When running a Teen Youth Group in both Welkom in the Frees State and Pretoria in Gauteng, I would visit a mall, check through various shop windows to see what was inside, then formulate a questionnaire and on the Friday night, send the teens in teams into that mall, with a questionnaire in hand, with clues to answer questions. The team with all the correct answers, completed in the shortest time would be the winner. The Bible is not a game, but there are many clues in the Bible pointing to certain topics, that over the course of the Bible are unraveled more and more. Today I would like us to explore one clue that helps us understand God better. Please read:
Ge 3:20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
1) Trinitarian reference. The clue I refer to is God saying:
Ge 3:22 The man has now become like one of us.
Various thoughts are offered as to whom the “us” would be. Some suggest the pantheon of gods. Others say this refers to God and the heavenly hosts. As appealing as these offers might be, we need to look to the source of the acknowledgement. To do this, we need to use Scripture to interpret Scripture.
(1) Satan’s deceitful luring Eve.
Ge 3:4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Verse 5 here and verse 22 … man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil … support the idea that “like one of us” refers to being like us.
(2) To understand “us”, we need to go back to God creating man.
Ge 1:26 Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.
Here God refers to himself in the plural … “our image, our likeness”. You might recall that as we studied this in chapter one, we included in our reference to the Triune God:
Ge 1:2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
God the Holy Spirit was present. Now what is remarkable and extremely helpful is the change in chapter one, from:
Ge 1:26 Let us make man in our image, in our likeness
To:
Ge 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
See the change from the plural to the singular? God is one yet He is Triune.
(3) All of these clue are more clearly revealed to us in the New Testament showing that God is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, beautifully expressed in the blessing of the Triune God:
2Co 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
May I encourage you to think about what God in His Triune nature means to you personally? What does His Fatherhood mean to you? What does His Son-ship as Savior, King and Lord mean to you? What does Him as Holy Spirit, Comforter and Counselor mean to you?
2) Man has become like God, knowing good and evil. Man is not like God in any Divine way. The likeness in the verse refers to the knowledge of good and evil
Ge 3:22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
There is however a glaring difference. Man’s knowledge of good and evil is from the stand point of a sinner. He wanted to be like God and like God he became knowing good and evil, but his knowledge of these slants towards evil with an express hatred for good. In other words, his knowledge is perverted. Now man, who was pure and innocent is a slave to evil!
3) Man has sinned and man may not be allowed to live forever. There are consequences for rebellion, for we read … He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
(1) To understand this part of the verse we need to look at:
Ge 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
(2) Passing the Probationary Test, man would have the right to the Tree of Life. Look at this:
Ge 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
If man refused to eat … if he stood firm against temptation, he would have passed the test and be permitted to eat from the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden. He failed.
(3) Note there were two trees in the middle of the Garden. Man ate from the forbidden tree and lost the opportunity of eating from the Tree of Life which would have given him access to eternal life, in both quality and quantity!
4) The Tree of Life, also in the middle of the Garden is sacramental in nature and informs us that life comes from God alone and means that man’s religion must be God-centered. God is to be the center of man’s life. Man is to be centered upon God, for true life comes from God alone. Once man ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil he was prohibited from eating from the Tree of Life, because sin needed to be punished. True, God had pardoned Adan and Eve through the shedding of blood, but the punishment God promised for disobedience was death and death would be administered. God is adamant and serious about this … He says:
Ge 3:22 He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
5) Overarching God’s punishment upon sin, God is loving, gracious and merciful. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus to the Church at Ephesus:
Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
When you are faithful and sincere in trusting the Gospel Message and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God shall pardon you of all sin, regenerate your dead soul and bring you into a new life that is one of repentance and faith where you nourish yourself on His Word, trusting Him through faith, believing in Him through prayer and surrendering all of life to Him … you are eating from the Tree of Life and have the great honor of a glorious right, gained by Jesus at Calvary … the right to the Paradise of God.
Our Father, thank You for not leaving us without hope. Thank You for Calvary. Help us to hold fast to the Gospel and Your Gospel Promises that shall see us safely through this life into Your presence in Paradise. Amen.