THOUGHTS

April 11, 020

A reprint from April 9, 2014

Adam and Eve sitting in a tree,

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

First comes love, 

Then comes marriage,

Then comes Adam pushing a baby carriage.

If only it were that simple.  Unfortunately, the guilty pair created something less adorable, the sin nature which we have all inherited.  Jesus is called the Second Adam in Scripture because He makes everything good again through His sacrifice on the cross.

Eve had it all: the most handsome man on the face of the earth (the only man on the face of the earth), no work, not being a slave to fashion (they were happily naked), no pain in childbirth, no need for anti-aging products, nice pets-no creatures biting each other-not even lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Adam and Eve were living a healthy vegan lifestyle, a perfect garden in which to fellowship with God Himself.  God said it was all good.  So why did Eve listen to the snake?  Why believe lies?

It tickled her fancy, her appetite, feeding her desires by doubting God, wanting to be like God, to know better than God.  Lies.  God gave us the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.  The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil must have allured her by sight, touch, smell, and finally taste, but it was through her hearing which deceived her causing her to listen to the wrong voice.

 

How ironic that it was God Himself who caused the first bloodshed when he made the first skin clothing, a covering for them, a sacrificial lamb, the symbol of their need for a Savior.  How ironic that of their first two sons, one murdered the other.  It shows how quickly the consequences of sin o'er takes us.  We need a Savior.  We need more than a sacrificial lamb, we need Christ in us to empower us to live as He desires through His Holy Spirit.  

Just think of the eternal consequences of Eve listening to Satan's lies.  He is called in Scripture, the Father of Lies.  They were kicked out of the Garden, now toiled by the sweat of their brow fighting thorns and thistle, now Eve knew painful childbirth and their children had sibling rivalry that ended in murder, and so on throughout history up to your sin and mine.  Do you ever wonder if she ever had an inkling of what she started?  Sin never just involves one person: it multiplies quickly, usually harming those closest to us.  For her, it was first Adam, then her beloved children.

I hope you haven't listened to any snakes lately.  The second Adam came to crush his head with his heel.  Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice, and God exhibited the miraculous sin-defying act of raising Him from the dead so that we may never die, but have everlasting life.

"And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet..."

Romans 16:20

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:1