Crouching At Your Door

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #132k, Re-Written 12SEP09

The Disciples’ Prayer—Part Eleven: Crouching At Your Door

by rev dave c

Mt 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "`Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one' (NIV).

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him" (Ge 2:18; NIV). Having created Adam from the dust of the ground, God placed him into the Garden of Eden, gave him the choice of obedience or rebellion, and then the Lord God made (literally “built”) the woman from one of his ribs to become the man’s perfect physical, mental, and spiritual complement. In Chapter One of Genesis we read, 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day (NIV). God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. This is a picture of the work and the fruit of the Kingdom of God.

With the opening verses of Genesis, Chapter Three, however, we see the beginnings of a very different picture. 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it (NIV).

Many Bible commentators state that sin first entered Creation the moment Adam and Eve sampled the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The presence of the serpent in the Garden of Eden presents an obvious problem with that teaching. When the serpent is described as “crafty” the Hebrew meaning is “cunning—usually in a bad sense” (`aruwm; Strong's # 6175). With the reading of just the first verse of Chapter Three we discover that the serpent was a liar, a deceiver, and a seducer. When verse four reveals his murderous heart, it becomes readily apparent that the serpent is a manifestation of Satan, “the Adversary.” As to Satan’s origins, please read Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19. When Romans 5:12 tells us, ...sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…, Paul is saying that sin entered the world of man, individually and collectively. Because God had given man dominion over the Earth, when Adam and Eve chose the rebellious way of the serpent, dominion passed to Satan, and the Kingdom of the Earth was born in opposition to Godly righteousness—i.e., the Kingdom of God. Second Corinthians 5:17-19 explains that through Christ, God reconciled us, and the world, to Himself, and gave to the Church the ministry and the message of reconciliation.

When Eve sees that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, we are reminded of Genesis 2:9, And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (NIV). It is interesting to note that in verse 3:3, Eve does not mention the tree of life. Is it possible that she had become so beguiled by temptation that she could no longer “see” it? Although she does correct the serpent’s misrepresentation of what God had told Adam ["Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (NIV)], she embellishes the truth by adding, and we must not touch the forbidden tree (NIV). This is part of Satan’s power. He uses our own evil desires to so focus our minds and hearts on the object of those desires that we can no longer see the Kingdom of God that is just beyond deception’s blinders. Both trees were pleasing to the eye and good for food...and in actuality both trees were desirable for gaining wisdom. Through obedience, the fruit from the tree of life brings the fear of the LORD (the beginning of wisdom, Pr 9:10; NIV). The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil brings the “wisdom” of the Devil who knows the past, present, and future wrath of God for his prideful and arrogant choosing of the path of disobedience. Jesus, I pray: “Your Kingdom come into this fallen world.” “Your Kingdom come into this life of toil and trouble.” “Your Kingdom come into this hardened heart.” Thank You, Lord, and amen.