. If they obey Him and build His righteous character, God will then offer them eternal life—the chance to live forever in happiness and peace as members of His Family.
What If…?
What if Adam and Eve had rejected Satan? What if they had not eaten the forbidden fruit, but instead had eaten from the Tree of Life?
Our world would be far different from what it is today. There would be no crowded cities filled with crime, violence and disease. Humans would never wage war. No one would ever take another person’s life.
People would not steal, taking what did not belong to them. Everyone would respect their parents and elders. Children would always be safe.
All families would have their own land to develop and live on. All foods would be healthy. No one would ever get sick or catch a disease.
People would always tell the truth. All marriages and families would be happy. Everyone would keep God’s Sabbath, resting on the seventh day of the week. No one would misuse God’s many names. No one would desire things that they cannot possess. And there would only be one religion, because everyone would know and obey the one true God.
Mankind would have developed God’s holy, righteous character. In turn, God would have offered people membership in His Family, and they would be changed into spirit, as God-beings.
This is what God had wanted for us. Although Adam and Eve chose to eat the wrong fruit, God still plans to help mankind reach the ultimate goal: to be born into His kingdom.
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