“Ahh!! The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of knowing right and wrong. How glorious, how marvelous, what splendor. To know what Creator knows? To be like Him, knowing what is right or wrong?” What wisdom, what nourishment, what beauty!”
Now the serpent was more crafty that any of the beast of the field.
The serpent continued.
“Look at it, the tree. It is in the center of the garden. It must be more important than all the other trees. All the other trees want to be like it. It radiates as the rays of the sun bounce and flicker off it’s leaves like the light off a thousand diamonds.”
“Look at it! Desire it!”
“Nothing ever created compares to this tree”, said the serpent. “This tree is all you will ever need. Cherish it, love it, guard it with all your heart. Yes, there is another tree here, but it does not compare with the awesomeness of this “knowledge tree”. So don’t pay any attention to that other one.”
“Don’t you want it, this knowledge tree? Don’t you want its benefits? You can have it all. But there is this one thing. You must eat of it’s fruit. You must take it into your being. You must choose to become one with the tree. Isn’t this what you want? I know your Creator said “don’t eat of it or you will die,” but He meant don’t eat of just it. You can eat of the so called tree of Life also, just later, if you still want to. But you shall not surely die. After all, once you eat of the knowledge tree, you will be like your Creator, knowing what to do, or don’t do. You can then choose to eat of the other tree also. Eating of both trees could even be better for you. The best of both worlds, so to speak. Yes, a mixture of the two! That’s the ticket.” (Author’s note: Not that they would need an actual ticket for anything at this point in life, but I digress.)
As the words from the fallen angel reverberated in the mind of the woman, she contemplated the logical nature of his argument. It made sense. “Why wouldn’t I want to be like Creator”, she mused? “After all, didn’t He make the man in His own image? And I out of the man. He wants us to be like Him. This is a perfect solution. Creator will be proud of me. This is all we lack. Creator will be happy if I do this for Him and for us. The man will also be glad. The man loves me. I am the apple of his eye. He will join me in this action. I am excited! We can be like Creator and live our life by knowing what is right or wrong.”
The woman took the fruit and ate, and gave it to the man also. And their eyes were opened. But the result was not as they expected. Suddenly their eyes were opened, but to an overwhelming presence of guilt and condemnation. They felt guilty that they were naked. They felt shame. Instead of feeling close to the Creator, they felt distant. “We must hide and clothe ourselves with these leaves from the fruit of the ground” said the first couple. “Yes, this is the right thing to do. We can fix it. We now know what is right and wrong.”
But this did not fix it. They hid from the Creator. Then they watched as the Creator killed an animal, an animal the man had previously named “lamb”. Not just any lamb, but the very first one created. The first born.
“This animal was alive but now it is “without life””, the woman said. “I have never seen “without life”. Is this what God meant by surely “will die”? If this animal had to die, will I then surely also die? I sense something different inside of me. Is this death. What is this that I have done? Will Creator’s word actually come to pass. Will I also surely die as this animal has?”
After God killed the animal called “lamb”, He said to them, “I love you, this innocent death is for you to cover your nakedness, your guilt. The angel of sin, the serpent, has imparted his nature of sin into you. With sin comes death. You have lost your inner life. You surely have died inside, and will surely will die outside and return to dust.”
“I am not only the Just One but also the Justifier”.
So He clothed them with the skin of the animal called lamb. As the blood from the skin ran down their head onto their face and then to the bottom of their feet, the woman thought, “the payment of knowing right and wrong is to be “without life”, but the gift of Creator is the death of an innocent life. This is a mystery to me. I do not fully understand this action. I am saddened, and yet thankful at the same time for Creator’s love.”
Later, on many occasions around the dinner table, their two sons Cain and Abel would excitedly ask, “Tell us the story again, the time when Creator caused the lamb to be “without life”, what does it all mean?” As Adam and Eve recounted the events in the garden to Cain and Able, they recounted how they had sinned by choosing the knowledge of right and wrong as a means to be like God.
I am sure Cain and Abel sensed the sorrow and regret in their parents voice as they told the story. But, the story quickly turned to the love and mercy of God. Adam and Eve shared how God killed the animal and clothed them with it’s skin as it’s blood covered their bodies and dripped to the ground. Although they still did not fully understand, they had learned that it is by blood that someone who is “without life” is made right in the Creator’s eyes. All they knew was that without the shedding of blood of innocent life, there is no forgiveness. Abel, more so than Cain, always listened intently.
Later, as you know, Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to God while Abel brought a first born lamb from his flock. The Creator accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s. After all the stories about the Creator killing an animal to cover unrighteousness, Cain thought he would bring fruit from the cursed ground. Cain wanted to show God that by his hard work, he could reverse the curse. “Surely God will be pleased”, he thought.
This makes Cain’s offering of the works of his hands so much more sinister. Cain knew that it was by blood, but rejected the blood and offered the fruit of the ground as an offering. So in contrast, Abel’s offering became so much more sweeter, in that Abel believed the word of Adam and Eve about the blood, and offered accordingly in faith, and it pleased God. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
Jim
“It is Finished” 