Many look on Adam as a failure, after all he allowed Eve to woo him into eating the forbidden fruit and, as a result, sin came into the realm of humanity. Adam was given the charge by God to carry the message of the gospel to all his children born to he and Eve in the Garden, yet one of the first twins ever known to be born committed the sin of will worship, mocking God. Adam’s wife, Eve, from his own physical side, did not look to him for leadership and took on Satan in the body of a snake. When she had eaten of the forbidden fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, she intimidated Adam into eating. Who was in charge, here? He showed no leadership, yet was totally in control of his own destiny. Adam, because of his sin lost his front door key to the Garden of Eden and was never allowed back into that beautiful place the rest of his days. Adam’s son, Cain rose up and killed his twin brother, Abel! But Adam DID NOT bring into the world physical death, like all men he was starting the process of physically dying WHEN he was made from the dust of the Earth!!
The way Satan got by Eve was the matter of death. Discussing the potential of dying, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it…, lest you die.” Satan responded to Eve; “Dieing, you are dieing, already,” as though what God had told Adam was not true when in actuality, God was not talking about physical death, He was speaking of spiritual separation, death. Isaiah 59:1-2 Preparation made for Adam and Eve’s physical death, if it had been discussed with Adam, was never seemingly related to Eve. Physical Death was completely beyond her understanding. What God had discussed was spiritual death, still something they did not understand (but Satan understood it real well). Dieing, was a real problem for Eve! Satan “turned the phrase” on Eve, offering the innocent an unfair explanation. What he intimated was what she already had, she would exist eternally, for she was also soul and spirit, but the body in which she was housed would not advance to the next plateau of existence. Satan’s alternate plan would ALSO allow her “to be as gods” which was already true!! Satan’s conversation was far beyond Eve’s competency! The physical body was never meant to exist, forever. There were so MANY things that had not been explained about God’s plan for man yet, that was beyond their competency level. It took God 5,000 years more to explain. Yet, when His Son came in the flesh man STILL had not caught on!!
Eve took the fruit as a means of stopping what had already physically begun in their bodies, she was innocent, and innocency knows no concept like rebellion!! Eve was not mean and un-repentant, Eve was innocent and unsuspecting. Who had ever lied to her before this, and Satan only told her a half-truth at that!! The “fear of death” seems to be a natural, unlearned, instinct of humanity, put in us by our Creator. Babies cry and will go into what seems like an un-consolable state of shock and un-remitting fear when their bodies tell them they have need of food. This is a natural instinct. Eve had NEVER been deprived of anything-it was a concept that completely threw her, but Eve had a problem that all of us share, if we are not careful. Eve thought God had not or maybe could not provide. Eve, like all us, think we have to make up for God’s incompetence by doing it ourselves, a pattern seen over and over again in the Scriptures!!
Yes, it was a terrible day when sin came to mankind; but dealing with an arch-angel, never having been lied to, not having a suspicious spirit, and always completely provided for—would you or I have done better??
