1. In Genesis 2:17 God gave mankind one command with a restriction, which was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, this was the first restriction put upon mankind’s freedom!
Genesis 2:16-17
16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”’
Read carefully, that’s not what God told Adam & Eve, God told them the opposite,
Genesis 2:16-17
“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”
We must know God’s word well, and know it cold! The wicked spiritual forces of this world will mix up God’s word, flip it around just to trip you and to get you to go against Gods word I.E. sin!
Eve repeated what God said and actually told the serpent exactly what God said correctly, but allowed the serpent to incorrectly tell her what God said!
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!”
Now here the serpent introduced doubt into Eve’s mind as to what God said, the serpent led Eve to believe what God told her wasn’t exactly true “You surely will not die!”
This is the introduction of sin
5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
This is the conception or birth of sin.
Wicked spiritual forces i.e. Satan and his hordes will assault your mind to make you believe that God is holding something good from you!
That God doesn’t want you to be like Him in anyway, and that your eat is the right and correct way, “get what you want” in spite of God telling you no!
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
This is the birth of sin!
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 loin coverings.
This is the denial of sin or the cover up of sin!
James 1:13-15
Let no one say when he is tempted,
“I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
It’s like wanting to have sex for the first time in your early teenage years, not fully understanding what could, and will happen if you have the sex that you believe you’re ready for even though your parents or guardians warned you against doing it early and for you to wait until you were grown up and married!!
So you get pregnant, and now you have a baby, no job, no money, no place to live, no baby food, no diapers, no baby clothes, no crib, or bassinet, (no child raising knowledge, because you are finding out its takes “OJT” (On The Job Training) to raise children, no work experience, no transportation, no man because he left once you told him you were pregnant, but you have plenty of hopelessness and misery, and a overabundance of “I can’t do this by myself!”
In spite of all of this God has a plan!
Gods plan was Jesus on a cross for you and me!
In God’s plan there was a way for Him to bring unto into fellowship with Himself and to forgive us from not obeying Him and going our own way, God calls our way sin! Here’s the plan…
Jesus on The Cross
1. The reason Jesus died on a wooden cross was because man in the garden stole from the tree. (Trees are made from wood, right…) God puts Jesus on the tree to restore everything that was stolen from us namely (fellowship with God).
2. His hands were nailed to the tree because mankind took from the tree with our hands.
3. Jesus’ feet were nailed to the tree, because the first promise of our redemption involved man crushing the head of the serpent.
Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
4. Jesus’ side was pierced because Eve came from Adams side, and God covered both Adam & Eve’s transgression (by washing and covering theirs and our sins through Jesus’ death) with water (spiritually washing and making us clean,) and the blood that came from His side covers and takes away our sins!
Because God states; that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness!
Leviticus 17:11
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement (to make reconciliation with God) for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
Hebrews 9:22
And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
5. Jesus had a crown of thorns placed on His head why? To reverse the curse… Because God cursed the ground saying it would no longer bring forth its full strength, but thorns & thistles so He reversed that curse by taking it on himself.
But Jesus removes all these restrictions by offering Himself, Romans 8:32 tells us that we are free to fully access all wisdom and knowledge through Christ The God Man, no more “thou shalt not” forevermore!
Romans 8:31-32
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
God even gives us wisdom and knowledge, without restrictions, like He did with Adam and Eve for He says;
James 1:5
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
And 1 Corinthians 2:12 tells us;
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, He is seen here freely giving wisdom and knowledge to us without restrictions in place!
1 Corinthians 1:30
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
What Adam and Eve lost in the garden, Jesus restores it back to us! God declares us in right standing with Him through Christ, He sets us apart for His use and pleasure, finally God delivers us from the law of sin and death through Christ! 6. Jesus puts everything back into order that God in His displeasure cursed, so that in eternity, in the New Heaven and earth, we can enjoy our life with God to the fullest!