Part 2 continues here...
All refs from the Amplified Bible...unless otherwise noted.
The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity was death...death by the Law..the serpent(satan...Amplified bible) was empowered to perform his duty to destroy as he was created to do so...and he could only do so through the Law!
Even the name of that tree sounds like law...good get good, evil gets a beating...
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
1Co 15:56 Now sin is the sting of death, and sin exercises its power [i] [upon the soul] through [j] [the abuse of] the Law.
The serpent or satan or devil was created to do the Lord's bidding in his task as a destroyer..he was just that and not an adversary to the Lord God! Definitely not a rouge runaway from heaven that was leading a mutiny of one third of the heaven's angels in danger of taking over the throne of heaven! Think about it..
Isa 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace [national well-being] and I create [physical] evil (calamity); I am the Lord, Who does all these things.
Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals and who produces a weapon for its purpose; and I have created the devastator to destroy.
Col 1:16 For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.
Adam who was not deceived agreed with Eve to eat of that tree...it was a desirable tree!...Adam had made up his mind long before! The result was a trangression(to the Lord God) and Man subjecting himself to rulership by law (in the generic sense of the word...later given through Moses), being deceived by the serpent, not realising that he was already enjoying the Grace of God in the garden of Eden.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired--good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity.
1Ti 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but [the] woman who was deceived and deluded and fell into transgression.
The Lord God knows why He warned Adam not to partake of that particular tree!...Because there will be consequences!...
Law is like that...if you keep it, you'll be alright but if you fail just one small part of it, you've failed the whole Law...in other words, before Jesus was crucified, it was impossible to fulfill the Law...remember Jesus illustrated that anger with a brother or thoughts of adultery is enough reason for the Law to condemn and kill!...the scribes and Pharisees who upheld and taught the Law had righteousness like a brood of vipers, what more anyone else?..
And death reigned...
Mat 5:19 "Whoever then breaks or does away with or relaxes one of the least [important] of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven, but he who practices them and teaches others to do so shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 "For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Rom 5:12 Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [[h] no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.
Rom 5:13 [To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men's account where there is no law [to transgress].
Rom 5:14 Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One Who was to come [in reverse, [i] the former destructive, the Latter saving].
On the other hand, Adam could have freely eaten the tree of life (and lived forever..). The Holy Spirit particularly pointing out that it too was "also in the center of the garden". The Lord God intervened after Adam made the first blunder and prevented this disaster from happening...till the time was right!(When Jesus would impute to those who believe..righteousness and no condemnation!)
Imagine persistent evil that never goes away! forever!...In fact, before the Law was given in the early world, Man was so evil that the Lord God did destroy the whole world by a flood...save for Noah and family by His Grace!...
Now suddenly Adam was put out of the garden and had to toil in sorrow...
Gen 3:17 And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life.
Let me rephrase it..Man opened up for himself a can of worms..a realm or existence in which he would have to perform, work and do to survive...difficult obviously...especially when the fellow created to maintain the law was the adversary, spoiler, devastator, destroyer, devourer, waster or devil himself...The devil by default inherited the powers therein that belonged to the Law (not that he had authority to begin with!)...that's why he was called a "god of this world".
A real predicament! Till Jesus came!
In conclusion,
Jesus came and paid for by death on the cross the ransom due by Man to the Lord God! the power of condemnation and death that reigned throughout the world by the Law was overcomed by Jesus paying the full ransom sum...
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
Rom 8:3 For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [[a] the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [[b] subdued, overcame, [c] deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],....
and as a result of that...the devil was disarmed...death be removed...righteousness imputed to us
Col 2:14 Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared [j] completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross.
Col 2:15 [God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
Rom 3:20 For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [[a] not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,
Rom 3:22 Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
Rom 3:23 Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory [b] which God bestows and receives.
Rom 3:24 [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
Praise the Lord! Amen.
This ain't the end yet...notice that the last enemy that will be destroyed is death...the day is here today when we can talk immortality as part of eternal life and call it be upon our generation as an inheritance from the Lord! Not just the spiritual aspect but of our physical body and life on earth...Praise the Lord! Amen.
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