Thursday, September 24, 2009

Genesis 3:7-9 Adam.... Where Art Thou?


"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou?

This verse has sparked controversy throughout the years. Non-believers point to this and say that there are errors in the bible. They say that the bible indicates that G-d knows all things and this verse shows he had no idea where Adam and Eve were.

First of all let’s set the record straight aboutG-d. I John 3:18-20 states:

“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

G-d knows all things. However, does G-d allow things to occur on a daily basis without taking notice of them? ….Or…. Does G-d choose to not to remember things? The answer to both is yes. A good example is the fact that because we live in him, he chooses not to remember our sins no more. Hallelujah!!!! Beruch Y’Shua!!!! That’s G-d way of forgiveness. Also, he doesn’t intervene in our daily lives until he is asked.

With that said, here in this verse there were two possible going on.

1. G-d chose not to perceive what was going on in order to allow Adam his free will.

Or

2. G-d perceived what had happened and was giving Adam and Eve a choice. They had to choose whether to continue to disobey and come running at the sound of his voice.

We have that same choice today. Will you come running at the sound of G-ds voice or continue to hide from him and wallow in your sin?

If G-d chooses not to perceive what is going on in our lives, it doesn't mean he doesn’t love us. No. G-d chooses not to perceive in order to allow us our free will. However, G-d can and will remember at a moments notice what has happened if you call on his name.

Will he intervene? Yes. He always does. He just doesn’t always respond in our time and the way we want all the time. Don’t get angry as the world does and claim he doesn’t exist. Remember and rest in the fact the Father knows best.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Genesis 3:7 The Covering. Part One.


"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

The phrase “the eyes of them both were opened” is “paw-kakh ah'-yin shet-tah'-yim” which means that their conscience was laid bare. Traditional thought has taught that it was their literal eyes were open. No. It was that their minds were opened to the concept of disobedience. The phrase “…and they know that they were naked” means that they were aware of and ashamed of their disobedience.

We should keep in mind that it wasn't the fruit that made them fall. It was the fact that they disobeyed a direct commandment from G-d. It could have easily been, "Don't pick the flowers".

Now come the interesting part. They made themselves a covering to hide their shame. There have been many sermons indicating that the fruit, which they ate, was an apple. Unfortunately, that comes from an erroneous Latin interpretation of the scriptures. If we back up and look at the whole counsel of G-d. There is one tree that is constantly withering, cursed or brought back to reconciliation, and that is the fig tree. This makes sense when you see that Adam and Eve attempted to hide their shame with the source of the disobedience.

I challenge you to perform a study of fig trees throughout the scriptures. I’m sure that it will be fruitful. ;-) Sorry for the pun, couldn’t resist the temptation. ;-) Better stop while I’m ahead.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Genesis 3:2-6 : The Three Stages of Temptation and An Incredible Act of Love


And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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. 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 did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

As we ended last time, we see that Satans tactics have been the same since the beginning. In one form or another, he will tempt you with the following atatements:

1. Did G-d really say that?
2. G-d didn't really say that
3. Actually G-d doesn't want you to do that because he doesn't want you to enjoy things. This is especially true when he taps into one of your desires.

We see this exact modus operandi during his encounter with Eve.

1. Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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.Ye shall not surely die: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
3. 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.

One of Eves hidden desires or lust was the need for knowledge beyond the here and now or Satan would not have so easily and successfully tempted her. The proof is in the meaning of the Hebrew word, ta'avah, translated here as pleasant. Its root meaning is the longings of one's heart, ones lust, appetite and covetousness.

Eve fell due to her ungodly lust for whatever the fruit of the tree would give her. However, that is not the most incredible part of this story. Notice that Eve was tempted but Adam was not. All Adam had to do was to step back and say, "Girl...you're in trouble." and start pointing the finger, but he did not.

Adam freely took of the fruit and entered into Eves predicament. The penalty for disobedience, death. Was he stupid or was it an incredible act of love? If we step back and look at it, we see that it emulates the exact thing that G-d would do for us approximately 4000 years later.

G-d saw our predicament and took upon himself our death penalty of our sin. G-d gave himself as the only legitimate sacrifice. What an incredible act of love. In the same way Eve was given a new lease on life, we too have that same option. All we have to do is accept the gift.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Genesis 3:1: The Serpent.


"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made."

The Hebrew word here translated as serpent is "naw-khawsh" which does mean serpent. However, its root gives us a better understanding who our advisary is and how he works. Its root meaning is to whisper a spell. This is interesting because this is how he operates. He is constantly whispering into our inner conscience and attempting to persuade us into disobedience.

As a side note, in Samarian, "naw-khawsh" is "cachash" which means a liar or deceiver".

How does he know what to say? A further look, at what his name means, tells us that he learns by experience by diligently observing. He doesn't miss a lick. He and his cohorts know you better than the people around you. Therefore, when you see serpent here in chapter three, it means that Satan is very slick in how he does his job.

A great example of this is a snake charmer. He gets you so mesmerized on something that you don't see what his next step is until it's too late. That's why your best defense is not taking your eyes off of G-d.

He is "more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made." The word "awroom" translated here as subtle means cunning. And the phrase, "khahee min-nay kole saw-deh" translated here as "beast of the field" means "all of the living on earth". The first part of this verse means that Satan is more cunning than any of G-ds creation. Unfortunately, as we are about to see, he is very successful when he first tempts Eve.

"And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

One thing you can take to the bank is the fact that, above all things, Satan is consistent. His methods haven't changed for thousands of years. He certainly has fine tuned his skills but he hasn't changed his tactics. He tempts us with the same garbage he first tempted Eve. I guarantee the first thing that Satan and his cohorts says to us is the same thing he said to Eve. Did G-d really mean it that way? Couldn't he have meant it this or that way? The sad thing is that it works.

The front line defense for us is to follow the example of those in the U.S. Treasury Department. They tell their employees not to study the different counterfeiters and their methods but to study the real thing. Get to know it inside and out. That what G-ds Word says. We are to study and know G-ds Word as our own. That way, when Satan comes along and asks, "Did G-d really mean it that way?", we can say without a doubt, Yes he did. And tell Satan the same thing that Y'shua said to him when confronted him through Peter.

Get behind me Satan.