Our mission is to uplift the character of love of our Father
Our mission is to uplift the character of love of our Father
The knowledge of Good!
“But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King: at His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations, shall not be able to abide His indignation.”e Jeremiah 10:10-11
The system of education instituted at the beginning of the world, was to be a model for man throughout all after-time. As an illustration of its principles a model school was established in Eden, the home of our first parents. The garden of Eden was the schoolroom, nature was the lesson-book, the Creator Himself (the Father) was the instructor, and the parents of the human family were the students. Created to be “the image and glory of God,” Adam and Eve had received endowments not unworthy of their high destiny. Graceful and symmetrical in form, regular and beautiful in feature, their countenances glowing with the tint of health and the light of joy and hope, they bore in outward resemblance the likeness of their Maker (Father). Nor was this likeness manifest in the physical nature only. Every faculty of mind and soul reflected the Creator’s glory. Endowed with high mental and spiritual gifts, Adam and Eve were made but “little lower than the angels,” that they might not only discern the wonders of the visible universe, but comprehend moral responsibilities and obligations. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He has formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden.” Here, amidst the beautiful scenes of nature untouched by sin, our first parents were to receive their education. In His interest for His children, our heavenly Father personally directed their education. Often they were visited by His messengers, the holy angels, and from them received counsel and instruction. Often as they walked in the garden in the cool of the day they heard the voice of God, and face to face held communion with the Eternal. His thoughts toward them were “thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” His every purpose was their highest good.
Adam and Eve committed the care of the garden, “to dress it and to keep it.” Though rich in all that the Owner of the universe could supply, they were not to be idle. Useful occupation was appointed as a blessing, to strengthen the body, to expand the mind, and to develop character. The book of nature, which spread its living lessons before them, afforded an exhaustless source of instruction and delight. On every shining star, in earth and sea and sky, God’s name (character) was written. With both the animate and the inanimate creation,-with leaf and flower and tree, and with every living creature, from the leviathan of the waters to the mote in the sunbeam,-the dwellers in Eden held converse, gathering form each the secrets of its life. God’s glory in the heavens, the innumerable worlds in their orderly revolutions, “the balances of the clouds,” the mysteries of light and sound, of day and night,-all were objects of study by the pupils of earth’s first school. The laws and operations of nature, the great principles of truth that govern the spiritual universe, were opened to their minds by the infinite Author (the Father) of all.” their mental and spiritual powers developed, and they realized the highest pleasures of their holy existence. As it came from the Creator’s hand, not only the garden of Eden but the whole earth was exceedingly beautiful. No taint of sin, or shadow of death, marred the fair creation. God’s glory “covered the heavens, stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Thus was the earth a fit emblem of study for those is “abundant in goodness and truth;” a fit
garden of Eden was a representation of what God desired the whole earth to become, and it was His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers, they should establish other homes and schools like the one He had given. Thus in course of time the whole earth might be occupied with homes and schools where the words and the works of God should be studied, and where the students should thus be fitted more and more fully to reflect, through-out endless ages, the light of the knowledge of His glory.
The knowledge of Evil!
“Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” Jeremiah 10:11
Though created innocent and holy, our first parents were not placed beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. God might have created them without the power to transgress His requirements; but in that case there could have been no developments of character; their service would not have been voluntary, but forced. Therefore He gave them the power of choice-the power to yield or to withhold obedience. And before they could receive in fullness the blessings He desired to impart, their love and loyalty must be tested. In the garden of Eden was the “tree of knowledge of good and evil….And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, " Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.” It was the will of God that Adam and Eve should not know evil. The knowledge of good had been freely given them; but the knowledge of evil,-of sin and its results, of wearing toil, of anxious care, of disappointment and grief, of pain and death,-this was in love withheld.
While God was seeking man’s good, Satan was seeking his ruin. When Eve disregarding the Lord’s admonition concerning the forbidden tree, ventured to approach it, she came in contact with her foe. Her interest and curiosity having been awakened, Satan proceeded to deny God’s word, and to insinuate distrust of His wisdom and goodness. To the woman’ statement concerning the tree of knowledge, “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die,” the tempter made answer, “Ye shall not surely die;” for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Satan desired to make it appear that this knowledge of good mingled with evil would be a blessing, and that in forbidding them of the fruit of the tree, God was withholding great good. He urged that it was because of its wonderful properties for imparting wisdom and power that God had forbidden them to taste it; that He was thus seeking to prevent them from reaching a nobler development and finding greater happiness.
He declared that he himself had eaten of the forbidden fruit, and as a result had acquired the power of speech; and that if they also would eat of it, they would attain to a more exalted sphere of existence, and enter a broader field of knowledge. While Satan claimed to have received
great good by eating of the forbidden tree, he did not let it appear that by transgression he had become an outcast from heaven. Here was falsehood, so concealed under a covering of apparent truth that Eve, infatuated, flattered, beguiled, did not discern the deception. She coveted what God had forbidden; she distrusted His wisdom. She cast away faith, the key of knowledge. When Eve saw “that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took off the fruit thereof, and did eat.” It was grateful to the taste, and as she ate, she seemed to feel a vivifying power, and imagined herself entering upon a higher state of existence. Having herself transgressed, she became a tempter to her husband, “and he did eat.” “Your eyes shall be opened,” the enemy had said; “ye were indeed opened; but how sad the opening! The knowledge of evil, the curse of sin, was all that the transgressors gained.
There was nothing poisonous in the fruit itself, and the sin was not merely in yielding to appetite. It was distrust of God’s goodness, disbelief of His word, and rejection of His authority, that made our first parents transgressors, and that brought into the world a knowledge of evil. It was this that opened the door to every species of falsehood and. Man lost all because he chose to listen to the deceiver rather than to Him who is Truth, who alone has understanding. By the mingling of evil with good, his mind had become confused, his mental and spiritual powers benumbed. No longer could he appreciate the good that God had so freely bestowed. Adam and Eve had chosen the knowledge of evil; and if they ever regained the position they had lost, they had brought upon themselves. No longer were they to dwell in Eden; for in its perfection it could not teach them the lessons which it was now essential for them to learn. In unutterable sadness they bade farewell to their beautiful surroundings, and went forth to dwell upon the earth, where rested the curse of sin.
In drooping flowers and failing leaves Adam and his companion witness the first signs of decay. Vividly it was brought to their minds the stern fact that every living thing must die. Even the air, upon which their life depended, bore the seeds of death. Continually they were reminded also of their lost dominion. Among the lower creatures Adam had stood as king, and so long as he remained loyal to God, all nature acknowledged his rule; but when he transgressed, this dominion was forfeited. The spirit of rebellion, to which he himself had given entrance, extended throughout the animal creation. Thus not only the life of man, but the nature of the beasts, the trees of the forest, the grass of the field, the very air he breathed, all told the sad lesson of the knowledge of evil.
Conclusion
But man was not abandoned to the results of the evil he had chosen. In the sentence pronounced upon Satan was given an intimation of redemption. “I will put enmity between thee
And the woman,” God said, “and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This sentence, spoken in the hearing of our first parents, was to the thistle, of the toil and sorrow that must be their portion, or of the dust to which they must return, they listened to words that could not fail to give them hope. All that was lost by yielding to Satan could be regained through Christ. This intimation also repeats to us. Though marred by sin, it speaks not only of creation but of redemption. Though the earth bears testimony to the curse in the evident signs of decay, it is still rich and beautiful in the tokens of life-giving power. The trees cast off their leaves, only to be robe with fresher verdure; the flowers die, to spring forth in new beauty; and in every manifestation of creative power is held out the assurance that we may be created anew in ”righteousness and holiness of truth.” Thus the very objects and operations of nature that bring so vividly to mind our great loss become to us the messengers of hope. As far as evil extendeds, the voice of our Father is heard, bidding His children see in its results the nature of sin, warning them to forsake the evil, and inviting them to receive the good. ED p. 20-27
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