Worth contemplating for further study....
1 Timothy 2 : 14, And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Before creating Adam and Eve on the 6th day; all the provisions for humanity were already prepared by God; and the angels repeatedly had given warnings after warnings about the forbidden tree, and that their joyous stay in Eden was contingent upon their obedience to God’s law; they had no excuse of not being warned, nor had insufficiently provisions to sustain their lives in Eden.
All their need was provided!
Unfortunately, the devil having failed to tempt all other worlds, had come to this newly created planet earth, and used his last most cunning sophistry to DECEIVE Eve and prevailed. The rest is history!
This appeared as a big victory to Satan who would have otherwise no more argument to challenge the government of God and had come to the end of his claim and to be destroyed! However, this did not happen, for he now claims dominion of the earth and has an argument with proof in his hand that is indeed impossible to obey God’s law; God’s law is arbritary, one sided and cannot be obeyed!
Satan’s evidence, Adam and Eve had disobeyed God!
Romans 6 : 23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Bible teaches that anyone who sin should die, and since the Law of God is eternal, the consequences of transgressing the eternal Law of God must also be eternal, - eternal death! However, we know that Adam and Eve continue to live their lives and did not die the moment sin had entered!
Why was this so?
A very short answer is EVE was deceived; so she did not have the intention to disobey, but she had disobeyed since she was deceived! The Bible says Eve was deceived, and Adam was not deceived! Adam bluntly chose to sin against God by choosing to side with his wife!
Both should die, and yet both continued to live! Provision had been made so that the moment sin entered, plan of salvation was immediately activated - Adam and Eve received another probation! Why? and What for?
A very short answer is because God is merciful!
Merriam-Wester says that mercy means compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power; another way to understand is to view mercy from the recipient who receives something NOT deserved! Adam and Eve deserve to die! However, they receive something they did not deserve, and that is to live!
To better understand the principle, let’s ask a question?
Was mercy ever given to Adam and Eve?
YES or NO? If yes why? If no why not?
Let’s read Exodus 33 : 18-19, Moses said to the Lord,
And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
Moses asked to see the Lord’s glory, and to him was told,
all my goodness pass before thee
I will proclaim the name of the Lord
I will be gracious
I will shew mercy
What does this mean?
Moses had asked to see the glory of the Lord, and to him was proclaimed the the NAME of the Lord, and the name of the Lord is his character which is goodness, gracious, mercy!
The character of the Lord is further described in Exodus 34:6-7.
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
What can we conclude?
Mercy is the attribute of God’s character, and it is SHOWN to Moses when he asked to see the glory, and it was also shown to the first to Adam and Eve, and revealed by giving them PROBATION! The result of Lord’s mercy is probation.
Back to the previous question, was mercy ever given to Adam and Eve? The answer is NO! Mercy was shown to them by giving them PROBATIONARY LIFE.
So what was that probation for? To give them a chance to be tested again, with a hope that at the end of their probationary life, they would be found “obedient” and “no longer deceived” to inherit the eternal life that they had lost!
An interesting fact for further study, Exodus 34:7 says that God’s character to is to be shown upon the children of God unto the third and to the fourth generation!
One generation in the Bible is 40 years; it took 40 years to eradicate the mix multitude before entering Canaan; it also took 40 years for Moses to unlearn the Eqyptian training and education and learn God’s character is the wilderness; God gave the antediluvian 120 years (3 generations) before the world was destroyed by flood; God says his mercy (giving us probation) is to the forth generation, and we are now in the 4th generation since God raised Adventism in 1844; we are on “extra-time” and we can be so sure that God’s mercy will soon end!
Also worth studying, judgement begins in the house of God, means we will be judged first! What should be our priority today knowing that our time is closing every day and we will be first judged before the world is judged!