try to do the right thing but want our own way at the same time. The fact is that we will always be creatures, and God, our Creator, will always be the One who has a claim on our lives. We are not our own. These words may conjure up feelings of distaste and you may protest that you have the freedom to do as you wish.
Eve, in the Garden of Eden, was deceived by the devil in the form of a serpent. Here is how we know that the
serpent was actually the devil. The Bible always gives the clue within itself.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. Revelation 12:9. (The complete story is very interesting!)
Eve took of the fruit of the tree and crossed the boundary God had set. Immediately she, and Adam, who had joined her in this disobedience, felt fear. They hid. Their innocence was gone, and they soon began to blame one another, to blame the serpent, to blame God to His face, and it was only a short time until the first murder. We can recognise all the elements of this scenario, because we are not very different today. We feel fear and guilt, we pass on blame, and good people, like Abel who was murdered, often make us feel uncomfortable.
Did they know it was sin to break God’s laws?
God explained it in these words
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? Gen. 4:7
In the Bible, to do well or do right means keeping the commandments of God. The Bible word for this right doing is ‘righteousness’. This is what is acceptable with God. This is what brings benefits and blessings and peace into our lives. Even today we know that the opposite, doing wrong, means disobedience or breaking a rule or a law. There is always a choice to make, though. Will we do it our own way, or will we live within the boundaries that God has set for us? Instinctively we want to do things our own way, and this is why we have all the insoluble problems of the world and the misery that is not far below the surface.
On the other hand God calls His way ‘the royal law’ or ‘the law of liberty.’ If we live within His boundaries, we find joy and bring God pleasure in our fellowship with Him.
With this background knowledge we will look at some of the earliest people mentioned in the Bible. Did they know about the Sabbath? This was the pattern of life given to mankind by God – six days of work followed by the seventh day Sabbath.