We all know death is certain. Death is reality. Sooner of later, we will die. Since death will touch us all, shouldn't we want to know the answers to questions like: What is death? and Why do we die? Our Friday night Small Group topical Bible Study started a new series that takes an in-depth look at “Life, Death and Life after Death”. In order to understand why mankind is appointed to die, we need to first have some understanding about life. Where did life come from? Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” God is the Creator and man is created by God. Our lesson points out that man was more than a physical being. God made the outer physical body out of “dust from the ground,” and then He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Simultaneously, at this breathing, “man became a living being with a soul.”
God made one restriction upon man: Genesis 2:15-17 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The Hebrew word “מוּת / muwth” for die means “to expire, to breathe out.” It describes that point in time when man becomes absent from his physical body. But to “die”, by God’s definition, is both physical and spiritually. Humans are a triune being (body, soul and spirit). The process of dying produces physical death, which brings a separation of the body and soul (mind, will and emotions). You die and die until you are dead. When the body expires and man breathes out the last breath of life, the body then returns to the ground; dust to dust. Man dies physically, but his soul – the “God-breathed” part of his being – lives forever. Spiritual death is the death of the human spirit and separation from relationship with Creator God. To trust and obey God is life. To doubt and disobey God is sin and death.
Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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.
Our study discussion noted how the devil sowed “the seed of doubt” with his very first words: “Has God indeed said.” Eve (the mother of all the living; her name literally translated “life-giver”) replied, but left out the words "freely" and "surely", added a phrase "nor shall you touch it" and changed part of what Father God originally said. Then Satan (translated “the Adversary”) offers her an outright lie: “You will not surely die.” and presents a deceptively false explanation designed to temptingly divide and kill (introducing original sin) by creating doubt that leads to the associated disobedience, that her beloved Maker is willfully, purposefully and intentional forbids and withholds the fruit from them “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” because her Creator God selfishly wants to keep them from this special knowledge that will make them “like God.” Eve takes the bait, believed the Serpent (identified in Revelation 12:9) and “doubts God”, instead of trusts – the original sin. She then took a different look at that fruit: “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.” – the disobedience, instead of obeys. The result is the introduction of sin and death (physically and spiritually); a “Fallen World” separated from God now, lost in sin and deservingly, destined to hell for eternity. How many don’t know this? How many don’t believe this? How many know and believe this, but take it lightly? The consequence of sin is death; that’s how great “The Fall of Man” was. If we never sin, then we have no problems.
Romans 3:19-25 Now we know that whatever the law (God’s Law) says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness.
I know that this is “bad news”, but the gospel message always tells the “bad news” before the “good news” (which is the translated meaning of the word “gospel”). The word gospel derives from the Old English Gōd-spell, meaning "good news". The word comes from the Greek “euangelion”, or "good news". If you don’t know that you are lost in sin and unable to save yourself on your own, then you won’t feel the need for or desire for a Savior. As Bible teacher Michael Low says, “It’s the bad news of sin that makes the good news of Jesus good.” And, as my old mentor Bill Stiles always said, “You cannot understand fully what you have been saved to, until you understand what you have been saved from.” Next post, we’ll look at what Holy Creator God did to justly remedy the sin situation and restore us in this life and death matter.
In Christ, Brian
2 comments:
As discussed at church, from the KJV, she left out "freely," added "neither shalt thou touch it," and changed an absolute to a maybe: from "thou shalt surely die," to "lest you die."
When you delete a word, add a word, and change a word, you no longer have God's Word.
Thanks, Michael
Thank you Michael for your excellent point. May we seek and know God's Word in Holy Scripture for His meaning, not our interpretation, in our life. We trust and obey the Lord because His sacred Word is the truth that sanctifies us.
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