Saturday, July 11, 2009

The First Lie

Why all these terrible sufferings now all around the world? Why men and animals all die? It all goes back to a lie (yes, just a single lie!), the first lie man ever know, but a very deadly one.
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely 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. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:1-7, KJV)
While the lie suggested a better life, it resulted in immediate death: after they ate the fruit, they immediately knew that they were naked -- for their eyes were both opened. Before they ate the forbidden fruit, "[And] they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:25) So, they knew they were naked. Why they did not know before? Were they created blind when God first created Adam and Eve? Surely not, for before they ate, "the woman saw that the tree was good for food". Then why it says that their eyes were opened? Because their state of being has been changed permanently, and they saw a totally different human being in themselves! They are ashamed of what they saw of themselves, and they wanted to hide themselves away. So they "sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons". This shall become evident when we read later that for the very nakedness, they were in fear and hid themselves from the face of the LORD God. Why would they become so ashamed of themselves, and feared? For they were conscious of the filthiness of themselves, being captured by sin from breaking the command. Meanwhile, they defended themselves using the wisdom they have just acquired -- that they were not guilty.
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:8-12, KJV)
Because of the sin, the harmony between God and men, and the harmony among men, are all shattered. And men are caught in a dilemma, that their consciousness accuses themselves, but their wisdom defends themselves in vain, because it begot itself from a lie.

And so Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, hanged himself in the end, and was lost forever. Oh, how great is that blindness, when the Savior is at sight for three years! And when God afterwards sacrificed an animal so that their nakedness can be covered from the animal skin, God had already preached the Gospel to the very first couple, that at a pointed time in the future, the Lamb of God will be sacrificed, that the power of death and the grip of sin will be broken (Genesis 3:15), and all our nakedness can be covered because of him!

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