God’s Vision, Part 2
It was a sad day for the Lord when the man and woman He had created, submitted to the deception of the devil and hooked up with him. Three things happened to Adam and Eve when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:7,8).
(1) Their eyes were opened to evil. Their eyes were opened in the wrong way. It was never God’s intent that they know anything about the devil’s ways of evil from the devil’s perspective. The devil tricked them into submission to him. He convinced them that God did not mean what He said to them. He was just holding out on them. The devil works the same way today convincing people that what God said in His Word is not true. This is called deception.
I fully believe that God would have explained the ways of evil to Adam and Eve, if they had waited on their Father to talk to them about it. He is a loving Heavenly Father. And, if He thought it was best that they never know about evil, that would have been OK also. They should have allowed their Father to handle it. He had given them an instruction to obey. Their disobedience opened up the temptation of the whole world of the devil and his evil ways.
(2) They knew they were naked. They perceived that spiritually first. They realized that the light of God’s glorious presence on them was gone. Then they saw physically that their bodies were no longer clothed in that presence. They looked for something to cover them. Fig leaves were a poor substitute for God’s glory.
(3) They were afraid.
This is the condition of the world today without God. They are open to evil. They are not clothed in God’s robe of righteousness. They are full of fear.
Unfortunately, that is the condition of too many Christians. They don’t know that they are righteous and can walk in a new way with the Lord. They don’t know their rightful position, a position of being right with God through Jesus, Who makes us right through His blood. They don’t know that they are royalty in the Father’s household, with all the rights and privileges of the household.
Many Christians are full of fear of so many things—-cancer, heart attacks, terrorism, losing their jobs, families falling apart, marriages failing. They are in no better place than the people of the world, except they are going to heaven, which is a wonderful thing to know. But, oh, the benefits of serving the Lord while we are right here on this earth. We do not have to fear because our dear Heavenly Father has taken care of us through Jesus His Son coming and taking our place. Now the Holy Spirit is living in us to show us how to receive in our daily lives what Jesus has purchased for us.
My prayer today for you is that you will take on God’s vision and understand the hope to which He has called you, the richness of your inheritance, and the very resurrection power that God has given you, which seats you far above all principality and power and all earthly titles and names. Hallelujah!