The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
– 1 Corinthians 15:47
Read: Genesis 2:15-17; Genesis 3:1-19
Haven’t you always wondered why in the midst of the wealth given to Adam, God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with specific instructions, “Don’t eat.” People have often argued that God already planned for Adam’s failure; after all, without that tree, Adam would not have had a reason to disobey and therefore would not have sinned. To understand God’s motive, we must keep in mind the reason God created man: it was so that man would voluntarily love and honor Him. God never wanted robots, he wanted sons. The tree was set as a proof of Adam’s love for God. So, God reasoned, “If Adam loves me, he will choose obedience to me above his own desires.” Unfortunately this was not the case, and Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Adam lost all that wealth and instead obtained a life of pain, struggle and insufficiency. Did God still love man? Sure He did, but man now had to suffer the consequences of self-love: low productivity, poverty, and pain. Child of God, I know you love God. Determine to pass every ‘test of love’ God placed in the midst of your blessings: Tests such as tithing and giving to the less fortunate. The original sin is the root cause of poverty. This is how we lost it all. But God still had one last Joker up His sleeves – Jesus! The story did not end with the first Adam. The second Adam, Jesus, redeemed the original plan, hallelujah!