Lucifer can’t actually win the competition that he set in motion, but he doesn’t have to. As has been so well demonstrated in politics, he only has to destroy the opposition. And God placed the weapon in his hands when he placed forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden.
All Lucifer had to do to was convince two guileless human beings to eat the fruit. And for that, all he had to do was tell a lie.
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
The fundamental lie, perpetrated since time began, is that humans don’t need connection to Almighty Creator and Sustainer Singularity God – godhood is intrinsic to the self. Humans only need to learn how to access their spirit-godhood to transcend human limitations and gain access to hyper dimensional power and immortality.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman,Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent…of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it…lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” (Genesis 3:1-6)
When God said,” Let us make Adam /אָדָם / prototype human in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion / reign over…all the earth“ (Genesis 1:26-28), this declaration was a commitment. No revoking the turnover of power.
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19-20)
Can we not recognize that this handover of power to anyone other than God incurred the risk of imploding all earthly creation?
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion.” (Genesis 1:28)
And would that extinguish God himself?
We can deduce that, if God could not not sustain his Creation, then, yes. The order that defines the Singularity could collapse into a black hole.
What was God thinking?! When he allowed dominion to be transferred to humans he knew were not capable of exercising it against an adversary as powerful as Satan?
He was trusting that there would be some human who would seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33) by acknowledging his power and authority, admit needing him, trust his word, believe his promises, and act accordingly.
Imagine Adam’s horror when he saw his wife after she was affected by her substance use. Like God, he had the ability to see that she was naked, i.e. exposed – her changed nature was observable.
This image of before and after methamphetamine use gives an idea of what Adam might have seen, what God certainly sees, and what ministers in God’s kingdom can ask God to open their eyes to see – the nature of everyone who is spiritually the “walking dead”, mindlessly straining to lay hold on an illusory source of life.
Can we not recognize that the angels, both righteous and fallen, especially Lucifer, even all creation, were poised, breathless, in agony of anticipation of the outcome of Adam’s next action?
And Adam eats the fruit.
“gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:6)
Why would he do that?
When God asks him for an explanation, Adam is often accused of blame-shifting to his wife.
“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:12)
That interpretation is undoubtedly a result of our habitual use of projection, the defense mechanism in which we attribute our unacceptable thoughts and attitudes to others. It’s a reflection of our own sin nature.
There is another explanation.
Consider a straightforward biblical interpretation of Adam’s response, one in which Adam acts on his God-given responsibility for the woman.
“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shallcleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:18-24)
“[H]e which made them at the beginning made them [identically both] male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh [taking on each other’s characteristics]. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:5-6)
And Adam proved he believed God, and acted on his belief by basing his actions on faith in God’s word. He simply obeys God’s word to leave his father and mother – which in his case is God – and cleave to his wife.
- “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me” – The woman you entrusted to my care, for whom I am responsible
- “she gave me of the tree” – she already had it and was doomed
- “and I did eat” – I couldn’t leave her alone, we are one flesh.
Understanding what is means to have dominion key to understanding this version of Adam’s action. Humans are not animals with instincts, or military grunts or robot with preprogrammed responses to circumstances.
In order to do have dominion, mankind has to do more than take action. We have to take initiative.
And wielding that much awesome power effectively is inextricably linked with having the image (appearance) and likeness (attributes) of God. This abstract concept is expressed in the costumes that must be put on by Superman and others like him before acting on their superpowers.
With this background, we can understand that Adam’s ultimate likeness to God in love came into existence when Adam took the initiative to act out of consideration for his wife’s welfare instead of his own.
Adam could not have proven his likeness to God without loving the Woman AFTER she needed to be sacrificially loved.
And when Adam responded to his partner’s need with faith in God, acting according to God’s Word to stick with his wife regardless of the consequences to himself, God’s will for humanity was executed.
In this light, God was not stupid or cruel when he placed the fateful tree in the garden of Eden. He was giving his son the opportunity to become like him, by choosing to exercise his freedom of choice by copying his Father’s behavior.
“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in YHVH’s Chosen Image,
- Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
- But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
- and was made in the likeness of mortal human…
- humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross / tree.” (Philippians 2:4-8)
God’s transfer of dominion to humanity was validated and his control upheld.
Can we not hear the roar of triumph by the winning side of righteous angels, mingled with the screams of anger by the defeated fallen angels and the groans of creatures on whom the death sentence was commuted as YHVH killed then skinned his own innocent animals to make coverings for his terrified children standing naked and ashamed before all creation? Maybe naked dreams are atavistic memories of this first day of judgment.
Can we not see that by uniting with the Woman in death, Adam’s righteous relationship with the Father covered her as well in being accepted by the Father? Can we not see that that is the basis for faith in our own gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?
The penultimate manual on the Christian Church, the letter to the Ephesians, actually begins with the first Adam in the Garden of Eden before being fulfilled in the last Adam.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ / YHVH’s Savior / the last Adam, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ / the Savior:
- According as he hath chosen us [humans not angels] in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
- Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ / YHVH’s Savior to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
- To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
- In whom we [like the Woman] have redemption through his [like Adam’s] blood / death, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” (Ephesian 1:3-7)
Nothing has changed for humanity since those first instructions were given to us.
- “walk [live a lifestyle] worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
- being fruitful in every good work,
- and increasing in the knowledge of God;
- Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power…
- Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light…
- in the faith grounded and settled…which was preached to every creature which is under heaven…the word of God.” (Colossians 1)
Kingdom Come 