Question:  Did God tell Adam & Eve NOT to eat apples?

(Answer at the end.)

REVIEW of Lessons 1 & 2

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  (Genesis 1:1)  He made  the Garden of Eden on earth to be the home for people whom God made in His own image! (Genesis 2:7)

“THE BOOK OF BEGINNING” on the BEGINNING OF SIN

Yahweh God made people in His image.  So why aren’t we humans perfect like God?  God called His creation “very good”, so why are there some very bad people?    Why do all people, including you and me, do bad things sometimes?  Did God make bad people, too?   What happened?

SIN happened.  Sin is when we disobey God.    When you disobey your parents, it is sin.  Adam and Eve disobeyed their heavenly Father God.  Sin and death and sickness entered the earth through that sin.   God’s perfect creation was spoiled and continues to be spoiled by the sin of people!   So sad!

KEY VERSE

ROMANS 5:12  “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”  (ESV)

That verse sums up the story of the FALL OF MAN.    That verse simply says:

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”  (NLT)

ONE WAY OUT 

God told Adam that he could eat from every tree in the Garden EXCEPT one. (Genesis 2:16-17)

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  (Genesis 2:17)

Why would Adam and Eve eat from that ONE tree – the ONE tree from which God had said NOT to eat?

Did you ever eat something your mother told you NOT to eat?

Well, one day long ago in the Garden of Eden, the devil came along in the form of a serpent and tricked Eve into thinking that she should eat from the tree that God had said NOT to eat.  The devil told her that she could be like God if she ate from this “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”.  That was the devil’s lie.  The fruit looked good and the devil said it was good for them and would make them wise as God!   Wow!  That sounded great!  But it was a lie.  Eve believed the lie.  And Adam was right there too, eating forbidden fruit and disobeying God.  

The devil with his sneaky words had made Adam and Eve distrust God.  Was God holding back something good from them?  Did God really love them to keep this fruit from them?

Did you ever think that your parents didn’t love you because they said “No!” to something you wanted?   

God really wanted what is best for Adam & Eve.   

But Adam and Eve believed the lie of the devil and they ate that forbidden fruit.  Uh-oh.   Immediately, they felt a separation from God.  They knew they had done wrong.  They had sinned.  Now they had knowledge of evil and it was awful.  They felt guilty!   They didn’t want to look God in the face and so they hid from Him!

Did you ever do something you were told not to do and then felt guilty about it? Maybe you felt so guilty that you couldn’t look your parent in the eyes!

THE BLAME GAME

Now God knew that Adam and Eve had sinned and He knew right where they were.  He asked them if they had eaten from the forbidden tree.   Adam blamed Eve.  Eve blamed the serpent.   But really they all were guilty.

Did you ever blame someone else for something you had done?  Maybe someone else talked you into doing something wrong but really you made your own choice to disobey.

So Adam and Eve were no longer sinless.  They were no longer fit to live in the perfect paradise of Eden where they had been able to walk and talk with a perfect God every perfectly glorious day!   God had them leave Eden.

Did your parents ever send you to your room or put you in “time-out” when you misbehaved?   

Distrusting God and believing the devil, eating from that ONE tree, disobeying God in that ONE thing, was the ONE WAY OUT from the Presence of God and the Garden of Eden.   How could they ever get back to such a perfect place and again enjoy the Presence of a wonderful, loving God?  

God had a plan!

THE GOOD NEWS

Just as there was only ONE WAY OUT of the Garden of Eden where God met with Adam and Eve to walk and talk together, there is ONLY ONE WAY BACK to where God will meet with us!   Do you want to live and be with God forever?   Well, God really loves you and He really wants you to be with Him!    That’s very GOOD NEWS!  He has made the way back to Him, a way out of your “time-out” punishment.

Did your parents keep you in “time-out” forever?  No, they love you!    They wanted you to come back down into the family room and talk and play and laugh together again!  

God wants us to come back to Him and talk and be with Him, too, in wonderful fellowship together.  

But did you have to tell your mother that you were sorry before you could come back into the family fun and fellowship?  Of course!

We should also then turn back to God to tell Him we’re sorry for our sins and disobedience.  He will forgive us because He love us.  He forgave Adam and Eve and He forgives us.   

Throughout the Bible, throughout the history of mankind, people have sinned.  But God forgives all through Jesus Christ.   He loves us so much that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the punishment for all our sins – sins from the past and sins we will do in the future.   We don’t have to stay in “time-out” punishment away from God!    We don’t have to be away from Yahweh God, if we come back to Him truly sorry, believing that “YAH saves” us from the eternal “time-out” punishment.  After all, Yahshua already did that “time-out” punishment for us when He died on the cross!    

Now, instead of believing the devil’s lies, we need to trust God and believe God’s TRUTH!  The TRUTH is that He loves us and has made the ONE WAY back to HImself.   YAH IS the ONE WAY BACK to Himself, through “YAH saves”, the very meaning of the name Jesus!   

“All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”  Acts 10:43

“For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.”  Psalm 86:5

So let us ask call on YAH who saves!  He will  help us by His Spirit to be obedient.  He will forgive us our sins.  He will save us from eternal “time-out” punishment  and restore us back to glorious fellowship with Him!  Why?  Because God is love!

ANSWER to QUESTION at TOP:  God told Adam & Eve NOT to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  (Genesis 2:17)    This was one specific tree in the Garden of Eden.  We don’t know exactly which kind of fruit grew on that tree.  So we don’t know if it was a juicy apple or not.  But often artists have pictured this tree as an apple tree.    After all, they have to pick some fruit to represent that forbidden fruit.   But be assured that God never said for us not to eat apples!   Actually, apples are very healthful for us.   So the proverb says:

“An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!”