Basic HTML Version
24
The Beginning of the End
to obey or disobey. But before they could be eternally secure, their
loyalty must be tested. At the beginning of human existence God
placed a check upon self-indulgence, the fatal desire that lay at the
foundation of Satan’s fall. The tree of knowledge was to be a test
of the obedience, faith, and love of our first parents. They were
forbidden to taste the fruit of this tree, on pain of death. They were
to be exposed to the temptations of Satan; but if they endured the
trial successfully, they would be placed beyond his power, to enjoy
unending favor with God.
The Beautiful Garden of Eden
God placed human beings under law, subjects of the divine gov-
ernment. God could have created them without the power to sin. He
could have prevented them from touching the forbidden fruit, but
then Adam and Eve would have been mere robots. Without freedom
of choice, their obedience would have been forced. Such a course
would have been contrary to God’s plan, unworthy of the intelligent
beings He created, and would have sustained Satan’s charge of God’s
arbitrary rule.
God made our first parents honorable, with no bias toward evil.
He presented before them the strongest possible motivations to be
true. Obedience was the condition of eternal happiness and access
to the tree of life.
The home of our first parents was to be a pattern for other homes
as their children should go and occupy the earth. People today take
pride and delight in magnificent and costly homes and glory in the
works of their own hands, but God placed Adam in a garden. This
was a lesson for all time—true happiness is not found by indulging
[15]
in pride and luxury, but by communing with God through His created
works. Pride and ambition are never satisfied, but people who are
truly wise will find pleasure in the enjoyment God has placed within
the reach of all.
The care of the garden was committed to the couple in Eden,
“to tend and keep it.” God appointed work as a blessing, to occupy
the mind, strengthen the body, and develop the abilities. Adam
found one of the highest pleasures of his holy existence in mental
and physical activity. It is a mistake to think of work as a curse,