Time with Jesus - Saturday, 18 February
2012
Hi all,
The
fall of man had a terrible effect on Adam and Eve and all their offspring all
the way down to us today. They may have been tricked into Disobeying God. The
fact remains, Adam was influenced by his wife and he ate the forbidden fruit.
This is not intended as a slur on women. If we look carefully at the dialog
between the serpent and Eve it is clear that she wasn’t quite sure of her
facts. She should have been.
In
the world God created, God spoke initially with Adam. At that time, Eve was
only there in the sense that she was still within Adam. God gave very clear
instructions to Adam. 15 The LORD God
put the man in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to work its ground and to
take care of it. 16 The LORD God
gave the man a command. He said, "You can eat the fruit of any tree that
is in the garden. 17 But you must not eat the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you can be sure that you will die."
Gen 2:15-17 NIrV
There
is nothing ambiguous about this statement. Before the fall Adam, was in full
possession of his faculties. It’s likely that he was able to do and understand
things that we cannot begin to comprehend. There’s no question about it. He was
“the boss” on earth. He was the pinnacle of God’s creation with authority over
the entire planet. Now Eve was taken out of Adam. God did all that was
necessary with one of Adam’s ribs. Personally, I cannot possibly believe that
the woman brought to Adam was a great big “dumb blond”. She wasn’t there as his
plaything. She was his companion; His helpmeet. There is no evidence to suggest
that she was mentally inferior to Adam.
Now
God usually says things once only. In normal circumstances, once is sufficient.
It follows that God expected Adam to communicate His prohibitions and restrictions.
The question is, did he do it properly. This seems unlikely. Look at the dialog;
1 The serpent was more clever than any
of the wild animals the LORD God had made. The serpent said to the woman,
"Did God really say, 'You must not eat the fruit of any tree that is in
the garden'?" 2 The woman
said to the serpent, "We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the
garden. 3 But God did say, 'You must not eat the fruit of the tree
that is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will
die.'" 4 "You can be sure that you won't die," the
serpent said to the woman. 5 "God
knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have
never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and
evil. You will be like God." 6
The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat. It was also pleasing
to look at. And it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and
ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it.
Gen 3:1-6 NIrV
Reading
this I get an uncomfortable suspicion that Adam had not briefed Eve adequately.
So she didn’t tell the serpent what God had told them. Then, after eating her
forbidden fruit, she gave some to Adam. He was standing with them. Adam should
have sent Satan packing. He didn’t. He copped out and did what his wife told
him to do. At that point they submitted to Satan, sinned and lost their liberty.
It
was a catastrophe. Satan was now in charge and sin was the order of the day.
Sin would be passed down from generation to generation. As far as Satan was
concerned, it was permanent. As far as man was concerned, liberty was lost forever
and they were slaves of sin. As far as God was concerned, He would redeem man
and destroy Satan. As we know, He achieved this in and through Jesus.
In
some ways, the entire Bible is the account of how God achieved this. In and through
Jesus Christ, man again has access to liberty. In Romans, Paul expounds on
this. 2 For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Rom 8:2 NASB
To
misquote Shakespeare; “To sin or not to sin; that is the question”. This is now
the situation confronting us. Through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy
Spirit, we have been given liberty. We are no longer compelled to sin. It is no
longer a foregone conclusion.
Today’s
meditation traces our Biblical history from the birth of Seth to where we are
today and deals with what took place in more detail.
Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
liberty in Jesus
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According to the records, Seth
was son number three.
The first son was a murderer;
what a catastrophe.
Cain had murdered Abel, ‘cause Abel
did what’s right.
He offered up a sacrifice; one
pleasing in God’s sight.
Cain brought God the produce he’d
worked for with his hands.
Abel brought a sacrifice in line
with God’s commands.
Cain became so jealous; he simply
had to kill
And Abel was his victim in
defiance of God’s will.
The line of Cain was wicked.
The line of Seth did right.
They tried to do their very
best to keep God’s ways in sight.
But Cain and Seth had something
they shared throughout out their days.
A heart inclined to evil and to
follow Satan’s ways.
It came in at conception; a
drive to follow sin.
They couldn’t really help
themselves and Satan had to win.
We have the self-same problem
because we are sin’s slave.
We have an inner instinct to
always misbehave.
Even if we want to, we cannot
change our ways.
We’re dead in sin and
trespasses, until we end our days.
But there is a solution. The
Lord has bought us back.
The cost was astronomic for us
to change our tack.
We have to trust in Jesus, that
He has paid the price;
Believe He’s done it properly
by His blood sacrifice.
For as we start to follow Him
and trust in Him alone,
We know His Spirit tells us, we’re
no longer on our own.
The spirit that was ruling us
and bringing sin and death,
No longer is controlling our
each and every breath.
Instead, His Holy Spirit, seeks
to make us whole;
And live a life for Jesus Christ,
where He is in control.
It’s Jesus Christ Who does this.
It isn’t you or me.
Satan wasn’t willing to ever set
us free.
He thought he was victorious
and Jesus Christ had lost.
It was a little later he found
what it had cost.
Jesus had defeated him and set His
people free.
We’re not in Satan’s kingdom, in
chains of slavery.
We needn’t be entangled by sin
and death and law.
And liberty in Jesus means we’re
Satan’s pawns no more!
So let us praise the Father,
for all that has been done.
And thank Him for the freedom;
we have in Christ His Son.
Jim Strickland – Written 18th February 2012
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