The Results of Adam & Eve's Rebellion
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from The Garden of Eden Fresco by Masaccio, Brancacci Chapel, Florence
The Tripartite Structure of Human Personality - Spirit, Soul & Body
Just as God is One God in the Three Persons of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - so human beings consist of three indivisible parts :
Born with Three Crucial Needs
God designed us to find three crucial needs to be met in an intimate relationship with him, as Adam and Eve had enjoyed before they rebelled. These needs are for -
• SECURITY in the form of unconditional LOVE
• SELF WORTH in the form of JOY at being valued as me
• SIGNIFICANCE in terms of PEACE at knowing my life has meaning and a purpose
The problems arise when I try to meet these needs by digging my own wells - something God complains about in Jeremiah 2:13
The Disastrous Results of Adam & Eve's Disobedience
The results of Adam and Eve's disobedience by succumbing to Satan's temptation were disastrous, not just for Adam and Eve but for the whole human race descended from them.
• SIN in the form of rebellion against God and a desire to be God
• SICKNESS & SUFFERING in the form of diseases and including pain in childbirth and hard labour
• SEPARATION FROM GOD & OTHERS by DEATH both physical and spiritual
Born Rebels Looking for Love in the Wrong Direction
The problem is the Bible says we were born rebels who want nothing to do with God. As Scripture says:
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God."(Romans 3:10-11)
Where Adam and Eve were made in God's image, his children were born in Adam's image the Bible says (Genesis 5:3), while retaining the vestiges of our divine Creator. The result is we try to find the love lost by Adam and Eve's banishment from intimate communion with God by going our own way and looking for love in other directions.
Outline of History from Creation to Entry to the Promised Land
Rebellion In Heaven
Michael and the angels (in white) fighting against Satan and his angels Painting by Peter Breugel the Elder, Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels
The Origin of the Warfare: Rebellion in Heaven
In Isaiah 14:12-15 we are given a glimpse of the rebellion in heaven by one of God's created angels who ministered in God's presence.
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.
This beautiful angelic being attempted a take-over bid for God's throne and was banished to earth with a third of the angels who joined his rebellion.
In Ezekiel 28:14-17 we get another glimpse of what happened.
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
Satan's Stealth Strategy
The Garden of Earthly Delights Painting by Hieronymus Bosch, 1490-1510 Museo del Prado, Madrid
Hieronymus Bosch's famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights depicts the journey from the innocence of The Garden of Eden (left) through the descent into the sins of the flesh (centre) and ending with utter debauchery in hell.
The left panel shows Adam and Eve in The Garden of Eden, naked and in perfect communion with God. There is no hint of the horrors to come in the second and third panels.
Satan's Stealth Tactics
In Genesis 3:1-6 we see the way Satan disguised as a serpent succeeds in seducing Eve into disobeying the instructions God had given Adam in the previous chapter by using stealth tactics.
STEP 1: CASTING DOUBT ON GOD'S GOODNESS and love (v1) Did God say?
STEP 2: DISTORTING GOD’S WORD (v1)You shall not eat from any tree...
STEP 3: DENYING THE TRUTH OF GOD’S COMMANDS (v4)You will not die.
STEP 4: CAUSING DISBELIEF IN GOD’S TRUTH(vv4-5)You will not die.
STEP 5: CAUSING DESIRES THAT LEAD US AWAY FROM GOD (v6)
STEP 6: CAUSING DISOBEDIENCE OF GOD’S COMMANDS (v6) She took the apple and ate.
Satan is using the same tactics today by telling people the same four lies he told Eve in verses 3-4:
• LIE NO.1 YOU WILL NOT DIE - the basis of atheism and reincarnation
• LIE NO 2 YOUR EYES WILL BE OPENED - the basis of occultism & esoteric mysticism
• LIE NO 3 YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD - New Age teaching to find the god within
• LIE NO 4 YOU WILL KNOW GOOD & EVIL - postmodern moral relativism & a scientific rationalism that claims to have all the answers to life
From The Fall of Man to The Arrival of The Messiah
The Fall of Man Painting by Michaelangelo Sistene Chapel, Rome
The Story of the War for World Domination
The Bible is the Spirit-inspired record of God's creation of the universe and how his sovereign rule over his creation has been threatened by rebellion, first in heaven in the very Throne Room of Almighty God, and subsequently on earth.
It all began with rebellion in heaven by one of the archangels around the Throne of God..............
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