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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
Did he find them to mean, as Satan had led him to believe, that
he was to be ushered into a more exalted state of existence? Then
indeed there was great good to be gained by transgression, and Satan
was proved to be a benefactor of the race. But Adam did not so
understand the divine sentence. God declared that as a penalty for
his sin, man should return to the ground whence he was taken: “Dust
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” [
Genesis 3:19
.] The words
of Satan, “Your eyes shall be opened,” proved to be true only in this
sense: After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their eyes were
opened to discern their folly; they did know evil, and they tasted the
bitter fruit of transgression.
Immortality had been promised on condition of obedience to the
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requirements of God. It was forfeited by disobedience, and Adam
became subject to death. He could not transmit to his posterity that
which he did not possess; and there would have been no hope for
the fallen race, had not God, by the sacrifice of his Son, brought
immortality within their reach. “The wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [
Romans
6:23
.] In no other way can it be obtained. But every man may come
in possession of this priceless blessing if he will comply with the
conditions. All “who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for
glory and honor and immortality,” will receive eternal life. [
Romans
2:7
.]
The one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great
deceiver. The first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of
the soul was preached by the serpent to Eve in Eden,—“Ye shall not
surely die;” and this declaration, resting solely upon the authority
of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and received
by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first
parents. The divine sentence, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,”
[
Ezekiel 18:20
.] is made to mean, The soul that sinneth, it shall
not die, but live eternally. We cannot but wonder at the strange
infatuation which renders men so credulous concerning the words
of Satan, and so unbelieving in regard to the words of God.
The fruit of the tree of life had the power to perpetuate life. Had
man after his fall been allowed free access to that tree, he would
have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized. But
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a flaming sword was placed “to keep the way of the tree of life,”