Page 14 - The Divine Quest

The Divine Quest Page 11

Faith’s First Failure

The first occurrence of events, names and numbers in Scripture hold great
significance, for they often establish a pattern or type for those things that follow.
This is true when we look at the first sin which occurred in the Garden of Eden. The
first sin was preceded by an attack of Satan upon Eve’s confidence in the love of God.
Satan could only entice Eve to disobey the command of Yahweh by first assaulting
her confidence in His kind intention toward her and her husband. Let us read this
account:

Genesis 3:1-6
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had
made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, "You shall not eat from any
tree of the garden'?" 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.'" The
serpent said to the woman, "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." 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit
and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Satan tempted Eve to embrace the idea that Yahweh did not really have her best
interests at heart. He suggested to her that the reason God forbade her to eat the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was that God wanted to withhold
something that was good for her, and that God’s motives were not pure in the matter.
The serpent’s words declared that God had lied to Adam and Eve in order to keep
them from becoming like God. What was under attack was the woman’s confidence
in God’s love for her, for if God loved her He would certainly always choose what was
best for her.

The heart of God toward His children is expressed in the words recorded by
Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares Yahweh, “plans for good and not for
evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

These words express the essence of Yahweh’s love toward mankind. It is an unselfish
love that seeks the welfare of another. The apostle Paul gave definition to this love