Posted by
JLP on Saturday, August 12, 2006 10:44:24 PM
I have two sons, ages 3 and 1. Needless to say, they disobey me and
their mother several times a day. When they do something that Mommy and
Daddy have said is not allowed, I discipline them, tell them I love
them, and pray with them. The whole thing is over in a couple of
minutes, and they are happy, reconciled with their parents, and ready
to have a good time. I don't say to them that they will have to suffer
the penalty of death for their disobedience to me. Yet, this is exactly
what God told Adam would happen if he ate from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. At first blush, this seems to be an
extremely harsh punishment. As we will see, however, it shows God's
immeasurable love for Adam and Eve, and for us.
To understand
how this could be, we must first understand what death is. Most
people's understanding of death has to do with the death of the body.
In fact, physical death is only one type of death. The other types are
spiritual death and eternal death. Simply put, death is a separation.
The Bible teaches that the wages (consequences) of sin is death (Romans
6:23). Isaiah proclaimed that sin separates us from our God (Isaiah
59:2). Physical death is the separation of the body from the soul and
spirit. Spiritual death is the separation of man's spirit from God. If
a person experiences physical death while he is spiritually dead, he
will experience eternal death, separation from God for eternity. So, we
see what death is and that sin is the cause of death, but why? Why do
man's sins separate him from God?
God is holy. This means that
he is perfect without any spot or blemish. In other words, God has
never sinned. Now suppose that God were to come into contact with sin.
I can think of three possible outcomes. First, God might become
corrupted by the sin (think of a white t-shirt coming into contact with
bbq sauce). Second, God's holiness might purify the sin. The third
possibility is the one that the Bible supports. God's holiness is so
powerful that if sin were to come into His presence, it would be
obliterated (just as matter and anti-matter). Anything attached to the
sin would also be destroyed.
The moment Adam disobeyed God, he
unwittingly joined himself to sin. In that moment, God withdrew from
Adam, separated Himself from him. God knew that if He did not do this,
Adam would be annihilated. Because of His love for man, God did the
only thing that would allow man to avoid destruction. He allowed man to
exist in a state of separation from Him in order to give man time to be
reconciled.
In part 4, I will expound on this reconciliation which began almost immediately.