Thou shalt surely die

“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 of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

This is the passage that sets the tone for the whole of the Bible and our relationship with God. we discussed this issue earlier but it is vital to a proper understanding of the way God deals with us. This is the place where the Lord first offered Adam a choice. Even though it looks like a command it really is the first offer of choice. God created man in His own image so that we could have a relationship with God however God didn’t choose to force us to have that relationship, He gave us a choice, for the command ends with the option of consequences for those who eat. A proper understanding of this will lead us to a proper understanding of issues like predestination and belonging to the elect. God has predestined the method whereby people can enjoy all the goodness that He has to offers. He elects that those who choose to enjoy His love will indeed enjoy His love in abundance. However, He also maintains His perfect integrity and allows any person to get whatever the choose. If we choose to reject God’s love then we will surely die. There is the long slow process of physical death that begins in our bodies when we are born, and as we are all born in sin and shapen in iniquity (see Psalm 51: 5) we cannot escape that. However, when we choose to ignore God’s death we immediately experience spiritual death. God, however, is gracious and He takes His time in giving us the final consequence of eternal separation from His love so that we can have a chance to change our choice. Of course all this is only possible, in a legal sense, because God chose to send His Only Begotten Son to die for our sins.

If you would like to find out more about God's grace at the beginning you might like to visit http://www.lulu.com/content/799024 and buy a copy of my book “The Scarlet Thread”.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)