The Story of Adam and Eve
To truly understand our roots and beginnings as Christians, we have to understand exactly what had occurred in this story. I’ll go ahead and break it all down under the following captions. God Sets The Stage1. As Christians, we have to believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible. There are many secular and atheistic teachers and professors who are teaching in our high schools and colleges that man gradually evolved rather than actually being created by our Lord. However, the Bible tells us otherwise. The account in Genesis tells us very specifically, and without any other possible interpretation, that both man, the heavens, the earth and all the creatures on the earth were CREATED by the Lord - that they did not progressively evolve over a period of time. The very first verse in the Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth. Here it is:
The Bible then goes on to tell us that God then proceeds to create light, night and day, the seas, the stars, creatures to live in the seas, creatures to live on the dry land and then finally the man Adam - all in 6 days. Adam was created on the 6th day. Here is the verse that tells us that the very first man, Adam, was also created by God, and that he did not progressively evolve over a period of time:
Then God plants Adam in the Garden of Eden and gives him total dominion over everything in it - including all of the fish, the birds and every living thing that moved on the earth at that time. After a certain period of time, God then sees that it is not good that Adam continue to remain alone - so He then creates the first woman Eve by causing a deep sleep to fall on Adam and then takes out one of his ribs. God literally creates the first woman from the rib of Adam. God meant for Eve to be a helper comparable to him and He then tells the both of them to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth and subdue it. Here is the verse that specifically tells us that Eve was also created like Adam was and that she too did not evolve from any type of primate:
Again, both of these accounts show that both Adam and Eve were created by God and that they did not evolve from any kind of primates. 2. After God brings Eve to Adam to be his helper, Adam makes a very powerful statement that has future implications for all married people. Here is what he says in reference to Eve:
Right at the beginning of creation with the creation of the first man and the first woman, God tells us how powerful and holy the marriage union is going to be. Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh - two people becoming one flesh! These words right there tell you why divorce and marital breakups are so painful. It's like flesh ripping from flesh when two married people try to dissolve the marriage union. This is why divorces or even any type of breakup in a deep love relationship are so painful when one or both of the partners try to break it off. There is a spiritual union that occurs when two people marry for true love. And when one or both want out of the marriage for whatever reason, the pain can literally be excruciating because of the spiritual union that has taken place within the love of that marriage. Then the Bible says that God now puts man in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. The stage is now set. God has given this first man and first woman everything they could possibly need to be happy and fulfilled. They have both been made in the image and likeness of God. They now have each other as marriage mates. God has given them total dominion over everything on the earth. He has told them that they are free to be fruitful and multiply - which means they are free to start having children within the marriage union. They both have direct contact and fellowship with God Himself as this account says that God walked in the Garden of Eden where they were now living. They literally had it all! However, there was just one small catch! The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil1. After God perfectly sets the above stage for Adam and Eve and literally gives them everything under the sun, He tells them that there is now one thing that they cannot do. He specifically tells them that they can eat of every single tree that is in this garden - with the exception of one tree. This one tree was called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Think about this. God makes this test that they both had to pass for the future implication of all mankind as easy as He possibly could. He tells them that all they have to do is stay off of this one tree. He tells them that they can literally eat from every other tree that is in this garden. The Bible does not tell us how many other trees were in this garden - but I bet there were thousands of them. All they had to do was to obey God’s direct command to stay off of this one tree - and they would have eventually passed the test - and all of us could have been born into this perfect God environment. But they blew it big time - not only for themselves - but also for the rest of mankind that was to follow. In addition to telling them not to eat any fruit that was on this one tree, God allowed one other thing to occur in this setup. He allowed Satan himself to be able to roam in this garden in the form of a serpent - knowing full well that Satan would try and tempt them to disobey His direct command to the both of them not to eat any fruit off of this one forbidden tree. So God sits back and watches this scenario unfold. Will Adam and Eve listen to and abide by God’s direct command not to eat any fruit off of this one tree - or are they going to allow themselves to be duped by the devil? 2. As we all know, they eventually fell for Satan’s lies. Satan first targets Eve, telling her that she will be like God if she eats the fruit off of this one forbidden tree. He tells her that she will have God’s knowledge of good and evil if she partakes of it. After Eve trespasses and eats some of the fruit off of this forbidden tree, she then turns to Adam and convinces him to do the same thing. Adam then proceeds to eat some of the same fruit and once both of them have eaten off of this tree - an amazing thing then happens! Before they had eaten off of this forbidden tree, the Bible tells us that they literally were allowed to run naked in this garden. They had no shame in doing this. They were as innocent and pure as little children. Until they had transgressed by eating off of this one forbidden tree, they had no sin in their lives. When they ate off of this forbidden tree, they had committed their first sin against God - and what happened after they did? The Bible tells us that their eyes were "opened" and they "knew" that they were naked. They then proceeded to sew some fig leaves together so they could cover their nakedness. Why all of a sudden would they want to cover their nakedness when they had been running around totally naked in this garden for who knows how long before this transgression took place? I believe the main reason was due to the fact that shame, guilt and condemnation immediately set in the minute they committed their first sin and transgression against God. The minute this shame, guilt and condemnation set in as a result of committing their first sin against God - they lost all of their childlike innocence and purity. And once they lost all of their childlike innocence and purity, they then became self-conscious of their nakedness and then had to make an attempt to try and cover it up. 3. Why was it so bad that Adam and Eve ate the fruit off of this forbidden tree? It was just fruit. The Bible says that they could tell that the fruit on it was good for food and that it was very pleasant to the eyes. So what was so bad about eating this fruit besides disobeying a direct command from God not to eat of it? What did this fruit represent? Besides disobeying a direct command from God the Father, I believe there was another reason that God did not want them eating any fruit off of this one tree. The clue is in what the tree was called - "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." The Bible tells us that God wants us to be "simple concerning evil." In other words, He doesn't want us crossing over any lines to experiment with, to test out, or to engage in any type of sinful activity - not even one time! Instead of fruit being on this tree, imagine that there was a bag of pot, a bag of cocaine or a bag of heroin. God’s original plan and design for all of us was that we not even attempt to experiment, even one time, with anything that is sinful such as some of the above items. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Once you cross over the line even one time to try and smoke pot, shoot up heroin or snort cocaine - you now have the knowledge of something that is sinful and evil because you have now ingested it - you have now taken it in - you have now officially tried it out. That is why this tree was called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
So now Adam and Eve will have to face the consequences of transgressing against God by eating off of this one forbidden tree. The ConsequencesAs a result of transgressing against the Lord, Adam and Eve lost it all. Here are the specifics of what they lost. Study these very carefully, as these consequences had implications for all humans to follow - including all Christians who are now living under the new covenant with Jesus! 1. Banishment From the Garden of EdenThe first thing that happens is that God tells the both of them that they will now be banished from this perfect garden. God also says that there was a second tree in this garden called the tree of life - and had they eaten from this tree, that they would have lived forever. Since they flunked their test with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were not permitted to eat from this tree of life. The Bible says in Genesis 3:23:
The implication seems to be that had they passed their test with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that they would have eventually been able to eat from the tree of life - and had they done so, they would have lived forever. They would have never known physical death. This account with their first test then ends with Genesis 3:24 stating:
Cherubim is one of God’s high-ranking angels. Adam and Eve had forever lost their one and only chance to eat from this tree of life and to live forever in this perfect God environment. 2. The Earth Is Now CursedIn addition to banishing both of them out of this garden, God now pronounces a curse on them, their descendants, and on the earth in general. God tells Eve that she will still be able to bear children, but that she will bear children in pain. The implication seems to be that had they passed this test, that Eve could have bore children without any pain. This part of the curse not only applied to her, but to all future women that would be born after her that would also have children. God then tells Adam that he will have to work and sweat for his food. God tells Adam in Genesis 3:17-19:
Adam and everyone to follow will now have to "toil" and "sweat" in order to put food on their table. This is why the world is set up where everyone has to work in some fashion. No work - no money. No money - no food. This curse also explains why many of the bad things keep occurring on this earth. As a result of sinning against God, death now enters into the big picture. Adam and Eve, and all humans to follow, will now have to undergo aging and eventually the death of our physical bodies. All of our physical bodies will now corrupt and die and return to the ground from which God made Adam. As a result of our physical bodies now being open and subject to the death process, this now opens up our bodies to all kinds of sicknesses, diseases, illnesses, ailments, aging and corruption. This is exactly why we have suffering, disease and sickness in our earthly lives - all because of the curse of Adam and Eve. Our earthly lives now have a mixture of both life and death. Some people live long lives, others do not. Some people get cancer, others do not. Some people become victims of crime, others do not. Since death is now a part of our earthly lives as a result of this Adamic curse - we never know when something bad may happen to anyone of us at any time. We all know we are going to eventually die, but we have no idea when or how we are going to die. Life in general now becomes very uncertain, as we never know what is going to happen next - whether it be good or bad. This is why all Christians need to be walking in a full surrender with God the Father and have the Blood of Jesus pled on their bodies, their homes, their cars and all of their loved ones. God’s last statement when pronouncing this curse on Adam and Eve and the world in general is as follows:
As a result of what happened in their story, we all have to be born into this cursed and fallen world before we can make it into heaven after being saved and born again - no exceptions. In this cursed world, we also have Satan and all of his demons being allowed to interact with us trying to cause as much havoc and destruction as they can before Jesus comes back for the second time to set up His millennium kingdom. We also have bad and evil unsaved people being allowed to a certain degree to also wreak as much havoc and destruction as they can before they die - hence we are all stuck with wars, murders, robberies, rapes, muggings, abductions, scams, cheating, infidelity, etc. The local news on an everyday basis will tell you how bad things can really get. Whether we want to realize it or not, we have all been born into a war zone as a result of the curse of Adam and Eve that is still in full operation on this earth. This is why the Bible tells us that we have to learn how to become good soldiers in Jesus Christ, that we have to fight the good fight of faith, and that we have to be overcomers in this life. Life is rough, and it is only through God's grace, protection and guidance can we make it through this life in one piece before we finally die and cross over to be with Him for all of eternity. So Adam and Eve not only blew it for themselves, but they blew it for the rest of humanity as well. However, it is my own personal opinion, that not just Adam and Eve flunked their test with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but I feel that the same thing would have happened if God would allowed them to have children and then put them to the same test. I feel that a good portion of humanity, if not possibly all of us, would have also flunked this same test if presented with the same scenario. This is why the Bible says that all men and women have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. If there is one thing that we can all admit to - is that we are all flawed sinners to some degree and to some extent. We are not perfect. We all have character flaws and imperfections within our personalities. As a result of this sin nature that we have all born into this world with - we have all become sinners in the eyes of God. The Bible tells us that there is none of us that appear truly righteous and sin-free before the eyes of God. God’s original plan for all humans is that we not sin and that we would obey all of His direct commandments and instructions. He wanted us to have never tasted the fruit of any kind of sin. But Adam and Eve set the stage as to how all humans would react to this initial setup. They could not abide by God’s specific commands and instructions - so now God is forced to go to plan B. And thank God there was a plan B, or we would have all been lost forever as a result of what happened in this story with Adam and Eve. This will now lead us into the next topic. What It Means To Be "Born Again"After God pronounced the above curse on Adam and Eve and casts them out of the Garden of Eden, God makes a very powerful prophetic statement. Here is what He says direct to the devil:
God the Father, in this statement, was foretelling of Jesus coming to our earth to be crucified for all of our sins. In this crucifixion, Jesus would defeat Satan and any stronghold he has on people. This is what God meant when He said that Jesus shall bruise his head. Satan was defeated once and for all at the cross! However, God also states that Satan would bruise the heel of Jesus, which occurred when He was crucified. Due to the position and weight of the human body when crucified, the heels are bruised - which is exactly what happened to Jesus when He was crucified. However, Satan had no idea what God the Father was talking about when He made this prophetic statement. If he would have known what the crucifixion was really all about, he would have never allowed it to occur. The Bible tells us that the death and crucifixion of Jesus would remain a mystery to the entire world until after it had been completed. Here are two verses that specifically tell us this:
Now here is where being "born again" comes into the big picture. Study this next verse very carefully. This is Jesus making this statement:
Water means "the Word." The "S" in the word "Spirit" is with a capital "S." This means it is talking about the Holy Spirit - not our human spirits.
If you’ll notice, this verse is using the word "again" after the word "born" - born "again." If this second birth is not talking about our physical births into this world, what other second birth is it talking about? The word "again" is telling us that we are going to have to go through a second birth to be able to make it into heaven. Jesus tells Nicodemus that He is not talking about a physical birth where we are physically born again to be able to enter into heaven. He is now talking about a new spiritual birth. Jesus tells Nicodemus that what is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. When Adam and Eve first sinned against God the Father by eating off of the forbidden tree - they not only lost their right to stay in the Garden of Eden, but they also lost their direct spiritual connection to God the Father. Why? Because sin separates us from God. God’s initial plan was for Adam and Eve not to sin. Once they did, they lost everything good that God had set up for them. They were banished from this perfect garden and physical death will now enter into the big picture, which means that their physical bodies would be subject to deterioration, corruption and eventual physical death. And to top it all off, they lost their direct spiritual direct connection to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that God walked in this garden, which meant that Adam and Eve could walk and talk with God Himself in this garden. When they were banished, they had forever lost their one and only chance to ever walk with God again in this most perfect environment. So not only did Adam and Eve open themselves up to physical death as a result of this one transgression, they have now also suffered a spiritual death since they lost their direct connection to God the Father that they so perfectly had in the Garden of Eden.
Here are some major power verses that will tell us that it is by the Holy Spirit that we have direct access to both God and Jesus in heaven. This first verse is showing us that we now have direct access to God the Father "by" the Holy Spirit.
In other words, through accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we now receive the Holy Spirit to come and live in our human spirits. And once we receive the Holy Spirit to come and live on the inside of our human spirits, we now have direct access back to God the Father who lives in heaven. If God the Father lives in heaven and we have direct access to Him by the Holy Spirit - then we also have direct access to Jesus in the same way, since Jesus too lives in heaven sitting at the right hand of God the Father. This is why the Bible uses such phrases as praying "in the Spirit," worshipping God "in the Spirit" and walking "in the Spirit." It is by and in the Holy Spirit that direct contact is made with God and Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, we would have no direct spiritual connection back to God or Jesus. We would still be lost and in the same state as Adam and Eve were in when they were banished from the Garden of Eden. This is why the born again verse mentioned above specifically states that it is the Holy Spirit Himself that we are born again with. Here is another good verse that tells us that it is by the Holy Spirit that Jesus is able to literally abide in us, even though He is in heaven:
The word "He" is referring to Jesus. If Jesus is dwelling in heaven, but the Bible tells us that He is also living on the inside of us - how can this be? "By and in" the Holy Spirit who lives on the inside of us. I believe that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are so perfectly one with one another - that if we have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us - then we have both God and Jesus living on the inside of us, even though both God and Jesus live in heaven. Here is a verse I believe that tells us that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are perfectly one in their spiritual divine union with one another. Remember, Jesus is called the "Word of God." Here it is:
The above verse in 1 John 3:24 specifically tells us that Jesus abides in us by the Holy Spirit. This next verse tells us that both God and Jesus can come to us and make their homes with us.
Notice that Jesus uses the word "We" - meaning that both He and God the Father will come to us and make Their homes with us - all because we now have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. Another verse that tells us that God the Father Himself abides in us by the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus abides in us by the Spirit is 1 John 4:12. It reads as follows:
The word "Spirit" in the above verse is with a capital "S" - which means it is referring to the Holy Spirit. This verse is thus telling us that God the Father also abides in us because the Holy Spirit is now living on the inside of us. The key word in the above verse is "because."
This is why you will see me using words such as "tapping in" to the Holy Spirit in many of our articles. Since the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us - not the outside - contact is made with Him by tapping in on the inside your being, not the outside! This is why the Bible tells us in Luke 17:21 that the "kingdom of God is within you" - because we now have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. And since God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are so perfectly one with one other - each one of us truly has the kingdom of God literally dwelling on the inside of us since God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the kingdom of God Themselves. ConclusionTo really understand what it means to be saved and born again, each Christian needs to know and fully understand what had occurred in the story of Adam and Eve. The story of Adam and Eve, and the story of Jesus coming to our earth in the flesh to be crucified for all of our sins in order to bring us back to God Himself, are like two puzzle pieces that perfectly fit side by side with one another. The story of Adam and Eve tells us how everything began and why things are the way they are today - all because we are still living under the curse they had brought upon this earth as a result of their one transgression against the Lord.
This is something we get immediately. We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven. We receive the Holy Spirit at the moment we are saved and born again - and it is by, in, and through the Holy Spirit that we all now have a direct access and a direct spiritual connection back to both God and Jesus. However, what we don’t get is the stoppage of the aging process and the eventual deaths of our physical bodies. The Bible tells us that the last enemy that will be conquered will be death. 1. The Bible tells us that Eve became the mother of all the living. So if Adam and Eve were the first man and first woman to get the ball rolling in reference to starting the world’s population - how did they do this? Most Bible scholars are in agreement that the only way this could have occurred is if the sons and daughters that Adam and Eve initially had were allowed to have sexual relations with one another. There is absolutely no other way that this could have occurred. The gene pool would not have been contaminated at this early stage. However, as you get further into the Old Testament, God ends up prohibiting any incestuous relations among any family members. However, in order to get the ball rolling off of this one man and one woman, God had to initially allow the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve to have sexual relations with one another in order to get things going. 2. The Bible then says that Adam lived to a ripe old age of 930 years. However, the Bible does not tell us how long Eve had lived for. The story of Adam and Eve needs to be fully understood by every Christian in order to understand who we really are in Christ and why things are the way they are in the world we now live in.
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> Michael Bradley Scripture taken from New King James
Version. |
o really understand how we all got
here, what it really means to be "born again" and
why there is so much death and destruction in the world we
live in - you have to go back to the very beginning to the
story of Adam and Eve as told to us in the Bible.
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