Echoes of Eden

For many, the biblical story of God’s judgment on Adam and Eve in Eden must sound like an overreaction of epic proportions. After all, what’s the big deal with eating fruit? Even if God really said not to, what’s the big deal?

The devil here is quite literally in the details. Go back and look at the temptation that came to Eve again, and how she reacted to it:

“The serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it [the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil] your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” – Genesis 3:4-6

Here are the key elements in this passage: “You will be like God, knowing good and evil,” and “the woman…saw that the tree was desirable to make one wise.”

In these few words, we have the real downfall of the Adamic race. Prior to this time, Adam and Eve were dependent upon God to show them what was right and what was wrong. The temptation they responded to was to become as wise of God, to know good and evil so that they might judge for themselves. In so doing, they cast off the authority of God and became their own authorities.

Beyond this, they also sought to cast off the consequences of their rebellion. God had told Adam, “On the day you eat of the tree, you will surely die,” but the serpent assured Eve that this was not so. Some have been confused by God’s statement because Adam lived on for many more years after he fell, but if you examine the underlying Hebrew and how the same terminology is used elsewhere in scripture, it becomes apparent that God meant that Adam’s death would become certain on the day that he ate from the tree. Prior to that time, Adam had access to the Tree of Life, and as long as he had access to it he could live indefinitely. But after this incident, God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, denying them access to the Tree of Life and thereby ensuring their ultimate deaths.

By choosing to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they not were not only rebelling against God but asserting that they could escape the consequences of their rebellion. Doubtless, they thought they could keep going back to eat from the Tree of Life and go on forever, making their own decisions and benefitting from God’s provision on their own terms.

The refusal to acknowledge any authority beyond oneself, even principles of conscience, is at the core of every form of evil in the world, including man’s own inhumanity to man. In this way, the first sin of man has become the defining sin of mankind. The rebellion of Eden echoes down to the present time. The New Testament tells us that the last era of human history will be characterized by lawlessness, a wholesale casting off of authorities and limitations beyond the satisfaction of one’s own desires. As a result, Christ said that “the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). A person who is totally absorbed in himself has the capacity for the most astonishing forms of cruelty and indifference.

The New Testament also tells us that the rebels of the last days will think they can go on getting by with it forever, enjoying the all things that God has provided while they spit in his face. They will think that they can escape the consequences God has declared against them simply because he hasn’t moved against them yet. And so they act like nothing is wrong.

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” – Matthew 24:37-39

“Know this first of all that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of the creation’…

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” – II Peter 3:3-4, 8-9

Just as Adam’s ultimate death became certain when he rebelled, so death is also certain for this lawless, self-absorbed final generation, but God has not acted yet because he is giving everyone a chance to turn from their rebellion and be reconciled to him through Christ. Christ is able to perform this because he reversed the fall of Adam through his obedience to God, consistently setting aside his own will in favor of the Father’s will. In the Garden of Eden, Adam effectively said, “My will be done.” In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ said to the Father, “Your will be done.” For this reason, scripture refers to Christ as “the last Adam” (I Corinthians 15:50), and all who are in him are reconciled to God through him, for God has imputed his righteousness to them (II Corinthians 5:21). There is a beautiful symmetry here. Whereas death became certain for Adam on the day he rebelled, life becomes certain for us when we are reconciled.

“Because I live, you will live also.” – John 14:19

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” – John 11:25

* All scripture references are from the NASB.

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