God’s plan of salvation

God planted a garden in Eden with herbs and beautiful trees that bore fruit. It was a perfect place to live, and God placed Adam there to tend and keep it. Eve was created to join him there as a perfectly suited helper. There was just one thing that Adam was told he could not do in the garden – he could not eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – just that one thing.

Satan approached Eve, intent on confusing her about what God had said about the garden. He rephrased God’s words, questioned His command, and contradicted what God had said. He told Eve that, should she eat fruit from the tree that was “in the middle of the garden,” she would not die but have her eyes opened; she would be like God. Tempted to doubt, Eve forgot about the consequence, took the fruit, and ate it. She also gave the fruit to Adam, and he ate. Confused and doubting, Eve ate; openly rebelling against God, Adam ate as well. It may have seemed to them a minor offense; after all, it was just a piece of fruit.

The consequence of their sin was immediate; their eyes were indeed opened. They knew that they were naked; no longer clothed in God’s light, they covered themselves. And when, in the cool of the day, they heard God coming, ashamed and afraid, they hid. The open, loving, trusting relationship they had previously enjoyed with each other and with their loving Creator had been fractured. Eating the fruit had caused absolute catastrophe!

Already knowing the answers, God questioned Adam, giving him the opportunity to understand and confess his sin. In response, however, trying to avoid admitting the offence he had committed, Adam shifted blame to Eve – and to God Himself. In turn, Eve blamed the serpent’s deception. But both had eaten the fruit; both were guilty.

God did not question Satan. There was nothing that God didn’t know already, and nothing the serpent needed to understand. Instead, God immediately pronounced his sentence – both temporal and eternal. Satan was told that there would always be hatred between his offspring and Eve’s, and that her descendant would confront and destroy him. Satan’s defeat is inevitable.

God was not taken by surprise with Satan’s ploy to derail His plan for creation; He was prepared. In His words to Satan, God announced His plan of salvation. The light that had vanished with rebellion would be restored by the Son; darkness would be overcome by light. Where Adam’s disobedience affected all of humankind and creation, the promised seed of Eve would bring deliverance for today and for eternity. God’s plan unstoppable!