Obedience leads to God’s blessed best. But, when you listen to the devil’s lies, you never know what lies on the other side.
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
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.”
~ Genesis 3:4,5 (NKJV)
If you’ve ever heard, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” don’t be so sure that’s what you want. What you may not know about the other side is that it’s full of “fertilizer” and the flies that come with it.
When the serpent approached Eve in that fateful scene in the Garden, what he said wasn’t entirely untrue. Just as the serpent suggested, fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would open her eyes so that she would know good and evil.
How Could We Know What We Don’t Know?
The thing is, Eve would not have understood what this “good and evil” the serpent spoke of even meant. Her entire existence had been spent in the Garden of Eden where everything was only ever good. In fact, God called His creation “good” seven times in the first chapter of Genesis alone.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
~ Genesis 1:31 (NKJV)
Everything in Eve’s Life Had Only Ever Been Good
Having only ever experienced good, the woman would have had no concept of evil — no idea whatsoever of what the devil was actually offering.
The woman would have had
no idea whatsoever of what the
serpent was actually offering.
I offer this perspective not to acquit Eve of her actions, but as a warning to us all.
Before she disobeyed God, Eve had never known:
- Fear – “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” ~ verse 10
- Nakedness or lack – “Who told you that you were naked?” ~ verse 11
- Pain – “In pain you shall bring forth children; ~ verse 16
- Inequality and separation – “Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” ~ verse 16
More than just a knowledge of good and evil, the woman came to know evil personally and to understand all too late the good that she had once had.
Eve’s obedience had ensured that she would remain under God’s protection and provision. Until she took that one fateful decision into her own hands, Eve knew nothing about life outside of Eden — outside of God’s complete care and blessing.
Eve’s obedience had ensured
that she would remain under
God’s protection and provision.
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
Like Eve, who didn’t know what she didn’t know, we too are at risk of being deceived by the devil’s duplicity. The enemy’s most effective lies always contain a kernel of truth. Temptation may not be a complete fabrication, but the results will never be what we expect.
On the other hand, our all-powerful, all-seeing, all-loving Creator God knows everything. Our omniscient and beneficent Father knows exactly what waits outside the gates of His blessed best.
Our beneficent Father knows
exactly what waits outside the
gates of His blessed best.
Trust that God’s Way Is the Best Way
God doesn’t give us boundaries in order to keep us from some good thing that He doesn’t want us to have. Nor are they tethers meant to restrict our freedom.
They’re the guardrails that keep our car from careening over a cliff… The buoy lines that show us where it is and isn’t safe to swim… The door locks that prevent the thief from invading our home… The fence that prevents a small child from wandering off the playground and into the street.
God’s barriers are boundaries that keep us safe
when we obey them.
The devil is the enemy who comes to steal, to kill and to destroy, while Jesus came so that we might have abundant life (John 10:10). Satan is the “father of lies,” while our loving Father cannot lie (John 8:44, Numbers 23:19).
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to Him, and
He will make your paths straight.”
~Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
God is completely and absolutely worthy of our trust.
Exiled from Eden
After they had sinned, Adam and Eve could no longer live in the Garden of Eden, for sin cannot exist in the unadulterated presence of an all-holy God.
“You cannot see My face,
for no one may see Me and live.”
~Exodus 33:20 (NIV)
Even though exile from the Garden was punishment for their disobedience, make no mistake, mercy and love were there, too. Had they eaten of the Tree of Life while in their sinful state, the man and woman would have been condemned to separation from God for all eternity. (Genesis 3:22)
The garden gate became a guarded gate
until God’s plan of redemption could
come to fruition through Christ.
To save his beloved ones from such a dreadful fate, God placed them outside of Eden and posted angels at the gate to prevent their return. The garden gate became a guarded gate… until God’s plan of redemption could come to fruition through Christ.
He does not want anyone to be destroyed,
but wants everyone to repent.
~2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
Our all-knowing Father knew all along that His creation would betray Him, but He loves us anyway. God established His plan for our redemption before He even created us or established the foundations of the world.
“Even before He made the world,
God loved us and chose us in Christ
to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”
~Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)
When their moment of sin and betrayal came, God revealed His great plan, established from eternity past.
He promised a Redeemer would come — a “Seed” who would be born of a woman and would crush the head of the enemy: “He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” (Genesis 3:15, NIV)
Jesus Christ, the New Gate
The moment the Garden gate closed, a wall of separation was erected between God and man. A great gulf divided man in his sinful state from the perfectly holy presence of El Elyon, God Most High.
Guarded by holy angels and a flaming sword that flashed in every direction (Genesis 3:24), no mere human could return through that guarded gate to re-establish the lost relationship between himself and his God. So, God Himself made the way.
“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through Me will be saved.
They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”
~John 10:9 (NLT)
The Bible describes Jesus as the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), but He is also the second Gate, the new Gate by which we are restored to relationship with the Father. Jesus Himself is the door, welcoming all who will put their faith in Him as Lord and Savior.
“‘And it shall come to pass that whoever calls
on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”
~Acts 2:21 (NKJV)
Unlike the first gate, which was designed to exclude, the new Gate, Jesus, welcomes all who will come!
Thanks to Fumiaki Hayashi for letting us use his photo.
Seated at His Feet 