The New Birth
". . . Thou Shalt Surely Die"
Read Time: 11 Minutes
We have learned that God had formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life and created spirit in man. This is
essential knowledge in understanding what God meant in Genesis 2:17 when God
said,
Genesis 2
:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
What did God mean when he said, "thou shalt surely die?" God tells
us that Adam lived 930 years (Gen. 5:5). Some say the seeds of death were sown
in Adam. But God said, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die." In the day, that very same day, Adam ate of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil he died. How did he die? Maybe a better
questions is what died?
God had created spirit in Adam and Eve which was their direct connection to
God. They could communicate with God and God with them easily. They had
a choice of how to gather information, via spirit or the five senses. They
could rely on their five senses, as a natural man would, or rely on knowledge
and wisdom from God. We have this same choice today and God gave us free will, we
can choose.
God gave Adam and Eve everything. He gave them a garden rich with foods and
gold, bdellium * and onyx stone. Rivers ran through this garden and there was
animals in abundance to thrive in this garden. There were no thorns or thistles
(those came later). Adam and Eve had it made. There was only one stipulation
however:
Genesis 2
:16 And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat:
:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
They could freely eat of every tree in the garden except for the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. They were content to do so. They had no problem
with this. They were on talking terms with God, God helped Adam name all of the
animals. Names were necessary. It is better than saying, "That fat critter
with the long shorthaired tail with a tuft on the end, split hooves, about yea high
with horns and goes 'moo'." It is much easier to say cow, don't you agree?
Sorry, I got side-tracked.
They could freely eat of every tree of the garden, except for the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, and they had dominion over
the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air and every of every living thing that
moved upon the earth (1:26-28). And they were content to do so. They just
couldn't eat of that one tree.
So what happened? God doesn't record them grumbling or murmuring about their
situation. There was no discontent. As long as Adam and Eve walked in
harmony with God's Word (spoken at the time) and walked with Him,
spiritually, there was no problem. Just as soon as they let their five senses
take precedence over God's Word and will there was trouble.
Genesis 3
:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field
which the LORD
God had made.
And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God
said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The very first thing the Satan tried to do is get Eve to question the
integrity of God's Word. Satan quotes God's Word to Eve, but incompletely. He was
trying to get Eve to question what God had meant. He was working on Eve to get her
to doubt God's Word. Satan knows that he cannot blatantly contradict God's Word,
that would cause Eve to reject his notions immediately. Satan worked on Eve
subtly. "Did God really say you couldn't eat of every tree of the
garden?"
Eve's response was not a spiritual response. She didn't go right to God and
say, "What is up with this snake in the grass?" She started to consider
what he said. She decided to go it alone and answer him, a natural man's five
senses response. She shouldn't even have responded to him. We cannot totally
stop satanic influences from bombarding us. Satan is the god of this world and
he orchestrates all the evil, death and destruction. We may not be able to stop
all of the influences but we can control what stays in our minds and how we
react to it. Eve stopped to consider Satan's question and reason with him (a
natural man response).
:2 And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden:
Is that what God had said? No! God said, "Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat." She left out a word. She makes the Word of
God unduly restrictive.
She continues:
:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of
the garden,
God hath said,
Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Is that what God had said? No! God said, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." She added,
"neither shall ye touch it". God didn't say that, He said you couldn't
eat of it. Here she is making God's Word unduly restrictive again.
She is getting religious (man's rules instead of God's will). Then she doesn't
identify the specific tree. There are two trees in the midst of the garden, the tree of
life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil..
2
:9 And out of the ground made the LORD
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight,
and good for food;
the tree of
life
also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
Her final phrase, "lest ye die" is right were the devil wants her.
God's Word is now twisted in her mind to the point that she is willing to accept
Satan's next statement. Eve
no longer has the Word of God and cannot fend off this attack.
3
:4 And the serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die:
A lie!! A direct contradiction to God's Word. She has succumbed to
the questioning of the integrity of God's Word. Because she considered and
changed God's Word she no longer recognized this statement as a lie and believed
the devil instead of God. She was depending on her own five senses and
knowledge instead of looking to God when she was confronted.
:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof,
then your eyes shall be
opened,
and ye shall be as gods,
knowing
good and evil.
:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food,
and that it was pleasant to
the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one
wise,
she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with
her;
and he did eat.
This has five senses written all over it. She saw that it was good
for food. It was pleasant to the eyes, a tree to be desired. Then
she totally succumbed to the devil's lie. She could have stopped and said to
herself, "Wait a minute, let me check with God first." But she was
walking by her five senses instead of spiritually listening to God. I am sure
God wasn't off doing something else like playing baseball with Adam. God is
always with us. Eve just wasn't listening.
Notice that the devil didn't work on Adam to get him to transgress, Eve did.
Ladies, you have great influence on your husbands. We must know the Word so that
we can be a help mate instead of a thorn in the side.
:7 And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were
naked;
and they sewed fig leaves together,
and made themselves aprons.
The devil got Eve to question the integrity of God's Word
