First Great Deception
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existence. Eve yielded to temptation; and through her influence, Adam
was led into sin. They accepted the words of the serpent, that God
did not mean what He said; they distrusted their Creator and imagined
that He was restricting their liberty and that they might obtain great
wisdom and exaltation by transgressing His law.
But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning of the
words, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”? 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 find this to be the meaning
of 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.”
Verse 19
. The words of Satan, “Your eyes
shall be opened,” proved to be true in this sense only: 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.
In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit had the power
of perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God, he would
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have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would have lived
forever. But when he sinned he was cut off from partaking of the tree
of life, and he became subject to death. The divine sentence, “Dust
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” points to the utter extinction
of life.
Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been
forfeited by transgression. Adam could not transmit to his posterity
that which he did not possess; and there could have been no hope
for the fallen race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought
immortality within their reach. While “death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned,” Christ “hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel.”
Romans 5:12
;
2 Timothy 1:10
. And only through
Christ can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus: “He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life.”
John 3:36
. Every man may come into 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
.