GENESIS 3

Part 1: The man must not be allowed to take from the tree of life.

Sin entered creation on earth and changed everything. It resulted in God preventing the man from taking from the tree of life and he was forced to live outside of God’s domain.

Genesis 3 is a hub of imagery unveiling a spiritual story of mankind’s fall, their struggles, their destiny and a mirror of the role of the angels in heaven. When God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). God uses the male gender throughout this verse; His gender choice is target specific. The Hebrew word “man” in this verse is Ha-a-dam.

God is directly addressing Adam. His sentence for his sin was to prevent him from taking of the fruit from the tree of life and to live in a place cursed with hardship.

Adam is Judged

Why is God specifically addressing Adam in Genesis 3:22?

Every word and order of every detail in the Bible are intentional. Previously, in Genesis 3:18-19 God’s punishment to Adam is recorded. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

God is directly judging Adam as the cause of the curses on the land. His domain will be full of troubles. His leadership will produce thorns and thistles—imagery of wicked kings and nasty leaders that are instrumental in corrupting every level of every institution including the use of violence and tyranny to achieve their selfish desires. They will eat food—that is, acquire knowledge from within this dark domain, but it will come through hardship: deceit will work to hide truth, theories will promote lies, experiments will lead to weapons against the people, and many mistakes will be made causing harm to all creation on earth and then life will end, as it began, a return to dust, absolute worthlessness.

Adam’s type of sin was different to Eve’s. Adam’s judgement is a description of the fate of creation who sin knowingly; they will live in a world full of trouble because they will not be obeying God’s law and following His way. At the end of their time, cut out from God’s family, they will die. The Apostle Paul stated, “Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (Romans 5:14).

The Fate of Intentional Sinning

The likeness of the offense of Adam is an intentional breach of a covenant made with God. The ten tribes of Israel sinned in the same way Adam did, hence, God divorced them from the covenant family.

“But they [the house of Israel—10 tribes], like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me,” God said (Hosea 6:7). The ten tribes committed treason against God. 

God cast out the ten tribes from His family, by divorcing them. They wanted to be like the nations around them whose kingdoms were grand and stature strong. The leaders of the ten tribes of Israel wanted to rule themselves so that they could self-direct and acquire superpower status, flaunt a massive army with military strength to bully weaker nations and push their influence across the whole world. This is exactly the type of leadership in the world today. They wanted an empire that was visually glorious with tall temples and government houses, vast jurisdictions and riches lavished with prestige. To obtain what they craved, they had to break their covenant with the God of Israel and worship fallen heavenly rulers. They knew exactly what they were doing to obtain self-glory and superpower status. This was in complete opposite to God’s plan for His people. He said that they would become a holy kingdom of royal priests where the inside was glorious and the outside was humble.

FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE STUDY, DOWNLOAD PART 1.

Part 2: Who told you that you were naked?

When the woman was created, “The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:23-25).

THEY FELT NO SHAME

A very special, intimate relationship was formed by God when He created the woman from out of the man and they were married. While they were two separate beings, their intimacy was one, their spiritual connection was one and their desires at every level were one. The man finally had a suitable helpmeet who was of him and bound with him. They became spiritually one flesh.

Because they were sinless, they did not need a covering. They were naked with no need to feel shame. Their bodies were likely covered in a layer of God’s glory, just as Moses’ face shone after spending time with God. The man and the woman were being taught by the Creator God and visibly taking on His glorious likeness both on the outside and within. They felt no shame, more likely, they felt great joy to reflect the glory of God.

GOD: KING AND LORD

When God created mankind: male and female, He unveiled another aspect of Himself. He holds a double office: King and Lord. These offices were given to His two creations: one in heaven and the other on earth. He intrinsically engineered these offices into the creation of mankind to teach them about spiritual matters. He made them male and female: kings and lords, national leaders to uphold His laws and theologians to teach His knowledge, to build understanding and to apply wisdom. God, the Father like His Son, Jesus Christ, is both King and Priest [Lord]. These roles will be married when God creates a new heaven and new earth. It is a great mystery!

THE GREAT MYSTERY

The Apostle Paul said, “This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32). The Apostle Paul was addressing the marriage of a man and a woman. “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31). Christ is the only qualifier to marry the church mirrored as the woman. The relationship and roles of Christ and the Church is the spiritual revelation God, the Father built into the creation of mankind made: male and female. Law (male) and theology (female) will be bound as one to ensure righteous leadership for all eternity. Jesus Christ holds both roles: King over all kings and Lord over all lords. His wife will specialize in Lordship—a royal priesthood ruling with Christ over a holy kingdom.

Gender on earth is a mirror of the spiritual picture. In eternity, there will be no delineation of being male or female, but there will be kings and lords. The mirroring will be removed when the spiritual is the reality for creation on earth.

THEY WILL BECOME ONE FLESH

The spiritual oneness of this marriage is described by the Apostle Paul as “Christ in you.” If the church does not learn and act on the instructions of Jesus Christ, the Son of God—the Word, then they do not have life. They will continue to die spiritually.

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you’” (John 6:53).

“But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). Even being betrothed to Christ, his spiritual leadership imaged in his rib within us when we repent, opens the door to God’s Holy Spirit and access to the Father. It also, excites a comradery with all members of the God-family.

As Believers mature spiritually, they completely allow the selfish and carnal ways to die and humbly submit to God, keeping His law and living His way through Christ in them.

“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

God watched the house of Judah follow the steps of the northern house of Israel, falling deep into wickedness and He said, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE STUDY, DOWNLOAD PART 2.

Part 3: Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

in the middle of the garden

“But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

God warned Adam and Eve that a leader who still remains in God’s family (in the garden), is dangerous and has the power to kill them, spiritually. God was trying to protect them, while at the same time, allowing them their free will. God did say that His garden (his family) was filled with many trees that were pleasing to the eye and good to eat, including another tree in the middle of the garden referred to as the tree of life.

MANY TREES IN GOD’S GARDEN

“Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9).

TWO POWERFUL LEADERS

God’s imagery is telling. He described his eternal family of sons—spiritual beings from the first creation, who are highly trained and skillful leaders. They were pleasing to the eye because their actions were righteous. In the middle of the garden were two powerful leaders: one is the expert on knowledge that leads to life eternal, the second is an expert in knowledge of the knowledge of good and evil.

The leader of the knowledge of life has full and complete trust in Almighty God and has no need to test Him, while, the leader of the knowledge of good and evil does not trust Almighty God—he believes that there exists outside of the Great God alternative knowledge that is unknown and waiting to be discovered. When Eve looked at the leader of the knowledge of good and evil, his actions appeared righteous because on the outside his actions were carefully enacted to hide anything that would raise questions. He knows to hide darkness from naive wanderers.

LUCIFER

Lucifer, when created through the power of the Great and Almighty God, was “the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12b). His downfall was the pride he acquired because of his beauty. “Your heart became proud because of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17a).

Lucifer’s body was a perfect, shining splendor.

The fall of this once highly esteemed being was foreknown to God and instrumental in His flawless design to create mankind out of the lowly dirt of the ground that covers earth. God is forming shatterproof character forged out of suffering to form a humble and repentant mindset that recognizes the selfish acts of wickedness, and turns to bind with their Creator to live righteously trusting fully in Him eternally. Almighty God knows best. There is no need to experiment and test. Simply, listen and obey Him. There is none like Him in all creation.

A SUPREME GOD EXISTS

“Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish’” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

The Great Creator declares His supremacy over all creation and there exists not a single other being that can be likened to Him in all His glory. He only has the ability to see the future and His purpose cannot be thwarted or challenged.

King David knew the Almighty God.  He also knew that angels in heaven who are spiritual sons of God are not on the same level as the Supreme God. “O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours” (Psalm 86:8).

Into the 21st century, a discussion on who is Supreme is silent. It is hard for mankind today, who have mythicized the Great God and discarded the recorded history or ignored all the work done by Jesus Christ, to believe or even conceive of the existence of one being who exists and is all-powerful. Most of mankind continue to listen and act on the words of the leader of the knowledge of good and evil, who has convinced them that they are the centre of all that exists and through specialized technology given by them, they can achieve anything they want. In their very limited world, carnal mankind believes in their own supremacy.

The angels in heaven were created with the fundamental knowledge to make decisions without sinning. The increase in God’s Holy Spirit provided spiritual growth for the angels.

MANKIND WAS DESIGNED TO GROW INTO SPIRITUAL MATURITY

Adam and Eve, upon their creation, were being taught by God; they were learning gradually. They followed God’s instructions up until they wandered close to the serpent. He spoke, they listened. Eve acted first and Adam followed her.

The serpent knew what Eve didn’t know. She was still an infant in God’s word. The Apostle Paul said, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14).

Eve thought she could distinguish good from evil, but the fact that the serpent deceived her was the proof of her immature spiritual mind. She was unable to distinguish good from evil. That is why God warned both Adam and Eve not to listen to the leader who has decorated himself with neon credentials of expertise knowing good and evil. It is Satan’s intent to totally destroy mankind. He loathes creation on earth. Their destiny and their God-ordained role as a kingdom of priests—experts in righteousness are his primary mission of destruction.

“If those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:22).

Many sons of God exist in heaven ruling over vast domains. These rulers are very powerful. The Apostle Paul warned about being on guard against the spiritual rulers, powers and principalities in heaven and on earth.  They are the only enemies of mankind. Regardless of the high leadership positions Satan awards to people on earth, he will not save them. Satan is king over his domain in heaven called Tyre. Often Biblical scholar think of Tyre on earth, but Almighty God is speaking to Satan and his domain in heaven with the same name.

“Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?” (Isaiah 23:8)

This heavenly ruler has the power to bestow crowns to his merchants who must worship him. They are the famous on earth. Revelation 18:23 links the merchants of Isaiah 23 with the world’s great [the most honoured] men. The world’s kings and their royal families, prime ministers, presidents, chancellors, and very wealthy entrepreneurs are the honoured, on earth. They are all prophesied to come into God’s judgement.

“In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days” (Isaiah 24:21-22).

Satan and his beastly coalition will fight to the end. They will not back down; nor will they surrender, but they will not win. The outcome is already known. They will be captured, judged and sentenced to death.

FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE STUDY, DOWNLOAD PART 3.

Part 4: The curse of the serpent, the woman and the man

CURSE OF THE SERPENT

“Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:14-15)

This is a prophecy. God foreknew the fall of mankind. The Son of God had willingly accepted to be the sacrifice for mankind before creation. When God cursed the fallen Lucifer, He referred to him as an animal—a serpent. God referred to him belonging to a different kingdom—the animal kingdom, not the God-family kingdom.

Satan is still allowed to come before God even though he is God’s greatest adversary. Recorded in Job is Satan presenting before Almighty God with the sons of God. “One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them” (Job 1:6).

He also comes before Almighty God, night and day, with all of our sins.

Satan is described by God as a serpent and the coalition of rebel sons of God are described as beasts that resemble some animals on earth, but nothing resembles the fourth beast, which is a terrifying hybrid of sorts.

God said that Satan will crawl on his belly and eat dust. The imagery of dust is sin. During the ten plagues of Egypt, God said to the heavenly ruler who took the title of Pharaoh that dust covered Egypt and became a plague of gnats. Like sin, it was everywhere on people and animals. The magicians could not produce gnats because only the Almighty God can determine sin. The magicians declared, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). Like the writing on the wall, only God Almighty determines judgement on sin.

God is telling Satan how far he will fall before he is destroyed. He will be completely living in sin and eating it—intaking lies, deception, falsehood, and corruption of all types.

GOD PUT ENMITY BETWEEN THE SERPENT AND THE WOMAN

God said to Moses to tell the people of Israel that if they “obey My [God’s] voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine. And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites” (Exodus 19:5-6).

A kingdom of priests is a church. The woman was created to image God’s church that is the reason for being created second. The creation in heaven is a kingdom of kings and princes, but not a kingdom of priests.

God knew that His kingdom of priests over a holy nation would be Satan’s number one target. The notion of a theological body who are experts in righteousness was a vile thought to Satan. He has his own theological body in heaven of which, the false prophet of Revelation is part of who all preach his ideology. Satan does not want to submit to God’s theology.

The Son of God agreed before creation to be the saving sacrifice for mankind. Satan was not briefed on the secret plans of Almighty God. Christ’s sacrifice was imaged in the serpent’s striking the heel, but the child born out of God’s church on earth would crush the head of the serpent, meaning, to crush his rule and free mankind from spiritual death.

Satan’s life was prophesied to end. He has felt his fall from out of the third heaven in the second and soon, out of the second onto earth. Each fall strips him of credentials. He is aware that his time is short and he is already very much afraid.

THE CURSE OF THE WOMAN

“I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16).

The woman was deceived into sinning. She is the image of all of mankind who, for the most part, are deceived into sinning. The fall of mankind was foreknown to Almighty God. A saving-plan was engineered before creation. God uses Satan’s attacks to teach, test and strengthen mankind.

One of the profound mysteries the Apostle Paul revealed was the mirroring of the marriage of a man and a woman to Jesus Christ and the church. The woman is the image of God’s church. God foreknew Satan’s acquisition of rulership over mankind and the persecution of His church. He knew that His law and word would become corrupt, misunderstood and intentionally distorted by all who listen and act on the word of the leader of the knowledge of good and evil.

Birthing a congregation of holy and righteous people would become very difficult. There would be many stillborn babies as the church leaders engage in false theology, pagan and heathen practices. People have been led astray to worship fallen angels, sacrifice their children, and live in debauchery in times past and still, pagan practices continue in the Christian world. Worst of all, bishops heading councils have enforced changes in doctrine and mislead the true interpretation of scripture. They have taken Judo-Christians onto a wayward walk.

Women experience physical pain birthing their babies because they image the church and all the difficulties of birthing a God-fearing and God-serving congregation fit for God’s kingdom.

The curse given to the woman was an inevitable prophecy known to God before creation. Suffering is part of God’s plan as mankind grows into perfection, choosing to live righteously, willingly serving and obeying God with humble gratitude. This growth was not anticipated by Satan and he despises all who willingly return to obey the Great, Loving, Almighty God.

The church will desire their husband, Jesus Christ. She will follow him wherever he goes. She will be devoted to him and he will rule over her, having precedence, as they rule as King and Queen.

FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE STUDY, DOWNLOAD PART 4.