Chapter 15
Evening was approaching and the day was beginning to cool when
they heard footsteps coming from the way of the garden. Knowing it was God, they ran into the woods
to hide.
God the Father watched from his throne as Jesus walked
through the Garden of Eden. This was the
turning point of the timeline of history.
This was the day that man had willfully disobeyed God and succumbed to
the enticement of Satan. It was the same
enticement that Satan had used with the angels in the heavenly realm and
would haunt man throughout the earthly timeline until the end of time itself –
“You will be like God.”
It was time for God to put the next part of his divine plan
into place. Man, who he so loved, was
destined to disappoint Him. But God had
a plan for his redemption.
Jesus walked to the rock where Adam and Eve had been sitting
and called out, “Adam!”
From the edge of the woods Adam replied, “Here I am. I heard you walking through the garden, I was
afraid because I was naked.”
Jesus gazed quietly at Adam for a moment. Adam stood at the edge of the woods with his
eyes downcast and stared at the ground with his hands clasped tightly in front
of his chest.
“Who told you that you were naked?” asked Jesus. “Have you eaten of the tree that I commanded
you not to eat?”
He pointed to the edge of the woods. “It was the woman you gave me as a
helper! She gave it to me and I ate it!”
Jesus looked her directly in the eye. “Woman, what have you done?” He asked calmly.
“It was the snake!” she cried. “He lied to me and I ate it!” Her tears now nearly drowned out her
words. She grabbed the arm of Adam and
cried into his shoulder, refusing to make eye contact with her God. Adam continued to stare into the ground.
“How could one fruit have such an effect?” he asked.
“The fruit has its purpose,” Jesus replied. “It isn’t the fruit which makes you feel this
way. It is your sin. You had a choice between good and evil and
you have chosen the evil. Your soul has
been corrupted. Things will never be the
same.”
He looked to the tree where the snake had re-appeared. It looked at the living God with disdain and resolve.
“Because of what you have done you are cursed more than all
other beasts. On your belly you will
slither and you will eat dust all of the days of your life.”
“I will put hate between you and the woman and between your
offspring and hers. Her child will
bruise you on the head and you will bruise him on the heel!”
Jesus, the persona of the living God, spoke with divine authority. It was He who would bruise this serpent on
the head. It was He who would
orchestrate Satan’s final defeat. Judgment
had just been passed on Satan once and for all.
He turned again to the woman. “From now on you will have intense pain in
childbirth. You will desire your husband
and he will rule over you.”
To Adam he said, “Because of you the ground is also
cursed. No longer will you live
effortlessly in paradise. From now on
you will work for what you eat. Weeds,
thorns, and thistles will grow, and you will have to work hard to get your food
to grow. By the sweat of your brow will
you eat until you return to the dust from which you were made. From the dust you were made, and to the dust
you will return!”
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