GraceLife Thoughts – Train to Reign (Part 7)

Grace Thoughts

GraceLife Thoughts – Train to Reign (Part 7)

Given what we read in Genesis 1:27-28 and in Genesis 3, it would seem that God’s purpose and plan for humanity had had a great ‘fall.’ That’s probably why many Christians call what happened in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 – ‘the great fall’ or ‘fall into sin.’

The ‘deceptive’ conversation between the serpent and Adam’s wife took about 30 seconds. Use a stop watch to time just the actual words spoken. What happened next is a bit more difficult to time with a stop watch, but it probably took only a few minutes –

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Genesis 3:6-7

The same is true with what happened next. We’re not told the length of time between Adam and his wife covering themselves and hearing the ‘sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ (Genesis 3:8). My guess is that it happened within minutes of the serpent’s deception.

If we use a stop watch to time the conversation God had with Adam and his wife, and the words He spoke to the serpent, we come up with about 90 seconds. How long it took God to make tunics of skin and clothe them, then remove Adam and his wife from the Garden, is anyone’s guess. I’m thinking an hour or two, but it may be have been longer or shorter.

My point is that from the moment the serpent began his deception of Eve to the moment God ‘drove out the man,’ and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden with a flaming sword to ‘guard the way to the tree of life’ would probably have occurred in a matter of a few hours – certainly during the same day.

East of the Garden

So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:24

Think about direction for just a minute. God created Adam in Eden, then placed him in ‘a garden eastward in Eden’ (Genesis 2:8). After the serpent’s deception and humanity’s ‘fall,’ God placed an angelic guard ‘at the east of the garden of Eden’ so that Adam and his family could never get back in to eat from the ‘tree of life and live forever’ (Genesis 3:22). God moved humanity further from Him in an ‘easterly’ direction.

We find Adam and Eve living ‘east’ of the Garden of Eden with Adam working the land and Eve raising children. Cain was their first child. Eve thought he might be the promised ‘Seed’ who would fulfill God’s promise from Genesis 3:15. He wasn’t. Cain grew up to become a ‘murderer.’ The Apostle John explained what happened –

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. 1 John 3:11-12

Notice that Cain ‘was of the wicked one.’ Those words, ‘the wicked one,’ generally refer to the devil.

God knew what Cain planned to do and warned him –

So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Genesis 4:6-7

Cain did not listen to God and did murder his brother. Interestingly, Genesis 4:7 is the first time the word ‘sin’ is used in the Bible. The Hebrew word is חַטָּאָה (chatta’ah). God told Cain that ‘sin’ had a ‘desire’ for him. The word ‘desire’ is the Hebrew word תְּשׁוּקָה (teshuqah) and means ‘a longing.’ Then God told Cain that he should ‘rule over it.’ The Hebrew is מָשַׁל (mashal) and means ‘reign, rule, have dominion.’ The training has begun.

Cain could have chosen to take a deep breath, listen to God, count to a hundred, cool down, and ‘rule’ over the sinful feelings he had toward his brother. However, Cain didn’t do that. He talked with his brother, went out into a field, rose up against Abel and killed him. When God confronted Cain about what he had done, Cain lied and said he didn’t do it – “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” God’s response to Cain’s lie?

What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. Genesis 4:10-12

Train to Rule Insights

We know that the devil (serpent, Satan, dragon, deceiver, etc) was involved in ‘deceiving’ Cain because of what the Apostle John wrote in his first letter. We know that the devil was involved in ‘deceiving’ Eve because of what we read in Genesis 3 and 1 Timothy 2. God created Adam, Eve, and Cain – the first humans on earth – to ‘subdue and have dominion.’ They all failed to do that. None of them ‘subdued’ anything. None of them ‘ruled’ over anything. Keep in mind that Adam and his wife were created without a ‘sinful nature.’ Some theologians call that early period of Genesis 1 and 2 as the Age of Innocence. However, Cain was born with a sinful nature.

So, we have two examples to compare: humans without a sinful nature and humans with a sinful nature. Neither was able to ‘subdue’ (kabash – bring into bondage, bring into subjection, force into subjection) or ‘have dominion’ (radah – rule, reign over) in their particular challenges.

Humans have a lot to learn about subduing and ruling. It’s like someone who walks into a dojo and says, ‘I want to learn martial arts.’ Do they know martial arts at that point if they had never studied martial arts before? No, they don’t. They have to go through a long process that will include sacrifice and pain. They will have to develop patience, humility, bravery, trust, reliance on their training, etc.

The same is true for us. If we are going to learn how to do what God has planned for us to do, we will also need to learn similar lessons. The Bible, God’s Word to humanity, will be our primary training manual. History, humanity’s response to God’s Word, will be another part of our training.