February 01, 2024 | Letters from the Lead Pastor by Brandon Lenhart
Genesis 2:15-17 (NLT), The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
“Sin is fun... for a season. The problem is that sin always has consequences and they are unpleasant. National Geographic reported that a 13-foot Burmese python swallowed a 6-foot alligator in Florida. The consequences were lethal, as the gator split the snake open from the inside out, literally. That’s like what sin does to us. We think we have something great until it destroys us from the inside out” (Source Unknown).
The first time we read of the consequences of sin in the Bible is in Genesis 2 when GOD warns Adam not to eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said that the result of eating the fruit would result in death. Was it because the fruit was poisonous, was it what the fruit represented that made it dangerous, or was it the action itself (to go against GOD’s command) that made eating its fruit result in death? We aren’t told exactly. All we know is that eating the fruit would result in their demise. And what about the tree itself? The tree of the knowledge of “good” and “evil.” Is the knowledge of good and evil such a bad thing to have? Shouldn’t we all want knowledge no matter the subject?
Let’s take these one at a time. 1) It seems that death was the result of refusing to obey GOD’s command. The one thing that kept Adam and Eve completely connected to GOD (the Source of all life), was their trust in Him and their ongoing willingness to believe what He said was true. However, to do that which GOD commanded them not to do severed the relational bond of trust that existed, thus, resulting in their separation from the Source of all life. As a result of this separation, death ultimately entered the picture as they were put out from the Garden of Eden where they had dwelt with GOD in perfect unity and peace.
2) The tree of the knowledge of good and evil wasn’t bad in and of itself. Knowledge isn’t bad in and of itself either. However, considering that the first humans lived in perfect unity and purity with GOD, the only knowledge they had was of that which was inherently “good.” But how could they know that explicitly? What was their context? To know nothing other than good is to be completely ignorant of evil. And to be completely ignorant of evil is to have nothing to contrast to that which is good. In essence, Adam and Eve lived in ignorant bliss not really knowing what good and evil really were. And this wasn’t a bad thing! To live only in the perfect bliss of goodness is to live fully in the presence of GOD as the beloved of His creation, and isn’t that what we were created for in the first place?
It doesn’t take a genius to understand that what GOD offers is goodness and life and to look beyond what He offers can only bring death and destruction. As the Author of all life, and as the Giver of all good things, GOD knows that to search for more than what He offers is truly a vain pursuit. Truly the only thing that lies beyond GOD is sin and death. Adam and Eve (and the rest of creation) learned this the hard way. Thinking they could have something more than what GOD desired for them left them holding a bag of regret as they left the Garden in shame. But GOD was not finished with them. His love for them and His goodness toward them would result in His ultimate sacrifice to bring them back into sweet fellowship with Him. Though the consequence of sin is death, the gift of GOD is eternal life through Christ Jesus!
