In Genesis 2:15-17, God created an opportunity to exercise freewill, without this choice there would have been no such thing. Present truth was: eat from the ‘Tree of Life’ and live forever, or eat from ‘The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil’ and die. This present truth also came with a present error, that they could eat from the forbidden tree and live, as well as, become wise and determine and define for themselves what is good and evil (Gen. 3:1-5). They were faced with a controversary, would they choose to obey and trust in God. With this choice before them they chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the issue through the bible, we will look at a few examples to grasp how deep and vast this issue is.
1 – The Tree of life versus The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
Genesis 2-3. With this choice before them, they (Adam and Eve) chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What they were actually deciding, was to go down a path that would allow them – in their minds – to base good and evil upon their knowledge. In other words, they would be the moral standard that would determine what is right and what is wrong. In choosing the tree of knowledge of good and evil they were basically saying, “We will determine for ourselves what is morally right and what is morally wrong.” This was the test for their age. This was the test in the Garden. This was the present truth in the Garden.
Why did this lead to death?
Proverbs 21:2 tells us, we cannot depend upon ourselves to determine what is right or what is wrong because the human heart is deceitfully wicked. Proverbs 30:12 further states, we cannot use ourselves as the determining factor for that which is good or for that which is evil. Proverbs 14:12 goes on to say, that the danger of choosing good and evil for ourselves is that we become our own moral standard, society becomes the moral standard, and we get caught up in what society deems what is right and what is wrong. What society determines what is right and what is wrong changes with time. Think of the 1950’s versus today for example. You can still choose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil today, it was present truth for Adam and Eve in their time but symbolically those two trees still stand before us today. Choosing the tree of knowledge of good and evil is choosing a corrupted knowledge to live by. This is what society is training us to do today…you chose what is right and what is wrong.
God has given a test, so to speak, in every age of the bible and what this choice of allegiance has to do with the final test at the end of the time. There is present truth for our day, just as there was in the days of Adam and Eve. Psalms 119:9, we are told the way to determine what is right and wrong is not by what society says, not by choosing to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but from following the word of God…in essence eating from the tree of life
Proverbs 3:13-19 is talking about wisdom, if you have wisdom you are going to live a long time, you are going to have LIFE. Wisdom is a TREE OF LIFE. When God put the tree of life in the Garden, he was in essence giving Adam and Eve wisdom. So, when Satan comes along and says you can eat from the tree, what Eve saw was it was something that could make her wise. What she did was throw away the wisdom of God for her own wisdom of the world.
All the following versus is the same test: the same tree of life and the same tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is wisdom verses foolishness, wisdom verses corrupt knowledge…that’s the choice…that’s the test in every generation. What do we learn? Don’t determine right and wrong for yourself. Let the word of God to do that.
2 – Noah and the Flood – Warning, Warning, Warning
Genesis 6:3, God clearly says the earth is going to be destroyed in 120 years from the time he gave Noah the command to build the ark (v.13). In verse 14, God gives the command. Is there a choice being presented to the antediluvians? Yes, either stay on the land or enter the ark. We know that almost all the people of the world chose to stay on the land and we know that was a poor choice.
The land would be under the lineage of tree of knowledge of good and evil, whereas the ark would be under the lineage of the tree of life. Same test just different symbols. Why nearly all the human race choose the land? Because they were not taking sin seriously. They were of the mindset that God does not punish wickedness…I can do evil without facing consequences (Eccl. 8:11, Ps. 64:5, Ps. 10:13).
Noah preached for 120 years about the flood, all the while building the ark (represents salvation). The people convinced themselves that this “flood” was not going to happen. The people who chose dry land were fully convinced they could do evil and get away with it; otherwise, they would have gotten on the ark. What was the evil they were doing? Remember, that the Bible said that the thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil continually (Gen. 6:5).
The imaginations of nearly every human being were only evil continually. So, what were they imagining? Zechariah 7:9-10 tells us, imagining evil against his brother in his heart. What does God have an issue with when it comes to the imagination? Imagining evil against your brother in your heart? If you think and act this way towards your fellow man, who else are you treating this way? Our King, Jesus Christ. Matthew 25:40 says, ‘if you’ve done it to the least of my brethren, you’ve done it to me’. Let’s take this a step further, what was their disobedience? The two principles which the entire law of God (10 Commandments) hangs upon (Deuteronomy 6:4-7,Matthew 22:37-40,Mark 12:30-31,Luke 10:27).
It appears that what was happening in the times of the flood…men were harboring hatred for their neighbors. They were not loving. So, not only were there outward acts of violence, but even in their hearts they harbored hatred and were unwilling to solve them with love. Could it be the same mindset in our day about Jesus’ return? Matthew 24:48-51 says, the very sin of hating our neighbor is choosing land over the ark. What does the ark do? Just as the ark hid Noah from destruction (Ps. 64:2, 91:1-3) he asks us to hide in Him so that we will not be caught up on dry land. The lesson is do not imagine evil against your neighbor…rather love your neighbor (second greatest command).
3 – The World is Destroyed and God Brings a New Society Through Noah
Noah has three sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth. In Genesis 9:11-16 we find a promise, the rainbow is the sign of the covenant that the earth will never again be destroyed by water. How do the people respond? Genesis 11:1-4 tells us that they built a tower trying to reach heaven to avert another flood and being scattered. What is really going on here? God said here is my rainbow which is a reminder of my promise not to destroy the earth with water again. The people are saying we don’t believe you God, so we will build our own tower. The tower was the sign of unbelief, we will take matters in our own hands. Today, we are choosing towers over rainbows, we imagine that we can save ourselves. We believe we can reach heaven our own way versus God’s promise to save us. In 2 Samuel 22:2-3 God tells us he is our high tower…we can trust Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 declares we can trust Him, don’t doubt Him and take matters in our own hands which are manmade towers that we trust in. Jeremiah 17:5 trusting in ourselves causes us to depart from the Lord. The lesson here is don’t trust in yourself or your works to save yourself.