Adam’s Perception of The Divine Sentence

Sermon Transcript

Passover 2020 Waterford.

Adrian Ebens

For those of you who will be following through this series, a lot of what we will look at will be based on Patriarchs and Prophets, chapter 3, entitled The Temptation and The Fall.  We want to go over this in some detail, bringing out some points.  I believe that it has relevance to us through some of the things that we have been looking at of late.  I want us to go quite deep into and use this chapter, The Temptation and The Fall, as a backdrop for a number of things that we are going to look at over the next number of nights. 

The key thought that I want to start out with is in regard to Adam.  We are going to look at Adam in particular, and we think of Romans 5:12, it says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”  There was a seed in the first Adam.  That seed has been fully developed in the book of Revelation.  The woman riding the beast is the full culmination of the seed that existed within the heart of Adam, and though not fully manifested within him, it is important for us to understand that all the elements of what we see happening today, all of those elements in seed form, existed in Adam and the tree that has grown from him from the very beginning. 

Of course, Adam chose to become crucified with Christ; therefore, he did not fully manifest all the potential of his evil nature.  Yet it was from his evil nature that was passed on, that other men have taken those seeds and have grown them and developed them.  But in looking at human history, looking at scripture, and looking at the lives of men we trace through them the seed back to the first Adam and what existed within his heart.  It is tempting for us to think of Adam and Eve in the garden, in all their innocence, to think that they are relatively innocent.  But we need to understand the steps that were taken, step by step, and tonight we want to look at the divine sentence.

I have entitled this, because of a statement in Patriarchs and Prophets, page 56, but I want to do a bit of preliminary work in the beginning of the chapter and just set this up for us on page 52 of Patriarchs and Prophets.  We read at the beginning of this chapter, “No longer free to stir up rebellion on heaven, Satan’s enmity against God found a new field in plotting the ruin of the human race.  In the happiness and peace of the holy pair in Eden he beheld a vision of the bliss that to him was forever lost.  Moved by envy, he determined to incite them to disobedience…”  What is the motivation of Lucifer?  Envy.  To be able to understand these things by inspiration is very important, to know what were the motivations.  We see the motivation of Lucifer to bring down the human race was a motivation of envy. 

I have often pondered this paragraph.  “He would change their love to distrust and their songs of praise to reproaches against their maker.”  What a vile motivation is this, because of envy, that he was no longer the favored of heaven after Christ.  He was now outside of the favor of God by his own choice, by his own decision, and by his own actions.  He placed himself in that.  “He would change the love of our first parents to distrust and reproaches against their maker.  Thus he would not only plunge these innocent beings into the same misery which he was himself enduring, but would cast dishonor upon God, and cause grief in heaven.”  What is it saying here, that he would cast Adam and Eve into what sort of misery?  The same misery that he was experiencing, he would cast or bring or first parents into that experience. 

Now notice that paragraph 2 talks about the warning that God had given in regard to disobedience, but I want to notice this, and it is quite significant in light of what we have been studying in regard to the character of God.  Paragraph 3, “The law of God is as sacred as God Himself.  It is a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, the expression of divine love and wisdom.”  It is very interesting that this is inserted right here at the beginning of this great controversy in reference to the law, His character, and its expression.  “The harmony of creation depends upon the perfect conformity of all beings, of everything, animate and inanimate, to the law of the Creator.”  How do inanimate things respond to the law of the Creator?  Interesting, isn’t it?  These are things to ponder.  “Everything is under fixed laws, which cannot be disregarded.  But while everything in nature is governed by natural laws, man alone, of all that inhabits the earth, is amenable to moral law.” 

What do we mean by moral law—the decision making capacity to make moral decisions of moral worth, to know the difference between right and wrong, and to choose to do the right rather than the wrong.  All the lower orders of creation were to operate by the laws of nature in what we call instinct.  These are God created laws placed within those animals who would follow those laws, but to man was given the capacity to choose between right and wrong, thus making him a moral being.  “To man, the crowning work of creation, God has given power to understand His requirements, to comprehend the justice and beneficence of His law [we have this capacity], and its sacred claims upon him; and of man unswerving obedience is required.”  We think about Adam when he was first in the garden, to realize the position that he had been placed in, to come face to face with his Creator.  We imagine the blessing that was placed upon him.  And when his wife was brought to him after being asleep, to have a companion, one like him, the songs of praise that he would offer to his Creator, and to the Father.  The joy, the agape that was in his soul, and his love for the truth that existed there!  Of course all of this was changed.  We know the story.  I’m not going to spend time on the temptation of Eve, but of course Eve fell, and I’m not focusing on that. 

I want to come over to page 56, and this is the thing that I want to really hone in on.  Page 56, the first paragraph, “An expression of sadness came over the face of Adam.  He appeared astonished and alarmed.  To the words of Eve he replied that this must be the foe against whom they had been warned; [and this is the point I want you to remember] and by the divine sentence she must die.”  This is a most curious statement, “the divine sentence.”  In times past, in my former understanding I gave this no thought.  Of course, the divine sentence, God’s sentence.  As we read this it is something that is divine, it is something that is instituted, and now of course she is going to die because she transgressed the law of God, she violated His commandments, and now she will die.  That’s how we understand it.  But remember, what she is describing here is Adam’s thought process.  Adam is thinking these thoughts.  Adam is thinking that the divine sentence is that she must die.  And it’s important that we understand that this is formulating in the mind of Adam.  “In answer she urged him to eat…”  That’s her only answer.  She doesn’t answer.  He tells her that this is the foe and by the divine sentence you will die, and her only response is to offer him the fruit.  Interesting.  “…Repeating the words of the serpent, that they should not surely die.”  They must not surely die. 

So what is going on in the mind of Eve?  How is she thinking?  That God is not telling the truth.  What kind of strange things are going on that the serpent is more beneficent to her than her Creator?  This is a mystery that we will not fully unravel until we get to the kingdom of heaven.  She reasoned that this must be true.  Why?  She felt no evidence of God’s displeasure.  Why is it that men sin so willfully and so openly and freely in our society today, because they feel no direct evidences of God’s displeasure.  Lightening is not coming down and striking them and doing all these things, so they think well it must be okay, I must be alright doing what I’m doing.  But here she felt no displeasure.  “She reasoned that this must be true, for she felt no evidence of God’s displeasure, but on the contrary realized a delicious, exhilarating influence, thrilling every faculty with new life, such, she imagined, as inspired the heavenly messengers.”  She imagined it.  She created the first placebo effect.  She imagined herself to be rising.  She could feel it within her being.  She was exhilarated.  It must be true, I can feel it!

The next paragraph, “Adam understood that his companion had transgressed the command of God, disregarded the only prohibition laid upon them as a test of their fidelity and love.”  He knew this, he understood it.  “There was a terrible struggle in his mind.  He mourned that he had permitted Eve to wander from his side.”  At this point he’s taking the blame upon himself, at this point.  Why did I let this happen?  “But now the deed was done; he must be separated from her whose society had been his joy.  How could he have it thus?  Adam had enjoyed the companionship of God and of holy angels.  He had looked upon the glory of the Creator.”  Can you imagine?  “He understood the high destiny open to the human race should they remain faithful to God.”  Take that in.  He understood the high destiny that was open to the human race.  This had been explained to him.  He understood what God desired for his son, Adam.  “Yet all these blessings were lost sight of in the fear of losing that one gift which in his eyes outvalued every other.”  That, by definition, is idolatry.  It’s idolatry.  “…All were overborne by love to Eve.  She was part of himself, and he could not endure the thought of separation.” 

Now this is a statement that I don’t really understand:  “He did not realize that the same Infinite Power who had from the dust of the earth created him, a living, beautiful form, and had in love given him a companion, could supply her place.”  I don’t find that a very relational statement.  I still don’t fully understand that, but I think I know that she’s trying to say.  “He resolved to share her fate; if she must die, he would die with her.”  You have to understand the thought process that is going inside of the mind of someone.  This is why the divine sentence.  His understanding was that she must die for her transgression, that justice demanded the death of the transgressor.  So within the mind of Adam the thought that his Creator would take that which was so precious to him worked up inside of him rebellion.  Adam does not say, “Let us go to God.  Let us ask God how we can resolve this situation, and if necessary, even my love to you, I will give my own life for you that you might be saved.”  Adam doesn’t do that because he has lost confidence in his Creator.  His belief that the divine sentence requires the death of his wife and that God is the one that authored this idea causes rebellion to rise up within his heart, and anger and a hatred of God.  Thus murder for God was fostered in the heart of Adam right there in the garden.  Can you see it?  We will see this develop as we go along. 

In his heart was rebellion that he felt toward God, because he determined to share her fate; and he took the fruit to himself and he ate the fruit knowing the full destiny of men, knowing that God had given him everything, knowing that he owed everything to God in heaven.  He took that fruit and he ate it in anger, that God would, as he thought, take his beloved wife from him.  He railed in himself against the injustice of God.  What else would lead you to do this?  There is nothing benevolent about his actions whatsoever.  It is complete selfishness in what he is doing as we will soon see.  The mystery is why, why would he do this?  If you could explain sin then it would cease to be sin; the mystery of iniquity as to why he would do this.  As it says, “He resolved to share her fate…”  Why is it that in his mind he could not conceive of the mercy of God to petition and to ask Him that some way could be made for Eve?  Maybe one of the reasons why Ellen White writes that ‘her place could be supplied’ was that taking the fruit she had received Satan’s mind, a mind which says you cannot be forgiven for what you have done.  Maybe it would have been impossible for her to believe that she could be forgiven, who knows?  We do not know the answer to that question. 

But we need to understand the motivation of Adam in taking the action that he did to share the fate of Eve, of what he thought to be the divine sentence, his understanding of justice.  These are the things we have been discussing in the book, Natural Justice and Atonement, and Key To Empowering The Third Angel’s Message, in terms of the false justice system; the understanding that every sin must be punished.  We are reminded in Desire of Ages, page 761.4, that Satan was the one that urged every sin must be punished, ‘meet its punishment’, urged Satan.  If God did not punish the transgression of sin he would not be a God of truth and justice.  And so somehow, within the creation of man, there is this understanding of Satan.  We know, we can read the statements.  In the booklet, Natural Justice and Atonement, I will read a few statements to you, page 7:  “It was most difficult to make the deceiving power of Satan apparent.  His power to deceive increased with practice.  If he could not defend himself, he must accuse, in order to appear just and righteous, and to make God appear arbitrary and exacting.  In secret he whispered his disaffection to the angels.  There was at first no pronounced feeling against God; but the seed had been sown, and the love and confidence of the angels was marred.  The sweet communion between them and their God was broken.  Every move was watched; every action was viewed in the light in which Satan had made them see things.”  This was all of the angels of heaven.  Is it possible that when some of the angels came down to instruct Adam and Eve that the ideas of justice were presented in such a way?  Where does Adam get this idea from, by the divine sentence that Eve must die; where did he get this idea from?  We cannot know for sure, but we do know that the spirit of God, which speaks directly into every created being’s mind, has the capacity to teach the truth; that they could understand what was right and what was wrong by what the Spirit taught them. 

But Satan was working.  “That which Satan had instilled into the minds of the angels—a word here and a word there—opened the way for a long list of suppositions.  In his artful way he drew expressions of doubt from them.  Then, when he was interviewed, he accused those whom he had educated.   He laid all the disaffection on the ones he had led. As one in holy office, he manifested an overbearing desire for justice…,” and this atmosphere was circulating through the courts of heaven.  “…But it was a counterfeit of justice, which was entirely contrary to God’s love and compassion and mercy.” (Review and Herald, September 7, 1894)  This is one of the most powerful statements in my mind in terms of the beginning of the great controversy.  How can it be conceived that Adam thought about this divine sentence in a way that was irrevocable, in a way that there was no other way, and drove him to the position where he would take the fruit, and in rebellion and rage against God, would determine to share the fate of what he thought would happen to his wife?  These are things that are difficult to understand as to why he thought this, why he understood this.  But as we have been studying over the last little while we think of statements in Reflecting Christ, page 58, and I have it here.  It says, “Before Christ’s first advent, the sin of refusing to conform to God’s law had become widespread. Apparently Satan’s power was growing; his warfare against heaven was becoming more and more determined. A crisis had been reached. With an intense interest God’s movements were watched by the heavenly angels.”  The same as what we had read before.  “Would He come forth from His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity? Would He send fire or flood to destroy them? All heaven waited the bidding of their Commander to pour out the vials of wrath upon a rebellious world. One word from Him, one sign, and the world would have been destroyed.”  Satanic justice had affected all of the created beings of God, all of them.  The only one who knew the truth was the Son of God.  He was the only one, the only being in all the universe who could enter into all the counsels of God, who knew his character intimately.  The angels did not have a full understanding. 

Now the question of course that can be raised is that, ‘if these angels are the ones affecting Adam and Eve, then isn’t that God’s responsibility?’  Did not the Son of God come and teach them also?  But these were things that were being passed around.  Regardless of what we might think, when God says, “Don’t eat from the fruit of that tree,” there is nothing that you can use to defend the fact that you would eat from that tree.  You can’t justify this process.  You know that it’s wrong, you know that you shouldn’t do this; and if you are using your eyes and your ears to justify something that you know that God has prohibited, you cannot justify this in any way.  The fact is that there existed this question about justice, and that Adam had this idea of this divine sentence; it came into his mind, he reasoned it in his capacity that she must die.  Why he reasoned it in such a way, these are things we don’t fully understand.  But it’s important for us to understand that this is what motivated Adam.  It placed within his heart an anger toward God, an anger that was so great that he was willing to kill.  In the heart of Adam, as a result of his understanding of the divine sentence, we see manifested 4000 years after the time of Adam; we see manifested what was in his heart, the natural man, his anger toward the Son of God.  So we see, just reading a little bit further, what takes place in this process. 

We read a little bit further, this is page 57, Patriarchs and Prophets.  We see the placebo effect upon Adam.  “After his transgression Adam at first imagined himself entering upon a higher state of existence.  But soon the thought of his sin filled him with terror.”  This is important to understand.  He has that placebo effect.  He is imagining, yes, he is entering into a higher state; he has now become as God.  “But soon the thought of his sin filled him with terror.  The air, which had hitherto been of a mild and uniform temperature, seemed to chill the guilty pair.”  Do you see the relationship between the electrical thought processes of Adam and Eve and the effect on the temperature around them?  It suddenly went chilled, everything went chilled; and not chilled in a good way, but in a bad way.  “The love and peace which had been theirs was gone…”  A different frequency was vibrating out of their hearts.  The vibration of the hatred in Adam’s heart toward God began to chill the air, because he felt it was unjust that God would demand such a sentence, that God’s justice so-called demanded the death of the transgressor; not knowing that these were the very thoughts of Satan himself.  He judged God.  He could have at least talked to God first, and then if God said, ‘no, she has to die,’ then he could get angry, but he didn’t.  He made the decision before talking to God.  He reasoned it through his mind.  He thought that he had the capacity to understand and he came to that conclusion.  Isn’t that our human nature, to make assumptions before we clarify information, proving we are sons and daughters of Adam?  So we need to understand what was going on at the deeper level.  “The love and peace which would have been theirs was gone, and in its place they felt a sense of sin, a dread of the future, a nakedness of soul. The robe of light which had enshrouded them, now disappeared, and to supply its place they endeavored to fashion for themselves a covering; for they could not, while unclothed, meet the eye of God and holy angels.” 

When the light disappeared what were they thinking?  This is a punishment from God.  It was at that moment, when that light disappeared, Christ was crucified.  The light disappearing, the spirit of Christ and the glory of his character that had abided in them was driven back, but Christ had to stay with them in order for them to stay alive.  So Christ was crucified at that moment, crucified in the spirit.  “They now began to see the true character of their sin.”  Notice the change.  “Adam reproached his companion for her folly in leaving his side…”  Before he fell who did he blame?  Self.  What did it say?  “He mourned that he had permitted Eve to wander from his side.”  Basically he grieved that he had allowed her to leave his side; he blamed himself.  But now he is blaming her, which is interesting, isn’t it?  He shifted the blame so we see reproach, and this leads us to Romans chapter 5.  This is part of the inheritance of the human race that we received from our first father.  Romans 5:16 “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation…”  This is our first father.  He passed judgment.  He reasoned in his mind that by divine sentence she must die.  So his response to God, without even speaking to Him, without talking to Him, is to bring condemnation upon God himself by seizing the fruit from his wife and eating it.  That is his deciding whose banner he is going to stand under.  It is a statement of condemnation; I defy you, and I will share the consequences and take whatever comes!  That’s what was in the heart of our first father.  Did he realize what was in his heart?  He would have had a strong burning feeling inside of him.  What is it that drives a man to give up all?  He knew his high destiny.  He knew this was the foe.  What causes him to go into this state of idolatry, except for the seed of the serpent which says that God’s justice demands the death of the transgressor?  He placed his characteristics upon the Creator, and it was this seed that created in Adam this rebellion. 

We need to understand this from the very beginning, Adam’s rebellion, his murder that existed in his heart because he loved his wife.  Of course he loved his wife, but the way it was framed to him and the way he understood it.  He took that fruit in rebellion and in anger against God, because the carnal mind is enmity against God.  Where did this enmity begin from?  It began with Adam.  Enmity, enemy, he considered himself an enemy of God.  But this was all in seed form; it was all deep within him layered down.  He did not know himself; he did not understand his own nature and what he was capable of doing.  As it says in verse 16, “…for the judgment was by one to condemnation,” and we see this condemnation start to spill out of the lips of Adam, from his false justice system, to the rebellion inside of his heart, to the shifting of blame to somebody else, to the focus of atonement. 

He reproached his wife.  What is going through the heart of Eve when she hears the censure of her husband toward her activity?  What does it do to the relationship between the two of them, where there had only been harmony?  But it says, “…they both flattered themselves that He who had given them so many evidences of His love, would pardon this one transgression…”  But what is the problem that they are saying that God would pardon this transgression?  Don’t we believe that God would pardon the transgression?  They’re flattering themselves that God would pardon this transgression, but what does pardon to them mean?  Just to forget about it.  It doesn’t say that God would pardon if we repent and we get on our knees and we acknowledge the great sin.  No, it doesn’t say that, that God would just say, ‘That’s alright, don’t worry about it.’

We see this conflict in the great controversy, and this why we can read one statement where Adam is saying, “Oh, it’s not such a big deal,” but earlier it said, “…the thought of his sin filled him with terror.”  His conflict within his mind was between the terror that he felt for what he had done and his desire to excuse it and push it off, and both of these things are existing within the human heart at the same time—the result of sin.  “…But they both flattered themselves that He…would pardon this one transgression, or that they would not be subjected to so dire a punishment as they had feared.”  This is important.  So they imagined punishment.  What is the punishment that they imagined?   Death; by divine sentence she must die.  So they had feared death.  At the same time they are trying, even though within their hearts, within Adam’s heart particularly, there was rebellion and defiance against God, and while this is inside of him at the same time there is this tremendous fear and anxiety raging within his heart.  Then at the same time he is saying, ‘Oh it’s not such a big deal.’  He is trying to calm is fears.  He is trying to tell himself that it’s going to be okay, everything is going to be okay, don’t worry about it.  All this is going on at the same time within the same person.  So you might say, when Adam was saying that God would pardon this one transgression, ‘see, Adam is trying to get the easy way out,’ but all the other things are going on at the same time.  He was completely unaware that there existed inside of him the desire to kill the Son of God.  He was not aware of this.  People are still unaware today of what exists inside of us.  He still doesn’t ask to be pardoned.  He makes no effort to repent.  He only talks in terms of death, fear, and notice what it says, “…so dire a punishment as they had feared.” 

This is the great tragedy, is that when God had said, “…in the day you eat thereof dying you will die.”  Look at the difference between what God said to Adam, and what Eve said to the serpent; ‘in the day you eat thereof you must die.’  There is an emphasis in what she said that brings this false justice system into it.  And of course, Satan, if you look at that study, Satan says to Eve, “ye shall not surely die,” which is true!  He told the truth as a lie.  It was so cunning.  It was his own philosophy, his own idea that she had picked up somehow.  God had said, “dying you will die,” you will perish.  She understood it as ‘you will be put to death,’ and she says, ‘in the day you eat thereof you will be put to death,’ and Satan says, ‘no, you won’t be put to death,’ which is true.  But then he attaches to it, ‘in the day you eat thereof you shall be as gods knowing good and evil.’  He takes this and then he twists it around and he packages it as something completely different, which is an absolute lie…’you shall be as gods knowing good and evil.’  Very interesting.  She was in his sphere of influence, and maybe there is that element there as well as to why she was expressing it this way, ‘you must not surely die.’ 

The difference between perishing and the thought of our benevolent Father actually inflicting punishment on someone was not clearly understood by all the created beings of God.  There was a loophole in which Satan was able to insert himself, and this is what we see in Psalms 94:20.  “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law, or the law?”  The concept of the law of God is something that all created beings had to be submitted to.  Satan inserted himself into this using the law of God as a tool to suggest that God would enforce this law upon you.  We remember the reason why.  How was Satan able to create this sense of force?  What was it that led him to this position in regard to force?  Well it was in regard to his belief about life, and I think that I can’t remember whether we had it in here or whether we had in essence, yes, page 8.  “He began to insinuate doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that though laws might be necessary for the inhabitants of the worlds, angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint…”  So it is the lie that you have life within yourself that leads to an understanding of God’s law that is imposed upon you.  It’s a restraint that has been placed upon you because you have life in yourself.  So from that position of the lie of inherent life source we see this false justice system is able to manifest itself, by seeing that God’s law is being enforced upon you.  Therefore, if you do not comply you will be put to death.  This is the basis of his philosophy, and for some reason Adam got caught up in this understanding as did Eve. 

We don’t know the full reason why that happened or how that happened, or if it was conveyed.  But if we do know that heavenly beings have an atmosphere around them and they are having ponderings about these things, that atmosphere is going to affect everyone around them, isn’t it...without even a word being said.  Questions within the minds of beings unsure, seeing everything through the lens which Lucifer had caused them to see, it created an atmosphere of uncertainty in regard to the character of God.  That uncertainty had an effect everywhere in the universe.  Did it affect them even when they weren’t at the tree, because those angels visited them?  That is an interesting question, isn’t it. 

Darkness was upon the face of the deep.  Good point.  In Genesis chapter 1, regarding the creation story, EJ Waggoner points out, of course, that Moses wrote Genesis, the creation account, as an explanation of the gospel.  This is the gospel.  What’s interesting of course is at the creation of this world it says in verse 2, “…the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…”  That word ‘darkness’ has a moral element to it when you look it up.  Why would there be this moral darkness element, the whole earth  enshrouded in darkness?  It’s speaking to the insinuations that Lucifer had placed upon all the angels.  The whole universe was being plunged into darkness through this false understanding, this false life source issue, which leads to the false justice system and the belief that God is imposing himself upon his created beings. 

Of course we want to remind ourselves, what is it that caused Lucifer to no longer express gratitude to his creator?  He would obscure the truth of the begotten Son.  This is the point.  The obscuring of the truth of the begotten Son as looking to a being that inherited all things that gratitude might be manifested, by obscuring this fact he was able to deny his focus on gratitude toward his Creator.  In doing that he could then think about what he possesses as his own, then he could resist the law of God, and then he could impose a false justice system on God, saying, ‘I have what I have, but you’re imposing yourself upon me and your justice system demands that if I do not comply with your law you will kill me.’  This is how it came about.  So I make this point, the begotten  Son, the truth of the begotten Son is the cornerstone of the entire universe.  All things hold together in Him.  We owe everything to Him.  He is the “everlasting Father,” as it says in Isaiah 9:6. 

And when God said, “Let there be light: and there was light,” Paul tells us in Corinthians, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts…in the fact of Jesus Christ.”  It’s in the face of Jesus Christ that we see the gratitude of the only begotten Son for his Father that reminds us that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily because he received all things from his Father.  By looking to Him we are constantly reminded that we owe everything to God.  As long as we remember this we can be protected from the lie of inherent life source and, therefore, protected from the lie of the false justice system.  Do you see the sequence?  It is very important.  Again, if you want more on this look at Natural Justice and Atonement, or Key To Empowering The Third Angel’s Message.  In Key To Empowering The Third Angel’s Message we go through the 14 points that lead to this false justice system, which is the basis of the abomination that makes desolate. 

And so with this in the heart of Adam we come to the third point, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 57.5.  “Adam could neither deny nor excuse his sin; but instead of manifesting penitence, he endeavored to cast the blame upon his wife, and thus upon God Himself…”  What was it that Adam feared?  We read this earlier. What was the terror that he felt?  What did he believe?  What did he understand was the dire punishment that would come upon him?  Death.  So in casting blame upon Eve what is he doing?  We talked about this…sacrifice; and this is the insanity.  This woman for whom he was willing to give up everything, he is now willing to sacrifice her to protect himself—the scapegoat principle.  In this first encounter, Genesis chapter 3, we see within the heart of Adam, he is in terror of God.  He’s looking for a way out—‘how do we deal with this, we’re going to die,’ and so Satan gives to him the sequence—‘you need a substitute, you need someone to take your place, you need to cast your blame and lay your hands upon somebody else and blame them for it.’  In this language, casting blame upon his wife and thus upon God, we see in here Satan’s secret design to destroy the Son of God.  It’s right here, to draw him down, to cast the blame upon the Son of God.  “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” He who, from love to Eve, had deliberately chosen to forfeit the approval of God, his home in Paradise, and an eternal life of joy, could now, after his fall, endeavor to make his companion, and even the Creator Himself, responsible for the transgression. So terrible is the power of sin.”  It’s clearly written here in the Spirit of Prophecy, and we should go over this carefully in an endeavor to understand.  Notice again, “He who, from love to Eve, had deliberately chosen to forfeit the approval of God, his home in Paradise, and an eternal life of joy…,” which we would say is something sacrificial—you’re sacrificing yourself, “…could now, after his fall, endeavor to make his companion, and even the Creator Himself, responsible for the transgression.”  This is the origin of the sacrificial system.  Satan is in the test tube of Adam.  He is producing a chemical reaction within him to create the appeasement based sacrificial system, to appease a false justice system which he himself has created. 

Satan somehow thinks that God is responsible for Satan transgressing.  Yes…’you made me this way, you did this to me.’ ‘Why did you allow me to go down this path?’  ‘If you’re so powerful, if you’re so great a God, why couldn’t you have stopped this?’  ‘You are, therefore, responsible for our transgression.’  ‘If you had listened to me this would never have happened.’ Why did God create Satan if he knew this was going to happen?  He is making Him responsible because He created him and He knew he was going to do that.  Yes, it’s echoing Satan’s original charge against God; if God knew everything from the beginning why did He create Lucifer?  It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it?  ‘Why did you give me Eve?  You knew Eve was going to give me the fruit.’  ‘Why did you make this woman; you made something imperfect.’  ‘She ran off on me, and now I’m in, you know.  It’s not my fault, I didn’t do it.’  This is what’s happening within the mind of Adam, and this attitude…we need to understand this, to make his companion and even the Creator himself responsible for the transgression this is the origin of the whole transgression of desolation.  This is the origin of the appeasement based sacrificial system to appease a false justice system.  We see it right here manifested. 

Now I just want to go to Great Controversy, page 505.2, just to remind us of what is going on.  “God declares: “I will put enmity.” This enmity is not naturally entertained. When man transgressed the divine law, his nature became evil, and he was in harmony, and not at variance, with Satan.”  Harmony; the vibrational frequency of Satan and the vibrational frequency of Adam were the same.  “There exists naturally no enmity between sinful man and the originator of sin.”  These are powerful statements.  Do we understand the level of our flesh, the level of our humanity?  There is nothing in our flesh that is at war with Satan; it is only in harmony with him.  “Both became evil through apostasy. The apostate is never at rest, except as he obtains sympathy and support by inducing others to follow his example. For this reason fallen angels and wicked men unite in desperate companionship.”  Desperate companionship.  “Had not God specially interposed, Satan and man would have entered into an alliance against Heaven; and instead of cherishing enmity against Satan, the whole human family would have been united in opposition to God.”  Do you understand the humanity that you possess by nature in the flesh?  Do you have an understanding of what exists within you, without Christ coming in?  As it says, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman.”  The seed of the woman, this enmity that would come with a desire to resist sin is not naturally entertained.  It is a special gift that was given to us when Christ, in the days of his flesh, came and took humanity upon himself from the foundation of the world.  We need to understand this.  This is one of the reasons why many people beat themselves so much as to why they keep falling into sin.  You need understand your nature in the flesh, where it comes from and where it started, and why your nature is at variance with God, and why we have so much conflict in our minds.  This was the state that existed in Adam.  The seed of this was in Adam from the very foundation, from the very beginning of the fall.

Notice 5T, page 294, “Man is Satan’s captive…”  Satan’s what?  His captive.  “… And is naturally inclined to follow his suggestions and do his bidding.  He has in himself no power to oppose effectual resistance to evil.”  You have in yourself no power to resist evil of yourself, none.  It is only as Christ abides in him by living faith, influencing his desires and strengthening him with strength from above, that man may venture to face so terrible a foe.  Every other means of defense is utterly vain. It is only through Christ that Satan’s power is limited. This is a momentous truth that all should understand.”  And what we want to emphasize tonight is to understand that if you have the desire for spiritual things, if you have a desire to know God and to understand him you are entertaining ideas that are contrary to your flesh, contrary to your nature, and it is a miracle of God that you would desire such things as this.  It is only as Christ dwells in your heart by faith that you have power to resist the foe, because your flesh is at war with God.  It is the flesh that you inherited from Adam.  It is the flesh that seeks to appease God.  That’s why when you look at all the major religions of the world they are appeasement based in their understanding. 

In the coming presentations we will look at…I think many of us begin to understand, but I pray from just moving out of this as we finish off this segment tonight that we appreciate the message that God has given us at this particular time in earth’s history, knowing our nature, knowing our flesh, knowing that we are by nature at war with God and we are appeasement-minded, we are false justice-minded, and all these things.  Christ has, through his grace, given to us a message to give us a completely different picture of God.  I pray that you will appreciate it, at what cost God has gone through, and knowing that it would take this long to get to this point in earth’s history where Satan would be fully unmasked in what he had attempted to do and how he sought to reign in heaven and to make his throne above the stars of God.  One of the reasons why I am looking at this tonight is to understand the mind of Adam as revealed to us in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy so that we can then understand the institution of the sacrificial system, why this was instituted.  Tomorrow night we are going to go more into, because it says in the Spirit of Prophecy, that God instituted the sacrificial system.  I would point out that God did not originate the sacrificial system, but He instituted it, in the same way that he did not originate the idea for Israel to have a king, but instituted it to teach them a lesson.  So we have set up the framework tonight to understand what existed within the heart of Adam.  Tomorrow night we will go a little bit further into this story, but we are left at this particular moment with the shock that must be on Eve’s face when she realizes that Adam is willing for her to pay the price for transgression, and he is willing to dump her.  This is a horrific thing, and the Spirit of Prophecy, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 57.5, says, “…so terrible is the power of sin,” to turn man around like this.  Could Eve have imagined what she had unleashed, the guilt that she would have felt in offering the fruit to her husband, the things that were going through her mind and to see that her husband was now dead and another person had been resurrected in his bodily form.  She was now married to Satan; oh but he was also married to the sorceress.  We just want to place it in terms of when one comes to that moment of realization of where they are and they look at the other person; she was married to Satan in the flesh, and that’s what was manifesting itself when he said, “the woman.”  It just pours, you know the words came out of his mouth, “the woman,” when he said those words in accusation and condemnation, the same rebellion that he felt toward God when he took that fruit and ate it, that came out of him.  To hear that would have pierced her, but, as they say, ‘You made your bed, honey, you lie in it.’ 

The Bible says, “…as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin...;” it says the woman was beguiled by the serpent.  She did not take her decision with the full knowledge and understanding that Adam did.  Adam did it in full rebellion and resistance against God.  That is often why women are led by rebellious men.  They are beguiled often by rebellious men not fully understanding where things are going to go, as to how men understand things.  Not always the case, but certainly it often happens this way.  So I want to give thanks to God tonight that as it says in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman.”  If it wasn’t for that enmity there would be no hope for us.  Whenever we see an effort to resist Satan and his host we see the evidence of Christ, the enmity at work in the human soul.  I want to give thanks to God for giving this to us.  Hopefully we have set the stage to go tomorrow night into the sacrificial system, and then hopefully we will lead that down into how this becomes the abomination of desolation.  So I thank you for listening.