To explain this, we need to go back to the garden – the original garden, the Garden of Eden. God created man and woman in His Image. He provided for their every need. They had work to do in caring for the garden and God Himself regularly spent time with them, walking and talking with them in the cool of the evening. That had to be amazing! They only had one rule. Do not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There were hundreds of trees in the Garden, with many varieties of fruit. That should not have been a difficult command! However, along comes the snake – who was Satan in disguise. And it could talk to them. That didn’t shock Adam and Eve! Did all animals talk back then?
First, the snake draws Eve’s attention to the forbidden tree. He knows what God had commanded about that specific tree. That was the point. Have you ever noticed that the enemy loves to dangle the forbidden in our faces? He never points out all we have already been blessed with.
Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” (Genesis 3:1b-3)
Now God didn’t say “Don’t touch the fruit.” That was Satan’s first clue that Eve wasn’t anchored on what God said. Did Eve know God didn’t forbid touching it? Originally God had put that tree off limits to Adam. Eve wasn’t around then. She had to have been told by Adam. Did he embellish the command, or did Eve?
Then the snake contradicts what God had said. He lies. (No surprise here.) Eve chooses to believe him instead of God.
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)
They were already like God! Created in His Image! But they wanted more. They wanted to decide what is good and what is evil.
Then she gave some to Adam and he ate. Now he knew what God had said. He wasn’t deceived. He chose to eat and disobey God.
Adam and Eve had been given one command, and they chose to believe Satan the Snake instead of God. Mankind and creation have been paying the price ever since!
What had God given to Adam and Eve? A beautiful garden home. Plenty to eat. Each other. The company of animals, that Adam had the privilege of naming, and maybe they talked with Adam and Eve too!? Aside from the fact that they could fellowship with God Himself, Adam and Eve were also given dominion over this world.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26,28)
When they decided to do their own thing and rebel against the one rule that God gave them, they lost so much. Aside from being kicked out of the garden, God explained things were going to be much harder – for both of them. God had said that if they ate, they would die. They didn’t die physically – at least not right there and then – but their spirits died. No longer were they able to have a spirit-to-spirit relationship with the God of the universe.
They also lost their right to rule, to have dominion. That’s what Satan was after, and now he had power over this world. Satan could now rule over every living creature that moves on the ground. Mankind and all creation were now under the dominion of Satan. He was calling the shots! He was kicked out of heaven because he wanted worship. He wanted his own kingdom, and now he had it!
Sin and death entered the world. They weren’t in the Garden of God! It didn’t take long for sin to show its ugly face. Cain killed Abel. Wars were fought. People turned away from God and worshipped false gods (demons) and even offered their children as sacrifices!
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
Mankind was no longer following the God Who had created them, Who loved them. They were subjects of the kingdom of evil – enslaved to sin and death.
The usual line of reasoning for accepting Jesus is acknowledging that we are sinners in need of a savior. Because God is Just, He just couldn’t ignore our sin and sweep it under the rug. Jesus was perfect, He shed His Blood for our sin on the altar of the cross. He is and was Perfect and Sinless but He took our sin upon Himself and was killed. That is Atonement. We are now Justified. That means because of Jesus’ death, it is just-as-if-I’d never sinned. We can never be good enough to earn or deserve heaven on our own. This is all true!
However, even if someone could possibly live a perfect life, that person still could not get into heaven. Why? Because when Adam and Eve sold out to the snake, they became slaves, and we did too. A slave is someone owned and controlled by someone else.
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
(Romans 6:16)
Even a perfectly wonderful human being, perfect in every way, who is a slave, is still under someone else’s authority and control. That is why Jesus took the keys of death and hell away from the devil during the three days he was dead. When Jesus appeared to John the Apostle when he was on Patmos, He said,
I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:18)
Jesus bought us back from the devil. That is redemption. Keys symbolize authority. The authority to rule that Adam and Eve had lost to Satan was restored to Jesus, and to us, His Body!
So not only did Jesus atone for our sins, He justified us and gave us right standing (righteousness) with God, He redeemed us from bondage. That’s what Redemption means! We were bought with a price – the Blood of Jesus. So, are we now slaves in God’s kingdom? Not at all. We are beloved sons and daughters of the Most High God, who willingly serve Him. Can’t get much better than that!
Hallelujah and thank You, Jesus!
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