012614 03:00PM
Before all came into being, the Holy Spirit, without beginning and end, hovered over the waters. And in His presence, the Father declared, 'LET THERE BE LIGHT!'...
Before all came into being, the Holy Spirit, without beginning and end, hovered over the waters. And in His presence, the Father declared, 'LET THERE BE LIGHT!'...
...and there was light. And everything followed. By the 7th day, all creation was in place. The crown jewel of the raw beauty of all that came to existence was a garden - a garden where the first man named all animals and trees... That garden was Eden.
All blessings were given and placed in front of Adam - material wealth, health, authority - and only one warning was given to him, and consequently to the woman: 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat if it you will surely die.' I imagine the sheer pleasure of Adam and Eve living together in the loving presence of God lasting a few verses after that...
...until there was trouble in paradise.
In the middle of the absolute splendor of the Garden of Eden, a serpent was talking to the woman...
Genesis 3:1-6
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. ’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate..."
It all started when the serpent asked the woman questions. It first challenged what she believed, asking her, 'Did God really say that?'
The woman, who eventually was named Eve, answered the best she could. The serpent then struck deep by saying, 'God didn't really mean you would die. He knows that if you eat it, you would be like Him, knowing good and evil.'
The serpent broke her trust in God's word... and just like that, sin, leading to death, entered all creation.
Sin can enter where there is brokenness.
But praise God, for Jesus Christ, the ultimate and absolute solution to sin. The greatest love of all, God's perfect love, came to us in the form of Jesus Christ. He was pierced for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, and by His stripes, we are healed...
He became broken, for us to be whole.
It was all His doing, and by nothing out of our own strength. He did it all for us to be whole! It is His pleasure for us to not only have life, but life abundantly - a life, like in Eden, where we are blessed will all He has to offer in its raw beauty!
Believe it, receive it... Call on the Name of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, set free of bondage! Halleluyah!
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email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26