The Rebellion of Humanity-- Genesis 2-3

For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
The serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness. II Corinthians 11:3

Big, Big House
Yahweh made a beautiful garden in the East and named it Eden. The garden rested between four rivers and had all kinds of trees and vegetation growing throughout it. Yahweh made all kinds of animals and placed them in the garden as well. Then Yahweh stood on the ground and picked up some soil, making it into a man and Yahweh breathed life into him. Yahweh put the man into Eden and told him to care for it and rule it.

“Eat whatever you want out of the garden,” Yahweh told him, “Any tree and fruit you want. All except one. Promise me that you will never eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” The man promised. Yahweh explained, “You see, if you eat of that tree, you are seeking to have knowledge of good and evil within yourself. I am your knowledge of good and evil—you need no tree. And if you eat of that tree, on that day I will have to hand you over to the power of death. I don’t want that. I want you to live with me. So don’t eat it.” The man listened and obeyed.

Man Gave Names To All The Animals
The man set himself to the task of naming all the animals, so he could rule them better. He looked at every one, and named each one. But in the end, he realized, he was alone. There was no one to rule with him, no one to help him, no one for him to help. Yahweh looked at the man and said, “The man shouldn’t be alone. I will make a partner for him.” Yahweh put the man asleep and took out a bone, and from that bone he made a woman. The man awoke and said, “This is bone of my bone—this is one just like me! I will name her woman, for she came out of the man.” And they were together without clothes and they didn’t care.

Lies and Consequences
However, in the garden dwelt Leviathan, the dragon. Although defeated, he still sought to rebel against Yahweh and defeat the new appointed rulers, the humans. As the woman was near the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the evil one said, “Did God really tell you that you couldn’t eat any fruit off of this tree?” The woman said, “That’s right. We can eat all of the fruit in the garden, but this tree we can’t eat off of or touch it—or else we’re dead.” The liar said, “You won’t die! God knows that if you eat this tree, you yourself will be a god. You will have the knowledge of good and evil within yourself. You will never have to depend on God again!”

The woman thought to herself, “Actually, that fruit doesn’t look dangerous. And I bet it would make me smart—as smart as God himself, maybe! And really, it looks quite good. And I am so hungry…” so she convinced herself to eat the fruit. Then she handed it to the man. He saw the fruit and knew where it was from. The woman wasn’t harmed by it. And he wanted to be as smart as God. So he ate the fruit as well. Then they looked at each other and said, “Why are you naked? That is horrible! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” So they ran off and hid.

Here Comes the Judge
That evening, Yahweh was walking in the garden to spend time with the man. However, he couldn’t find him. “Man, where are you?” he called. The man responded, “Over here.” Yahweh said, “Why are you hiding?” The man said, “I’m naked—please don’t look at me!” Yahweh said, “Who told you that you were naked?… Did you eat the fruit I forbade you?” The man blamed the woman. The woman blamed the dragon. And Yahweh was angry.

“Leviathan, I’ve had it with you. You shall not walk—you will crawl from now on and eat dirt. And do you see this woman? She will have babies soon. One of those babies will grow. While you may bite the child’s heel, he will crush you and you will be destroyed forever.”

Then Yahweh looked at the humans. “I am very sorry. I never wanted this to happen.” He sighed. “Woman, because you listened to this liar, with every baby you have you will also have great suffering. And you will always desire your husband—but he will just be your ruler.” Then he turned to the man. “Man, because you did what the woman told you, with your work will come great suffering. Your food will only be gained with weeds and thorns. You will suffer all the days of your life and then you will die and become soil again.” He turned away from them, but still spoke. “Because you have rebelled against me, you will have to leave the land I prepared for you. You are exiled. Live under the rule of death. I will never see you face to face again.”
Then the humans were given clothes and cast out of Eden. Two cherubim stood by the entrance of the garden with flaming swords to be sure that no human entered it.








Questions:
Where is Eden?
The garden of Eden doesn’t exist today. It was a place of the earth, and in the Biblical story, it was destroyed in the flood. Originally, Eden was huge, taking up space from modern Iraq to modern Ethiopia.

Who is the man?
In most translations, he is called “Adam”—but adam is simply the Hebrew word for “human”. In other words, adam is the first and the prototypical human, and we are all examples of him, as humans. “Adam” is not the name for a male human specifically, but male and female in general.

Why did the man name animals?
To name something shows one’s rulership over it and care for it. You don’t name something you have no interest in speaking about again.

Why are there two sexes?
God made humanity in two sexes in order to provide companionship, love and to have more complete authority. In other words, to be more like God. It is not the male human who was made in God’s image, but both men and women. It is only humanity in two sexes that has the potential of naturally displaying the love and authority that reflects God. One kind of human is incomplete. This does not mean that an unmarried person cannot reflect God’s image—far from it. But whether married or unmarried, only a union with the Holy Spirit in Jesus can any person be whole enough to be in God’s true, complete image.

What is the tree of knowledge?
The tree of knowledge has nothing to do with sexuality or with simply knowing information. It is having the source of morality within oneself. In other words, it is the ability to discern personally what is right and wrong—ethical discernment. While this sounds like a good thing on the surface, God forbade them that tree because He wanted to reserve the right of determining good and evil himself. This continues to this day. So what the man and woman did is to say that they wanted to determine what was right and wrong themselves, without having to depend on God to make such decisions. Essentially, this is rebellion against the authority of God.

Why did God test them?
In a sense, God’s command wasn’t a test. He was looking out for their best interests, like a mother telling her toddler not to touch the hot stove. Also, God told them not to touch only one tree out of a hundred thousand acres of trees. It wasn’t as if there weren’t other choices. On the other hand, God gave this command to see if humans would continue under his authority. If they ever touched that particular tree, it was the major indicator that they were rejecting God’s rule. Thus, God would have to treat them accordingly.

Why does the story say it was Leviathan? I thought it was Satan.
Yes, it is Satan. Satan, according to Revelation 12 is the “dragon in the garden”. Yahweh had to defeat the dragon, Leviathan, for his rebellion, and now that same dragon, AKA Satan, appears again, trying to get humanity to rebel against God the way he did.

Why did the people take the fruit?
Because they were tired of living under God’s rule. They wanted to make their own decisions about their own lives. They also found the fruit to be good to eat—so they focused on the one thing they couldn’t have, rather than the millions of things they could have. And they did it because they thought that they would be equal with the Most High.

How did they know they were naked?
This was not a standard God placed on them—that nakedness was shameful, but being clothed was good. This is a standard they made up themselves, given their new status as people who make their own decisions of right and wrong. And so they were ashamed, not because of anything God told them, but because of their own personal ethics.

What is death?
In the Genesis story, death is not simply the cessation of life. Death is an angelic power that has ultimate rulership over everything that dies. So when God told the humans that they would “die”, it didn’t mean that they would stop living on that day, but that He would hand them over to be under the authority of the power of Death, and they would no longer have the opportunity to live eternally. Also, it just so happens that the power of Death is under the authority of Satan—so humans become subject to Satan through Death. (see Hebrews 2:14).

Why did God punish them so severely just for eating a fruit?
He didn’t punish them for eating food. God, first of all, was speaking of the natural consequences of their action. He was telling them about the life they would have to live because of their decision. They could no longer live in the garden, because God had to separate them from eternal life. God could not have frail, stupid humans, who think they can decide right and wrong themselves, living forever. If that was so, they would turn the universe upside-down. But if they couldn’t live in the garden, they would not be able to live the high life anymore. They would have to work for their food, not just pluck it from trees. They would have pain in childbirth and raising children because their children would have their own ideas of how to live and rebel against their parents. As far as Satan—the serpent—he did receive a punishment for his part in the rebellion (no more legs—ouch!). But there is also a natural consequence. Although Satan succeeded in gaining authority over mankind, humanity would eventually rise up and destroy him.

Loving God

We are to love God with everything we are and have.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Mark 12:30

We love God because he loved us.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. I John 4:10

To love God is to obey God.
Whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. I John 2:5

To love God is to fear, serve and obey Him.
So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 10:12

To love God is to worship Him.
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Psalm 100:1-2

To love God is to love those whom God loves.
Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. I John 4:20

God tests us to see if we will love Him.
The LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. Deuteronomy 13:3

If we love God, God will do good to us.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

God will give the kingdom to those who love him.
God promised the kingdom to those who loved him. James 2:5

Ya Gotta Serve Somebody

Without Jesus, we are enslaved to sin.
Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” John 8:34

Whatever we focus on, that is what we are enslaved to.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

Even the Commands of the Bible encourages our enslavement by telling us what sin is.
I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. Romans 7:7-8

Without the Spirit, we cannot control ourselves.
I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Romans 7:14-15

Anything we worship or serve outside of God is fundamentally controlled by demons.
I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. I Corinthians 10:20

Satan is the god and master of those outside of Christ.
If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. II Corinthians 4:3-4

We cannot have both God and another master.
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24

God will judge anyone who is rebellious to him.
And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. Isaiah 66:24

The Relationship Blocker

Sin is rebellion against God, which inevitably hurts others.
I Samuel 12:14—“If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as he was against your fathers.”

We all suffer because of bondage to sin
John 8:34—“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”

Sin keeps us from the perfect life God has in store for us
Now the deeds of humanity are clearly seen, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, occultism, creating enemies, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, creating sects, envying, drunkenness, extreme partying, and things like these, of which I forewarn you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

Jesus died to deliver us from bondage to sin
Romans 6:23—“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If we commit ourselves to Jesus, we are free from the punishment of sin
Hebrews 2:14-15—“Through his death He rendered powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and he freed those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

We can commit ourselves to Jesus if we have faith in his resurrection and confess him as Lord.
Romans 10:9—“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

In order to commit to Jesus, we need to be baptized and to repent from our sins—then we receive God’s Spirit
Acts 2:38—“Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

It is never too late to repent of our sins through God’s Spirit“Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts against God.’ “

If we commit ourselves to Jesus, we love God and are obedient
to him
Romans 6:17-18—“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Our Lord Jesus commands us to love others by power of the Spirit.
James 2:8—“If you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.”

In that love, we will do good to everyone—especially to those in need, especially to those who are committed to Jesus.
Galatians 6:10—“We are to do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith.”

Be a part of God’s community, who will assist you in living out the love of God
Hebrews 10:24-25—“Let us consider how to stimulate each other to love and good deeds, not forsaking the gathering of yourselves together, but encouraging one another.

“In Christ Jesus, nothing matters except faith working itself out through love.” Galatians 5:6