The Fourfold Mission Of Prophecy

The Fourfold Mission of Prophecy

Soon after the Fall, men became interested in the future. The same questions are usually asked of prophets, true and false over the centuries. Will I be rich? Will I defeat my enemies? Who will I marry and how many kids will we have? When and how will I die and then what happens? What does God want from my life? When will the world end? As a kid, I can remember the Ouija board telling me that I would marry a blonde, French girl and have four children. I married a brunette, German-Irish gal and had two children. Many so-called prophets do as well as that occultic board.

We aren’t told how long Adam and Eve retained their innocence and walked with God in the cool of the day. It is reasonable to say that they had little interest in the past beyond Creation. I am sure that they understood God’s no beginning and no end better than their fallen descendents with dead spirits and darkened understanding. Even if they did not fully understand they just believed God and went on, as young children would do. They did not yet have doubts or fears.

As to the future, before the Fall they most likely did not concern themselves with that since they would have assumed that tomorrow would be like today. They had no reason to think otherwise. Every day was another day in Paradise. Why would tomorrow be different? After all, it was the same God, same Garden, same people what could change? Sadly, their trust and innocence is what changed.

What a rude awakening it must have been the precise moment Adam ate of the forbidden fruit. Nothing seemed to have changed when Eve ate because she was covered by the innocence of her husband and his headship. Once the head fell, instantly they sensed the change. Fear and guilt were things they never knew before. Nakedness was not a concept before but now they sensed a difference.

Some believe that it was not their physical nakedness that was the problem. They had lost the aura of innocence and the protective hedge of God that had indeed clothed them and they could only relate it to the physical in an effort to explain to themselves what happened. They had never felt vulnerable before. Their sin was naked before God and it translated to the physical since spiritual actions have physical reactions. They were naked spiritually and their already sin tainted minds and dead spirits could only understand the physical until God revealed Himself and the truth to them. They had been lied to and now they would lie to God and themselves.

While the serpent definitely played with Eve’s mind, she had beguiled herself before he even started talking. Somewhere along the line she added to what God had said about the fruit. He said to not eat it. She added do not touch it. The serpent would have had a harder time getting her to eat it has she not added that part. She may have said to herself that the best way to not eat it is to not touch it and that can be a very prudent approach. However, somewhere later in her thinking she attributed her thoughts to God and that is where she got into trouble. A lot of people, especially theologians suffer from the same problem.

All the serpent did was get her to doubt her own beliefs. She was already self-deceived. Since she did not have the full truth of God’s Word to protect her she was vulnerable. Half-truths always equal a lie and she already believed a lie. Had God challenged her on the issue it would have been to get her to seek the truth. The serpent challenged her because he knew he only had to get her to doubt her perceived truth to destroy her. God had given her pure water but she had added the poison. It was just a little slower acting than cyanide.

Once she tested her false belief and saw the lie she thought was truth fail it was a short step to doubt and test the truth as well. She could have run to Adam or to God for strength and to clarify what the serpent said but the bait was strong to one who did not believe the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

We are not 100% certain where Adam was during final discussion or during the ones previous for I don’t think one conversation would have caused Eve to doubt. It was most likely a constant baiting her that caused the seed of doubt to bloom. Maybe Adam liked running with the dogs and didn’t mind her hanging out with the serpent. Maybe he was near by listening and evaluating. We don’t know. Whatever the case he failed to check in with God or correct Eve’s understanding. He may have done the same thing by adding to God’s Word.