It Happened in a Garden

It is written in the Genesis account of beginnings God saw all He had created and it was very good, it was perfect. We know the world is no longer perfect. This means that something occurred that changed the original state of the world. At some point in time, evil, pain, suffering violence, lawlessness, and wickedness entered the world. Why didn’t God prevent this from happening? Could He have prevented it from happening? If He could have prevented it from happening and didn’t can we say He is a loving and caring God? Did God reveal His love in not preventing what happened?

God could have prevented the entrance of evil, pain, suffering, violence, lawlessness, and wickedness into the world. Why didn’t He? When God created man He instilled in him the ability to make decisions and act upon the decisions he made. 

When God placed Adam, in the Garden of Eden there was peace, harmony, and unity on earth. He saw divine things clearly. There were neither errors nor mistakes in his knowledge. His will complied readily to the will of God, without questioning or resistance. His affections were directed toward his Creator. There was neither vanity nor rebellion found in him. What caused the change in the nature and character of man? It was due to a decision he made and acted on. His decision was based on the decision his wife, Eve, made.

Eve is called upon to make a decision. She will make her decision based on what she is told by the serpent. The serpent is not the originator of the question he will ask Eve or the contradiction of what God told Adam. The originator of the question and the contradiction is Satan. In his original state he was called Lucifer. He was an anointed cherub, a guardian of the throne of God and he led a revolt against God. His revolt was put down and he was cast down to earth. Determined to have a kingdom of his own he turned his attention toward the Garden of Eden. Using the body of the serpent he entered the Garden of Eden and asked Eve “Indeed has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” A very popular question, asked today in various forms, “Indeed has God said.” This is a closed end question. The answer is either yes or no. It requires no explanation. All Eve had to do is answer yes. 

Satan knew what God said and he knew who God told not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He is testing Eve, just as he tests every child of God. He didn’t want to know what God told Adam, he wanted to know if Eve understood what she had been told and put doubt in her mind. He wants her to question what she has been told. Why is she forbidden to eat the fruit from the tree? Is there something God and Adam don’t want her to know?

Satan used Eve’s answer to deceive her and convince her no harm will come to her if she eats the forbidden fruit. This is what Satan does today, through various agencies he deceives and convinces people if they commit an immoral act, fill their bodies with drugs and alcohol, violate the laws of nature, and disobey God’s moral law in any shape or form no harm will come to them.

Eve’s answer, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.” Is that what God said to Adam? He told Adam, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Eve misquoted. She added to what God had said.

Eve’s answer opened the door for Satan and he attacks the nature and character of God.  You can almost hear the sarcasm in his voice when he told Eve, “You surely shall not die.” The he tells Eve why God has forbid the eating of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan didn’t tell Eve she would become a god or goddess. He told her she would become like God. She could raise her level of knowledge to that of God’s. She could move up on the ladder of creation. She could gain the honor and happiness God is withholding.

Satan accomplished what he set out to do, get Eve to doubt the love, integrity and goodness of God, draw her allegiance away from God and direct it toward herself, which would be the same as directing it toward him. Now he will use Eve to convince Adam there is no harm in eating the forbidden fruit. Satan knows if Adam eats the forbidden fruit he will gain control of governorship God gave to Adam. Satan did not know if Eve would eat the forbidden fruit. He didn’t know if Adam would eat the forbidden fruit. Satan does not know what we will or will not do all he does is offer a choice. We can choose to obey God or believe a lie.

When Satan attacks the Christian, he doesn’t normally get him or her to commit some crime or immoral act. He uses some incident in their life, other people, or world events to try and get Christians to doubt God’s love, goodness, and integrity. If God loved you, you wouldn’t be suffering like you are. If God is a loving God why does He permit evil, pain, and suffering to exist? He tests the faith of Christians. In the wilderness Satan told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matthew 4:3). He was asking Jesus to prove His is the Son of God. Then he said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God throw your self down” (Matthew 4:6). He wanted Jesus to test God’s love. If he dared Jesus to prove He was the Son of God and test God’s love. When Satan told Jesus to turn the stones into bread he was using Jesus’ the situation He was in. He was in the wilderness, He was hungry, and there was no place where He could get something to eat. Satan’s point was if Jesus is the Son of God providing something to eat would be no problem if was the Son of God. Why wouldn’t Satan use our situations and the events in the world to test our faith and use them to test God’s love?  

The battle is over. When Eve saw the fruit from the tree of the knowledge was “good for food…a delight to the eyes…desirable to make one wise” she ate the forbidden fruit. Looking at the tree from her point of view the tree looked like the rest of the trees in the garden. It grew out of the same ground. There was nothing in the outward appearance of the fruit that indicated it was a danger to ones health or the eating of the fruit could cause a person to die. There was nourishment in the fruit. What harm could come from eating the fruit? The conclusion Eve came to was influenced by what she saw.

We need to be careful what we look at. The eyes are the windows of the soul. Windows Satan can throw fiery darts through and pierce the heart. These darts are loaded with a deadly virus, called sin. While it is true there is no way we can avoid seeing things that are inappropriate, we are surrounded by them. What was once hid behind closed doors is telecasted into our living rooms in living color. Satan is able to use them to lead a person astray when that person follows Eve’s example.
 Satan didn’t tell Eve the truth and she believed a lie. She took the fruit from the tree and ate it. Satan didn’t give Eve the forbidden fruit, she took it from the tree, and he didn’t force her to eat the forbidden fruit. Satan could not make Eve do anything she didn’t want to do. Satan can tempt us but he can not force us to anything we don’t want to do. We can blame God, Satan, parents, pastors, teachers, the media, friends and neighbors for our shortcomings, but no one can force us to do what we don’t want to do or what we know is not the right thing to do.

Adam knew what the right thing to do was. He knew what God had said about the forbidden fruit. No one forced him to eat the forbidden fruit. Why did he take the forbidden fruit and eat it. We aren’t told. Could it be Eve used the same argument Satan used to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit? We don’t know. We don’t know what the state of Adam’s mind was when he ate the fruit or what he was thinking. When he found out Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit did the words “you shall surely die” come to mind? Did he picture himself alone in the garden as it was before Eve was given to him to be a help mate? Is it possible God was wrong or he misunderstood what God said? We don’t know. All we know is he ate the forbidden fruit.

We have all seen people do something that was contrary to their normal behavior. We ask the question why they did what they did. We even speculate and form opinions. But we may never know why did they do what they did or what motivated them to do what they did. We have all done something that was contrary to our normal behavior and afterwards ask ourselves why I did that, I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. From the human point of view, I believe Adam and Eve both asked that question many times.  

Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and their eyes were opened. This is not a reference to their physical eyes but to the eyes of their consciences. They saw it was now too late. They had believed a lie and now they must pay the consequences. They saw a loving God provoked. They saw their natures were corrupted and depraved. They saw they were naked. They were stripped, deprived of all honor and favor. They saw the serpent was a deceiver, a liar. He told Eve her eyes would be opened and she would be like God. They didn’t become like God they became like their deceiver.

The first step they took after eating the forbidden fruit was not upward but downward. A strong sense of guilt overcame them. When they heard the Lord God walking in the garden their hearts were filled with fear and they tried to hide from His presence among the trees of the garden. Before they disobeyed God if they heard the voice of the Lord God in the garden I believe they ran to meet Him. They welcomed His presence. But now, they fear Him. They knew they had done an evil deed. They saw God coming into the garden as a Judge and they tried to flee from justice.

They realized Satan is not going to protect them. He is not going to accuse them. They will accuse themselves. The garden becomes what it never was intended to be, a court room. The earth will become what it was never intended to be, the domain of the enemy of God. The world will become what it was never intended to be a terrifying place. Evil, violence, pain, suffering, lawlessness, and wickedness will run rough shod over the land.

Why didn’t God nip in the bud what was coming upon the earth? He could have wiped out all that He had done and start over. Why didn’t He? He had set the course of history into motion and He will not go back and begin again what He has determined to do. Satan and his demonic host, man nor beast can turn Him away from the course He has set. He will accomplish His goal. At the end of time the morning stars and the sons of God will sing together and shouts of joy will be heard around the throne of God as it was at the beginning of time. The good news is the redeemed will join in the singing and shouting. I want to be in that great celebration. Do you? You will be if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. You can be if you will accept Him as your Savior and Lord.