Life Matters

a. The Extent of the Problem

In Chapter 7, we discussed the philosophy that Adam and Eve were embracing when they ate from that tree and we discussed in the previous chapter the tragic mixture of emotions that led Satan to concoct the concept that we can live without God and form an identity of our own by what we achieve. Shortly after eating the fruit, a cloud of worthlessness and guilt slowly enveloped their minds and shut down the lovely, happy, joyful relationship between God and man. The curse of the lie from Satan had begun its insidious work and within a short period of time Adam and Eve were engulfed by guilt and fear. Along with Satan and his angels, they had mentally and emotionally suicided. They had lost their identity and worth, and nothing they could do could bring it back. They couldn’t restore themselves to favour with God. They had stepped out from under the channel of blessing and only God could reconnect it.

By stepping out of this channel of blessing, Adam and Eve’s reasoning powers could no longer be used selflessly or objectively. Their minds became totally in harmony with Satan. They had no ability to discern the lies they were being told.

Satan began to fill them full of false theories about God’s character. They were also told that they were bad; that they deserved to die and that they were worthless individuals. Without the blessing of the Father, they had no means to resist these lies; they had nothing to cling to that could combat Satan. Outside of the channel, we are completely vulnerable to Satan and his lies.

God was faced with a very serious dilemma. How does He approach them now that they are listening to another voice? Every word that God utters is now interpreted in an evil light. Adam and Eve know they are guilty but they now have no security or worth to accept that they are wrong, having accepted wrong ideas about God, the source of life and wisdom. Controlled by a spirit of guilt and insecurity they have become defiant. They lost the blessing of reasoning clearly.

I marvel at the love of God displayed in his patience. God calls out to Adam, “Where are you?” not because He didn’t know, but to allow Adam to face the issue. Where is your mind Adam? What has happened to your identity? The physical always represents the spiritual, and the physical hiding of Adam and Eve clearly reveals the hiding that was going on in their minds. They had clothed themselves in deception and deceit to prevent themselves from having to face the truth which seems so frightening. God is trying to help them diagnose the problem so he can bring the blessed solution to them.

Adam responded to the question by telling God that he was afraid because he was naked. This confession is interesting in the light of Genesis 2:25: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Adam was naked before he ate the fruit but he was not ashamed. The inference here is that Adam is now ashamed. The Hebrew word (buwsh) also means confused, confounded and disappointed. Adam was full of confusion, guilt and disappointment. He was confused about whom he was and he felt guilt about what he had done. God put His finger on the intensity of Adam’s pain. “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” God doesn’t ask Adam, “How do you know you are naked?” He asks Adam “Who told you that you were naked?” God was pointing Adam to the instigator of the lies he was told. In other words “Who is causing you to run away from me?” “Who has come between you and me?”

Adam was addressed directly, “Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” This was a simple question that demanded a simple yes or no. Now that Adam’s perception of himself and God has altered through the lie of inherent life, these questions appear threatening and invasive to him. The first words of blame and defiance pour forth from human lips:

“The WOMAN whom YOU gave to me, SHE gave to me of the tree and I did eat.”

In this accusation, amongst other things we see the channel relationship between Adam and Eve has been completely twisted and broken. In creation, Eve was given as a help meet, but now she is portrayed as the leader and head. She is portrayed as the powerful one and Adam as the helpless victim. Worse than this, God is portrayed as the instigator of the whole affair. Adam’s mind had become so confused, twisted and blinded that his recovery would have to be of the most remarkable nature.

How could Adam be given a true assessment of his situation when he has lost the power to reason objectively? God is the only source of true wisdom and Adam had disconnected himself from that source. The lie of inherent life source had completely altered the context for the universe Adam lived in. His perception of himself, his wife and God had all radically altered and through this falsehood, God’s words would constantly be misunderstood. God’s intervention now seems invasive and domineering; it is now a big life source telling a little life source how to act and live. The fact that God’s power is apparently bigger than his brings fear, but the fact that he believes he has one of his own, brings anger, resentment and hatred. The Bible clearly reveals this:

Rom 8:7 The sinful mind [filled with the lie of inherent life] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, [channel of blessing] nor can it do so.

Jer 17:9 The heart [infected with the lie of inherent life] is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know [be intimately relational with] it?

God’s cries of love, affection and counsel to come back into the submissive, dependent relationship are twisted into a picture of manipulation to gain control and domination. The great source of all is completely misrepresented and falsely accused by mankind. Most sad of all is the mournful words of Jeremiah 17:9: who can know this heart? The lie of inherent life makes the heart of man resistant to intimate relationship with God and with created beings. The fruit of this lie is loneliness. This is an extremely heavy price to pay for beings that were created to desire intimacy and relationship. This sad state is amazingly reflected in a song from a film called the City of Angels:

Verse 1

Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There’s always one reason
To feel not good enough
And it’s hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
And weightless and maybe
I’ll find some peace tonight

Verse 2

So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There’s vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie [inherent life source]
That you make up for all that you lack
It don’t make no difference
Escaping one last time
It’s easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

The question that must be asked is how could God penetrate this lie? How could He communicate with us effectively and reveal His love and concern for us and extract us from this horrible lie?

b. The Solution

God could not approach us from the outside directly; instead He chose to become permanently connected to the human race through His Son. By allowing His Son to become one of us, He could reconnect the channel of blessing to continue the life and blessing stream but also place Himself in a position to confront this lie head-on. This lie resided in the nature of man and by taking this nature upon Himself, He could overcome it and destroy it. It was not enough for Jesus to simply appear like a human and demonstrate the correct relationship to God – this would not tackle the lie of inherent life source. He had to take the rebellious nature into Himself and destroy it in the grave. So the Bible states:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh [human nature physical and moral] and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, [though the lie of inherent life] that is, the devil;

Heb 2:16,17 For verily he took not on him the [submissive, dependent] nature of angels; but he took on him the [rebellious, independently minded] seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Rom 8:32-34 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

All of these things would be provided through the gift of God’s Son to the world. This whole process was outlined to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

This verse is so full of promise and hope. God said He would put enmity between Satan and the woman; He would do this by allowing His Son to become one with us and reconnecting the channel of blessing. This channel would allow physical life to continue to flow to us as well as encourage correct thoughts about God to influence our minds. The reconnection of the channel in the person of the Son of God would give mankind a conscience and a choice. Both thought streams would now flow through the human race: one from the first Adam which expresses the lie of independence and results in death; the other from the Second Adam which encourages obedience and dependence along with life to give us time to choose which side we would follow. Hence we are told:

1Cor 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening [life giving] spirit.

Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

It made complete sense that the Son of God should become one of us and challenge this independent spirit because the Son is the divine expression of submission and obedience. His entire identity and purpose is connected with this principle and therefore He was the only one who could engage this mission.

We have much to be thankful for. God has placed in our hearts a desire to do right and a desire to resist evil through His Son. Think about the times you have been tempted to do something wrong and then thought better of it and did not do it. This was the gift that God has given you, the enmity against evil. It does not matter whether you believe in God or not, you still are given this gift through Jesus. We are told in Scripture that God makes the rain to fall on the good and the bad.[1] Think about how many times Satan has placed an evil thought in someone’s mind to do something to you or to take your possessions and the enmity placed in their hearts by God encouraged them not to do it. Of course we still have the choice to reject that prompting and go ahead and commit evil but if that enmity was not there, none of us would be able to stop carrying out the evil inherent life source thoughts placed in our minds.

What an incredible God to do all this for us! We as a race of people were totally lost and enslaved to Satan’s evil ways. We were totally beyond helping ourselves, doomed to misery and total destruction. But our tender heavenly Father refused to give up on us. He has given to us the most precious thing He has – His Son. Jesus will forever be one of the human family and one of us. It is a sacrifice that will be the central theme for study and meditation for the rest of eternity.

The fact that man now had two seeds of thought coming to him, two streams of humanity would emerge; those who listened to the voice of God as exemplified in the person of Abel and Abraham and those who would refuse the spirit of Christ pleading in them as reflected in the lives of Cain and Nimrod.