The Dark Side
In every story ever told, you will always find in it a ‘dark side’. We see this in fairy tales and fantasies. In Cinderella, it is the greedy step mother; in Sleeping Beauty, there is Malificent; in Star Wars, there is Darth Vader, in Harry Potter, there is Voldemort; and so on. In real life stories and yes, even in our history, it is the same.
And in this Christmas story, to better appreciate why we need a savior is to better understand the dark side… the bad news.
If you can recall, in the beginning, we had it made. But then something went wrong. Mankind sinned.
I am quite sure that everyone know a little bit about how Adam and Eve fell from Paradise. They fell because they disobeyed God’s one and only restrictive commandment
Genesis 2:17
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
Many have questioned God’s wisdom in giving such a command. Why did He have to give it and why so harsh a consequence? At that matter, if the Garden of Eden is suppose to be a safe haven, why would He place such a dangerous tree in it? Let’s tackle first the commandment.
Is the commandment unjust? …unfair? Why give such a command?
The answer is simple enough. God does what He wants.
Psalm 115:3
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Romans 9:21
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Now, let us tackle the fairness of the commandment. What is so hard about it? Think about it. From the tens of thousands of delicious mouth-watering fruit bearing trees to eat from, only one tree is forbidden. This is clearly no hard task.
How about the forbidden tree itself? Was it really dangerous? If so, why was it in the Garden?
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Everything in the Garden was meant for our good, that included the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I believe that Adam & Eve were immature and not ready to handle the responsibility of having God-like knowledge of good and evil. I believe, in God’s own timing, He would have eventually allowed the eating of that fruit (Acts 10:10-15) when they reached a level of maturity.
For a certain time (though time was irrelevant in the Garden), both Adam & Eve were succesful in keeping the commandment. Until…
In every good story, there is always a bad guy. In the Bible, the villain is the Devil who comes and goes in many guises. In the Garden, he took on the form of the serpent.
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.
The Devil became the bad guy because he aspired to be greater than God.
Isaiah 14:13-14
You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
Because we were lovingly created by God, the Devil set into motion the fall of mankind.
We will continue on the dark side of the Advent story in my next post. Don’t be disheartened by the dark side. Here is a verse to remind you of hope.
1 John 4:4
You (those who are born again) are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He (Jesus) who is in you than he (the Devil) who is in the world.
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Johann Quisumbing 