Genesis 2:16-17. The LORD God said to man: “You are FREE to eat from ANY tree in the garden, but you must NOT eat from the tree of knowledge, of good and evil, for when you EAT from it, you will CERTAINLY die. You will die BEFORE the day is over.”
While Adam and Eve were walking through the Garden of Eden, the snake approached her. He was MORE cunning than ANY of the wild animals. ”Did God prohibit you from eating ANY of the fruit in the garden?” He asked her. ”He told us NOT to eat from the tree that stood in the middle of the garden, OR to touch it. If we did, we would die”, she replied. After the snake convinced her that they would NOT die, but that they would be LIKE God to know the difference between right and wrong, the fruit became attractive and irresistible to her. She desired the wisdom it would give her, and ate some of it. She also gave her husband some, and HE ate.
AFTER Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they became mortal and LOST their innocence. THIS implied that they became susceptible to physical death. It is NOT recorded at WHAT age Eve died. God was SO infuriated with man and his wife, that He regretted creating them, cursed the earth, and REMOVED His blessings from Adam’s life with the words: “As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food. You will have to sweat to earn a living; you were made out of soil, and you will once again turn into soil (Genesis 3: 17 and 19). With these words God stripped man of his immortality. SO did God withdraw his blessings from Eve’s life with the words: “You will suffer terribly when you give birth, but you will STILL desire your husband, and he will RULE over you (Genesis 3:16). Concluding from God’s punishment for the woman, I speculate that the birth process was supposed to have been a joyous occasion and without pain. The second punishment God laid on her was to STRIP her of her equality to her husband. She was NO LONGER equal to him as a person, but subjected to HIS authority. For HIS involvement in the fall of man, God punished the snake…the serpent…the instrument of the devil with the following words: “You and the woman will hate each other, your descendants and hers will ALWAYS be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.” The curses God laid on the three main transgressors who was responsible for the fall of man, is STILL VERY evident on earth today, 5500 years AFTER this TRAGIC incident.
The consequences of THIS sin that was committed against God did NOT just have a destructive and irreversible impact on earth, but ALSO in heaven…God’s kingdom. He HAD to punish sin, irrespective of the universal, spiritual, moral OR physical consequences, because He is a just and righteous God. There was NOTHING the GREAT Alpha and Omega could do at THAT moment, to restore the creation. Sin caused a roadblock between man and his Creator (Isaiah 59:2).
Today, 5.5 millennia later, Man is STILL a slave of sin. In fact, and THIS is the irony of it ALL, man PREFERS to be a slave of sin. Its EASIER to sin, then to do RIGHT. Even the apostle Paul was confronted with THIS reality. "But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me." (Romans 7:21). By disobeying God, man has opened a door to his FREE WILL to Satan....master strategist of twisting the truth, cheating and lying. As long as man lives he will be exposed to this consequence of sin. There IS no escape from THIS truth. Only the BLOOD of Jesus can set us free....being born again is the ONLY answer to THIS conquest of the devil.
