A Cruel “Treasure”
This gold apple is a good illustration of the Devil’s temptation of Adam and Eve. The apple appears to be solid gold and very desirable. Yet it’s booby-trapped. Try grasping it and the barbed wire will tear your hand up. Also, knowing the Devil’s deceiving nature, I’m certain it would be fake gold and totally worthless.
Our Sinful Human Nature from Adam
When the first two humans on earth rebelled, they corrupted their inner nature and then passed it on to all their children. Adam lived 800 years after the birth of Seth. By that time, he and his wife had already experienced the agony of Cain murdering their younger son, Abel. Living on for centuries, Adam saw the evil ripening in his descendants. The sinful nature grew malignantly and spread throughout society. In fact, Adam was alive when Noah’s grandfather Methuselah was born in Genesis 5.
Two chapters later, God’s judgment wiped out the entire human race, except for the seven people safe in Noah’s ark. So did Adam and Eve grieve about eating that forbidden fruit?
Yes, I believe they did. Because they saw the horrors that came afterward.
Sharing Adam’s Sinful Nature
Every human on our planet struggles with sin. Or they glory in it, depending on how much evil they’ve embraced. Here’s a list of the categories:
- A tendency to lie and deceive whenever things get awkward.
- Lashing out angrily when another person hurts us.
- Selfishly grabbing more than our share.
- Proudly refusing to say, “I’m sorry” or even admit fault.
- Manipulating the people around us to get what we want.
- Rebelling against earthly and Heavenly authority.
- Bullying or humiliating others.
- Stealing things and mugging people.
- Adultery, rape and Incest.
- Sexual child abuse.
- Torturing men, women and children.
- Hatred and murder.
For myself, I checked off sins on the above list that I’ve been guilty of in my lifetime. Some of them I still struggle with; don’t you?
But you know what? I’m grinning as I write this, because of the hope God has given to me and all of us.
An Amazing Promise
Right now, we share a sin nature of our human forefather, Adam. Temptation exerts a strong pull, even though many of us have suffered from the sinful choices of others.
But my sinful nature is a temporary, earthbound problem. Because when I arrive in Heaven, I will share the Jesus Christ’s sinless, pure, godly nature. It says so clearly in 1 Corinthians 15.
45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.
48 Like the one made of dust,
so also are those made of dust;
and like the heavenly,
so also are those who are heavenly.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the one made from dust, so also shall we bear the image of the One from heaven.(1 Corinthians 15:45-49 TLV)
I am an image bearer now, because I reflect Christ to the culture, until I sin and blow my witness completely.
But walking righteously in Heaven will be as easy as breathing.
These images came from Pixabay.com
Resources:
I copied my Scripture verses from the “Tree of Life Version” (TLV) on Biblegateway.com.
