And Yahweh Elohim instructed the human, saying: from every tree of the garden you may eat, yea eat. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat from it; for on the day you eat from it, to die you shall be dying
Genesis 2: 16-17, Concordant Old Testament
The popular story is that Adam and Eve decided on a whim to reject the instruction of the Lord and to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The church will surmise this as the birth of sin in our lives. They will also surmise that it is this sin which continues to plague our life, separating us from intimacy with the Father. But rarely is it told that the Lords first creation was presented with the choice, life or death. Indeed, God created all things, including the two trees which have come to symbolize our attitudes towards the Father. It is God who created "Every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food" {Genesis 2:8}. In the midst of the garden of Eden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil {Genesis 2:9}. It is here that God placed His creation to keep the land He had created {Genesis 2:8}. Although the trees of this garden are described as pleasant and good for food, only one of them was declared off limits by the Lord. For God warned man that to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would result in...death {Genesis 2:16-17}. Now, can we assume that Adam and Eve even knew what "To die" was? Up until this point. they had never experienced death. Still, the Fathers warning was clear, eat of the tree and you will surely die. So. you can't say that Adam and Eve had no advanced warning of what would happen were they to eat from the wrong tree. The choice was simple, to choose salvation (life) or death. It would seem that everything would be fine up until the time came for man to choose between the two. As God had intended, he soon offered them that opportunity. Through the deceit of the serpent (Satan), Eve had been misled by the words of the deceiver. The offer was too good to be true, "You shall not surely die" {Genesis 3:4}. As God intended, Eve saw that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was "Pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise" {Genesis 3:6}. Therefore, she took of that which God had commanded her not to, and offered it to Adam to partake of it as well. When offered the choice between salvation or death, man chose death.
In any normal circumstance, this would have been the end of the story. God would have erased this episode from His creation and started all over again. Man, seeking his own way to salvation, had introduced sin into the world. But God had a plan already in place for this very occasion. That plan was the work of Christ Jesus on the cross. For Jesus became the willing sacrifice for the wrong choice man had made in the garden {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. Jesus is the innocent blood that is sacrificed for our sin. But this isn't the end of the story. As a dear friend reminded me this week, there are those who continue to look at God through the lens of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That we ourselves can find our own way into salvation. I've known more than a few believers who have held to this ideology. Keep in mind, the Father has already offered us the choice to accept HIS salvation of the tree of life. Jesus has proclaimed "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one is coming to the Father except through Me" {Johns Account 14:6}. Jesus IS our life! The choice we face is to choose Christ (life) or continue to see God through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that we can find our own way to salvation. Make no mistake, to the wrong choice does not lead to life and the love of Christ Jesus. But through His love and mercy, God has dispatched His Son not to judge, but that ALL the world would be saved through Him {Johns Account 3:16-17}. In Christ Jesus, we have life {Johns Account 14:20}.
For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may becoming God's righteousness in Him
Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5: 21, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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