Genesis Framework Part 24

Genesis Framework
GF 24 Crisis at the Tree Pt 2
February 7, 2016
Part 24

NKJ Genesis 3:1-7
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave 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 coverings.

The woman, Eve, gave credit to the anti-gospel of the anti-lord whose presence inspired her to interpret his having come as, to liberate mankind from his vassalage under the malevolent oppressor.

She became enlightened to a new reality that the serpent had also come to show man how to assert his innate rights effectively, by elevating him from the level of humankind to that of godhood.

This was not an intellectual enlightenment for the woman, as much as it was a heart-changing encounter with another gospel.

In her heart, Satan and his covenant had replaced Yahweh-Elohim and His covenant of life, and she had entered into a covenant with death, embracing the claim of the prince of death believing that by taking up with him as lord, Satan would assure her a destiny as having
immunity from death.

Essentially the woman had committed her life to a new religion that was polytheistic. She idolized Satan and idolized herself as well, and
arrogantly seized a right that did not belong to her, by attributing it to herself without just reason.

The word that well describes her action is that she arrogated a right which did not belong to her.

To arrogate- is to claim or seize something without the right to do so, it is to appropriate something for oneself arrogantly, to attribute a right to oneself without reason other than unwarranted pride, a sense of self-importance, in an overbearing and haughty style of pride. Arrogance doesn’t need a legitimate reason to ascribe rights unto itself.

(Q) What right had she arrogated to herself?

(A) She had seized to herself the right of the divine prerogative of final judgment in discerning between good and evil, and in defining the meaning of reality in general.

She is Eve, and this is her world.

Sometimes we are like Eve, “and this is this my world.”

Her new theology was to assume a critical stance against the word of God.

She had arrogated to herself the divine prerogative, a right not to have to ask beforehand, and by exercising autonomy, a privilege due only to the highest of rank.

Arrogance doesn’t need as legitimate reason to take for itself, nor does it need to ask permission, it takes the right belonging to the first in order, without requiring to solicit God’s approval.

Her first task in her new theology was to re-define the special, exceptional tree as merely an ordinary tree, in the same sense as all the other trees, attributing to it the issuing of a pleasant result to the peering of eyes and the chewing of teeth.

What snapped or abruptly changed within Eve that she should realize for herself newly liberated powers of reason, allowing her to function autonomously without a pre-commitment to the absolute authority of the Creator as the God of truth?

The something which clicked was the immediate result of the sin of rebellion, the eliciting of the foretold consequence of disobedience, an aspect of the death product in the process of bearing its reward, a delusional personal sense of divinity that emboldened her to proclaim her own fiat, that it was no longer to be the “forbidden tree,” but now it shall be the “desirable tree.”

Look carefully at the corruption taking place.

According to Eve, desirability was no longer to be based on considerations in keeping with God’s ordering of good things, but rather on the result of heart and mind evaluation of what is to be called good measured in terms of its desirability based on its ability to satisfy the lust of
the flesh and the pride of life, the lust excited by the stimulation of peering eyes and the pride excited by the stimulation of chewing teeth.

The actual moment of transition was prior to the physical consumption of the fruit, at the inception of her new faith.

With Eve what we observed in the eating of the fruit was an open demonstration of her antifaith in action, by availing herself of the fruit of the desirable tree.

Partaking of this tree was a confirmation of the woman’s covenant with the devil, as such it became the sacramental tree of his covenant, substituted for God’s sacramental Tree of Life.

Think about this.

How remarkable was it that Satan was able to not only convince her that this was not the Judgment Tree and just another tree, but that in some way it was also a special tree that provided the sacramental means to divine wisdom.

And in confession of her new found faith, she turned away from the table of the Lord and accepted the “come unto me” invitation of the devil to eat of the sacramental tree of the prince of demons, to ratify her covenant with him.

To ratify – to sign, to seal, or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid.

Then, it became that out of missionary zeal for her new religion, she presented the evil spell to her husband and made a convert of him.

Genesis 3.6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

The kind of response that at first she had, gave the surface appearance of being a defense of the Lord…

Genesis 3.2
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "

…this kind of response was now gone.

Now she acted unashamedly as the devil’s apostle, his disciple, his witness; literally she become the devil’s advocate.

We do not know for certain over what length of time this episode lasted or whether Adam was close by Eve during the whole process.

What we do read is of the temptation having transpired without a direct confrontation between the devil and Adam.

Satan left his work to Adam’s most influential helpmeet, to be the immediate agent in his undoing.

The obvious implication is that man had separated himself out from under the ranking ordered by the Creator-God, and had established his own version of a ranking in which man had placed himself first in priority before God, the Godhead, and the heavenly divine council.

Since the Scriptures do not give us explicit answers to questions we have as to the details of the particular events, such as where Adam was, etc., we can only consider the implication of “what-ifs.”

If Adam had been there during Eve’s encounter with the serpent, he incurred guilt by failing to intervene and take the front place in direct opposition to the intruder.

If we were to suppose that Adam had not seen the serpent but was first caught up into the crisis later by Eve’s approach to him as a promoter of the antifaith, after the serpent had withdrawn, then Adam would have confronted with the person of Eve, an evil presence, one who must
be repulsed and delivered over to God’s judgment.

This scenario would have left Adam with the choice either to declare judgment directly upon the devil or judge him indirectly through the judgment of his advocate, Eve.

Inevitably both Adam and Eve sinned by omission and commission by consenting together to enter into idolatrous revolt and participating in Satan’s sacramental table.

Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life. As we continue to examine man’s earliest duties with regard to the covenant of works, although they can be categorically divided into two distinct types of classes; one in relationship with God, and the other in relationship with fellow man, all covenant stipulations are expressions of the will of the Lord. The law of the covenant is the law of man’s image-sonship.

Jesus is God Incarnate

In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life. If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,AMEN