Leslie M. John
”And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1:28-29)
After God creating man and woman he had put them in the garden eastward in Eden. God’s desire was that Adam should dress the garden and keep it. God blessed the man and the woman and said to them to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth and also subdue it. God gave power to them to have dominion over fish of the sea, and birds in the air, and also over every living thing that moves on the earth. He gave them every herb and every tree which produces fruit with seed for his food.
The garden where Adam and Eve lived was very beautiful. A river went out of Eden to water the garden and from there it parted into four heads. The first river was known as ”Pison”, the second one was known as ”Gihon”, the third river was known as "Hiddekel" and the fourth river was known as ”Euphrates”. The ”Pison” river encompassed a land called Havilah, where there was gold.
”And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone”. (Genesis 2:12)
The ”Gihon” encompassed a land called Ethiopia. The ”Hiddekel flowed east of Assyria and the ”Euphrates” is the longest river in Asia. All that man and the woman were to do in the garden were to enjoy the blessings that were given to them and dress the garden. But then, God had put them through a small test.
God said to the man that they may freely eat of every tree of the garden but shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told them of the consequences they had to reap if they ate of that tree. God said that in the day that they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they shall surely die.
The serpent was crafty and subtle and trapped the woman into his tricky talk and deceived her. The Old Dragon, the Satan that came in the form of serpent said to the woman just the opposite of what God said. He said that on the day she ate the fruit she shall not surely die. The Serpent talked as if God gave misinformation to them and said in the day they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree their eyes shall be opened and they shall be as gods knowing good and evil. The woman got deceived. She saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eyes. She took the fruit of the tree and ate it. She then gave the fruit to her husband and he also ate it. Thus both transgressed the commandment of God.
This is how sin entered the world and we all have come short of the glory of God. This entrance of sin necessitated that reconciliation be made in order that man has everlasting life. God had to come in the form of man as Jesus, who died for our sake bearing our sin upon him that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. It pleased the Father to bruise Jesus for our sake, and Jesus bore our sin. Our sin was judged at the Cross. Believe in Jesus and accept him as personal Savior.
(Ref: Gen. 1:27 to 29, Gen. 2: 8 to 17, Gen. 3:1-5, 6)