Subsequently, God turns to Eve and asks…What is this you have done?  (The same question goes to the rest of us) Genesis 3:11.  Moreover, even if Eve had been listening all this time, she does what her husband had done.  Reasoning with the half truths, playing the blaming game, and somehow giving excuses, as she tried to hide her own sin, instead of taking responsibility.  But, I believe God wanted her to think wisely; that acknowledging her sin and having a contrite heart would get her to connect to God again.  Nowadays, some of us deal with it by repentance and asking God for forgiveness through Jesus.

What have you done question – helps us to analyse the consequences of our actions, especially when the action is connected to sin.  Also to think about God’s laws and how it affects us and others. The alarm in our minds (a rooster’s call), which goes off before and after the wrong action, is designed to get us to be aware of a sin.

Those who are rooted in faith (Jesus) are more alert to the call, because they read the scriptures and have the Holy Spirit to guide them.  Jesus through the Holy Spirit will always remind us to say no to sin and of judgement.  One thing about the Bible, it goes into details and mentions every area of sin.  Jesus goes even further to explain; it’s not just the actions, but the thoughts as well, such as hatred, envy, etc.  For every sin begins with a thought, and comes from the heart, Mark 7:20-23.  Real transformation or repentance takes place in the heart first and then extends to thoughts and actions.

TEMPTATION

The first question which can also be translated as (where are you now?) is  applied to a situation or temptation, where we have to exercise a thinking process before we take action which normally results to affect us and others before God.  When you think about it; we often learn from our mistakes.  If we are wise enough we don’t do it again, or we sense the danger of sinning and avoid it altogether.  Sin normally carries a sting.  In this case, Jesus would ask; what have you learnt?

Another crucial point is; the questioning and reasoning process helps us to come to that turning point.  Sometimes, when our hearts are contrite, we can express good reasoning and come to a clear understanding. To make a turning point, requires us to assess our lives by looking deep within, and weigh decisions whether they are right or wrong.  And eventually to seek His wisdom from the Holy Bible, which delivers us from a lot of heartache and leads us to salvation.

To be continued…………..

God asks: Who told you that you were naked? …The conversation is getting even more intense. I believe at this moment, God wants him to think even more…it is not about clothes!  Before that, he was a confident man without clothes, now he feels ashamed.  He wants him to think deeply, even through his confusion.  He wants him to acknowledge his own mistake and exercise good reasoning, in order for him to gain understanding.

False information often confuses our minds.  Spiritual wise, God wants us to think about where the whole truth is coming from, (is it based on His wisdom?)  He wants us to understand clearly that wrong information comes from Satan (the master planner of lies). Jesus said, ‘He is the (whole) truth’, because Adam’s sin did not affect him, for he came from heaven and knew everything about God the creator in total perfection.  He said, ‘when a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me’. And then he says, ‘there is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day’. (John 12:44-50 NIV)

He came to the world where many people were confused, and bombarded with false information, that’s why he was so passionate when he preached and gave a warning about false prophets, and false preaching (distorts the truth), Mt. 7:15.  When you keep on reading further, he speaks to John through the Holy Spirit and mentions the anti Christ are coming into the world.  They even deny Jesus as the son of God, and that God sent him to save the world. I John 2

Have You Eaten..?

Back to Adam, God confronts him with more questioning, to remind him about the commandment they had just broken, which was an act of unfaithfulness.  When he found his words again, he pointed a finger at his wife.  This now goes on to be a blaming game. The woman you put here with me…Probably, in his mind he is thinking, if it wasn’t the woman, I would be on the right track. Nevertheless, God wanted him to examine his own heart and responsibility, and stop giving excuses.  Does that sound like someone you know? Someone may blame somebody else/society for their behaviour or sins, and some may blame God when things fall apart.  But of course as we all know, there is another side to the coin when an innocent person carries a burden of another person’s wrong actions’ which most of us experience once in a while.

To be continued….

Moving on, Adam says, I was afraid… Now insecurity has flooded his mind, which is common to all of us.  Bear in mind, before that he was a happy man without a tint of fear, and not worried about life. Genesis 3:10

Then he goes on to say, because I was naked…Before that, he was totally in control.  Now he starts to feel insecure about life and his own body. The Adam syndrome has a profound effect on us, and we get into the habit of examining ourselves and find something to feel insecure about.  ‘Nakedness’ in a spiritual sense indicates insecurity – without God’s protection in Jesus, in his word, or guidance through the Holy Spirit. 

I think Adam and Eve must have come to a point when they felt regretful about what they had done.  I believe after God saw how insecure and regretful they were, He felt sorry for them and clothed them, which later on symbolises Jesus’ sacrifice, as a covering and forgiveness for our sins.  When Jesus was about to be crucified, they took his clothes, and then after the crucifixion he was covered with a linen cloth.  For every thing that happened to Jesus, was as God planned it to be, to rescue mankind from Satan’s control.

Afterwards, he goes on to say, so I hid… he is got so much fear that he hides. (Bearing in mind he had no where to go). Really!  How can you hide from someone who knows where you are?  To us, sometimes we forget that God is watching us and cannot hide from Him.  We have created a lot of hiding places, e.g. science theology, focusing on money, false beliefs, and Just like Adam and Eve we hide our sins.  So when Adam and Eve came out of hiding they were able to talk to God again.

To be continued…

Back to Adam, his first answer was, ‘I heard you were in the garden… (Avoiding telling the whole truth) Does that sound like someone you know?  Sincerely, the majority of us have heard about God, and have come to different conclusions.  The word of God is his garden (Kingdom) and the tree of life is Jesus, because he said, in him you’ll have eternal life, John 3.  What we hear gets us into the action of producing a faith fruit.  And normally the actions we take will either lead us to the dry ground or a proper garden.  As a scripture says, you reap what you sow…Galatians 4:6.

During Jesus’ time of preaching, when people heard that he was in a certain location, they would walk miles to get to him.  Each of them had a reason why they wanted to see him. Those who went to him were all healed physically and spiritually, Mark 2:1-6.  Most of our time is consumed by hearing information, who said what, what happened, and who is telling the truth.  Jesus went on to say, ‘I am the truth’, because he had no sin, so there was no false information in him.  And he says, ‘think carefully of what you hear’ Mark 4:24. He also said, He and the Father are one, meaning every word Jesus said came from the Jehovah God (the creator of heaven and earth).  And he said, ‘everyone on the side of truth listens to me’. So it doesn’t matter what anyone says. According to God, Jesus is the real deal.

To be continued…

After the testing which God allowed,  (if you keep on reading the Bible you get to understand that Satan has boundaries – Job ),  Adam and Eve had to go through intensive scrutiny.  Sadly, when they made that decision of touching the tree and eating the fruit afterwards, it was a hardening of hearts on their part. But I’m sure their hearts softened when they acknowledged their sin and that they had done wrong by disobeying God, and I’m sure they cried a lot.

Moving on, after Yahweh (God)had seen everything that had happened and had examined their hearts,  He decides to speak to them.  Note; He didn’t start by telling them what they’ve done.  He starts by asking them questions.

Where are you? ..A question that comes to my mind; why did God ask Adam, when He knew where he was?  Note;  God sees everything for nothing is hidden before him, Heb. 4:13, and knows what we are thinking.  Even Jesus demonstrated this in his mission.  Adam on the other hand, after realising the mess he and his wife was in, he then analyses the situation and skips a direct answer, but tries to understand what it meant. That’s why he didn’t answer I’m in the garden somewhere!  And to us; it doesn’t mean I’m relaxing in a cafe in New-York, or  I’m climbing a wall in China and it is not easy.  I’m on Mt. Kilimanjaro, or  I’m on the London eye and it is nice out here.  I’m busy on my computer, trying to get some work done,  or I’m watching TV and it is really taking a chunk of my time.

This question is crucial; why?  Because you have to see where you are in order for you to see where you’re going, which means you have to see your mistakes in order to correct them.

Now I believe God wanted Adam to examine himself, in regard to his thinking, actions, and to acknowledge his own mistake.  He wanted them to see things from His own perspective.  Now that sin had entered their minds, it was impossible for them to go back to the man and the woman they used to be.  And the Holy Spirit says the question applies to anyone with a reasoning mind.

The path

And when it comes to Jesus, he asks the same question, where are you, when it comes to God and His plan/word?  From Jesus’ point of view which is based on truth, the world is divided into four sections of people; for some where the heart on the rocks, others the heart is in thorns, and for others the heart is on the dry ground and for others the heart is on the good soil. (Mat. 13:1-23)

Later on, He mentions the two roads, the narrow road (is clear and full of light in God and Jesus) and the wider road (full of Satan’s darkness – messed up with false idolatry and heartache)….In this case, he would ask, ‘which path are you on and where is it leading you?’ (Mt. 7:13)

To be continued….

Of all animals Satan decides to use a serpent (Genesis 3:1) to test Adam and Eve, because it was craftier than other animals.  And when you go deep into the Bible you get to understand that spiritually speaking Satan is indeed very crafty.  And if you look at things now, a snake is the most poisonous animal on land.  One bite alone kills if untreated, which is similar to the scenario of sin, Romans 6:23.  As you know, big snakes swallow their prey, which also indicates that if we don’t turn away from a sin we can be swallowed by it.  That’s why when you read through  the Bible you can see God is advising people to turn to him and away from evil, because of the consequences.  And He  is also, God of love, encouragement, and wants to save us.

Why did Satan target Eve?

It seems like she went to the tempting place where Satan was, and according to the scriptures she looked and desired what she saw, and then influenced her husband, which was wrong on her part.  Being the first creation of God, Adam was supposed to be the stronger one to remind his wife, but failed in this area.  So the devil saw that weakness in him.  And when Adam decided to listen to the woman, he became weak too.  Even now Satan targets the weaker spots in us; the main ones are the unbelief, the doubting and then the desiring.  And it also shows that when a person has strong a faith the devil doesn’t bother him or her much, only when it notices a weakness in them.

The Devil presented a doubting question to Eve ‘Did God really say…Satan has another name (Dragon, revelation 12:7).  Note; the devil (tempter) is weak but a dangerous force in the world; it is a master of all wrong doing and acts in ferocious anger.  Now days it goes around the world to target every area which is connected to sin, and dominates every area of wrong beliefs.  Not only that, it also goes around churches/congregations to find weak spots to do some damage.  That’s why God gave us the Holy Bible to act as a shield and guidance.  And the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and  point us to the truth.

The True Vine

Realistically speaking, it’s up to the person to examine their beliefs whether it is coming from God or not, and to search the truth through the Holy Bible scriptures for themselves. Jesus gave us tips, a good tree, Mt.7:16-18.  And then he says John 15:1, I’m the true vine tree… a good tree has no bad fruits; (bad fruits represents sin).  When Jesus established the first ministry of disciples, Satan attacked the weaker one (Judas).  Why? Because he allowed the devil to trick him in his thinking, and then he was captivated by money, so he eventually became a thief and a betrayer. John 12:4-6

Satan even attacks the areas of emotions, when stress levels are high.  For example, Jesus didn’t have any sin in him; the devil waited until he was stressed out by hunger after fasting.  When you read the Bible you can see Jesus was above Satan.  He didn’t let the devil contaminate his mind.  He knew how it operates.  Bearing mind, he saw the chaos in Eden. Genesis 3:21

To be continued…

Adam and his wife are living a life of no stress, no desires, no wars, no arguments, no hatred, no fear, no money problems, no pain, no hunger, no diseases or death.  And then comes a great fall (sin) which will shake their lives for ever and in the end to affect all of us.

God tells Adam with a strong warning before Eve was even created. You must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil…God explains to him why, because your days will be cut short. (God is Love) I believe He didn’t want them to get hurt and desired to protect them.  Afterwards, He even introduced marriage, because He wanted them to be happy.

After this I’m sure it is now Adam’s responsibility to pass on the information to his wife, just like him was in total perfection of humility and love.  I believe they had a perfect love for God, and for each other.  And from a pure point of view – without making demands on each other,  because  when you look into the Bible they had children after the disobedience, Genesis 4:1-2. 

Meanwhile, they enjoyed their jobs of working on the land as well as the scenery of the beautiful gardens and the food that came with it. They also lived peacefully with all the animals.  And it seems like they could even have a conversation with them, for example, the talking snake, and when you read further in the bible a donkey spoke at one point, Numbers 22:28.  I believe the communication they had with them was cut off, because of their disobedience. The mess of Adam and Eve affected the land too. Note: As leaders of all animals their decisions were crucial and critical, the same still stands today (mankind leads all other animals and  when it comes to caring for the environment our decisions are critical).

To be continued….