(The Greatest Rescue continued)
2. Masterpiece Stolen
Only one rule and it protected
God told His dear friends, Adam and Eve, to enjoy and eat freely of every tree in the amazing orchard. Just as there is a protocol for being in a king's presence, to be in God's presence requires keeping from evil and being pure, keeping free from sin and evil. There was only one rule in the Garden of Eden:
"Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"
—Genesis 2:17 NKJV
This rule protected Adam and Eve from evil and kept them pure and holy and able to be in God's presence.
Takeover plot develops
God was not the only spirit being in Heaven, a great host of angels worshipped and served God. One of the top angels became prideful and rebelled from serving God. This angel became self-centered instead of God-centered. He wanted to be worshipped instead of worshipping God. There was an all out war in Heaven, but the hostile takeover attempt failed and the raider and his followers were cast out of Heaven.
The unsuccessful raider of Heaven then decided that he wanted to be the ruler of the world, but that priviledge belonged to people. So he came up with a plan that would not only takeover the earth, but get back at God by separating Him from His friends.
The intruder slithered into the garden in the form of a snake, and tempted the people to break God's rule and eat the forbidden fruit. Eve listened as the tempter rationalized why they didn't have to do what God said to do. She looked at the fruit and unfortunately she ate it. Then Adam listened and ate, too. When they broke God's rule, evil polluted their lives and they were no longer pure and holy.
Now everything was different. The result of disobeying God was death to their spirit. In shame and desperation they sewed fig leaves together to try to cover themselves. When they heard God come for His visit they hid in the trees of the garden.
Sin Separates Masterpiece from God
God, who had given them everything, called out to them. They answered, but gave excuses for their action. Sin, or breaking God's law, changed everything. Their sin blocked them from living in God's presence. They no longer could enjoy the priviledge of living in God's garden.
Rescue Plan Announced
Before the people left the garden God declared His plan of restoring mankind to His presence. He said to the evil one,
"I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel." —Gen. 3:15 MSG
In other words there would be another battle between good and evil and evil will be destroyed. This woman's descendant would one day attack the evil one in the head, which would be a fatal injury. The evil one would one day attack the woman's seed's heel, but that would only temporarily injure, not destroy.
Parting Gifts of Love and Hope
God must have been so sad to have His friends turn away from Him. He had no choice but to send them out of the garden. Before they left He gave them each a special gift. God made a leather coat for each of them. To make the coat God had to kill some of the animals He loved; perhaps they were lambs. When the animal's blood flowed, it was a foretelling of the hope of God's rescue plan. I'm sure the coats or robes were beautiful, because God Himself made them. The coats were symbols of God's love that continued no matter what the people did—coats of love and hope.
2: Masterpiece Stolen