4.1 The Setting
© 2019 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The title of this chapter is “The Death Source.” In this chapter, we are looking specifically at Adam’s decision in the Garden of Eden in the light of Paul’s terrible claims. – Through one man, sin entered into the cosmos, and through sin death; thus death spread into all men also, for all sinned (Romans 5:12). – Adam was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14).
When we say “death,” we mean all that death means, contrary to God and to goodness, in all heavenly realms and all physical realms, but even more specifically, cold and calculating murder. And when we say “source,” we mean that specific decision followed by the one action by which Adam, knowing God and all consequences, plunged the entire creation into death.
First Cause. Even more than that, we are saying that every cause of the incredible disconnect between the Christian mind and the King of the Universe living in all glory inside the Christian heart, comes entirely and only out from the dynamics and issues taking place as recorded in Genesis 3. Although we have tasted a universe of life in our union with Christ, we have never actually experienced such a reality outwardly; rather, we have known only a cosmos of death.
For that reason, it is essential for us to know the entirety of Adam’s rejection of Christ in order to know the full meaning of our submission to Christ. And as we do, we will see the same rejection of Christ as the rule underlying much Christian “theology” and thinking.
The Lessons of this Chapter. In this first lesson, we want to look at the setting, the characters and the place of that scene. On sound historical evidence, that is the testimony of three witnesses, Moses, Jesus, and Paul, we are treating Genesis 3 as actual history while also drawing in fully the symbolic implications taking place.
In the next lesson, we will look at the great issues God Himself set before mankind, issues that continue all through the Bible and in every human life today, what those issues are and why they are, the choice between two given to every human soul in every moment. No one can blame Adam for what they do.
Finally, we must understand the dynamics taking place inside of Adam as he committed the greatest crime ever committed, why he made that decision and what he intended to steal. We also assume that you are well-familiar with the context of Genesis 1-4 and have no need for an overall rehearsal.
Sin Began with Adam. – By man death… (1 Corinthians 15:21). There is no other word in the Bible that would stand above Paul’s declaration that sin and death began with Adam.
More than that, God placed all authority inside His creation upon Adam in the moment He said, “Subdue.” Nothing of life or of death could happen inside an innocent creation, existing in the absence of the knowledge of God as He is, apart from Adam’s direction. God’s full intention was to live inside of Adam and Eve and to make Himself known to His creation through all humans, as “Love one another,” that is, God showing Himself as He is. God intended to energeo all things together with Adam and us.
God Means. As Genesis 3 opens, no sin or death exists inside any part of heaven and earth. Yet the creation remains in vanity.
You see, God in His being contains two incredibly massive PROBLEMS. God’s first problem is that God is love. And God’s second problem is that God is holy. God is love MEANS that God must love a Beloved. God creates because Love must know His Beloved. And God is holy MEANS that God cannot sin, the thought of forcing His knowledge on anyone never enters His mind.
In creating His beloved, then, God knows that He does not force Himself upon her but is always setting her free of Himself. And in setting her free, God knows already inside Himself the paying of every price to win her heart back to His own.
Drawn to Life. From the human point of view, God’s PROBLEMS are resolved in one way only, through our faith, through our joyous embracing of the knowledge of God and of Jesus Sent entering into us that we together might be God’s visible form, that He might show “Love one another” to all through us.
As Adam and Eve walked through the garden, enjoying one another in all intimate romance, in purity and goodness, the faith of Jesus that God had placed in Adam’s design drew both of them towards the center of the garden, towards the joy of the knowledge of God entering into them. Forcing His knowledge on Adam and Eve could not exist inside of God’s thinking; winning their hearts through the demonstration of His love was God’s all-consuming passion.
Resolving God’s Problem. Although no sin existed anywhere in God’s creation, Adam and Eve were not yet “born again.” That is, they had not yet invited the Lord Jesus Christ to enter into their hearts and to live with them in the full reciprocity of symmorphy.
Nothing meant more to God than that upcoming moment when Adam’s teeth would bite into the fruit of the tree of life, when Adam would “eat of” the Lord Jesus Christ, and through Christ, the Father could enter into a full symmorphic synergeoing with Adam and with all humanity. Nothing meant more to God than Adam and Eve’s permission allowing Him to make His Home inside of them and through their reciprocal God-Love of one another, to show Himself to heaven and earth through all of their connections together.
Come and Freely Eat. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. …The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8-9 – reduced). – And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
God invited mankind to eat freely of all trees but one; nonetheless, it was the tree of life to which Adam was specifically invited. The two trees were the word God speaks, one in outward form; the other, the true Word, that is, Jesus Himself. This issue, however, we will reserve for the next lesson.
Four Immediate Persons. There are four persons directly in our story, then, as Adam and Eve enter the clearing in the center of the garden. We will set aside Father God, now, in our discussion, knowing that He cannot be known until Adam receives Christ. More than that, Adam and Eve walked utterly in the Spirit, and so the presence of the hovering Spirit of God is assumed, for all things exist only inside of and by that Spirit.
The four persons are Adam, Eve, the serpent, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the serpent was anointed by God as His covering over the word in outward form, that is, the law, so the tree of life can be nothing other than the Man, Christ Jesus, hanging naked upon a cross of wood.
Called to Life. Here is Paul’s testimony. First, Adam was NOT deceived, and, second, Adam and Eve knew God (Romans 1:21).
There is no knowledge of God that does not begin with the Person of the Lord Jesus entering into us. Thus we know that Adam saw and fully understood the Lord Jesus inside and as the tree of life. The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, of life and of love, gripped Adam’s heart, calling to him, drawing him and Eve, step by step, towards the confirmation of LIFE.
You see, Adam and Eve possessed all human faculty in full extent. As such they saw all the realms of the heavens in which they walked as much as the physical things of earth. They saw angels singing and laughing as much as they saw the animals.
The Anointed Cherub. The serpent was not an animal but an angel, fully visible and known to Adam and Eve. We understand this creature out from the prophetic seeing of Isaiah and Ezekiel, in chapters 14 and 28, respectively. Isaiah used the Hebrew term for “light-bearer” to describe him, which, in Latin, is “Lucifer.” We will call him only “the serpent,” however.
There was neither sin nor death in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil nor in any part of its fruit. That tree was formed only out from God. It would become sin only if and as Adam alone ate its fruit. Here is God’s testimony of the one He had placed to cover that tree. – “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. – You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you” (Ezekiel 28:12 & 14).
All Heavenly Glory. Specifically, this creature presiding over the outward form of the word God speaks, that is, word as ideas for the mind, was the greatest sentient being of all whom God had created. The serpent was the most intelligent of all creatures, the most beautiful, the largest, the wisest, the most gifted in music and word, in craft and design. In everything to which this creature put his hand, he excelled above all other created beings. For this reason, he “covered” all the works of God’s hand, that is, until the moment God spoke to Adam, “Subdue.”
The serpent was the essence of all heavenly glory, of all perfection of light, of all color and sound, of all external creative power and ability. No appearance in heaven or earth was more overwhelming to all sensibility than was this angel.
Subtlety. Now the serpent was more cunning or subtle than any living thing in [God’s] “holding” (Genesis 3:1). (Note: the Hebrew words do not require this reference to mean only animals.) The word “subtle” best describes God’s entire meaning and purpose.
Consider a magician. If you could see everything happening on the stage, you would be utterly unimpressed by the show. Your only response would be, “Duh!” The magician entertains you by causing you to see only the outward appearance that he wishes you to see, and not to see the real substance that is actually happening, so that when he springs reality on you, you will not expect it, but you will be utterly surprised and overwhelmed.
From Setting to Issue. Here is that same position of the audience as applied to the believer in Jesus. – We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). That is, we walk by substance, by the Word God speaks alive inside of us, and not by any outward appearance, no matter how heavenly or glorious.
And that is the transition from the setting to the issue.
James makes it clear that God cannot be tempted or tested by evil, neither does He tempt or test anyone (James 1:13). There is no “test” for Adam in any part of this setting designed by God. In complete contrast, it is God who must prove Himself. God’s intentions towards Adam and Eve and towards all created things are nothing other than life and goodness.