The Providence in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
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April 24, 2016 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die'" (Genesis 2:15-17).
People who do not know God's profound providence of human cultivation frequently might ask, "Why would God have placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden and put man on the path to destruction?"
The God of love didn't place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden to intentionally lead mankind on the path to death. So, for what purpose did God place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden?
1. The Blessing and Warning Given to the First Man, Adam
Though at the time of his creation the first man, Adam, was physically a grown man, mentally he was like a newborn. Therefore, while he was in the Garden of Eden Adam had to go through the process of gaining a great deal of spiritual knowledge including things about God, the spiritual realm, the truth, goodness, the light and the like, as well as necessary knowledge by which he could rule over all creation. After such a process, as the lord of all creation, Adam had acquired the necessary qualifications to rule over and subdue all things.
As God told Adam in Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it," the first man gave birth to a lot of children and thus became "fruitful." And as the master of all things he had tremendous authority for a long time. Yet, God gave man free will and barred him from doing one thing. God commanded him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After a long time had passed, however, Adam and Eve could not keep God's command in mind and ended up eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
2. The Process in Which Sin Entered Man
The following from Genesis 3:1 elaborates the process of the first man Adam coming to sin.
The serpent was craftier than any beast of the field which God had made, and it tempted the woman Eve. The reason most people find serpents extremely abominable today is because the serpent led mankind to death and thus they naturally detest serpents.
In the garden before the temptation, unlike today, the serpent used to look adorable and delightful to the eye. It was also very crafty so that it could even win people's hearts.
One day, the serpent asked the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" In reply, the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
While God had clearly said, "…you will surely die", Eve told the serpent that God had said, "… you will die." Disregarding and deteriorating God's directive, Eve added to and even changed God's words "you will surely die" to "you will die". The serpent knew the kind of opportunity that was available, seized it, and told Eve, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Now that Eve had fallen for the serpent's temptation, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of this life were triggered and the fruit of the tree was seen to be good for food and that it was a delight to her eyes. Eve ended up eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and even gave its fruit to Adam as well.
According to the law of the spiritual realm which dictates, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), God's Word "You will surely die" was applied to man who now had to pay for his sin. That did not mean, however, that the life in Adam and Eve expired immediately after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
When God said, "You will surely die," He referred not only to physical death of man but also the death of spirit, the master of man; the end of communication between God and Adam is the same as "the death of Adam's spirit." Furthermore, every descendant of Adam after his sin became a sinner and was subject to death and everything on the earth was cursed as well (Genesis 3:17).
The serpent was cursed more severely than all other creatures. God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:14, "…On your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life." Spiritually, "the serpent" here refers to the enemy devil and Satan while "dust" symbolizes man who has been formed of "dust from the ground."
In other words, to say that the serpent would be eating dust means that the enemy devil and Satan would rule over and bring trials, afflictions, and suffering to fleshly people drenched in sin. This is why people who have fallen away in this world suffer from all kinds of suffering, brought upon them by the authority of the enemy devil and Satan.
3. The Reason God Placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden
Even though God knew in advance that Adam would eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He still placed the tree there because God still wanted to give Adam true happiness!
Adam did not encounter sorrow while living in the Garden of Eden. As a result Adam was not able to feel and experience true happiness. In order for anyone to appreciate the true worth of something, he must experience that which is the opposite of "something" as learned through relativity.
For instance, if you have never been ill since birth, you could not fully understand the magnitude of the suffering and grief brought forth by disease, nor could you truly appreciate having good health. Only those who have been hungry can appreciate the abundance of food, and only when there are evil and darkness will people truly appreciate goodness and light.
Without having witnessed death in the Garden of Eden that is void of sorrows, Adam could not understand God when He told him that he would die if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As he experienced the torment and sorrow associated with hunger, cold, heat, death, parting, sin and evil in this cursed world, Adam could finally realize how happy and blissful his life had been in the Garden of Eden.
No matter how abundant a person's life may be, unless he knows of true happiness of his life, who can say he is living a meaningful life? A truly worthwhile life would be the kind in which the person feels happiness even if he were to suffer momentarily. This is why God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was to allow for man to recognize and understand relativity by experiencing sorrow and suffering.
In his free will Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and as a result of his sinning, mankind has come to live in the midst of sufferings stemming from cold, heat, disease, poverty, hunger, parting, death, and the like. When we enter Heaven after having learned this relativity and undergone human cultivation, we will realize how wonderful the life in heaven is, give thanks to God from the heart, and live in perpetual bliss and joy.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in place, He has cultivated humans and He has prepared a way for all men, the sinners, to receive salvation. As 2 Corinthians 4:17 tells us, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison," even if we face sorrow and affliction momentarily in this world, we will enjoy "an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison" in the indescribably glorious heaven.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will understand the way of salvation, possess joy and happiness of salvation, and finally live in the eternal Heaven.
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