June 17, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Luke 13-14

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Genesis 3:1-7 (NASB95)
¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” ⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! ⁵ “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ 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 from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. ^[1]

Look at temptation for a moment, first, Eve knew the rules.  She knew that she was not to eat of the tree of good and evil.  Look at the rationalization where she embellished upon how wrong it was to eat from the tree, and even acknowledged the penalty of sin. 

James 1:14-15 (NASB95)
¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵ Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. ^[2]

Then Satan tempts Eve with the fruit, the hook was that she would become like God, knowing good from evil.  Yet how is that a hook?  Good and evil did not exist yet, since sin had not entered the world.  It existed in the universe because Satan had already been kicked out of heaven.  Yet the lure for Eve was that she was being cheated out of something.  Eve was extremely intelligent, we covered that yesterday, she was created perfect, with a perfect mind and able to process the possibilities of her mind better than we can.  We would not want to match wits with Adam and Eve; their intellect was off the charts.  The knowledge of good and evil sounded interesting, and lured her in. Look at the definition of sin as James defined it, Eve could not blame Satan because Satan did not make her sin.  She saw the tree, considered the possibilities and penalties, and desired more than she had.  Eve was carried away by her own desires, her own lusts.  Consider this, lust is not bad when it is used properly, it drives us to perform and to reach out to better ourselves, when it is used improperly and directed toward the wrong things, then it is sin.

The third thing that happened was the act of sin, where Eve ate the fruit.  Following that was the desire to draw Adam into her sin.  When people sin, they often draw others into the same sin in order to justify their sin, and to share the knowledge about that sin.  The Bible doesn't indicate that there was any argument from Adam.  Yet Adam bore the reputation of being the first man that sinned.  Adam was in a state of authority over all creation, even over Eve.  When Adam, the ruler of this world and the caretaker of the world ate the fruit, he died spiritually.  As James indicated, the penalty of sin was death. 

In the case of Adam and Eve, the penalty was severe; they went from being eternal beings to people with a limited life.  When you consider the aging process, it doesn't make sense.  Every cell in our bodies with the exception of brain and the spinal chord regenerate themselves.  I am not sure of the time, but somewhere around the three year mark our bodies have been totally revamped.  God created us to live forever, the curse of sin causes us to age and die physically; the curse of sin also causes spiritual death which can only be reversed by Jesus Christ on the cross.  The physical death will also be reversed by Jesus for all men when they stand before Him in judgment.  Some will enter the kingdom of heaven with a perfect body, others will enter Hell with a perfect body.

Adam and Eve acted upon their new knowledge and began to sew clothes together for themselves because of their nakedness. 

Another thought on this, Adam did not want to lose Eve; she was the most beautiful woman that has ever been on earth.  Not only was she beautiful, she was a perfect match for Adam, created to exactly complement him in every way.  You can be sure that he was madly in love with her.

Genesis 3:8-12 (NASB95)
⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

1 Corinthians 8:8-12 (NASB95)
⁸ But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. ⁹ But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. ¹² And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. ^[3]

The next progression in sin is to justify our actions.  Part of that justification is to blame others so that the sin is not our responsibility.  Guilt is mixed in with the justification, we will start to hide from God.  Today we refer to that as breaking fellowship with God, which is exactly what had happened in Genesis.  Look at the answer that God gave, "Who told you that you were naked?"  God knew the answer to both questions, the implication of the question is that man had gained the knowledge of good and evil. 

I am sure that some will disagree with nakedness as being sin, yet consider that they perceived nakedness as sin, then it was.  This is what Paul was speaking about when he spoke of food sacrificed to idols.  Eating the food was not sin, but the perception of it as being sin caused weak brothers to stumble. 

So much can be said about these verses of the Bible, I wanted to study them further, but simply ran out of time. You are welcomed to comment, I will post all comments. Closing verse:

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NASB95)
¹² Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. ^[4]

Father, as we consider Your word and the common problem of sin and temptation, open our eyes to ways that we can defeat temptation and overcome sin.  Open each of our eyes so that we can look for the way of escape when we are tempted.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

June 18, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Leviticus 4-6

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I apologize for the short study today.  I worked on it and planned to finish it after running, the weather was around 100 in Yermo while I was running, and at the end I was beat.  I would encourage each one of you to remain diligent in the Bible readings, they are the factor that throws balance into our lives.

Genesis 3:13-16 (NASB95)
¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; ¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” ¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” ^[1]

When people are caught in sin, one of the natural responses to the sin is that the person is not responsible for the sin.  Eve blamed the serpent for her actions.  God acknowledged that the serpent did have something to do with the sin, and cast a curse upon him.  Speculation has it that since the serpent was cursed to crawl upon its belly, it must have been a very beautiful and majestic creature, far more beautiful than we can imagine.  Also, the note about eating dust has been found to be a fact.  I don't remember the reason that a snake eats the dust, but I do remember that it is necessary for its very existence.

The prophecy in verse 15 was fulfilled through Jesus Christ.  He was the seed that stomped on the head of the serpent ending the battle once for all.  The bruise on the heel is thought to be the pain and suffering that Satan causes to believers while they are here on earth.

Eve was cursed that she would have pain in childbirth, and she would be mastered by her husband.  This indicates that when God created woman she was created an equal, not a subordinate to man.  This could also be spoken of symbolically because the rib was taken out of Adam's side. 

Genesis 3:17-24 (NASB95)
¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. ¹⁸ “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” ²⁰ Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. ²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Revelation 22:14 (NASB95)
¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. ^[2]

Adam's curse was that he would have to toil or work in order to provide for a family, and that the very earth would be against him.  Where weeds never existed, they were to grow, the garden that God had created suddenly went sour, Adam had to work to draw food from it.  There is a play on Adam's name, which meant dirt, he started as dirt, and would return to the dirt, death was going to happen.

Eve means "life", so she is the mother of all generations of mankind.  Take note also that God killed an animal to make garments to cover Adam and Eve.  God could have shown them how to use fibers and make material, but He didn't, the reason behind this is that sin must be covered by the shedding of blood. 

God made note that man would be back for more.  The sin nature of man had been planted and man would charge full steam after the sin nature.  Therefore God drove man out of the garden.  The question that remains is whether the tree of life is the same one that is in Revelation.  God protected the tree, preserving it from further abuse by man in the Garden.  I have often pictured that tree in my mind with the angel standing guard with a flaming sword.  It's one of the great mysteries of the Bible, it will be interesting to see the rest of the story when we get to heaven.

Father, as we consider the penalties of sin, enlighten each one of us and let us see how that we can deal with sin in our lives.  We praise You that the eternal penalty of sin was removed through Jesus Christ and we stand righteous and alive in Your sight.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

For the sake of convenience, I have copied and pasted Matthew Henry's comments below, if you would like to read the rest of the passage, it can be found at www.crosswalk.com.

A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan. Though what was said was addressed to the serpent, yet it was said in the hearing of our first parents, who, doubtless, took the hints of grace here given them, and saw a door of hope opened to them, else the following sentence upon themselves would have overwhelmed them. Here was the dawning of the gospel day. No sooner was the wound given than the remedy was provided and revealed. Here, in the head of the book, as the word is (Heb. 10:7), in the beginning of the Bible, it is written of Christ, that he should do the will of God. By faith in this promise, we have reason to think, our first parents, and the patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved and to this promise, and the benefit of it, instantly serving God day and night, they hoped to come. Notice is here given them of three things concerning Christ:—(1.) His incarnation, that he should be the seed of the woman, the seed of that woman; therefore his genealogy (Lu. 3) goes so high as to show him to be the son of Adam, but God does the woman the honour to call him rather her seed, because she it was whom the devil had beguiled, and on whom Adam had laid the blame; herein God magnifies his grace, in that, though the woman was first in the transgression, yet she shall be saved by child-bearing (as some read it), that is, by the promised seed who shall descend from her, 1 Tim. 2:15. He was likewise to be the seed of a woman only, of a virgin, that he might not be tainted with the corruption of our nature; he was sent forth, made of a woman (Gal. 4:4), that this promise might be fulfilled. It is a great encouragement to sinners that their Saviour is the seed of the woman, bone of our bone, Heb. 2:11, 14. Man is therefore sinful and unclean, because he is born of a woman (Job 25:4), and therefore his days are full of trouble, Job 14:1. But the seed of the woman was made sin and a curse for us, so saving us from both. (2.) His sufferings and death, pointed at in Satan’s bruising his heel, that is, his human nature. Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness, to draw him into sin; and some think it was Satan that terrified Christ in his agony, to drive him to despair. It was the devil that put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ, of Peter to deny him, of the chief priests to prosecute him, of the false witnesses to accuse him, and of Pilate to condemn him, aiming in all this, by destroying the Saviour, to ruin the salvation; but, on the contrary, it was by death that Christ destroyed him that had the power of death, Heb. 2:14. Christ’s heel was bruised when his feet were pierced and nailed to the cross, and Christ’s sufferings are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts them, casts them into prison, persecutes and slays them, and so bruises the heel of Christ, who is afflicted in their afflictions. But, while the heel is bruised on earth, it is well that the head is safe in heaven. (3.) His victory over Satan thereby. Satan had now trampled upon the woman, and insulted over her; but the seed of the woman should be raised up in the fulness of time to avenge her quarrel, and to trample upon him, to spoil him, to lead him captive, and to triumph over him, Col. 2:15. He shall bruise his head, that is, he shall destroy all his politics and all his powers, and give a total overthrow to his kingdom and interest. Christ baffled Satan’s temptations, rescued souls out of his hands, cast him out of the bodies of people, dispossessed the strong man armed, and divided his spoil: by his death, he gave a fatal and incurable blow to the devil’s kingdom, a wound to the head of this beast, that can never be healed. As his gospel gets ground, Satan falls (Lu. 10:18) and is bound, Rev. 20:2. By his grace, he treads Satan under his people’s feet (Rom. 16:20) and will shortly cast him into the lake of fire, Rev. 20:10. And the devil’s perpetual overthrow will be the complete and everlasting joy and glory of the chosen remnant.