“And the Lord God commanded the man (Adam), saying, Of every tree of the garden (of Eden) thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL (capitals mine), thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17
Yet another prophesy fulfilled of the Bible telling us what to expect in the Last Days!
Very early in the Bible man was warned by God Himself of the ultimate consequences of KNOWING good and evil, not just the DOING of good or evil. Adam was told he could eat the fruits of any tree in the entire Garden of Eden EXCEPT for the fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Think about this for a moment. It wasn’t the fruit that was deadly but rather with the free choice God had given man, if he had his eyes opened to good and evil, he would sometimes chose evil over good. That would create sin and as He said later, “The wages of sin are death.” God made it clear to Adam if he ate the fruits of the tree he “…shalt surely die.” This didn’t mean he would die at the exact moment he ate the fruit, but at a time when there was no human death in this world, death would then be introduced into a perfect world. Adam, Eve and all others would experience physical death. Remember what God said in Genesis 1:31 after He created everything? “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” God DID NOT make a bad, sinful world. It was only a GOOD world! So what caused Adam and Eve to change their mind and eat of the tree, disobeying God’s commandment?
“And the serpent (Satan) said unto the woman (Eve), Ye shall surely not 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.”
Genesis 3:4-5
A lie! They were deceived by Satan into believing they would not die but would become like God, “…knowing good and evil.” This basically tell us Satan said that just because you know good and evil doesn’t mean you will sin. Satan was wrong! Ultimately, Adam and Eve and their descendants experienced physical death exactly as God said they would because they actually sinned BEFORE they even ate the fruit by deciding to go against His Commandment. Exactly as Satan, the Great Deceiver, convinced Adam and Eve to sin, he will convince many others in these Last Days that what God said in His Holy Word, the Bible, does not mean literally man would die THAT day because they now knew good and evil, but that man can ultimately decide for himself what is good and what is evil with no retribution from God. And, as prophesy tells us time and time again, it will only get worse!
“And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:”
Jeremiah 16:12
There is good. There is bad (evil) and the bad will be very ugly! We know this is a lie but many will still believe the lies of Satan, and the soon coming anti-christ and false prophet because it will fit with their own personal unbelief regarding what the Bible actually says. In one way, Satan was correct in saying our “…eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Yes, we will know good and evil but because of our now, inborn sinful nature, we will still sin in many ways AND we will know we are sinning but won’t care. We are all sinful. If you lie, or steal candy, or speak badly about a neighbor, you deep down know you are sinning. But, you still do it! Does God know good and evil? Absolutely! But, does God sin because of that? Absolutely not! But, always remember we are not God!
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 5:20
Unfortunately we live in a world today, actually in these Last Days, where Satan’s influence on many is causing so many people to proclaim that what the Bible says is good is actually bad and what the Bible says is bad is actually good. Think about how we are bombarded daily with news about those proclaiming abortion is “reproductive health” and “the personal choice of a woman and her doctor” even though the Bible is clear the sanctity of life is ordained by God at conception. Even the Governor of Virginia endorses being able to kill a baby AFTER if is born so long as it is kept “comfortable” until it is killed! How many politicians actually claim to be Christian and yet still endorse abortion? Is that a lie? Yes it is. Or, the promotion and teaching in schools of LGBQT rights even though the Bible is clear again that it is a sin for a man to lay with another man. Do those same schools also teach our children and grandchildren what the Bible says? Of course not. How about the main stream vitriol against Christianity and Judaism? It used to be we only heard about the atrocities of the Holocaust. Not only is the world filled with anti-Semitism but anti-Christian hatred as well. Today, we have many, again claiming to be Christian, that support the BDS movement against Israel; who want prayer removed from schools (unless it is Muslim prayers); who want “In God We Trust” removed from our currency, our government halls and ALL crosses removed from the public square. As the Bible prophesied, we are definitely living in those days when people will call good evil and evil good! Unfortunately, for those who do, “Woe unto them.”
As Christians we must be especially aware of our behavior in these Last Days. As I previously wrote about in Don’t condemn, but DO NOT condone either! , we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. While I find some comments by people absolutely repugnant, I must also strive to be aware to make myself the best example of being a Christian, regardless of how difficult at times it can be.
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”
1 Corinthians 15:33
We must set ourselves up to be examples of the kind of people God wants us to be as witnesses to Him and to His only Begotten Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. ONLY through His death and resurrection can we be saved from our own sins. That means we must suppress our thoughts, deeds AND what we say because doing anything less puts us directly into the devil’s camp, doing his ways by our lies and deceits. In all cases we must diligently work towards NOT being part of the lies and deceit prevalent in our society today. The Bible is very clear in telling us exactly what is GOOD and what is EVIL.
I am sure when God Created this world and planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (along with the Tree of Life), He knew by giving man free choice they would not necessarily choose to live in the Garden of Eden in perfect harmony with Him. But He gave them/us free choice anyway to live by His Word or make our own decisions. That is what we face today as we decide to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior or instead, to accept the lies and deceptions of Satan. As God said in Genesis 3:22-23, “And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” By eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden so they then could not also eat of the Tree of Life. This was a death sentence exactly as He promised them.
There is now only one simple choice for each and every human being to make. Do you accept Jesus Christ or do you accept Satan? You have free choice given to you by God! He will not force you to accept Him. But, to live for eternity with Jesus in Heaven you have to make the right choice because the Tree of Life as told to us in Revelation 22:2 is NOW in Heaven and Heaven is not part of the “second death” awaiting those who have instead decided to accept Satan’s lies. Knowing I only have a simple choice to make is so very comforting, even though I don’t deserve it. Jesus died for my sins (and, for yours too!) and by accepting that and doing my best to eradicate all sins in my own life with His help, I know what awaits me for Eternity! If you are also comforted by this, please share this message with your friends and family. You can do this by forwarding your email, or sharing it with others on Facebook and/or LinkedIn. This way we can not only make a free choice but do exactly as He asked us to do and that is to “…therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Let’s all make the right choice! May God Bless you!