Deceived and Distance
(Genesis 3)
The fall of man is minimized by man so that man can continue on in his sin. Man cannot face the fact that there is enmity between God and man; thus, we have so many religions of man in the world to all kinds of gods including the prince of this world, Satan. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:30) The whole purpose of the religion of man is to deceive the masses into believing that through their own power they can approach a god of their choice. This is truly the great deception of the Devil continuing from the Garden through Cain (the first religionist) and throughout the epic history of man as recorded in Romans Chapter 1.
Man is Drawn to Religion and Worship
The religion of man takes on many facets: the first facet is deception of both man and the Devil. Man will worship almost anything; for some worship objects of wood and stone; some worship man himself; some worship national pride or patriotism; some worship animal, mineral and/or vegetable. There is no end to what man will worship. He is trying to clear his head and his heart from the binge of evil that he has been on since the Garden. To worship the True God of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things is only rationalized by man’s true nature of sin.? Man will always have an excuse so that he will not worship the superior and glorious Being of God Almighty. Man is not able to look righteousness in the eye. He cannot bear to look into the eyes of God. Man will always look away or down, but never directly into the eyes of God. This is the religious man always seeking his own way to God when the distance is too great for man to travel. Man is lost to God and only God can find him. Man was deceived by the Devil (that old serpent of Revelation 12:9). And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Just a brief comment about Satan: in the Garden he is the sleek shining serpent, in Revelation 12 he becomes ‘that old serpent’ of decay ready to be judged by God for all his evils and deception.
In Revelation 12 he also gets credit for deceiving the whole world, or the nations. He begins as the deceiver, and ends as the deceiver. The serpent is the great deceiver who has led man and nations down into the pit of hell. His first rebellion against God earned him the sentence of being cast down out of heaven. He was cast down to the ground. (Isaiah 14) God has allowed this serpent to wander to and fro throughout the whole world deceiving who he will.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. (Job 1:7)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (1 Peter 5:9)
It was the serpent who beguiled the woman, and the woman being deceived gave to her husband. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6) This deception of the Devil completely overthrew man; first, man lost all communion with God even though God would approach man; man could no longer approach God. Adam also brought death into the world because of sin. He lost his own spiritual glory for a glory of flesh. He betrayed his Creator and could no longer be trusted in any realm of righteousness or goodness. He was totally undone by the deceiver. The serpent beguiled the woman and she took of the fruit of the tree and gave it to her husband. Even though death would not become an immediate reality, man would have a long time to contemplate his end. In the case of Adam it would be a long muse for he had not experienced death in his flesh. He knew the spiritual death, but could only surmise the death of his flesh. All man must face the reality of dust becoming dust, and leaving this world in death.
The Chief Offense
Adam, being the federal head over the animal kingdom and over his wife, bears the complete blame for bringing sin into the world. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:. (Romans 5:12) Death came in by sin, but first we have the spiritual death. The spirit that God breathed into Adam was no more. Adam became a hollow spiritless being only with the spirit of man which was disobedient to God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11) When God confronted these two sinners in the Garden they both made excuses. Adam blamed God for giving him the woman, and the woman blamed the serpent; neither one of our first parents would face God in a responsible manner concerning their sin. There was nothing left in them to even bring about repentance towards God. Their chief offense was against the Almighty God for they had denied their Creator by listening to a deceiver. Over the centuries you would think that man would change, even in our modern age of Christianity with throngs crying out, Jesus, Jesus; one would think that the distance to God had been eradicated; yet, in Revelation 3:1 the Church of Sardis is judged, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead, they were dead spiritually. Sardis faced their spiritual deadness as Adam and Eve faced their deadness; this state of spiritual deadness came on the heels of the Church of Thyatira. This church was seduced and ruled by Jezebel which brought forth the death of her own children. We can compare this to the religionist Cain, the first fruit of Adam and Eve. There was never spiritual life in Cain. The distance between Cain and God could never be breached. The Church of Sardis was deceived and being deceived, Sardis suffered spiritual death; and the deception of that death came from the old serpent, the Devil.
The Betrayal of the Order of God
Pay attention to the details in Genesis 3; we have the first mention of husband and wife. The first mention of the seed of man, and the first mention of conception of the woman. This established God’s order of one man and one woman joined together as husband and wife. This will be God’s order throughout the time of man. Man has continually tried to overthrow this order. We have polygamy in Genesis. We have the overthrow of man in the flood because of man’s wickedness. (Romans 1) We have the overthrow of Sodom and the five cities of the plains. Man perverting God’s order with sodomy and gender fraud. Let us all take note what God has joined together let no man render asunder. This includes the well accepted decree of divorcement. This all reverts back to man’s moral failure and breakdown. In the earlier days of my life, divorce was given because of unfaithfulness or adultery. Now there are scores of perverted reasons for divorce. All these are the betrayal of God’s order.
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; (Revelation 6:12)
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. (Revelation 6:13)
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (Revelation 6:14)
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; (Revelation 6:15)
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: (Revelation 6:16)
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:17)
The long history of man and his evils is a unrepentant Adam and Adam is still under God’s judgment of death. ‘So man’ your moral wisdom, how has that worked out for you? Your whole world society is an abomination to God, and God is about to take out His sword of vengeance and judgment against you. In your moral wickedness and complacency about sin you have deceived yourself and remain in a state of judgment before the Almighty God.
The Divine Distance
In the fall of man there was a distance created both spiritually and naturally between God and man. Man was no more, for he had forfeited his spiritual life for death. When God cast him out of Eden it created a divine distance between God and man. And man, being cast out of Eden, is a picture of how great that distance was. Man was run out of town to the east of Eden. Note: Adam was driven to the East. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24) God drove Adam away from Eden and from His own presence. Adam no longer had a physical or a spiritual relationship with God. Adam was already spiritually dead when he left Eden and could never return because the distance to God was insurmountable for man. The distance was a wall he could not climb over, and man could not navigate around it, or pass through it, or dig under it. Although man would try in his own righteousness, he would never be able to attain communion with God. God had made it impossible to come into His presence on man’s part, and on man’s terms. The distance between God and man was farther away than the stars that dot the skies at night. Man was without hope and without God in this world.
The East
Man was driven out of Eden to the East. One brief note: when God established a dwelling place among man in the Book of Exodus, that dwelling place was the Tabernacle. The door of the tabernacle faced the East. Also, the entrance to Solomon’s Temple faced East. The street that led up to the entrance to the Temple was called ‘East Street.’ When the magi came in Luke’s gospel, they came from the East. When Christ was being crucified, He was East of the Temple, and it would be quite possible to look out at the Temple entrance and witness the crucifixion scene of Christ. When Christ ascended up to heaven, He ascended from the Mount of Olives, East of Jerusalem. When Christ will return He will come as lighting out of the East; confirmed by Isaiah 63, He will come with died garments of Bozrah from Edom, Bozrah and Edom are East of Jerusalem. When the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives they traveled to the west from the East. We need, therefore, to pay attention to details. Adam went out of the Garden of Eden by force, and not by his own will. He was divinely cast out, it was not voluntarily. God had established a distance of impossibilities. No man would be able to approach God. Man was lost to God, and man was lost to himself. If it had not been for the determinate counsels of God and the foreknowledge of God, man would be lost forever.
The Seed of Faith
God would now display His faith in a man called Abel. Not Adam, or Cain, but a seed called by God from the woman. He would be a man who would walk in an evil world by faith.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
For by it the elders obtained a good report. (Hebrews 11:2)
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4)
Abel would be the first called seed of God even though Abel was conceived of man, he would be accepted by God through sacrifice, and that sacrifice would be a firstling of the sheep, a lamb without blemish or spot, pure within and without; a substitute and a sacrifice for sin. This was the only way Abel or man could approach God; yet, God was still distant. Abel could only approach God on the ground of sacrifice. The life of another had to be given for his sin. This was the sin offering. The first sin offering, however, was in the Garden by God when God made the covering for Adam and Eve from the skins of animals; to symbolize The Lamb, His Son, slain before the foundation of the earth. The sacrifice would have to come from the flock of sheep, it would have to be a first born, pure within and without. (John 1:29) The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The Way Back to God
The first one to approach God by sacrifice was not Adam, or Cain, it was Abel. Remember (in the Garden) the sacrifice was not at Adam’s hand, but God’s hand. Outside the Garden it would be Abel a shepherd of the flock. And Abel, by his own hand, would take the life of his offering and offer it up to God. Abel begins the testimony of a man for God. And being for God he suffered death while offering his sacrifice by the murderous hand of his brother Cain. Abel was in the field, this was the place of his altar. He was offering the firstling of his flock to God, but behind him loomed the murderous heart of Cain, jealous of a man for God. Cain is the true religionist who despises those who are for God and of God. The future world and the religious men of the ages past crucified the Prince of Life. Both Jew and Gentile betrayed and crucified God’s only Son, the Son of His love. What the evil heart of man could not see nor comprehend was that upon the death of Christ, He would die for the sin of the world; therefore, fulfilling God’s determinate counsel that man would have a way back to God in the sacrifice and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was still a distance from God in Abel because we had a man conceived of man, but Christ (the promised seed — Genesis 3:15) was conceived of the Holy Ghost and not by man. This would be God manifesting Himself in the flesh as the son of man — Son of God. He would make of twain one new man.
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:15)
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (Ephesians 2:16)
The First Created Man (Adam) Compared to the Second Created Man (Christ)
Adam brought sin into the world, Christ overcame and abolished sin on the cross. Adam partook of the fruit of the tree, Christ tasted the bitter herb and vinegar and death on the tree. Adam was driven out of the Garden, Christ came voluntarily from the Father’s bosom and walked out of the Garden to the place of His judgment and death as a sacrifice unto God the Father, a sweet savor. In the life of Adam there is nothing written about him after the birth of Seth in Genesis. With the Lord Jesus we have a history of the Son of God in the four gospels detailing His life and walk. Then in the Acts, and the Epistles, and the Book of the Revelation we have the display of the glories of Christ in some manner in every book. In Adam we have the natural man or the created man, in Christ we have the supernatural man come down from heaven, the Creator of all things. In Adam we have man returning to dust, in Christ we have the glorified man in heaven.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10)
That he should still live for ever, [and] not see corruption. (Psalm 49:9)
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:31)
In Adam we have death, in Christ we have life. In Adam the future of man is dark and gloomy, in Christ we have hope and life, all is bright for the believer. In Adam we have the feet of clay, in Christ we have the scepter of righteousness. In Adam we have a great gulf of separation and distance from God, in Christ we are brought into His person. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
In Adam we have chaos, war, conflict, murder, deceit, and more, in Christ we have peace that passeth all understanding. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) And what more can I say of the wonder and unsearchable riches of Christ; for He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the full scope and dimension of eternity. He is the all-in-all, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and all this is just a small glimpse of God’s Christ. May we in our hearts be able to see the full span of His hand in history. He will cast forth once more when all is done on earth, this One, the lowly Jesus, God’s Christ will create a new heaven and a new earth by the Word of His power, wherein, righteousness will dwell. Amen.
And there will be no more distance between God and man, for all who love the Lord will be glorified in Him, in our Holy and Righteous Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isaiah 46:10)
And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: (Daniel 2:21)
And in the morning, [It will be] foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O [ye] hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not [discern] the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:3)
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (1 Peter 1:20)
Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)