Planned Redemption
God created Adam and Eve, and He gave them a beautiful garden in which to live. There was only one rule ... do not eat the fruit that grows on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Just one rule!
Kind of hard to imagine, isn’t it? Just one rule ... and they chose to do it their way. How much easier would your life be if you only had to follow one rule?
Adam and Eve ate the fruit and immediately everything changed. They felt different. Without having thought about it before, suddenly being naked was something they thought about. It was like they had been clothed or covered in their relationship with God – by their obedience. When they sinned, that covering was stripped away. They felt naked or exposed.
Sin does not go unpunished. God punished Adam and Eve for their sin. But He also punished the whole earth and everything on it, not just Adam and Eve. Bushes grew thorns. Animals began to kill and eat other animals. Adam and Eve felt pain. Mosquitoes and other insects began to bite and sting people and animals. Everything that is wrong with the world today began when Eve believed Satan's twisted truth and took a bite from the forbidden fruit.
Now the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a thing of lust for the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for imparting wisdom. So she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband who was with her and he ate. Genesis 3:6 TLV
When God cursed the serpent, that curse also contained a prophesy of the coming Messiah.
Adonai Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you did this, cursed are you above all the livestock and above every animal of the field. On your belly will you go, and dust will you eat all the days of your life. I will put animosity between you and the woman— between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel. Genesis 3: 14-15 TLV
When God originally created the snake, it had legs. God cursed the snake and took its legs away ... it and all snakes from that day forward. In Genesis 3:15 when God cursed the snake, He also said that there would be animosity (hatred) between the woman’s seed and that of the snake. He further added that the woman’s seed would crush the snake’s head and the snake would crush the woman’s seed. Some versions of the Bible say that the snake will bite or strike His heel.
Genesis 3:15 is a very important verse. It’s the very first Messianic prophecy in the Bible - the very first time the Bible tells us that God will send a redeemer.
If we could rewrite this verse to make it clearer, it might say, “The Lord God (Adonai Elohim) put hatred between Satan and Eve – between Satan and her children’s children (who is eventually Yeshua). Yeshua will crush Satan, and Satan will crush Yeshua.
As you can see, in this verse God prophesied that Satan will crush Yeshua. Although Satan is allowed to do this, God did not reveal the rest of the story in His prophecy ... that Yeshua would rise from the dead, freeing all who believe in Him from the curse of death. He rose to eternal life so that we may also rise to share that life with Him.
God created Adam and Eve knowing that they would choose to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God is omniscient – all knowing. He knew that they would sin even before He created them, but He created them anyway.
God didn’t create us to be like robots, programmed to think a certain way. He gives a choice. We can choose to follow His ways and have a relationship with Him ... or not.
What have you chosen? Remember ... not choosing is a choice. It's true. When you don't choose to do the things that enable you to have a close relationship with God, you are choosing not to have a close relationship.
If you were God, would you be able to tell, by your actions, that you want to have a relationship with Him? Have you given Him the place in your life that He deserves? Are there things that you should change to have a better relationship with Him?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, sometimes I struggle to make the right choices. I know you know what’s best for me. I pray that You guide me in my choices and help me to make the decisions that You want me to make. I put my life in your hands. Thank you, Yeshua, for taking my sins upon yourself and dying for me. Thank you for making a way for me to spend eternity with you.
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I use the name, Yeshua, because that is the name my congregation uses. You may better know Him as Jesus.
Thanks for stopping by.
Cindy
© 2020 Cindy Murdoch
