...Know Yourself

When we left off, satan had been banished to live upon the earth, along with those angels that had followed him in his treasonous uprising. This did not limit him from seeking an audience with God, as we see in Job:

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
Job 1:7

It did, however, put him under the "governorship", if you will, of the being that was in charge of taking care of the earth, Adam.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
Gen. 1:26

Satan must have realized that if he could get Adam to turn from God and follow him, then not only would he get Adam, but he would also have control over that which was Adam's to have dominion over--all of the earth, and everything that was in it. As an added bonus, "over all the earth" would also include any and all decendents of Adam. Satan probably thought along the lines that Milton ascribed to him: "It is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven."

We should stop and take a look at the condition of Adam, in reference to his physical, mental and spiritual being.

Adam was created in a state of maturity. We know this because he was put to work by God as shown:

"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
Gen. 2:15

We also know that God has shown that He considers the age of twenty to be the point of adulthood, for performing service to Him. This comes from several passages in Numbers, such as this one:

"From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies."
Num. 1:3

I am of the opinion that Adam was about thirty years old when created. Why? Because, he [Adam] started his work for the Lord pretty quickly after being created. And Adam was an archtype of Jesus, who started His ministry about the age of thirty.

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit."
1 Cor. 15:45

Like wise, both Adam and Jesus were in need of a help meet, a person to share their walk through life and eternity with. Adam was given Eve. Jesus was given the Bride. We will undoubtedly see many more parallels as we proceed.

Mentally (the "heart" and "soul", that which makes us the individual that we are") was pure, for there was no sin by which to spoil it.

Spiritually, Adam was alive and able to communicate directly with God. They were unashamed to stand before God.

"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."
Gen. 2:25

It is also important to note, that neither Adam nor Eve were "untried" or "untested", and therefore had no opportunity to sin. There was always the opportunity to sin, for there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil standing before them in the garden. Adam and Eve had a free will at this time, and they chose daily to obey and love God.

Satan used this tree as the object for which he would inspire lust in Eve. By twisting God's words and presenting them to Eve, he evoked three different types of lust in her towards the fruit of the tree. In 1 John 2:16, we see the perfect description:

"For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Compare that to the first half of Genesis 3:6...

"And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise,..."

As soon as she gave in to these lusts, she had committed to a path that would lead to certain death. As we see in the second part of that verse:

"...she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

Now, we have a bunch of things happening. Let's see what the results were for Adam.

Physically, he has gained wisdom alright. He now knows that he is naked before God. He tries to hide from His sight.

"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."
Gen. 3:7-8

Adam's soul was no longer filled with peace. He was afraid. He understood that he was no longer worthy to be in the presence of God Almighty.

Adam's spirit died at that moment. We can understand this because:

"For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Rom. 6:23

Some might think this just means that the body will someday die because of sin. I don't think this is quite right. Why? Well, if that is the case, how can we Christians be raptured? Our bodies won't die, but they will be changed. If we sinned, something had to die. It was our spirit. As it is written:

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
Rom. 3:23

Since we have all sinned, either directly, or by inheritance, we all died in our spirit. This is why...

"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
John 3:5

(As a side note, this verse is also the keystone for showing that abortion leads to children going to hell, unlike what many people believe. Except we be born of water (out of the birth canal, i.e. physically) and of the Spirit....)

So, Adam and Eve were now spiritually dead, with a soul that was no longer able to be in direct fellowship with God and a physical body that not only was attuned to lust but was cursed to fall apart over time.

Worst of all, they had aligned themselves with satan. And in so doing, they had surrendered their bodies and their hearts to him. Also, along with them came the "title deed" to planet earth, and all that existed on it.

Satan had adopted the family of man into his own.

However, there was a door opened to them. God, again full of love and mercy, with a foreknowledge that only He has, showed them a path. He made them clothing of animal skins.

"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them."
Gen. 3:21

And, in the process, he shed blood.

Next time, we will see where the path of blood lead us.

Grace and Peace....