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Today we’re going to finish getting through Genesis 3. I think we learned an awful lot concerning the Sabbath; and by putting it together from the things that we’ve understood in other parts of the Scriptures, so that we would understand why God made the Sabbath. And the most important thing concerning the Sabbath being the seventh day is that God made it for us so that we could be in contact with Him. And of course, God wants that. God made His creation of, of man and woman so that we would be in contact with Him; so He especially created that day for the purpose of fellowshipping, of teaching and knowledge and understanding.
We’ve been going through this Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament by George Ricker Berry here. Before we get to Gen. 3, let’s understand something here. The Bible does not tell us how long it was from the Creation—and from God’s initial instruction to them in the garden of Eden—how long it was from that time until the serpent was let loose.
Let’s look at it this way: let’s use a modern day example, from our own experiences within the Churches of God: How many years was it that people were in the Church of God, studied the Scriptures, got the instructions from God, knew their Bibles, and then kind of let things slack and then in came the serpent?—almost identical!
Coming in with another teaching by saying, Yea, God is not two, but one or three.’ What happened? People fell for it hook, line and sinker; however, not everyone. I would have to conclude that since God wants—before we make a choice— it to be knowledgeable for us that we know what we’re doing. That He certainly gave sufficient time—whatever that was—for Adam and Eve to be instructed by God, to live in the garden of Eden, to know what God wanted, to keep His commandments and so forth, before the serpent was let loose.
I do not believe that it was done the day after they were created or a week or ten days after they were created. I don’t know how long, but I’m sure that it was longer than a week or ten days. So that they would know, they would have knowledgeable choices, they would understand what they were doing. And the reason I say that is because we’re going to see the consequences of their sin in relationship to all human beings—and it’s past on to all of us. And so, with the stakes so high and the, the situation so profound, I think God let them know in, in a pretty definitive way what His overall plan was, what they should be doing and then He let the serpent come into the garden.
God let the serpent come into the garden, Genesis 3:1 (Int): “And the serpent was crafty above (from) every beast of the field which had made Jehovah God; and he said unto the woman: Is it so that has said God: Not ye shall eat from any tree of the garden?”
A direct challenge to what God had said, ‘You could eat of every tree of the garden, you could eat, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ So, the woman always had to correct him—isn’t that so? Once you have some knowledge that is true, what is something that you do? You try and correct the false statement! In that, you have to be careful because there may be a trap set. In this case, there was a big trap set.
Just refuting something is not necessarily enough. Not only do you have to refute what is said in the way of a false statement, but you also then have to obey God and keep those things which are right and correct in addition to it. That’s why it says that ‘knowledge puffs up, but love edifies’—because you can get all carried away with knowledge.
Verse 2 (Int): “And said the woman unto the serpent, from the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, has said God, not ye shall eat from it, and not ye shall touch (in) it, lest ye die.”
This shows subsequent instruction— doesn’t it? Because when you read Gen. 2 God says you shall not eat of it. It’s ‘not eat’ and ‘not touch.’ Here’s evidence of some subsequent instruction. I don’t think, as some have concluded, that Eve added her bit to it. I think that God pretty well told them. Because you see, once you touch it then you’re going to start with lust. And so, I’m sure that’s why He said you should not touch it. And I think her statement was true.
“…not ye shall eat from it, and not ye shall touch (in) it, lest ye die…. [that means in dying you shall die] …And said the serpent unto the woman, not dying ye shall die. For is knowing God that in the day of your eating from it, then shall be opened your eyes, and ye shall become like God… (vs 3-5, Int).
I think the King James says ‘as God’—but it is you will be ‘like’ God. You will be similar to God in a certain way. You could take that statement just like we do today when you talk to the Russians about democracy. Their version of democracy is far different than ours. So, when we’re communicating on a word, the understanding of that word is not the same in both minds. I am sure that they had—at least Eve did—come to have the understanding that she would be exactly as God is.
I also believe that God told them that their eventual destiny was to be in the God family. And I’m sure that He indicated to them that it would take a certain amount of time to do so. Here comes the serpent along and says, ‘Well now, you want to be like God now. Don’t’ wait. Now!’ That’s the same philosophy that Satan has with every life. Get to it early. Get to it quick and destroy it now! That’s what he did with Adam and Eve here.
Here’s how they would be ‘like God’: obviously, they wouldn’t be eternal, because they didn’t eat of the Tree of Life. Obviously, they weren’t going to improve and be righteous, because, you see, every indication is that up to this point, Adam and Eve had a neutral disposition. In order to make the choice they had to have a neutral disposition. They were neither inherently righteous nor were they inherently evil. They had to make the choice! Here’s the choice, here’s what they would be like.
I think this is interesting in the Interlinear here: “…ye shall become like God, knowers of good and evil.” Now, it says in the King James: “knowing good and evil (v 5, Int)”
Knowers here actually means deciders. You’re going decide what is right and what is wrong. In other words, the message is: Who is God to tell you what is right? Who is God to tell you what is wrong? Why don’t you decide for yourself?
- Does that not sound like a lot of things we’ve heard today? Yes!
- Is that not what is taught in the schools today? Yes, exactly!
You will be deciders of what is good and what is evil. Well, that makes you very important—doesn’t it? That just lifts you up—doesn’t it? You can decide. You can decide for yourself, apart from God, and this is going to make you like God.
It’s also interesting that knowers or knowing is one of the most interesting facets of all the pagan religions: it’s Gnosticism. It comes from the Greek word ‘gnosis’ and that’s why the English word know for knowledge is ‘kn’—it’s a carry-over from the Greek with the two consonants there.
We also find that Masonry is a Gnostic religion. And it’s interesting: what is the symbol of the Masons? What is the symbol of the Masons? They have 33 degrees or steps in which they go with varying degrees of revelation of lies until they get to the top where they are told Lucifer is god. That’s why they have to go through all of these degrees, step-by-step. But, the symbol of Masonry is a ‘G’ with a square in a triangle and over the triangle is the all seeing eye!
Get out a dollar bill, and just to let you know that this same system is still going today, you look at the back side of the dollar bill. Now, it says, ‘in God we trust.’ However, to the left of it is a total rejection of God, which is the pyramid with the all seeing eye—the New World Order, that’s what it means. They’ve been trying to get the New World Order for a long time. The New World Order began back here with Adam and Eve—when you really understand it—with the deception that Satan brought forth.
There are still Gnostics, and that’s the same thing that Satan held out to Adam and Eve, ‘You will be knowers and deciders of what is right and what is wrong.’
Verse 6 (Int): “And saw the woman that good [was] the tree for food…” You can’t tell by looking, that’s a very important thing to understand. That also applies to clean and unclean meats. You can’t tell by looking—some of them you can. I mean, if you look at some of these oysters and clams, you ought to have enough sense to realize that that’s not something to eat. You can’t tell.
The other day I was in the Kings Table. We’re going on down through the line, getting the things they we need and we come to this meat that looked like roast turkey. I said, ‘Oh, roast turkey!’ And they said, ‘No, roast pork!’ Just looking at it you could not tell that it is not good for you. God has to tell us what is right, tell us what is wrong, especially in those areas that we cannot decide.
Her looking at it didn’t prove a thing. Just like buying a used car. You can get one that looks good, that sounds good, because it has 90 weight oil in the crankcase; that runs quiet, because it has a little sawdust in the differential. But, you drive it home and it’s a pile of junk. So, not just how it looks!
“…and the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that a delight it [was] to the eyes, and desirable [was] the tree to make wise…” (v 6 Int). This is the proposition that Satan said that you will be wise! When you have intellect, when you have a mind that is designed to learn, you want to learn in knowledge. You want to increase in knowledge—don’t you? That’s a whole life-long, driving force that God has put in us, which we need. Here he was appealing to all of those things.
“…and she took from its fruit, and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And… [sure enough] …were opened the eyes of those two, and they knew that naked were they…” (vs 6-7 Int). They saw something they didn’t see before. I’m sure they saw themselves being naked because they were brought together as husband and wife and they were naked and not ashamed.
You have something that takes place here that brings about shame. That brings about a guilty conscience. What is not said here—and we don’t want to speculate too much in what was done here—some people say that Eve had relations with the serpent and from that comes the seed of Cain. Not so! Not so at all! But some people like to perpetuate their own hostilities, so they try and do it that way.
Some people also try and indicate that there was perhaps a lot of sexual perversion that went on between Adam and Eve. That is possible. I do not know what it was that the serpent told them, or showed them, but whatever it was, it had to do with their nakedness. They knew that they were naked. That’s the first thing that they knew. They did have some understanding—didn’t they?
“…and they sewed leaves of the fig tree, and made for themselves girdles… [or coverings]” (v 7 Int). It’s interesting, some say it’s the fig tree from which they ate. I don’t know. It could be, it could not be. There’s one reference to a fig tree back here in the book of Mark. There is a fig tree that Jesus refers to, which definitely has to do with non-productive Satan religion.
Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? Well, let’s look at the account here and maybe we can come to understand. First of all, we know that Jesus condemned the Pharisees and Sadducees for following their father, Satan the devil. So, when He’s referring to the fig tree, we are going to see that He is referring to them and this may stretch all the way back to the false knowledge in the garden of Eden that never produced any spiritual fruit unto salvation.
Mark 11:12: “And in the morning, after they left Bethany, He became hungry. Then, seeing a fig tree afar off that had leaves, He went to it to see if He might possibly find something on it. But after coming to it, He found nothing except leaves because it was not yet the season for figs” (vs 12- 13).
Why did He go to the fig tree and try and find something on it if there were only leaves and it wasn’t time for figs? We’re talking about here, in parable, the religion of Judaism, which goes right back into Satanism, which goes right back to the Garden of Eden. This tree, this fig tree, as symbolizing Judaism didn’t bring forth any fruit. It didn’t produce anything of any lasting spiritual value— because it was all steeped in Satanism and paganism.
We have the same thing today with Catholicism. We have the same thing with Buddhism. But, since Judaism was so close and they were claiming they knew God, but they were rejecting God with all their traditions. This is why I am sure that it was a fig tree. Notice, it wasn’t a peach tree or an apricot tree or an apple tree—it was a fig tree.
Verse 14: “And Jesus responded by saying to it, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you any more forever!’ And His disciples heard it. Then they came into Jerusalem; and after entering the temple… [this is how we tie it in with Judaism] …Jesus began to cast out those who were buying and selling in the temple; and He overthrew the tables of the money exchangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. Moreover, He did not allow anyone to carry a vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers’” (vs 14-17)—a den of iniquity. Wherever Satan is, it is a den of thieves. Whether it is in a church. Whether it is in a corporation. Whether it is in a government. Or whether it is in a family. It makes no difference, wherever Satan is, it’s a “den of thieves.”
Verse 18: “Now the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the multitudes marveled at His teaching. And when evening came, He went out of the city. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots…. [right from the very ground up] …Then Peter remembered and said to Him, ‘Look, Master! The fig tree that You cursed has dried up.’….” (vs 18-21). This is showing a complete repudiation of Judaism.
- not the Truth of God
- not the laws of God
- not the commandments of God
but of Judaism—and that they should have faith.
Verse 22: “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith from God.” Then He gave a very important lesson concerning prayer, concerning what we need to ask, how we need to ask and in what attitude:
Verse 23: “For truly I say to you, whoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be taken away and be cast into the sea,’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said will take place, he shall have whatever he shall say.” We have to temper that and tie that in with other things like: ‘keep My commandments and receive the Holy Spirit,’ and all of those things have to be tied in with that.
Verse 24: “For this reason I say to you, all the things that you ask when you are praying, believe that you will receive them, and they shall be given to you. But when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your Father Who is in heaven may forgive you your offenses. For if you do not forgive, neither will your Father Who is in heaven forgive you your offenses’ ” (vs 24-26).
The whole lesson here is another one of these things that’ll be a complete divorcement away from Judaism and into the way that Jesus Christ was teaching. And of course, one of the first things you have to have is faith and then you live by prayer. So, that’s why we have that.
It’s interesting that the fig tree was cursed and it may go right back to the garden of Eden showing that what they were doing and what they were following was harkening all the way back to some of the original teachings of Satan the devil.
Let’s continue on with the account given in Gen. 3. It’s interesting that God gives us all the basic knowledge we need to know:
- How we got here
- Who our first parents were
- Who God is and the commandments of God
- How we got evil—why is that human beings are evil?
Could it be that Adam and Eve had previous encounters with Satan? or the serpent that was there? and that maybe he ‘softened them up’ for this point here? It’s possible! It doesn’t tell us, so we can’t say dogmatically. But, the very fact that she didn’t say, ‘Who are you? What are you doing here? How did you get here?’ sort of gives the credence to the question: Could it be that that they knew of the serpent before the particular time of the eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? It’s possible! We can’t rule it out, but we can’t dogmatically say ‘yea.’ But at least it gives us a little more basis of understanding.
Genesis 3:8 (Int): “And they heard the sound of Jehovah God walking about in the garden at the breeze of the day…” This is in the evening or the cool of the day—and it shows that they were right there with God, they had complete access to God all the time.
“…and concealed themselves the man and his wife from the face of Jehovah God in the midst of the trees of the garden…. [there they were, right there] …And called Jehovah God unto the man, and said to him: ‘Where art thou?’” (vs 8-9 Int) I don’t know if there was a designated place that they would meet every day at this particular time— it’s very possible. So, God came down and said: ‘Where are you?’
Verse 10 (Int): “And he said, ‘Thy voice I heard in the garden, and I feared, because naked am I; and I concealed myself.’ And He said: ‘Who made known to thee that naked art thou? From the tree [from] which I commanded thee to not eat (from it) hast thou eaten?’ And said the man…” (vs 10-12)
Here’s the classical case that always happens. No one likes to take blame for whatever they do. And of course, it’s interesting that modern psychology is based on that. They are now understanding that people have to be responsible for what they do. But, when psychology first started this out and people get the way they were, it was blame father, blame mother, blame school, blame everybody else—you poor little thing, you can’t help it— cain’t hep it! So, that’s what Adam did. He said, ‘Now look…’
Verse 12 (Int): “And the man said: ‘The woman whom thou gavest with me… [It’s God’s fault. It’s not ‘my fault’ it’s God’s fault.] …she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.’ ” That let’s ‘me off the hook.’ Now, you know, ‘if it wouldn’t have been for the woman, Lord, I wouldn’t have eaten, but there it was.’
Verse 13 (Int): “And said Jehovah God to the woman: What, then, hast thou done? And said the woman: The serpent seduced [deceived] me and I ate.”
So, everyone is trying to blame everyone else. The reason that I’m using Jehovah is because that’s the translation in the Interlinear and that is the really the correct pronunciation of the Hebrew word, YHVH—which is translated, Lord. To read it in the King James it would be ‘the Lord God said.’ The King James translates YHVH as Lord, and when you first have God dealing directly with Adam and Eve it is the One Who created them— the Lord God, in this particular case or the One of Elohim Who revealed Himself as, as Jehovah—or as some people like to say Yahweh.
That is not in any way indicating that we’re switching over and believing in sacred names at all, we’re not; that is not required at all whatsoever. But, it is still, nevertheless, one of the names of God. So, in reading this, please understand that we’re not trying to do that.
Verse 14 (Int): “And said Jehovah God unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this, cursed be thou from all the cattle and from all beasts of the field; upon thy belly thou shalt go and dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life.”
When you compare our discussion that we were having before services about how human beings are made to stand upright, fully erect, and walk on two feet, made in the image of God—now here, the adversary of God now is made so he can never stand upright.
Did he stand upright at one time? It’s possible, I don’t know! All we know is what we see today in the particular case. But, I think that is very profound that the one that symbolizes Satan the devil being the serpent, cannot stand upright. It has to go on his belly. And I think one of the most gruesome ways of eating is the way that a snake eats. I’m sure you’ve seen that on some of these Discovery programs showing how serpents eat. And so, the whole thing with the serpent is really quite a struggle. And what we’re finding here is that everything that God said is true.
And, He says, v 15 (Int): “And hostility I will put between thee and between the woman, and between thy seed and between her seed; he shall bruise thee as to the head and thou shalt bruise him as to the heel.” That did happen when Jesus was crucified. When they crucified Him and, and put the nails through His feet. It wasn’t through the front part of His feet because He would have bones broken. It was prophesied ‘no bone would be broken.’ So, it went through the Achilles tendon and the heel, so it would go that way—and it did bruise His heel.
Verse 16 (Int): “Unto the woman he said, Multiplying I will multiply thy trouble and thy conception… [I will greatly multiply your trouble, your sorrow—I think that’s a little broader definition] …in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and unto thy husband shall be they longing {or your desire} and he shall rule over thee” (v 16, IH).
God gave equal punishment to all. God is not picking on women here—please understand that. Man had his sorrow increased, and his work increased just as well. Let’s see what happened here:
Verse 17 (Int): “And to Adam he said, ‘Because thou hast hearkened… [listened] …to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten from the tree as to which I commanded thee, saying: Not thou shalt eat from it; cursed be the ground on account of thee… [Everything that he would set his hand to do he had obstacles to overcome and problems to overcome] …in toil thou shalt eat of it all the days of they life; and thorns and thistles it shall cause to sprout for thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy nostrils… (vs 17-19).
That’s a literal translation. I think showing that he’s going to have not just the sweat of your brow, but it’s going to be a breathing, difficult, very exasperating kind of existence.
“…thou shalt eat bread, until thy return unto the ground; for from it thou wast taken; for dust [art] thou and unto dust thou shalt return” (v 19 Int).
That was the punishment that was given to man. Let’s look at the punishments here, as it was given out to all of them. Let’s, first of all, understand that there is a parallel for us to learn which is drawn on continually. Let’s see the result of what happened as is in relationship to Eve and then into Adam.
There is a lesson for us here continually concerning the Word of God, continually concerning how Satan is going to be out there to try and turn God’s way upside down and to interfere in our lives. I think living in the end-time we’re going to experience a lot of that. We’re going to see a lot of it. We’re going to see a lot of obstacles brought up against us.
- -Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God because I have espoused you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness… [clever arguments, sounding good, having logic] …so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (vs 2-3). That’s exactly what’s been happening today— coming along with philosophical and theological arguments that just boggle the mind. They’re just so mind-twisting that it’s difficult to even read it.
I know, I’ve been studying quite a bit of it now so I can really understand how much of the New Testament has been written to combat all of this satanic philosophy—and it’s amazing. It is amazing how much is there to combat everything that Satan has done.
Verse 4: “For indeed, if someone comes preaching another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you put up with it as something good.” It says, ‘you’re putting up with it, you’re allowing this to happen.’ That’s why he said that you need to be careful that you don’t be deceived.
- -Timothy 2—here’s a section of Scripture which has been used against women in ways which are not exactly correct. But, as we’ve pointed out before, we’re still male and female and God expects us to live our lives in a way that He wants them to be lived.
- -Timothy 2:9: In like manner also, let the women adorn themselves with clothing that shows modesty and discretion, not with elaborate braidings of the hair, or with gold, or pearls, or expensive apparel.” That is, overly done. I don’t know of any women that I’ve seen in church at all who was doing that—so don’t take this as a personal thing.
Verse 10: “but with that which is fitting for women who profess to have reverence for God— with good works. Let a woman learn in quietness and be submissive in every respect” (10-11). It doesn’t mean you are to be still and to not ask questions or anything like that.
Verse 12: “For I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over man, but to be in quietness.” That is, teaching in church. That doesn’t mean that a woman cannot teach. We have the example of Aquila and Priscilla—they taught Apollos, but they were not teaching him in the church.
Verse 13: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived; but the woman came to be in transgression by being deceived” (vs 13-14). We’re going to see that this doesn’t mean that Adam didn’t sin. A lot of people read this and think, well, it’s just the woman, and then they get the hard-heel and put down women all the time. No, we’re going to see, Adam not being deceived, knew what he was doing so therefore his sin was worse than Eve’s.
Verse 15: “But she shall be saved through the childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with self-control.”
Now, let’s look at the effect concerning Adam. What happened here to all mankind. I know Rom. 5, in this particular case, is a somewhat difficult section to understand, but let’s see if we can untangle it here at this particular point. Adam did sin! And we’re going to see it here, very clearly. And his sin had a great effect on all humankind.
Romans 5:12: “Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…” Didn’t say ‘woman’—‘one man’. Does that mean that Adam probably could have stopped the whole thing even though Eve may have eaten of it? If he would have kept God’s way and not eaten of it? I don’t know, it’s possible! I do not know—that’s an open question. And that’s one of those we’ll have to wait for the resurrection to get the answer on, because it doesn’t tell us directly.
We’re going to deal in a little scenario now, so we’ll have a little speculation: What if Adam would have eaten first, instead of Eve? I don’t know, doesn’t tell us! He ate second; he knew better, he was not deceived. When you’re deceived, you don’t know better. You’re deceived. He wasn’t. He knew what he was doing. And, I’m sure he knew the consequences that was going to happen to the whole human race.
Now here in Rom. 5, it shows us something very important that happened. And this helps give us an understanding as to what happened to human nature and why the world is so evil. Though everyone is trying to do good in their own way, except those who are totally dedicated to evil.
Verse 12: “Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world… [and the ‘world’ here being the human realm] …and by means of sin came death; and in this way, death passed into all mankind…[ We are as good as dead from the instant of conception—just a matter of time. Some live longer, some shorter.] … and it is for this reason that all have sinned.” With the passing of death inherent within their genes, sin also was passed to all human beings, that we have a sinful nature. No longer neutral, as they were originally created. Now there was a sinful nature. And this is the reason why all men have sinned.
Verse 13: “For before the law, sin was in the world. However, sin is not imputed when law does not exist.” What he’s saying—in kind of double twist on the words here is—before the Covenant given to Israel, there was law in the world, that’s why there was sin. Because ‘sin is the transgression of the law.’
Verse 14: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even upon those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam… [His sin was a profound sin. His sin was a knowledgeable sin.] …who was a type of the One Who was to come.”
Now we’re going to look at a couple of things in 1-Corinthians 15 concerning Adam and concerning Christ. We know that Paul tells us that all of us have ‘the law of sin and death’ within us. That’s reflected in the carnal nature that when you want to do good you can’t.
No one has been able to beat this yet. If you want to know the truth of God’s Word, all have died. That verifies the truth of God’s Word. No one has been able to overcome it. Everyone has tried to prolong life as long as they can. But the aging process is a very part of our being.
- -Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die… [They all die because of the sin of Adam— death was passed on, sinful nature was passed on.] …so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Let’s get the comparison here in v 45: “Accordingly, it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became an ever-living Spirit.’ ” There is a comparison here. IF Adam and Eve had not sinned, then Adam would have been the first man changed from flesh to spirit and we would all go through Adam. But now, because they sinned, we all go through Christ.
It’s not like the Mormons, they come along and say that Adam and Eve had to sin so that all of these spirits up in heaven could be sent down and be put into human bodies, because they need a human body. Well, that is just demonism—that’s just another version of Hinduism in the guise of a Christian-sounding religion.
So, because of that sin, we have all sinned and we come up with this human nature.
Let’s see another verification of this, and this is something that the world cannot figure out. Why is it that all human being tend to do evil? In varying degrees, one way or the other! Mark 7:21 shows that it’s from within, inside! So therefore we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Mark 7:21: “For from within, out of the hearts of men, go forth evil thoughts… [and this just almost lists out the sins as they come along in the experience of a lifetime]: …adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evils go forth from within, and these defile a man” (vs 21-23). That kind of nature was put into us, passed on to us by inheritance from Adam and Eve down to this day. And only God can change it. Only Christ can remove it. It’s the only way. Can’t be done any other way.
With a life like that, here let’s go look at one of the most righteous kings that we have. Let’s look and see what David said of his own conception. Now, we saw before what he said of it: how wonderfully and awesomely he was made. We have the other side of it. Now we have what happens when you are sinning and you are confessing your sins and you really understand and realize how in-depth the sin is that human being have.
Recently, there was a murderer down in San José. Something worked out that they could not convict him, so he was set loose. And he says, ‘You got to kill me.’ No, there’s nothing we can do legally. He says, ‘I’m unreformable.’ At least he was honest. He said, ‘I think of murder and mayhem all the time. And if you don’t lock me up and do something with me and take me out of my misery, I know I’m going to do it again.’ That was really something!
And you know, true confession, that a man would really admit that. And, of course, these socalled ‘serial killers’—that they just kill one person after another, they are the same way. They get so obsessed with the evil and so compulsive with it, that every thought is to execute this evil. Every thought is to carry out this evil.
When David was repenting, here’s what he said, Psalm 51:1: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions.” What did he have in mind? What was it he did? Adultery and murder—listed in the same order right there as in Mark 7—correct? Yes! And he schemed and he planned and he plotted and all this sort of thing.
Verse 2: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me…. [When God convicts you of your sin it is ever before you.] …Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be in the right when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me” (vs 2-5).
That doesn’t mean it was a sinful, illegitimate birth, it means ‘just from the very conception of my being sin was within me’—that’s what it means. That’s why the sweetest, nicest children— you often wonder, I wonder what Stalin was like when he was a little baby? Wonder what Hitler was like when he was a little baby? Wonder what Cleopatra was like when she was a little baby—and on and on and on and on. All little babies are sweet and lovely, but they have inherent the “law of sin and death” in them. And the more they are exposed to an evil world and Satan, the more in degree that this evil becomes more profound.
You can even take this human nature and you can raise it in a relatively good environment, with a minimal amount of influence of sin and you can come up with someone who the world would say is a “upright.” That is, they are not given to too much sin. But, nevertheless, they will lie. Nevertheless, they will cheat. Nevertheless, they will covet. Nevertheless, they will still want their own way. Even in the very best. That’s why “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and none can save himself.”
David understood that it was from right within. Now, let’s look at a couple of Proverbs concerning that. There are a couple of Proverbs that we have memorized there. As a result, man’s way is the way of sin. The way that seems right. Proverbs 16:25: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.” The wages of sin is death. Man’s way that seems good and right leads to death.
Proverbs 21:2: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes…” That’s how we have the excuse that you try and palm it off on someone else. “…right in his own eyes...” And because of that you can’t come to God on your terms. We’re going to see that’s what Cain was doing. He was going to God on his terms. You can never come to God on your terms. Here’s why:
Proverbs 15:8: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD…” If you don’t repent, if you don’t change, if you don’t have a heart that God can work with, even whatever you do in the way of sacrifice—not only just animal sacrifice but time, but labor, whatever it may be, is “…an abomination to the Lord…” Who is the mother of abominations? Babylon the Great—mother of harlots and abominations in the earth! All comes from her.
Verse 9: “The way of the wicked is an abomination…” And that’s what, as we’re going to see, happened to the world before the Flood.
Verse 10: “There is grievous correction for him who forsakes the way… [Did that not happen to Adam and Eve? Was not their correction grievous? Oh yes—even affects us!] …he who hates reproof shall die. The grave and destruction are before the LORD—how much more the hearts of the children of men?” (vs 10-11). God knows the heart (Mark 7:21), it tells us what our human hearts are like.
Verse 15: “All the days of the afflicted are evil…” And that’s what it was before the, before the Flood. It go so bad, so bad. And it’s, it’s just like God is always done. When people come to a certain point that they just turn their backs on God, God says, ‘Okay, you can have it all. All your own way and I don’t have to do anything but just let it run its course.’ Then history is written.
Verse 25: “The LORD will destroy the house of the proud, but He maintains the border of the widow. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD…” (vs 25-26). So, we have the way of evil is an abomination; and we find here—all the way through here—these things are called abominations. That is amazing!
Verse 27: “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house…” Didn’t that happen to Adam and Eve? They were greedy of gain. They wanted to be made wise in their own way? Yes! This is something the way that these parallels really follow along.
Genesis 4—God had to do something. He withdrew the opportunity of salvation until the Messiah should come. With the exception of those few that He would call.
Genesis 3:19 (Int): “…for dust art thou and unto dust thou shalt return. And called the man the name of his wife Eve; for she became mother of every living [being]. And made Jehovah God for Adam and for his wife tunics {coats} of skin, and clothed them” (vs 19-21).
That is to clothe their nakedness. Some people say that this was also an offering for a sin sacrifice. It’s possible, but if you read what a sin sacrifice is, how they handled it, everything had to be burned: the skin, the innards and everything had to be burned. It’s possible that it was, but I am not going to completely say that this was an animal sacrifice for sin.
Here’s what God had to do, v 22 (Int): “And said Jehovah God: Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know… [or ‘to decide’] … good and evil…” And now—which he can’t do, he just thinks he can do—God is the One Who decides what is good, and God is the One Who decides what is evil. But, now that mankind had taken it to themselves they were ‘like God’ in that particular sense, to decided good and evil.
“…and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” (v 22 Int).
God closed off the way to the Tree of Life. And the reason being is, not that He wasn’t going to bring salvation at a later date, which He was, without a doubt; but you cannot live forever in a state of sin. And, I know I’ve said this before: How would you like to live forever the way you’re living now? With the pulls of sin, with the pulls of the flesh, and all this sort of thing—forever and ever and ever? So therefore, He cut off the way of the Tree of Life.
“…and so sent him Jehovah God from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken there from. And he drove out the man, and he stationed (from) East of to the garden of Eden the Cherubim and the flame of the sword whirling itself about to guard the way of the tree of life” (vs 22-24 Int).
It’s called ‘the way of the Tree of Life’— symbolizing a way to live! I’m sure there was a literal tree. What happened to the Tree of Life? I don’t know! I do know that after the Flood it was no longer mentioned in the sense that it was here. Could it be that God took the tree back with Him, I don’t know, at the time of the Flood? It’s possible!
Could it be that the tree was destroyed? If it’s a Tree of Life, can it be destroyed? I can’t answer that either! We’ll have to wait for God to tell us quite a bit. Now then, we start the whole chronicle of human sin! Sin starts in the family.
Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew Eve his wife… [which means they had sexual relations] … and she conceived…” (Gen. 4:1, KJV). It wasn’t with the serpent, trust me! And the Word of God, that if Cain was the offspring of the serpent, God would have made it clear. But then you’re also violating the laws of God, which is kind after kind. And so, you cannot have something, which then would be impossible to take place. So he was human as human can be and his father was Adam and not the serpent. And here’s what she said:
“…and bore Cain, and said, ‘I have gotten a man from the Lord’” (v 1). So, right away she began to think this was the One that was prophesied about. That Cain was the One Who was going to then bring the deliverance to them.
Verse 2: “And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.”
In the account of Josephus it shows that the ‘process of time’ was perhaps as much as 120 years. Those of you who like to do a little mathematics— and I’ve seen this in some publications— you take 1500 years, which is 1550-some years from the time of Adam and Eve until the Flood. And you start out with two and then you start increasing the population. And it’s estimated that there could have been as many as a billion and a half people on the earth at the time of the Flood.
When you consider there is a tradition— and I will have to put it that way—that Adam and Eve had 56 children. That would not be hard to believe that they had 56 children. All God gives us is the loose linage of the line of Cain; and the exact linage of the line coming down to Noah. Nothing else is preserved for us. Everything else of the world before the Flood has been obliterated.
Verse 3: “It came to pass that Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground.” We know that firstfruits are to be brought. We also know that a tithe of the ground was to be brought. So this was an improper offering; and I think it’s probably true—the tradition that they had—that Cain was forcing the ground and doing things that he shouldn’t have been doing.
Verse 4: “And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it….” There are some people who believe that this could have been on a Holy Day—it’s possible! It doesn’t say that it was, doesn’t say that it wasn’t.
“…And the LORD had regard unto Abel and his offering” (v 4). Why? Because he did it according to the commands of God, that’s why! Whenever you do anything according to the commands of God, He will have respect unto you.
Verse 5: “But He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering. And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell…. [he got mad at God] …And the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted?….’ ” (vs 5- 7). All He said was, ‘Look, Cain, all you have to do is do what’s right. Won’t you be accepted?’
“…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door….” (v 7). There’s a couple of interesting things here, which may fit into this:
When they brought their offering, where did they bring it? I’m sure that God was still in the Garden of Eden, so when they came up to the east gate, where the Cherubim were—now remember, what is over the altar of God in the tabernacle and the temple, but the Cherubim. I think this: when they brought an offering, they came to the entrance— the east entrance of the garden of Eden, where the Cherubim were—and there was an altar for offerings. And that’s where they offered it. And if they did well, they were accepted of God.
When He says, “…sin lies at the door…” could it be that He is telling Cain that ‘Your offering here at the door is sin’? Could be!
“…Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (v 7). You have to be responsible and control your own self—so Cain didn’t accept that.
Then we have the account here concerning Cain killing his brother. And God knows. God knows everything. And so “Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” (v 8-9).
Immediately, right in the family here is the strife going on. When you have children, do you have fights with the kids? Yes. Is there strife between them? Yes! Nothing new. Started out with the first family. That’s part of the sorrows that Eve would go through. More than just the pain of bearing children, but also the turmoil and the sorrow of fighting and arguing and, you know, rearing the children.
Verse 10: “And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you, and you shall be a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth.’ ” (vs 10-12). So then, he was cast out.
Verse 13: “And Cain said to the LORD, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out from the face of the earth today, and I shall be hidden from Your face….’ ” (vs 13-14). No more access to God— totally cut off from God. Now, no more could he come up to the entrance of Eden and make an offering. No more, totally cut off.
So you have a double removable in this particular case. Adam and Eve were put out of the garden for their sin—which was the first removal. They still had access to God coming to the entrance of Eden on the east side. Now Cain, because of his sin, is removed even further—to wander, to travel, to have no roots, to have nothing permanent.
Cain said, “…‘And I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth, and it shall be that anyone who finds me shall kill me.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the LORD set a mark upon Cain so that anyone who found him should not kill him” (vs 14-15).
What was the mark? I don’t know! There’s been a lot of speculation, but I have not found any validation to any of the speculation. I have thought maybe it was an ‘X’ or a mark or a cross and perhaps that was the origination of the cross—I do not know! But, whatever it was, I’m sure his children, when they got up on his knees and said, “Grandpa, what is that?” I’m sure that he told the biggest fib in the world. I’m sure that he said, “God put this on me to set me apart from and make me special above all men.” You can almost hear the story.
Now, the question is, where did Cain get his wife? Obviously, from one of the daughters of Adam and Eve. And obviously, it was at that time, because of the inheritance that they had, determined that they could marry their own sisters because they had not had—how shall we say— enough intermarriage where then it would create problems genetically. It had to be.
Verse 17: “And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch…”
The reason I suspect that Cain told all of his descendants that this was a special mark from God—not a sign of a curse—is because you read the names of the linage of those of the line of Cain and they are very similar to the names that you find in the linage from Adam and Seth on down to Noah, very similar.
We won’t go through any more in chapter four or chapter five. Let’s come to chapter six and we will end this study here, in chapter six, to see what the earth became like. When you have people having the “law of sin and death” in them and just give them free reign and let them do whatever they’re going to do, it’s going to be a mixture of good and evil.
Genesis 6:1: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply…” You reach a certain point in human reproduction that you’re having a multiplying factor. Right now they say there are what, 5.5-billion people on the earth—somewhere close to that. And they say that within 20 years that it will double! Now, they’re doing all they can to try and stop this with abortion and so forth, but they reached the same point here:
“…began to multiply on the face of the earth, and when daughters were born to them, that the sons of the mighty ones saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful…” (vs 1-2). These were those who were called ‘sons of God.’ These are not some special, giant Nephilim, as they are called. This is not some sort of angels intermarrying with human being to produce a super race.
“…and they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose…. [rather than do it the way that God said] … And the LORD said, ‘My spirit shall not always strive with man in his going astray… [that’s how we know those sons of God were men, because he says so] …for he is but flesh… [not an angelic being] …and yet, his days shall be a hundred and twenty years’” (vs 2-3).
God pronounced sentence right then: he’s only going to live 120 years longer!
Verse 4: “There were tyrants on the earth in those days…” Do we have giants today? Yes, we do! All you have to do is stack up the watusi along side of the Japanese and you’ll see, there are giants.
“…and also after that, the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. They were mighty men who existed of old, men of renown” (v 4). Or men renamed after the term: ‘sons of God.’ Here they were building up the master race. That’s what they were doing—mighty men.
Verse 5: “And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great… [absolutely incredible] …was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Now we’re reaching the same point again today—aren’t we? How far advanced were they technologically? We don’t know! Could they have been advanced as we are? Could be, maybe even more! We don’t know, but the end result of man’s way, under Satan’s influence, is that “…his heart was only evil continually.”
And it was so bad: “…And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the crawling thing, and the fowl of the air; for I repent that I have made them’ ” (vs 6-7).
Why would God destroy every living thing? I do not know! Was it that they were having genetic engineering at that time, on a grander scale than we understand today? Why does it say:
Verse 8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations…” (vs 8-9)—or his pedigree or his progeny. Is that telling us that the rest of mankind was so twisted and defiled? Is that telling us that they were doing things with animals that they should not have been doing? Doing things with animals and human beings combined together that they should not have been doing? I don’t know! I think I’ve mentioned this a time or two, but I’ll mention it here since we’re covering this very basic fundamental section of the Scriptures.
There is, in mythology, the man’s torso on a goat’s body. And this was called one of the gods. Could it be that that actually happened? I don’t know! But, I’ll tell you one thing, today they are looking for as many ways as they can to enhance a super race, so that they can do something with the genes to make better athletes, to make stronger men, make smarter men. They have a whole university dedicated to that, many different places, but in particularly, the Rockefeller University in their genetic section there. Very advanced into this.
Could this refer to Noah being the firstborn? It could but it doesn’t say firstborn! It says he was ‘perfect in his generations.’ I think that whenever we have something referring to a ‘first born’ it lists them as firstborn. So it’s possible that it could, but it’s also possible that in his pedigree or his genetic makeup there was nothing foreign in it. There had to be reason why God had to kill all life. ALL LIFE! Now, that’s drastic. ALL human beings and ALL life. And we can see the evidence of the Flood everywhere.
Verse 10: “And Noah begat three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now, the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence…. [everything was corrupted] …And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt— for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth” (vs 10-12).
What do you mean “…all flesh had corrupted…”? Does that mean it was rotting? No! This would have to be that all flesh was all mixed up. I would have to conclude “all mixed up” genetically. And it was so bad and the evil was so rife that
Verse 13: “And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’ ”
So then, He told him to make the ark. And that was some, some big vessel. And God is the One Who sent the animals to Noah. So apparently God picked out those animals that had a pure strain in their, in their genes, so that on this side of the Flood—which we live on now—things would not be all mixed up and twisted around. But this whole phrase here: “that ALL flesh” not just human beings. See, there’s a differentiation here.
Verse 5: “And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Verse 12: “And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt—for all flesh… [not just human flesh] … corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth’” (vs 12-13).
Now let’s come to Matthew 24, because there’s also a prophecy that in our time that it’s going to get very similar to it. Yet, at the same time, when all of this evil is going on, as it was back then—we saw that “all flesh had corrupted its way and “…the earth was filled with violence.”
Matthew 24:37: “Now, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man. For as in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark’ ” (vs 37-38).
In spite of all the violence, in spite of all the corruption, there were the normal functions going on which human beings were doing. And to them, they had been so accustomed to their way of life, so accustomed to the evil that was on every side about them, that they just took everything for granted. And they didn’t have a clue until the Flood came.
Comment was made that the scientists are doing what they can to try and alter the genetic substance of certain of the monkey family and, in particularly, pigs, to try and have replaceable livers and hearts from pigs and other animals. That’s something! That’s something!
Which reminds me, the greatest blow to the abortion movement took place this week. Which was, the woman who was Jane Roe in Roe vs Wade has changed and repented and is now a pro-lifer. And the thing that did it—you know, sometimes the overwhelmingness of evil will get to you—and she said that the thing that got to her was when she opened up a freezer at the Planned Parenthood or the abortion clinic that she was working in, and saw a freezer full of fetuses. She said, ‘that was it.’
Even though she’s now pro-life she says it’s still all right in the first trimester. Well listen, as we have studied in the past, a baby is fully, fully formed—it’s just a matter of growth—with just six weeks. So, by time a woman has definite conformation that she is pregnant the new little person is already formed—it’s only an inch long.
Yes, she was baptized by a Baptist preacher, yes that’s correct. So, at least in the letter of the law she’s doing something reasonable. But, it’s interesting, she still hasn’t come all the way to abhor all abortion. So, she’s trying to, you know, like you do when you repent of your sins to a certain degree, you kind of like to straddle the fence so you can still justify what you’ve done in the past, but, kind of say you’re getting away from it. So that’s what’s she’s doing.
But, I thought that that was profound when she opened up the freezer and it was full of fetuses— so that the doctors could use them for experiments and all those things that they want to do. They sell them, make money on them.
Yes, the Chinese are going to have population control by having very strict laws—execute people for the smallest little crime so they can kill them and sell their heart and sell their liver and their eyes and all that sort of thing.
History repeats itself without a doubt. And we don’t know how bad it’s going to get. And we don’t know what the technology is going to do. Now, there, I am sure there are a lot of propagandistic statements put out which are not true. But, nevertheless, I think they are endeavoring in trying to do that.
One of the things they want to do is come up with the “divine” man. One who’s going to live forever. One who’s going to be smarter than ever before. And that’s Satan’s whole goal.
And, I think this—I’ll just have to give you a little speculation here: I think that when the Beast comes on the scene it’s going to be the result of a tremendous and profound Satanic religious experience. Which is, for those religions of the world in Masonry and all that sort of thing, they are going to have a “divine” man. And once they get this “divine” man then I think they are going to conclude that many more people can now follow in his footsteps if they just make an image to the Beast.
I’ll let you think on that. Well, we’ll end here. We’re through with our little study there in Genesis, but I think it’s been very good to go back to the very basics and understand that and come forward from there.
All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)
Scriptural References:
Genesis 3:1-7
Mark 11:12-26
Genesis 3:8-19
- Corinthians 11:2-4
- Timothy 2:9-13
Romans 5:12-14
- Corinthians 15:22, 45
Mark 7:21-23
Psalm 51:1-5
Proverbs 16:25
Proverbs 21:2
Proverbs 15:8-11, 15, 25-27
Genesis 3: 19-24
Genesis 4:1-15, 17
Genesis 6:1-13, 5, 12-13
Matthew 24:37-38
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Proverbs 14:12
Also referenced: Books:
- Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament by George Ricker Berry
- Josephus
