Salam aleikum (ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ) brothers in arms. Tena istellin (እው ሰላም ነው) choice of GOD. He delivers us from our enemies but asks us to separate ourselves from bad companies. He recommends the right people, but it's up to us to choose to make them friends. GOD does not repair injustice with injustice. A German proverb says: "The slanderer has the devil in his tongue, and he who listens to him has the devil in his ears." May the LORD spare us from the error of Balam, turn us away from the way of Balam, and deliver us from the doctrine of Balam.
Part 1
1. GOD wanted to preserve Adam.
2. Eve consciously disobeyed.
3. GOD speaks the Truth: created in His image and after His likeness.
" And the LORD GOD commanded the man, saying, “Of very tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; 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.”
____ Genesis 2:16-17 (KJ21)
"1 Now the serpent was more subtle 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’?”
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of 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 hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’”
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die; 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 ate, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he ate. 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 things to gird about." __ Genesis 3:1-7 (KJ21)
"15 “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, 16 in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy GOD, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and the LORD thy GOD shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17 But if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over the Jordan to go to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy GOD, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” _____ Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (KJ21)
1. GOD wanted to preserve Adam.
By his attributes, GOD is Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Transcendent, and Immutable. By his nature, He is Love, Truth, and Holiness. It was for Adam (and the Adamic race's) protection that He ordered him not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because the fruit of this tree is poison. Let us remember that GOD is Love. He wanted to preserve Adam, the Adamic race and all that Man would create from death. This is the first reason why He gave this order because He said to Adam "you will certainly die" and not "I will certainly forsake you". "Certainly", can be replaced by "definitely", "without a doubt", "inevitably", "ultimately", "in the long term". Note that it is in this verse that death is first mentioned in the Bible.
GOD knew that satan under the envelope of the serpent would come to address Man. satan hates the communion between GOD and men. He has always coveted his position (authority, domination) on earth. That day, GOD was not addressing Adam alone. He was speaking to each of us. Genesis 2: 16-17 is a summary of Deuteronomy 30: 15-20. Unfortunately, Adam did eat the forbidden fruit. As a result, death came to the body, soul, and spirit of the Adamic race.
2. Eve consciously disobeyed
Adam and she had a mission (Genesis 1: 8). Eve was not an idle woman walking in the garden to pass the time. I think she was picking fruit from different trees; in other words, she was shopping when the snake came. I say well I think, I do not affirm; because maybe she was doing something else. It is most certainly by listening to him, by chatting, that she walked towards this tree. If she was already near the tree, she would not have said "the tree which is in the middle of the garden". She would have said "that tree".
The serpent could have said “Why don't you eat,” or “Why don't you pluck the fruit of this tree?” Eve could have answered, “Because GOD said…“ Her attention would have been on ”what GOD says " and not on the words of the devil, even less on the fruit. The discussion would have ended and satan would have obtained nothing. So to avoid this scenario he sows confusion (GOD really said) and mixture (none of the fruits of the trees in the garden). He implies that she have not understood, and he distorts the order of the LORD. It is unfortunately through similar tricks that many terms are so misunderstood. For example: love and sex, forgiveness & reconciliation, money & love of money, obedience & submission, authority & position, translation & interpretation.
A force, a discernment, a conviction, making it possible to say "NO", to resist temptation, emerge when one declares the Word, more precisely the " That says the LORD " (the FATHER, JESUS, and HOLY SPIRIT). I can attest to that. This is what JESUS did by responding with "It is written " when He was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4: 1-13). He did not fall into satan's trap. He did not engage in a discussion, fruitless and sterile. HalleluYah! Let us remember that we respond to the devil by quoting the Word.
Let us come back to our text. Eve replied, “GOD said, 'You shall not eat of it and you shall not touch it, otherwise you will die.' When GOD spoke to Adam He said, “You shall not eat.” Reporting his words, Eve adds, “And you won't touch it.” Isn't that surprising? How did Eve know not to even touch this tree? There are two assumptions:
Either GOD actually ordered Adam not to approach this tree.
Either it was by the gift of the word of knowledge that Eve knew it. She received a warning, an interior testimony that she, unfortunately, did not listen to.
Knowing that Moses wrote the book of Genesis under the inspiration of GOD, I find it hard to believe that he would have forgotten to write part of this sentence. Especially since it is a "saying" of GOD. However, I do not have enough arguments to say that the second hypothesis is true. Let each, therefore, refer to the interior witness given to him by the HOLY SPIRIT. Anyway, she consciously disobeyed. Perhaps she was unaware of the consequences, but she exercised her free will. She knew what GOD had said, but she did not meditate on it. Consequently, she disobeyed. How often do we do like her? Job did say 'GOD nevertheless speaks, sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, and no one takes heed "(Job 33:14, KJV).
3. GOD speaks the Truth: created in His image and after His likeness.
"And GOD said, Let Us make man in Our image [Tselem, Strong #6754, Hebrew], after Our likeness [Demuwth, Strong #1823, Hébreux]: and let them have dominion over ... all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So GOD created [bara, Strong #1254, Hebrew] man in His own image, in the image of GOD created He him; male and female created He them." (Genesis 1: 26-27, KJV)
"And the LORD GOD formed [yatsar, Strong #3335, Hebrew] man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7, KJV).
GOD is spirit (John 4:24). This means that its substance (its foundation, its nature) is not material. He created us in his own image and likeness (Genesis 1: 26-27, Genesis 5: 1-3). Then He blesses us (Genesis 1:28). By Adam (the first of the race) He gave us creativity, domination over the earth, and over all living beings there. Then from the dust of the earth, He fashioned (formed) the envelope that is the body (Genesis 2: 7). Finally, He inserted the breath of life and we became living souls. In the mind is awareness, intuition, and the ability to commune with GOD. The soul, the organ of our personality, is made up of understanding (intelligence), will, and feelings. In the body are the 5 senses (sight, touch, hearing, smell and, taste) allowing us to interact in our environment, on earth. We are (each of us) spirits, endowed with a soul, reside in a body.
In His image and after His likeness means that each human being Whatever his color, weight, size, morphology, with or without disability is a reflection of GOD by his qualities (character), his capacities (aptitudes, creativity, gifts, talents, ingenuity, leadership, functions, potential) and the quality of his relationships with other individuals. We create because GOD is a creator. We transform because GOD transforms. There is nothing that is impossible for Him. Animals do not have the capacity to create, invent, to transform. We have a sense of justice because truth, justice, and fairness are the basis of his throne. We love because GOD loves. GOD is relational and infinitely great.
We readily agree that the value of a new vehicle is not determined by its color, but by its features. A fortiori, should we agree that a human being's worth is not judged by the color of his skin. GOD is relational and infinitely great. No creation can contain in itself all that GOD is and all that he is capable of. It is folly to despise one another because of their race, accent, position, or social status. We can have preferences, more or fewer affinities with some. But be always aware that our preferences do not determine the value of people. We are trademarks of GOD esteemed in the blood of JESUS. Because GOD loves us all with unconditional and Eternal love (Jeremiah 31: 3; Romans 5: 8; Ephesians 2: 8), we are all equal in dignity and rights.
Following Adam's disobedience, sin entered Man and damaged the image received from GOD. But HalleluYah! The LORD has not forsaken us. Through JESUS we receive Salvation, but much more, restoration through the HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS is "the image of the invisible GOD, the firstborn of all creation." (Colossians 1:15, LS). He is "... a reflection of his glory and the imprint of Himself." (Hebrews 1: 3) He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14: 6).
** Salam aleikum (ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ) = Good morning in Arabic
** Tena istellin (እው ሰላም ነው) = Good morning in Amharic
Pour aller plus loin :
- Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical, Tim Keller
- Created in GOD's Image, Ligon Duncan
- In The Tmage of GOD, Tim keller
- Genesis 1:26 Explained, Dr. Myles Munroe
- Who I am? by Derek Prince
- Spiritual Man, Watchman Nee
- Hear GOD's voice, Derek Prince
- Croître spirituellement au moyen de la Parole, Mamadou Philippe Karambiri
- Le discernement des esprits, Francis Frangipane
- Discernment, Jane Hamon
- The Final quest, Rick Joyner
- Wisdom, Rick Joyner
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