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Fred R. Coulter—October 1, 1993
This question was asked of me, which I think is a very profound question: What would the world have been like IF Adam Eve had not sinned? I think in every human being there is this kind of longing for everything to be perfect. So, there's something in each one of our natures that God has left there to give us a longing for something that is perfect.
So, the question came up: What would the world be Like IF Adam & Eve had not sinned? This is really a very difficult topic to cover, and some of the conclusion may not necessarily be exactly as it may have been. The Bible doesn't tell us directly on how we can solve the problem of what would have happen IF Adam and Eve had not sinned.
- How do we begin to understand a very difficult subject?
- How do we begin to know something from God's Word so we can answer this question?
Brethren, when you really stop and think about it, we are going to attempt to answer a question that the greatest minds in the world have not been able to even come close to, that the philosophers of the world could not know, nor could they understand.
1-Cor. 2 tells us the approach that we need to have, but it's not because we're smart, geniuses or because we've have a great education from institutions in the world. It's because of something God has to do concerning the Word of God! The Apostle Paul said that he came and preached the 'simplicity of Christ.'
1-Corinthians 2:5: "So that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." That's the only way that we're going to have the faith to even understand this.
Verse 6: "Now we speak wisdom among the spiritually mature… [among the congregation] …however, it is not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…" (vs 6-7). It's something that you can't just ask the question and all of a sudden pull the answer out of the Bible. Even the whole plan of God is a mystery.
I'll tell you one thing, I'm very happy that we have a congregation that knows their Bible. We have a congregation that understands the basics of the Bible so that we can build on what we have here. It's the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of this world that comes to nothing.
Verse 7: "Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom that God foreordained before the ages unto our glory, which not one of the rulers of this world has known (for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory)" (vs 7-8). That's an interesting statement. We'll just leave it right there and think on it by asking:
- Why did Jesus die? Because of sin!
- IF Adam and Eve had not sinned would Jesus have to had died?
We'll try and answer those questions; that's intriguing. Here it gives an indication that perhaps if the people had made some different choices, it wouldn't have been necessary. I don't know! I'm just saying that based on this statement, that is a strong possibility.
In some of these things we can't take it as an absolute dogmatic, 'thus saith the Lord,' this is how it is. But we can draw certain conclusion with a degree of certainty.
Verse 9: "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God" (vs 9-10). We're going to be talking about a very deep and profound subject.
You know, as strange as it may appear, we can still fit the Holy Days into a sequence of what it would have been had Adam and Eve had not sinned. I think that when we get to that point it's going to be really exciting. God reveals it.
Verse 11: "For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man, which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God. Now, we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God; which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means" (vs 11-13).
This is how we are going to come to a reasonable conclusion on what the world would have been like if Adam and Eve had not sinned. Just think how much easier childrearing would be; how safe the world would be. We can think of all of these possibilities.
How then do we begin to understand this? The basic way we do with everything else, you start with the basics! You begin with what you know. You begin with what you understand of the Word of God and you build on that foundation. That's the way you always understand something that you don't know.
There was a man who ran faster than any other human being in the world in the late 1980s, but he cheated! He didn't do it right, so what happened, the gold medal was taken away and given to another. That's a little Scriptural, too—isn't it? Jesus said, 'None can come to Me but by the Father, and if you enter in any other door, you're a thief and robber.'
There we can learn a lesson, too. We're not going to come in with some brand new idea foreign to the Bible. We're not going to start off with some idea that someone has and say, 'Oh, that's interesting doctrine.' That's how you test and prove all things by the Word of God.
The Foundation: God is Love
- What is the most important foundation we begin with?
- What is it we start with to understand this so that we don't end losing the golden crown?
We start with:
- What is God? God is love!
That's the basic foundation to begin. Any other point to begin with we may 'miss the boat,' the point, or we may not understand it. God is love and we know two Scriptures that fit into that:
1-John 4:8[transcriber's correction] and 16: "…God is love…" Everything that God does is based upon love.
- this love will correct
- this love will punish
- this love is against evil
- because God is righteous
We need to have the concept of love, as God is love, not love as emotional people think that only love is goodness, kindness and all that sort of thing. That is part of love, but when you have something that you have to do that is grievous, if you have love it's hard for you to do! Same way with God; exactly the same way!
Let's take another basic principle that we need to understand. This is something that is important for us to realize in understanding the situation with Adam and Eve and the children of Adam and Eve.
Matthew 22:37: "And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'" In the account in Mark it adds with all your strength! That means with every fiber of your being:
- your thoughts
- your attitude
- your work
- your goals
- your purpose
- everything that you do
We're going to see that that's very important in relationship to what Adam and Eve did.
Verse 38: "This is the first and greatest commandment; and the second one is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (vs 38-40).
If God is love—which He is; and the greatest commandment—the first, primary, absolute greatest commandment is to love God and then your neighbor, and upon these two hang all the Law and the Prophets. It's also telling us that on these two hang everything that God has done, because God is love. That's important for us to understand when we come to the account of Adam and Eve.
God has a Purpose
Now let's look at another principle that is true. So far I haven't covered a Scripture that you don't know, but let's see how we can put all of this together. It's kind of like the English language, or any other language. In the English language there are 26 letters in the alphabet. How many hundreds of thousands of different words and combinations of words can you do with those 26 basic letters? An almost innumerable number of words, concepts and ideas! It's the same way with God's way; same way with His Word.
Isaiah 45:18: "For thus says the LORD the Creator of the heavens, He Himself is God, Who formed the earth and made it; He has established it. He created it not in vain…" God has a purpose! We can all agree that God has a purpose. We know that He has a purpose because He tells us He has a purpose. There is a purpose that God has proposed for the whole earth!
- Is God going to accomplish His purpose?
- What is the overall purpose of God's plan?
- Have sons/daughters in His kingdom!
That's the overall purpose based upon love and obedience.
- In that purpose, can there be more than one way to fulfill it? There could be!
- What is the one constant factor we have in this whole equation? GOD!
God says, 'I change not!'
- What is the variable in relationship to human beings? Human beings! We are the variable!
- Did God know that there would be variables with us? Absolutely! Yes, He did!
Isaiah 14:24: "The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, 'Surely as I have thought, so it shall come to pass… [God is going to do; it's going to be done!] …and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.'"
See the solid foundation we're building this on? We're starting with the things that are concrete and known.
Verse 26: "This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations, for the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who shall reverse it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (vs 26-27). That is a statement that can apply to anything that God can do.
God created the heavens and the earth. It says, 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' He had a plan and purpose for doing that. He has a meaning for everything that He does. He says:
Isaiah 45:18: "…He created it not in vain…" So, it's also telling us that there's nothing that's going to go against the purpose of God.
Does that mean that God cannot alter or change the way that He's going to get there? No, it doesn't! God can alter and change the way He's going to get from one place to another, or from the beginning of His plan to the end of His plan. He knows how He's going to do it!
"…but formed it to be inhabited. 'I am the LORD, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, "Seek me in vain." I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right'" (vs 18-19). I want us to think right at this point!
- Did God tell Adam and Eve things that were right?
- Did He declare it to them?
- Yes, He had to, and yes, God did!
Verse 20: "'Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped of the nations; they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their graven image, and those who pray to a god that cannot save. Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old? Who has told it from ancient times? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not turn back, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.' One shall say, 'Only in the LORD do I have righteousness and strength; even to Him shall men come. And they are ashamed, all who are angry against Him.' In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" (vs 20-25).
Those are eternal, everlasting, complete statements of God's purpose.
- Could we change the names in that declaration of God?
- Could we, instead of saying, 'O seed of Jacob' could that not have been 'O seed of Adam'?
- Probably, yes!
The End from the Beginning, How to Get There
Isaiah 46:9: "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else, I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things which were not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure'" (vs 9-10). Is that true at any time? Yes, it is true!
Let's take this a couple of steps further and see some things that are important. Is there only one way of history from the beginning to the end? If you have the beginning over here and the end over there, is there only one way to get from there to here? I imagine that every one of us in coming here, we all took a little bit of a different route. Every one of us got here a little differently. We all came in a different kind of car.
That's a very simple analogy to see that we go from the beginning to the ending—whatever God has determined is the beginning and whatever God has determined is the ending—is there one way of God to get there? We know that there are certain requirements that God gives. Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.' We know that, but how do we get there?
Has God given Himself some flexibility to do what He wants to do because He is God? Absolutely!
Isaiah 55:8: "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts…'" We can't sit down and just think this out and come to a conclusion. It has to be with the thoughts of God, the words of God, what God's Spirit puts in our mind. I'm thankful to be preaching to an audience that really understands the basics of the Bible.
"'…nor your ways My ways,' says the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (vs 8-9).
- God is eternal
- God has all power
- God has more than one way to solve a problem
- God has more than one way in dealing with people
- God has more than one way to accomplish His plan
Even if it is one of several different ways, it is still God's way! It is still only God's way! Here's how we're going to understand:
Job 32:8: "But there is a spirit in man… [if we have God's Holy Spirit that's in addition to it] …and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding." God's will is going to stand!
Understand the Character of God and Free Choice
Let's answer some other things concerning what God shows us. There is something that we need to understand about God. This is another characteristic of God; this is something else we can base our understanding on what God is doing by this:
Ezekiel 18:23: "'Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?' says the Lord GOD. 'Is it not pleasing, instead, that he should turn from his ways and live?'"
- Was God happy when Adam and Eve sinned and He had to tell them that they were going to die?
- Did He delight in it?
- Did He delight in bringing the curse?
- No! God doesn't have any pleasure or delight in that at all!
Verse 32: "'For I have no delight in the death of him who dies,' says the Lord GOD. 'Therefore, turn yourselves [to God] and live.'"
I think it's very interesting that it's put here in the book of Ezekiel. You study the book of Ezekiel and that is a terrible book as far as death, destruction and what God is forced to do because of what man does.
Ezekiel 33:11—God says: "Say to them, 'As I live'… [that's very powerful; almost the kind of oath that God took, 'swearing by Myself, I swear'] …says the Lord GOD, 'I have no delight in the death of the wicked…'" That's a little bit different than us. If someone dies because they've done something wicked and have hurt somebody else, we say, 'Good riddens!' God doesn't! He knows it has to be done; that it's something that needs to be carried out, but He doesn't have any pleasure in it.
"…except that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (v 11). You can put any name there if you want to. God doesn't delight in the death of the wicked of anyone.
Let's see what some of the other of God's will there is so we can understand what the will of God is, that we can understand when we go back to Adam and Eve. The Mormons have a doctrine that God put Adam and Eve there and they had to sin to carry out God's plan. No, they didn't have to sin!
When you do something that is not right, do you have to do it? No! You don't have to do it! When I wrecked my car I didn't have to wreck it.
1-Timothy 2:4—speaking of God: "Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth." That's what He wants; He wants all to be saved. He doesn't delight in the death of the wicked, but on the other hand, He's not going to give it to anyone unless they accept it His way!
Is God's desire what mankind desires? There is the conflict! Not really! That's how we begin to understand the problem: What would the world have been like IF Adam and Eve had not sinned?
2-Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not delaying the promise of His coming, as some in their own minds reckon delay…" God is in charge of time and He gives Himself time to do whatever He wants to do, to do whatever is necessary to accomplish His purpose. He's going to do it. God says, 'I have proposed it, I will carry it out; My Word will stand!'
"…rather, He is long-suffering toward us, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (v 9). He's not willing that any shall perish! That's the key we need to realize and understand.
Let's see what there is in this ingredient in human beings that God has to allow for. That is free choice! God is greater than us in this because we would like to give limited free choice, as human beings. But God gives free choice. That is the ingredient in this whole equation for the variable that God has allowed and made allowances for. If you give free moral agency—though you have an idea which way things are going to go—you really don't know until the choice is made. Since God has given free moral agency, He must let it be exercised!
You can try this with your children: Give them $50 and say, 'You can spend this any way you want.' What if they come home with a stack of pornography? 'I didn't mean that!' But you said… 'But that isn't what I meant.'
God isn't like that! He tells you ahead of time! 'You have free moral agency, free choice, you've got it. The only condition that I'm going to do is that once you choose you're going to have live by it, or in some cases, die by it.
Deuteronomy 30:15: "Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil… [This sounds a little bit like the Garden of Eden] …in that I command you this day to love the LORD your God…" (vs 15-16). There we go, the first and great commandment is 'to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength and being.' It's the same.
"…to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments so that you may live and multiply. And the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it" (v 16). That's a tremendous blessing! Everyone is saying, 'Yes, I agree to that. Yes, that is fine!' But then He says:
Verse 17: "But if your heart turn away… [I'm giving you choice] …so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I denounce to you this day that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days on the land where you pass over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life… [almost the same thing we find in the book of Genesis] …so that both you and your seed may live" (vs 17-19)—because God doesn't have any pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Verse 20: "That you may love the LORD your God, and may obey His voice, and may cleave to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give it to them.'" God based His plan with Israel upon:
- God's plan
- their choices
You know the whole story of it, what happened to Israel. I want to concentrate just a little bit on Abraham. Here is a key that we can follow to go back and unlock the question: What would have happened IF Adam and Eve would not have sinned?
Suffice to say, in the very presence of God, with God dealing with the individual face-to-face and one-to-one Abraham was apparently the very first man in history from the time of Adam to this:
- to follow God
- to really love God
- to want to be with God
- to want to do what God said to do
Did Abraham have a choice? Yes, everybody has choices! Everyone of us! So, did Abraham!
Genesis 12:1: "And the LORD said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.'" Abram didn't say, 'Now, Lord, look we've got it comfortable here in Haran. We've got a large family and I don't have children but I've got 300 servants and their wives and kids. I've got all these camels. Lord, do You know that's going to be hard to get everything all together and go.' No! He went!
Verse 2—God said: "And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing."
- Why did God have to wait clear to Abraham to give this blessing?
- Could not that blessing have been at the first?
- Could not that blessing have been to Adam and his descendants? Yes!
- Could God still have fulfilled His plan that way, if Adam would have done what Abraham is doing here? Yes!
- Would there still be people going into the Kingdom of God? Yes!
From the beginning to the ending doesn't necessarily mean that we're restricted with the limitation of our human thoughts. God is going to accomplish His purpose however He's going to do it.
Verse 3: "'And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.' Then Abram departed, even as the LORD had spoken to him…." (vs 3-4).
Then we come down clear to the time when he said, 'Now, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will bless you; My promise is irrevocable' (Gen. 22). Once God makes an irrevocable promise, it is to be fulfilled!
You know the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; then we come down to the children of Israel. The children of Israel were ready to go into the 'promised land' 18 months after they came out of Egypt.
- Could they have gone into the 'promised land' then? Yes!
- Did God have to alter His plan? Yes!
- Did God still bring them into the 'promised land'? Yes, after 38-1/2 more years of suffering, because of their choices!
The thing is this: If you give choice, you must give choice. If the choice is wrong, you operate within the choice—whether it's right or wrong. That's how God does it. We can see many other examples: sinners who have repented and those who stood strong for God.
Remember in Num. 25 when all the children of Israel were committing adultery and bowing down to the idols of Moab and even bringing in the adulterers and adulteresses right into the camp of the Israelites? Eleazar the son Aaron took a spear and went out and thrust it though the ones who were sinning. God said that because he did that he was going to be blessed and all of his descendants because 'you stood for Me.' That whole family has been blessed!
How about King Ahab? He sold his soul to do wickedness. God sent Elijah over and told Elijah to tell Ahab that he was going to die. It's going to be ignominious. Jezebel is going to die and the dogs are going to lick up the blood and eat the flesh. Elijah went and told Ahab that, and Ahab chose to repent! He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and sat down on an ash-heap for three days.
God said to Elijah, 'Look at My servant Ahab! You go tell him because he walked tenderly and humbled himself that I'm not going to do it right now, I'm going to delay it.'
How about Hezekiah? God sent Isaiah. Is a prophet of God to speak the truth? Yes, he is! God said to Isaiah, 'Go tell Hezekiah that he's going to die and to set his house in order.' Isaiah dutifully walks up there and says, 'Hezekiah, you're going to die! God says so!'
Hezekiah turned to the wall and wept and said, 'O Lord, please remember…' Isaiah didn't even get out to the courtyard when the word of the Lord came back to him and said, 'I've heard his cries and tears and I will be merciful. Go back and tell him to go ahead and put this poultice on his foot and he's going to live another 15 years.' Hezekiah said, 'How am I going to know it?' Tell him that the sundial is going to go back ten degrees! So, God changed His mind!
How about with David, the man after God's heart? He did everything right. He chose God, loved God, served God, did everything that God wanted him to do. He turned out to be a great hero, king and warrior. Then he got settled into his kingdom after the house of Israel and Judah were united and he was king over them.
Then what did he do? He stood out on his porch one day and he saw Bathsheba! Did God alter His plan because of that? Yes! In two ways:
- God caused the curse to be on the house of David from that day on
- the child of that adulterous union died, but then God had mercy and took the next child of Bathsheba—Solomon—and made him king instead of Adonijah
- Did God change His plan? Yes!
- Did it serve the same purpose? Yes!
How about Solomon? God appeared to him in a dream and Solomon said to give him wisdom. God says, because you haven't asked for wealth and riches, but you've asked for wisdom, 'you have it all. You're going to be the richest, greatest, most fantastic king in the world. You know what happened; he got all carried away with his lust and the gods of his wives. Did God change His plan? Yes, He said, 'I'm going to take ten of these tribes away and I'm going to give them to Jeroboam and your son Rehoboam is only going to have the two tribes! But because of My promise to David, I will let the kingdom continue.'
We can go through the Bible and see many, many examples of where choice is exercised and God works around, or through, those choices.
Adam & Eve in the Garden
Let's see some other things and let's begin seeing some of the things that took place in Gen. 2. Here we are, everything is fantastic! The world has been remade and created. I'm not going to get into what the world would be like if Lucifer had not sinned. We're going to accept the fact that Lucifer fell and we're going to answer the question: What the world would have been like IF Adam and Eve had not sinned.
Here's the world all re-created and behold, everything was good, wonderful, lovely, beautiful, fine and clean.
Genesis 2:7: "Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Based on the example that we have in the Bible, when God deals with you directly, face-to-face, you are in different circumstances than if you are someone removed over here.
Here not only was God dealing with Adam face-to-face, He made him out of His own likeness, out of His own image! No other human being had that! No other human being was made by the hand of God, where God took the earth and made man. All the rest of us came by the process of reproduction, from then on. That's a key important thing to understand.
Verse 8: "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The Tree of Life also was in the middle of the garden, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" (vs 8-9).
The Tree of Life is the way to life. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil symbolizes the way that man would go if he rejected God. Were there choices? Right from the very beginning God gave choice! He set before them the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. {Note Deut. 30 and what God said to the children of Israel, because the same thing applies.}
Verse 15: "And the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for in the day that you eat of it in dying you shall surely die'" (vs 15-17). Now, there's an awful lot in that one verse.
- Did God command the man? Yes, He did!
- Is a command a law? God did not suggest!
He didn't say, 'I suggest that you don't eat of it.' He commanded the man; a direct face-to-face command!
It's the same way with us. If you get a message from someone afar off and you don't know whether that message is really true or not, you give yourself a little hedge or space as to whether you want to do it. No hedge, no space here, face-to-face! I don't know how close they were, but there they were right together, right in the garden. God told him.
Verse 18: "And the LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper compatible for him.' And out of the ground the LORD God had formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air—and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them…." (vs 18-19). So, we know that he had a language. We know that he was created and programmed with a language.
If there was any sacred or Holy language that you could say would be Holy, it would be the one that God put into the mind of Adam. You hear a lot about 'sacred names.'
- Is a language pagan?
or
- Are people pagan? People are pagan! Based upon their actions!
We even go to the Tower of Babel!
- Who created all the languages there? God did!
Whatever God did to the brains of all those people, He instantaneously changed their languages so that they could only understand those who spoke exactly the same thing.
So, when God created Adam it's no great thing that He created him with a mind and a language already there. Here was a thinking, living, breathing, live human being made in the image of God. No imperfections. He could talk with God.
It's not like a robot. You walk up to 'Robby Robot' and if you can't ask him what's already programmed, he can't answer you. You can walk up to him and say, 'Robby Robot, I don't want you eating of this tree over here.' Adam was not like that.
"…And whatever Adam called each living creature that became its name" (v 19). You've got to have a pretty good mind to do that.
Have you ever seen the list of all the animals in the world? Adam just stood there and rattled off, 'this one is this, and that one is that.' He gave all the names of them.
Verse 20: "And Adam gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field…" That must have been a marvelous thing. God and Adam sitting down and He's calling all these creatures over and they pass by and God says, 'All right, Adam, since you're the first man, I made you Myself and I want you to name all of these. I made them, but you name them and that's what it's going to be.' That would be an exciting thing! There was Adam doing that with God at his side.
"…but there was not found a helper compatible for Adam" (v 20). There was also an object lesson from God to Adam. Of everything that He created, there was nothing compatible for Adam.
Verse 21: "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall over Adam, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and afterward closed up the flesh underneath. Then the LORD God made the rib (which He had taken out of the man) into a woman, and He brought her to the man" (vs 21-22).
God did not make woman out of a new hunk of clay from the ground. When God deals apparently with one person first, He's not going to deal in the same way with anybody else except that one person. That's important to understand and realize.
Verse 23: "And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones…'" Did he know what happened? Yes, he did! Did he understand what God had done? Yes, he did!
"'…and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.'" (v 23). And in almost every language even to this day, man and woman, there is always the part of the name man in the description of woman.
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Verse 24: "For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife—and they shall become one flesh…. [they understood about marriage, coming children, etc.] …And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed" (vs 24-25).
There we have a perfect setting, but there are choices that must be made. God determined that there were choices to be made and told Adam and Eve right at the first that there were choices.
Let's understand something about God before we get into Gen. 3.
- Is God fair? Yes!
- Is God just? Yes!
We also have the principle that God does nothing unless He tells His prophets first. We have the principle, based upon that, that God did not require of Adam something that he was not capable of delivering. God did not require something of Adam that He did not tell him.
Romans 3:20: "…for through the law is the knowledge of sin." How did the laws come? By the Word of God! God spoke His laws. In this case referring to the laws that were given to Israel.
- Did God speak certain commandments to Adam? Yes, He did!
- Was Adam knowledgeable of what he was required to do? Yes!
- Was Adam knowledgeable of what he shouldn't do? Yes!
Romans 4:15: "For the law works out wrath…" God said that 'in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die!' Death is the end result of wrath. Pain and suffering is what happens in between the time you do it and dying.
"…because where no law is, there is no transgression" (v 15). Very important! God told Adam and Eve; they knew what they were to do.
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death…" If we put the two of these together we have:
God gave the instruction and knowledge to Adam and Eve. Being the first human beings that God dealt with and God created Adam, dealt with him face-to-face, he knew! He knew that he if he ate of it he would die! That's what God said, "…the wages of sin is death…"
Rom. 5—here is something very important because this ties down what Adam did. This puts it in terminology that we understand.
Romans 5:12: "Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…" The actions going against the commands of God are called sin. Is there a greater penalty for sin when you do it to God's face? Yes!
"…and by means of sin came death; and in this way death passed into all mankind; and it is for this reason that all have sinned" (v 12). It doesn't mean that sin came upon other human beings as just kind of an afterthought. We know from the other things we have studied that death passing on is also put into all human beings, the evil nature of human nature called 'the law of sin and death.'
Verse 13: "(For before the Law… [the giving of the Law at Sinai] …sin… [the breaking of the commandments of God] …was in the world. However, sin is not imputed when law does not exist." By His own declarations, God has said, 'If I have not given a law, if I have not given a command, there's no sin.'
What did God say of little children? They have to come to the knowledge of right and wrong! He said to the Israelites, when they didn't want to go into the 'promised land' when God said so, 'Your children who know not good and evil are going to go into the land.' So children, unless they know the Law—even though it's going to have some action against them—God does not hold that against them.
Where there is no Law there is no sin! There had to be a Law—the commandments of God, the words of God—directly to Adam, so therefore, there was sin! Notice what kind of sin:
Verse 14: "Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even upon those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam…" Showing that was the greatest sin in all the history of humankind! No other human being has sinned that way. Adam's sin affected all people. I do believe that God told Adam that when He told them not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil he had to know!
1-Corinthians 15:21: "For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (vs 21-22). Showing the result of the sin of Adam.
Verse 45 is a key, important verse to show us importance of Adam, to give us kind of an understanding where we can see what would have happened had Adam and Eve not sinned.
Verse 45: "Accordingly, it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became an ever-living Spirit.'" Equating Adam and Christ. That's quite an equation! Adam would have had a special position. Do you think we may be able to determine what that may have been? I think we can!
Verse 46: "However, the spiritual was not first, but the natural—then the spiritual. The first man is of the earth—made of dust. The second Man is the Lord from heaven" (vs 46-47). Again, equating Adam in a position like unto Christ.
- the first Adam, the second Adam
- the first man, the second man
Was Jesus the second man? No! Cain was the second man, literally! So, we're talking about a spiritual principle in their importance. In other words, the whole plan of salvation centered around Adam and Christ.
Genesis 3:1: "Now, the serpent was more cunning than any creature of the field which the LORD God had made…." Do you suppose that God told them about the serpent? I think He did! I think God told them!
"…And he said to the woman, 'Is it true that God has said, "You shall not eat of any tree of the garden"?'" (v 1). It talks about Satan lied from the beginning. This lie is in the beginning.
Verse 2: "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may freely eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has indeed said, "You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die"'" (v 2-3).
- Did she understand the commandment? Yes!
- Did she give the right answer? Yes!
- Did Adam and Eve know what they were doing? Yes!
- Did they have to do it? No!
God left it to them to choose! It was their choice!
Verse 4: "And the serpent said to the woman, 'In dying, you shall not surely die! For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like God, deciding good and evil'" (vs 4-5).
Do you suppose that God told Adam and Eve what His plan was? I think He told them enough about the plan! Why would they be anxious to go ahead and become gods ('elohim'), unless God would have told them something about that.
Satan says, "…in the day you eat of it…" you don't have to wait, do it now. "…then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like God, deciding good and evil."
Verse 6: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." Adam knew, he understood, he accepted what his wife did and he accepted what he did.
- Did he have to do it? No, he didn't have to do it!
- Could he have chosen to refuse it? Yes, he could have chosen to refuse it!
- Did he? No, he didn't!
Verse 7: And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Then Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?' And he said, 'I heard You walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, and so I hid myself.' And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked?….'" (vs 7-11).
I'm not going to go into all the ramifications of sex-education one way or the other on this, except to say that it's very apparent that their sin was more than just eating of the fruit. It was also apparent in their very actions and what they did.
"'…Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?' And the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate'" (vs 11-12).
- Is there any excuse acceptable? NO!
- Did Adam know better? Yes!
- Did Eve know better? Yes!
- Did they do it? Yes!
- Did God give them free moral agency that they had to choose? Yes!
- Did it change God's plan? Yes!
On how to get from the beginning to the ending, but it didn't change His plan overall! It just changed the direction, form and manner in which it would go.
- Is God still going to complete His plan? Yes!
- Has Satan deterred it? No!
- Did the sin of Adam and Eve deter it? No!
It just made it go a different way! If God knows everything that there is—which He does—then God also had things figured out as to what to do if they sinned. He also, I'm sure, had things figured what to do if they would have chosen God. That's the answer to the question that we want to get to:
- What the world would have been like IF they hadn't sinned?
You know the rest of the account: the serpent was cursed, the man was cursed, the woman was cursed, the ground was cursed, and apparently the animals. They were driven out from the presence of God, closed off to the way of the Tree of Life. That's the story we are all familiar with.
- What is it that Adam and Eve should have done, but did not do?
John 6:29: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God: that you believe in Him Whom He has sent.'"
- Did God the Father send Jesus Christ, Who was at that time the Word? Elohim-Yahweh? Yes!
- Did Adam and Eve believe? NO! They did not believe!
- Did they have knowledge? Yes!
- Could they have chosen the right way? Yes!
What would the world have been like IF Adam and Eve had not sinned?
Acts 3 gives us an indication of what it would have been like, and that's why it fits into the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Acts 3:19: "Therefore, repent and be converted in order that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Him Who was before proclaimed to you Jesus Christ Whom the heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all His Holy prophets since the world began'" (vs 19-21).
- What was the first prophecy given? Gen. 3:15; the prophecy of the coming Messiah because of the sin!
- What is the "…restoration [restitution] of all things…since the world began"? When Christ returns, He's going to restore the world to what it was when He created Adam and Eve!
Isn't that what this says? I do believe that's what this says! What would the world have been like IF Adam and Eve had not sinned?
Let's see how Gen. 3 could have been written if they had not sinned. Here's where we get into a little 'conclusion drawing' based upon known facts. This is not wild, wild speculation, but this is speculation based on:
- knowing what God has said
- knowing what occurred
- knowing how God operates.
First of all Satan appeared and he said to the woman, 'You shall not surely die.' She could have answered and said, 'Yes, we will. We're not going to eat of it, because we don't want to die. Furthermore, I'm getting over here to my husband Adam and we're going to talk to our Creator and ask Him for the help and strength that we're not going to do what you said.'
- Could they have chosen that? Sure they could have!
- What would have happened if they would have done that?
- What do you suppose would have happened if they would have done that?
I want to call your attention to a Scripture that we read: the first Adam, the second Adam
- What is the first thing that the second Adam is going to do when He returns to the earth? He's going to put away Satan the devil!
We know that; it tells us so in Rev. 20:1-4).
- If Adam and Eve had not sinned, what do you suppose would have happened to Satan the devil at that time? I think he would have been bound right at that time!
The world would have been a different place!
- Can God still fulfill His plan if Adam and Eve had not sinned? Yes!
- Would it have been necessary for Jesus to have died? I'll say probably not!
I can't answer that question entirely! But for what we're discussing right now, we'll say probably not. Though it was ordained 'before the foundation of the world' that He would die if there was sin. But if they had not sinned, Jesus would not have to have died.
What kind of society do you suppose we would have had? Satan is removed! If it's going to be the restitution of all things then we are going to see what kind of society we would have had based upon many of the prophecies we have concerning the Millennium, and there would have been no major sins. It would have been a wonderful world.
The world that's still in our minds, God has left a little place desiring that perfection! Since God was already on the earth and Adam would have resisted the temptation of Jesus Christ, which the second Adam had to do.
- Didn't Jesus Christ have to resist the temptation of Satan?
- What if Adam would have resisted the temptation of Satan?
- I believe that Adam would have become the high priest of all humankind as the first man created by God
- I believe that the blessings would have been given directly to Adam and al of his descendants
We wouldn't have had to have all the nonsense that we have gone through for 6,000 years because of what they did. That would have been nice!
One man told me, 'At the resurrection, believe me, when I see Adam I'm going to ask him why did you do this? You put all mankind through it. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God! All human beings were evil, wretched and miserable! Look at what's recorded in history.'
Let's see what the house of Adam could have done. We would have heard of the house of Adam, not of the house of Abraham. God wouldn't have needed to use Abraham that way, because Adam would have done it. If Adam would have obeyed, all the blessings would flow through Adam on down to all human beings. It would go to all human beings, because he's the father of all human beings.
But to Abraham because we had to wait so long down through history and Abraham obeying God that it came to the descendants of Abraham, because all the rest said, 'God, we don't want You. Give us Your blessings, but we don't want You.'
God says, 'No! You aren't going to have it. If you don't want to eat my cake, you don't get your cake and the frosting and blessings.'
- Can you imagine what we could have set our mind to learn?
- Can you just imagine the things that God would teach us?
- Can you just imagine what a fantastic society we would have?
- Can you imagine Isa. 2 beginning with Adam?
Isaiah 2:1: "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." Instead of Jerusalem it would have been Eden.
Can you imagine the kind of temple that would have been built in Eden? With God and Adam doing it? There wouldn't be any veil; there wouldn't be any need for sacrifices. We could all walk up and see God! You want to know Who your Creator is, there's your father Adam, and here's your Creator God!
Verse 2: "And it shall come to pass, in the last days the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it." Think of what would have happened if that would have started with Adam. If the first Adam would have done it, just imagine what this world would be like.
Verse 3: "And many people shall go and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob [Adam]. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion [Eden] shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem [Eden]. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares…" (vs 3-4).
There wouldn't be any war! What need would there have been for war? Who is the author of war? Who was the first one to say, 'I'm going to invade?' Satan the devil! He would have been bound and put away. No war!
Wouldn't that make childrearing a whole lot easier? No cantankerous human nature to put up with. Sure, there will still be choices to make, but we'll see how those choices will come across. Just imagine what that would have been if Adam and Eve would have done the right thing, right at the beginning.
- instead of Jerusalem it would have been Eden
- instead of Jacob it would have been Adam
God would not have had to come back and give us a new heart. Human nature would have been different. We would have been willing for God's way. We would have been willing for God's laws. There still were some choices, which we'll see in just a minute, because I have to speculate on that. There's no 'thus saith the Lord' absolute dogmatic when 100-200 years, a thousand years down the line if someone would have sinned, what's going to happen? What would God do then?
Isaiah 11—we find here the prophecy of Jesus. This would not have been a prophecy of Jesus, but a history of Adam, the first Adam rather than a prophecy of the second Adam.
Isaiah 11:2: "And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him…" Can you imagine what would have happened to Adam if they would have chosen the right way? God would have said the same as He did to Abraham: In blessing I will bless you! He would give them the spirit of wisdom. All of these things would have fallen to Adam.
"…the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" (v 2). This means that you believe God! It would have been written how Adam believed God, therefore, Satan was put away. But it wasn't! Adam and Eve did not believeGod, therefore, Satan has ruled!
Verse 3: "And His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor after the hearing of His ears. But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth…" (vs 3-4). Would have had to have been.
"…and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper's den" (vs 4-8)—impossible things today.
But can you imagine what a wonderful world we would have if Adam and Eve had not sinned? Where our children growing up can have their own animals? Who knows, maybe it would be like the movie Talk to the Animals. I don't know, but I would assume that there would have been a whole lot more ability to communicate one with the other, rather than have everything estranged and wild.
Remember, the ground was cursed, the man and woman was cursed, so I'm sure that also means the animals were cursed. You would have to say that, yes, they were, because God says in the restitution of all things He's going to put it back to the way He originally wanted it. Would we all be vegetarians? I don't know! Could be, I have no idea!
Verse 9: "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My Holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." Can you imagine the knowledge of God IF Adam and Eve had not sinned? It would have been wonderful! Absolutely fantastic the things that God could have and would have done, having Satan bound.
Our Holy Day sequence would have been a little bit different. I'll tell you what I think the Holy Days would have been: We would have exactly the same Holy Days, with basically the same meaning, but with a little bit different application. That gets exciting when you think about it. I think you can begin to catch just a couple of those.
Isaiah 49:5: "And now, says the LORD—Who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him…"—a prophecy of Christ. Think of what it would have been if it were Adam. It would read: 'Thus says the Lord Who created me from the dust of the earth to lead the people to God.' It would have been entirely different.
"…(though Israel is not gathered, yet, I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength). He said, It is but a little thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You for a light to the nations, to be My salvation to the end of the earth'" (vs 5-6).
I think that would have happened to Adam. Adam would have been the one to lead human beings to salvation. Instead of 'as in Adam all sinned' it would be 'in Adam all should be saved'—based on the fact of the first Adam/the second Adam.
Verse 13: "Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth…" Imagine what the earth would be like today after six thousand years of proper management, taking care of it, happy people, no Satan around, no war, no destruction. Absolutely marvelous!
"…and break out into singing, O mountains; for the LORD has comforted His people, and will have compassion upon His afflicted" (v 13). What if that never had to be? There's that part that God has left in our mind that says, 'Oh how wonderful it would have been if we didn't have all this evil around.' That's why.
Isaiah 51:1: "Hearken to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD…" Think of this in terms if Adam had not sinned and been in his rightful place as the first man, the high priest to lead us to God. Imagine what would have been said here.
"…Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham [Adam] your father, and to Sarah [Eve] who bore you… (vs 1-2). I'm sure that's what it would have said. It didn't get down until the time someone was willing to obey God, until it got to Abraham. Everybody else rejected God. Certain of them didn't:
- Abel was righteous to a certain degree
- Enoch was righteous to a certain degree
- Noah was righteous to a certain degree
God changed His whole plan because of the Flood. He changed the length of days that men would live, because He Himself was fed up with sin. What did it say when God caused the Flood that had to be? It grieved God at heart! He didn't want to destroy all flesh, all human beings.
"'…for I called him alone… [God created him alone] …and blessed him, and made him many.' For the LORD shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places… [we wouldn't have had any] …and He will make her wilderness like Eden… [that's the way the whole world would have been] …and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody" (vs 2-3). That's what it would have been had Adam and Eve not sinned.
Verse 4: "Hearken to Me, My people; and give ear to Me, O My nation; for instruction shall proceed from Me, and I will make My justice as a light to the people…. [it would have begun then] …My righteousness is near; My salvation has gone out, and My arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon Me, and on My arm they shall trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath…" (vs 4-6). We would have been able to do that. Fantastic! Who knows what would have happened.
Now, I'm just going to short-circuit a few other things and ask you to please read on your on the following Scriptures:
- Isa. 54:13-17
I'll just read v 17: "No weapon that is formed against you shall prevail…" I don't think there would have been any war. After 6,000 years just think how many people would have been brought into the Kingdom of God.
Now you know why God has what we call the second resurrection. God is not going to let that destroy His plan. So, He's going to resurrect them in the second resurrection so He can do His work. There wouldn't have been anything against the house of Adam.
"'…This is the inheritance of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,' says the LORD" (v 17).
- Isa. 56:1-2—salvation is near; it would have been continuous from the time of Adam
- Isa. 60:15-22—it talks about how everything is going to flow from the earth: riches, wealth, happiness, joy, goodness, production, building of the cities
- Isa. 61
We have not yet answered the one question that I left hanging: What do you do IF Adam and Eve would have chosen the right way? What to do you do if someone somewhere down the line doesn't choose what is right, though Satan the devil be not there? They just choose not to do it! I feel it will be like right here, because we're talking about the restitution of all things:
Isaiah 65:17: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And the former things will not be remembered, nor come to mind…. [all the death and destruction and so forth] …But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and I will joy in My people; and the voice of weeping will no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There will not be an infant who lives but a few days, nor an old man that has not filled his days…" (vs 17-20).
I would have to conclude that IF Adam and Eve had not sinned, then human beings would have lived a pre-determined period of time. I would have to conclude from the Scriptures that say to us today, that when the last trumpet sounds, we shall be raised out of our graves, if we're dead, or if we're alive, be changed in 'a moment, in the twinkling of an eye' that if people followed God and were righteous and didn't have the kind of nature that we have now, and it would have been through Adam our high priest, the first Adam, instead of Jesus Christ our High Priest, the second Adam, I believe that we would have come to a point in our lives where we would be changed from flesh to spirit. Just like at the time, if we're alive and the sound comes we'll be changed.
I can't dogmatically say that; this is just something to think on. What about the one who sins? Who chooses to not follow God?
"…for the child will die a hundred years old; but the sinner who is a hundred years old shall be accursed" (v 20). I feel that those who would sin, they would die, and instead of being changed, death would be the exception rather than the rule. We're told in Rom. 5 that death passed to all human beings because of what Adam did in his sin. If Adam had not sinned, then death would have been the exception and death would have been applied on an individual selective basis upon those who so chose to go against God. Death would be an ignominious thing.
Let's see how the Holy Days may have been—the same Holy Days—IF Adam and Eve had not sinned.
- The Feast of Trumpets:
We've often wondered why there are two new years in the Hebrew calendar. There are two because of sin. God changed His plan and He told the children of Israel, 'This shall be to you the beginning of months in the spring—first month. But originally the first month was what we call the seventh month. So, I think Trumpets would have kept us in remembrance of the creation of Adam and Eve. We would be looking back to God through the priesthood of Adam.
- Atonement:
I believe Atonement would have been enacted right then. What does Atonement picture? The binding of Satan the devil! Mankind would have been at-one with God starting right then!
- Feast of Tabernacles:
What did we learn that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures for us? When God will be dwelling with His people! Would God still be dwelling on the earth with human beings if Adam and Eve had not sinned? I believe He would be! It would be picturing that we would be all together with God.
- The Last Great Day:
I believe The Last Great Day would have been commemorating the giving of the Holy Spirit. I base that on:
John 7:37: "Now, in the last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and called out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, which those who believed in Him would soon receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified" (vs 37-39).
I believe The Last Great Day would not necessarily be called that then, I think that would have been the receiving of the Holy Spirit.
- Passover:
I believe that the Passover would commemorate that death would not pass on to those who followed God, but that death would pass on to those who sinned.
- Days of Unleavened Bread:
I think that would have pictured a righteous life without sin, walking in God's ways willingly.
- Pentecost:
I think Pentecost would have pictured the day when we would be transformed from flesh to spirit if we succeeded and qualified for salvation under the priesthood of Adam.
I know that some of these things right at the end sound a little bit speculative, but I'm just trying to put it into a perspective that maybe through the Holy Days we can understand it. I think one of the things that gave me the key to understand this was when I understood that the children of Israel did not go into the 'promised land' when God had originally determined, but God changed His plan and they came in 38-1/2 years later.
The world would have been an absolutely wonderful place. We would have had such a wonderful life in the flesh, with no sin, no war. There would have been a low-level of sin, obviously, for those who chose not to go God's way, but it wouldn't be like it is now. Only those who chose to have an evil nature would have it. It wouldn't be automatic. What a celebration that would be!
- Can you imagine what the plan of God would have been like if we didn't have all this intervening time of sin in between?
- Can you imagine what the final Feast would have been with God the Father coming back to the earth, had the earth done the things the way God originally wanted?
The history of the world would have been entirely different! But I guess that's what you say about Monday morning quarterbacking! Or you can say 6,000 years of looking back and Monday morning quarterbacking on that.
But I think the world would have been, for 6,000 years, like it is going to be during the Millennium! That's the closest we can come to answering the question: What would the world have been like IF Adam and Eve had not sinned?
All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter
Scriptural references:
- 1 Corinthians 2:5-13
- 1 John 4:8, 16
- Matthew 22:37-40
- Isaiah 45:18
- Isaiah 14:24, 26-27
- Isaiah 45:18-25
- Isaiah 46:9-10
- Isaiah 55:8-9
- Job 32:8
- Ezekiel 18:23, 32
- Ezekiel 33:11
- 1 Timothy 2:4
- 2 Peter 3:9
- Deuteronomy 30:15-20
- Genesis 12:1-4
- Genesis 2:7-9, 15-25
- Romans 3:20
- Romans 4:15
- Romans 6:23
- Romans 5:12-14
- 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-47
- Genesis 3:1-12
- John 6:29
- Acts 3:19-21
- Isaiah 2:1-4
- Isaiah 11:2-9
- Isaiah 49:5-6, 13
- Isaiah 51:1-6
- Isaiah 54:17
- Isaiah 65:17-20
- John 7:37-39
Scripture referenced, not quoted:
- Genesis 22
- Numbers 25
- Genesis 3:15
- Revelation 20:1-4
- Isaiah 54:13-16
- Isaiah 56:1-2
- Isaiah 60:15-22
- Isaiah 61:1-11
- Romans 5
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8/16/15
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