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He Grew the Tree He Knew Would be Used to Make the Old Rugged Cross — 43 Comments

  1. Thank you pastor,for this very important clarification
    and it really make perfect sense. now our job is to tell the world maybe someone will find it a little more compeling to accept the love of god for the whole world.

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  2. Exactly! Adam and Eve did not die in the day they ate the fruit because the gospel was introduced that same day, and they were spared the wages of sin. Only God knew of this plan to save sinners, which was revealed as soon as there was a need, yet it was planned long before...

    "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,..." 2 Tim 1:9

    What is more profound than the tree,(which had no choice) are the men who were nourished in their mother's wombs, given every breath and heartbeat, using these gifts to harbor jealousy and vengeance until they were able to direct others to murder the One "slain from the foundation of the world". God gave the sun and rain for their gardens and gave them safe sleep every night.

    "Let there be light" were the first words spoken in forgiveness to a world that would crucify it's Creator on that tree. Unlike Haman who was hung on the gallows he had formed for another, Jesus brought to life the world, the tree, the hill and the men who would put Him to death. Would the morning stars have sung together and the sons of God shouted for joy could they have seen the results for it's Creator? Yet He went forward with it's creation and called it "good!"(Yes, I believe it was pronounced with great exclamation) He accepted the singing and shouting of praise. He also has seen the final results and hears already the eternal praises that will flow from redeemed lips animated by the “joy of salvation”. (Rev 15:3,4)

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  3. Thanks William,

    Awesome picture and thoughts about the lover of our souls. It is incomprehensible how the God who created all of the power of the atom and sun out of nothing would die for the ones he created. Not only did he create the tree that he was crucified on but the men who drove the nails. He sustained their lives, breath and heartbeat to do the cruel and heartless task to another person. Our greatest sin is the indifference and cruelty that we show to one another. But while we were in this state of hating and being hated by each other God sent his son. He sent him because he knew that he was the only hope of rescue to those that Satan had in his grasp of fiendish pleasure. Rejoicing in the distruction that he could do to those created in the image of God. God could not sit by with suffering going on in His universe. We in turn should do all in our power to relieve every case of suffering as God's hands and feet in a world under the temporary rulership of the enemy.

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  4. Thank you Pastor , Thank you Father for using Pastor William to clarify your word to us more clearly , may You continue to Bless him in his walk with you 🙂 serving You and in the way you want him to serve ...
    Help us Lord Jesus to Live and Believe in You till You come again and utter the words “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34

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  5. It is my pleasure to share the gospel and I am glad hearts are opened to receive it. The biggest lie of the devil is not about which day the Sabbath is or what happens when you die. Satan's biggest lie is that God does not love you. God is love and has always loved us from the foundation of eternity. If you ever feel you are not loved, just tell Satan he is a big fat liar! You are loved!

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    • So true William! When I became a teenager, I didn't feel loved by my family. When I became a SDA, there were so many legalists in my world that didn't show love. It was the love of God that kept me going and the few loving SDA. Even now, I know God loves me but it is the loving SDA people and other loving people in my life that show me God's love in action and it is something I need. Thanks William!

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      • For a guy like me who did not grow up in an Adventist home, it was the love and kindness of Adventist missionaries that showed me the love of Jesus. I remember sitting in church in Sierra Leone one day after being out of school for a year. A Finnish missionary who came to preach in our church heard me read the scriptures and immediately called me outside where he offered to pay my school fees for the rest of my high school education. When I ran out of money in college and had to drop out again, Pastor Onjukka and his wife arranged for me to go to Sweden every summer to sell books and earn money for my tuition. On another occasion, I took a literature class in college without money to buy the text book. One day the teacher, April Dunnett, noticed that I did not have a book. She called me after class, gave the money and I bought the book. Needless to say I got an A in that class. However, it was those random acts of kindness by many Adventist teachers and other members I came in contact with while growing up in Africa that led me to accept the faith before I even understood its doctrines. Today it is very easy for us to condemn works, but acts of kindness might be a great way to reach people we may never reach in an evangelistic campaign or crusade. So let us remember that our mission field is wide and varied, and let us use the opportunity God brings to us every day to do random acts of kindness. After all our Lord did more healing than preaching and He is our example.

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        • Jacob,

          I love your story of the experiences in your life and thank you for sharing. I also have many good stories to tell. Our personal history is so variable and I believe there is a reason for why things happen in our lives.

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        • Thank you Jacob for sharing such a powerful testimony. I know that it was the Holy Spirit that impressed upon those individuals to assist you in providing for your needs. God gives each of us the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life. When we allow God to use us to help others in meeting their needs, we are blessed as well.

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  6. thank you jesus for pastor continue to bless him and his family.thank jesus for your word create in me a clean heart i may understand everything what i read

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  7. Pastor, I have to humbly disagree that God was specifically saying that they would die that day.

    I do agree that God can see the past and future and do what he will with it.
    I do believe Gods does not need excuses as he is perfect in every way.

    But that passage was left incomplete for a purpose. God was testing Adam and Eve to see if any rebellion was in their spirits. Not that he didn’t already know but for the other worlds and angels that were watching.

    We do not know if God told Adam and Eve about the deceiver but we believe at least He let them know of the danger. What we can deduce is that God did not tell Adam and Eve the ends and outs of the Great Controversy.

    When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, their eyes where opened. So at some point after eating the fruit, they understood completely what was going on.

    How can we deduce this?

    The test was centered on the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. That implies that they did not have this knowledge of good and evil to start with.

    What is good and evil? Good is obedience to the law of god and evil is disobedience to the law of God.

    So God purposely kept this knowledge from them.

    Now how much knowledge they had about the situation, I have to say I do not know as I don’t think many can say they do but it is clear God was telling an incomplete truth to Adam and Eve.

    I would not say a half truth because that would imply that he told a half lie and God does not lie.

    I believe God was making the test as simple and “easy” as possible by giving only as much information as was needed to see if they would disobey. Hence he told them the Instructions

    Genesis 2:17 God says, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:…

    Then gave the warning

    …for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

    God told Adam and Eve “What” they needed to know but he did not tell them the Why, When or Where.

    The article is about the “When” they would die.

    So which makes more sense, as it pertains to Christ sacrifice on the cross being sufficient for Adam and Eve.

    Die Immediately or Die Eventually?

    I agree that God means what he says because he is perfect and does not say anything in vain and does not need excuses to help him back out of his words. He meant that they would die.

    I also agree that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was the underlining principle at stake.

    I do not agree that God would tell Adam and Eve that they would die the same exact day they ate the fruit and then on the day they ate the fruit say but wait you actually don’t have to die today because Christ will die in your place later on. That would be saying that God lied to Adam and Eve the first time.

    If God said they would die that day, they would have died that day.

    So here is my Case for the Die Eventually argument:

    Case:

    If they had died that day, they would not have had children. If they would not have had children, then none of the generations leading up to Christ being born (a human man) would have happened.

    If Christ was never born, he would not have died on the cross. If Christ never died on the cross, Adam and Eve would be lost.

    However, if God meant that they would die eventually, they would have the time to conceive children and then everything would go as it did.

    Another thing to consider is the meaning what God was saying to Adam and Eve. He was basically saying in today’s language was that…. at the time (in the day not on the day) that you disobey you will be in under the penalty of sin which is death. That is how most people see this passage.

    The penalty of sin is death and that penalty applies to all of creation both here on earth and in the other worlds watching including the angels. Well Lucifer and his angels were already under the penalty of sin but they did not die immediately.

    Also the law does not say you will die twice just once. God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate the fruit.

    One assumption people make is that when God said this, that he had no intention to let humanity to continue to exist. God did not say he would destroy humanity, he simply said they would die.

    He just did not specify when for the purpose of not getting into the specifics of the great contraversy.

    Why wouldn’t God let humanity continue to exist? If you think about it, God has never destroyed a soul before. He is loath to do it because he loves all his creations including Lucifer. Only one time in all of eternity will God destroy souls and that is at the Judgement of the wicked.

    There are stakes in this war between God and Satan. Humanity is one of them. Satan wants to be God of this world and its people just as he wanted to rule over the other worlds.

    Adam and Eve did eventually die and the law does not specify that we have to die twice.

    Meaning, if Christ had sinned or had chosen not to die for our sins then there would be no reason for a judgment and a second coming because we have already been judged and found guilty of sin with death being the penalty.

    The only reason why there will be a second coming and judgment is because Christ died for our sins. If he had not, then God’s warning would still have held true as both Adam and Eve died. However, in this case they would just stay dead.

    God is not sadistic in that he would want to raise all who had died for the simple purpose of destroying them again.

    Genesis 2:17 God says, “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.”

    So the point is that I think the phrase “in the day” is being misinterpreted to mean “on the day” and that is not what God was saying to Adam and Eve. Just like in today’s language, we have different ways of saying things to mean things.

    I don’t think God was trying to be that specific in this passage and we have every reason to believe he purposely left the “When they would die” out of it.

    Sorry for the long comment, just wanting to give my opinion.

    God Bless
    Paul Roberson

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    • Paul, it's difficult to get past the words given to Adam in warning of the death he would experience "in the day you eat of it". This would take a lengthy presentation, and I will not address every point you make, but the short answer is that there was death that very day. In the sacrifice given that day, Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world. He had committed Himself to be the substitute for sinners, which His foreknowledge had revealed before the world began. The warning revealed the just sentence for transgression of God's commandment, but the stay of execution was mercy revealed the very day it was first needed. Adam and Eve, rather than being executed for their sin, were covered with garments of skin, forfeited by the sacrifice of the creatures that had lived in those skins, which died in place of the guilty pair, that very day. (This symbolized Jesus, who at that moment was covenanted to die. This sacrifice was HIS promise to save them and their posterity.) Without this substitute, they would have perished as promised. We only need to look at the experience of Abraham to understand this, as well as the law given through Moses concerning the execution of death upon those convicted of sin. Isaac was spared death through the substitute that God provided. This is the Gospel and it was given in Eden on the day they ate the forbidden fruit.

      Had Abraham spared the ram, perhaps thinking it would fetch a great price at a local auction, Isaac would have died that day. In the law given through Moses, execution was to follow immediately upon conviction of guilt. This is how God chooses to deal with sin, and without the intercession of Christ, it would have been executed "in the day" they ate of the tree, since they convicted themselves when God inquired about the reason for their hiding from Him.

      Though Adam and Eve, like everyone else, eventually died, it was not the death foretold, for Jesus said whoever believes in Him will "never die". This means "the death", and not the "sleep" of the first death. The death God threatened has no resurrection following, for it is eternal. They were spared that death because of the substitute which offered a probationary life. They only "sleep" now, waiting for the resurrection of the just soon to take place.

      Concerning the knowledge that tree would give them, it was due to the experience they would gain from knowing guilt, which God wished to spare them of. They gained this knowledge through their personal experience of transgression. Too late many learn to regret choices they have made due to the woe and sorrow sin brings in it's wake. The greater knowledge of good was their realizing that God's commandment was "holy, just and good", and would have been a refuge from suffering and could have spared the world the suffering of every generation since that day had they simply obeyed. So a greater knowledge of what is good comes through the contrasting experience of evil and it's woe.

      That is my understanding based on all God has revealed.

      One further thought: God would not have destroyed humanity. They would have destroyed themselves by choice. God was simply telling them the consequences of their choice, which is to forfeit life by rejecting the Life Giver.

      The fact that Satan still lives can lead us to uncertain conclusions if we don't understand the purposes of God in allowing what He has. But there is a greater and eternal purpose which will insure that affliction will never rise a second time. (ok, here's where I step out on a very small limb. Perhaps I should pose it as a question, since I don't really know...)

      Could it be that since free-will will never be removed, we now have the evidence that should another being choose to transgress, their instant punishment will be seen by all as just? I say this because the universe was pure that Lucifer lived in, so it could happen again. God is not removing the possibility, but has promised it won't "arise" again. It will not fully bloom and spread unchecked. There may never be another sinner forever, but if there is, no one will question God's justice after what we have experienced for 6,000 years. All will sing "just and true are Thy ways...!"

      Ok, this is just a thought, not a doctrine I would forward.

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    • Paul says we were crucified with Christ Gal 2:20, and 2 Cor 5:14 says if One died for all, then all died. We all, unbelievers and believers, died in Him.
      And that happened from the foundation of the world, which others have commented on this post. When Adam sinned, the promise was put into place, and the promise was as good as reality, but when Christ died, it became an official reality.

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    • Thank you brother Paul Roberson for the long but a very clear and decerning artical. I was scrolling downward the page to share my decerning view of the lesson here but you have touched on the points of my concerns. Thank you again and God continually richly bless you with the gift of the Holy Spirit to descern the truth.

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      • Please remember that while Ezekiel 18:4 says the soul that sins will die, that Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 that some people will go to heaven without ever seeing either the first or second death, just like Elijah and Enoch. The reason is the same reason why Adam and Eve did not drop dead the day they ate of the fruit. Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Elijah and Enoch did not have die to keep God from being a liar in Ezekiel 18:4 and Adam and Eve did not need to drop dead the same day they ate of the fruit to make God's word be true. Jesus' death counts as their death.

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  8. "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life". Romans 6:23. On that day Adam and Eve sinned they were under the penalty of sin, which is death, just like all of humanity is, since that day up until today. And because God said it, it stands like that unchanged, as God doesn't change!

    But God made a provision which provides for man's redemption from the wages of his sin, on the one hand, while equally maintaining the irrevocability of God,s law on the other which says "..you shall surely die".

    Now, definitely and clearly, the bible speaks about two deaths, the death of the body and the death of the soul, the physical and spiritual deaths, in Matthew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

    I believe Adam died or was subject to the penalty of sin that day he broke God's law in the sense that he lost access to immortality because he was denied access to the tree of life: And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." Gen. 3:22. On the other hand however, the bible is clear on being spiritually dead NOW even while we yet live if we live in sin: 1 Tim. 5:6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. So Adam could, and did die when he broke God's law.

    Christ's sacrifice provides for the spiritual death, not the physical. So even if we die physically, John 11:25 says"......Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.. ".

    So there's no ambiguity whatsoever in what God said! We die the day we sin. And we don't need to drop dead to prove it, just like we don't need to drop dead when we die to sin according to 1 Peter 2:24. Adam died in the sense that he fell under the wages of sin which is death, but because God made a provision for him he had access to eternal life by faith.

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  9. from the moment they eat death step in (or begin to die)and after the judgment is the final death.God is not a man He cannot lie

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    • Exactly right Lennox, and we remember too, that Paul says we are crucified with Christ in Galatians 2:20 and also our old man is crucified with Him in Romans 6:3-6, so when the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, so was Adam and Eve and the rest of us who were crucified with Christ. Romans 5:12 tells us we all sinned when Adam sinned, and Galatians 2:20 tells us we all died (Adam and Eve included) When Christ died.

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  10. God in real sense is a God of Love, not only love but mercy that's why he had pity on Adam and Eve,other people think God would throw Adam and Eve away from the Garden of Eden, however let's put ourselves in the shoes of Adam and Eve how much would we thank God fro sparing our lives.

    The salvation God gave us through Jesus Christ is just enough for us to acknowledge him as a Supreme Creator and Saviour.
    I wish the world receive him in their lives.

    Jesus' upper hands are there looking for you, can't just say I have turned from my old ways of living and accept that free salvation.

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  11. Exactly right thank you. The provision was made that day.

    In Jude 1:9 Satan protests Michael (Christ) from resurrecting Moses, since the wages of sin was death and those wages have not been paid. Michael pointed to Himself as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and took Moses to heaven. As far as God was concerned it had all been paid for from the foundation of the world. In other words, Jesus told Satan, "I am taking Moses to heaven now. Put it on my credit card I will pay for it later." -Except God does not believe in credit cards but that's a whole other story.

    I don't believe that Genesis 2:17 is incomplete. God means what He says. He says adultery is to be punished with death, yet He told the woman who had been dragged to Him, caught in the act, "Neither do I condemn you." Had God changed His mind? Had the law changed from Old Testament to new? No. Jesus was going to die instead. Sabbath breaking is also punishable by death but we do not die when we break the Sabbath because, as is brought out in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, we owe even this life to the cross. The reason the woman taken in adultery was not killed that day is the same reason Adam and Eve did not drop dead the day they ate of the fruit - Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

    In Lamentations 3:19-23 Jeremiah realizes that while our sins should have already consumed us by now, it is by God's mercy (the cross) that we are not consumed yet.

    Even though Adam and Eve did die later on, they never did or will die the second and final death. (See also http://williamdearnhardt.com/2010/12/13/the-god-forsaken-god/) Jesus did not save Adam and Eve from the fist death. They die that death themselves. The day they ate of the fruit, Jesus saved them from dropping dead that day and experiencing the 2nd final death, by having already become the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

    Thanks to everyone for contributing to this rich discussion as we go deeper and deeper into the cross and what Christ accomplished for the whole world. This will be our theme through all eternity and we will be constantly learning together, more about His love and sacrifice. I pray that this love not only touches our hearts, but also changes our lives.

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    • Amen. I agree our penalty was paid from the foundation of the world. ...imagine if we were to drop dead each time we sin....There wouldn't be a single soul left alive. But thanks be to God for blood of the Lamb that was slain from before the foumda of the world ...that forever intercedes for you and me. ...

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    • Concerning the woman taken in adultery: it has become my understanding that Jesus could not condemn her and keep God's law at the same time. He was not a material witness and only the husband could bring her to the law WITH the one she was in adultery with. Her accusers bypassed the law in order to trap Jesus, but Jesus scattered her unlawful accusers in a discreet manner only they could discern and did not pass condemnation on her Himself because He fulfilled the law perfectly in all cases. The result was her confession, repentance and complete conversion. She became one of Jesus' closest followers from that day forward. Once I understood this I saw a most wonderful example of the Gospel in this touching story. Jesus was even kind to her guilty accusers. What manner of Love!

      And yes William, Jesus was going to pay that penalty for her and her accusers, and she came to understand that. We can hope her accusers did also. I know Jesus prayed they would.

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  12. What mattered most was for my salvation. the tree could not impact negatively on the plan of salvation. I am saved at last because of what my Jesus wanted to accomplish using the same tree that He had instructed to sprout out of His soil during creation

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  13. God is always complete and perfect within and without the External forces...He causes things to happen,by speaking the world was created and so the living things in it...the list is endless but when you are bound by God`s love He will truly give us the inner eye and the inner ear to listen to His founded word.

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  14. Thank Jesus for His all-encompassing love! He died so I might live! May this love from above so fill my soul that I may respond in loving Him and serving Him all my life! Only in this wise can I show my appreciation for His death on that old rugged cross! God bless you all!

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  15. As I was reading these comments, I thought about Romans 5:18, We received condemnation or the second death or good bye to life forever, from Adam, and thru Christ, eternal life. The promise of redemption was given in the garden when God sought out Adam after He sinned. In Gen. 3:15, God promised that Jesus would come and break the dominion of Satan.

    William, I thought this was an interesting concept, "Just like I can cut and paste, as I am writing this post on Microsoft Word, God can cut and paste through time and eternity and put the cross at the foundation of the world."

    And the good news of the Gospel is what you pointed out, how God has stamped His love of redemption in everyone's bread and water.

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  16. Your article brings me back to my favorite text, as you know. God says: Oh William, Jane, Lennox, Robert, Gary, Lillian, Elizabeth, Emmanuel, I have created you, I formed you a Seventh-day-Adventist. (Now if you were not originally a Seventh-day-Adventist, you may substitute the word adopted for created) Fear not, I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1,2.

    I am putting another promise to memory it is Isaiah 55:10,11. It talks about the power in Gods word, power enough to overcome timidity, and sow the seed, and water the seed. You may be surprised years later, or even have to wait till heaven to discover the seeds you sowed and watered have roots growing under ground that just hadn't surfaced while your were yet around. So as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10,11.

    The power promised over timidity is found in 2 Timothy 1:7 For; there's that word that some authors find important. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline. Paul is talking to Timothy and all of us for that matter. You will remember that Jeremiah needed God to tell him, set aside your timidity. Jeremiah 1:7, we must tie in verses 3 and 4 of Isaiah 43.

    Some how I do believe that water and fire is the reason we sometimes get timid doing Gods bidding. The water and fire may be listening to the wrong voice in your ear that says, multiple words and phrases of discouragement. Dwell on the promise that God's word given out in what ever media will not return void, in fact it will accomplish it's purpose. God will take you through the waters safely, and through the fire without being burnt. That does not mean you won't have trials, and jeering speaking to your atheist friend in science class.

    Now, lets assume you are going to science class that has no assigned seating. The next day you may be sitting beside a Christian theist, what a blessing we both believe in one God, God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, we both believe in a literal day creation, and we both believe in redemption as implied in Hebrews 7:25.

    Jesus saves those who turn to Him, even unto the uttermost.
    Happy Sabbath

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  17. Let the lord be praise. He is good and his great mercy is everlasting. We are special in every way, not because we want to be, but because God's has made us to be his people.
    Lord Forgive our sins.
    Thank you Lord for you Blood.

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  18. Thanks for pointing out that redemption preceded creation in God’s purpose (Ephesians 1:3-6). This enjoins us to center our SS lesson study this quarter on the Cross even with the creation theme. Also appreciate the orientation of salvation in God’s being as the Eternal Now as an explanation for suspending the death sentence of Adam and Eve. Allow me to add Genesis 3:15 as an explicit textual reason. God promised that the Seed of the woman will come. That Seed who is Christ (Galatians 3:19) would have not been born generations later to redeem us (Galatians 4:4-5) if Adam and Eve died in Eden.

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  19. Thank you Pastor for your wonderful and enlightening comments.
    I agree with all you have said regarding Christ being "slain from the foundation of the world" and I suspect that had God allowed Adam and Eve to die that very day, not only would it have stopped His birth, death, and resurrection, the watching worlds and angels would not have seen satan's destructive plans carried out. Humanity has had to live out the wages of sin, making futile but multiple attempts to 'save themselves', and in every way manifest the depth of depravity of satan's government/influence/plan, in order for ALL to see the contrasts of good and evil.
    Without this scene I believe other worlds and angels might still 'wonder'. Now they KNOW. God is good and just and right.

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  20. A qoute from the SDA Bible commentary vol 1 page 225 " ...some have thought that the wording of the penalty required its execution upon the very day when the command was transgressed. they see a serious discrepancy between the announcement and its fulfillment. However the divine pronouncement , In the day thou eatest therefore thou shalt die, literally , dying thou shalt die, means that upon the day of transgression sentence would be pronounced. Man would pass from the status of conditional immortality to that of unconditional mortality ..... "

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  21. Thanks Bothwell, At first I thought this was a quote from the Spirit of prophecy, but I see that it is not. However, even though it is not inspired, it is clear that the wages of sin is death, and Satan's lie, "You shall not surely die" was more than just a lie regarding spiritualism. His lie also alluded to the myth that we can continue transgressing the law of God and live. While God is forgiving, sin still collects its wages and there are still consequences. Thank you for sharing this.

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  22. I have since found this quote, which is inspired,from Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 60.

    "The warning given to our first parents--"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17)--did not imply that they were to die on the very day when they partook of the forbidden fruit. But on that day the irrevocable sentence would be pronounced. Immortality was promised them on condition of obedience; by transgression they would forfeit eternal life. That very day they would be doomed to death.
    In order to possess an endless existence, man must continue to partake of the tree of life. Deprived of this, his vitality would gradually diminish until life should become extinct."

    In light of this, would it be safe to say that the reason God did not imply that they would die that day, is because He already knew Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? To me that would make all the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly as far as Revelation 13:8 talking about Jesus being the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and the quote from Desire of Ages, page 660 saying that it is even this life that we owe to the cross, as well as the other scriptures about salvation and the foundation of the world.

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    • Adam and Eve DID DIE on that very day through a SUBSTITUTE (Genesis 3:21). The gospel of Christ's vicarious life and death was not only announced in Genesis 3:15. It was also prefigured by a slain perfect animal sacrifice pointing to the perfect righteousness and infinite sacrificial death of our Lord. This provides the REDEMPTIVE FOCUS of our SS lesson this week on the FALL.

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  23. it's the first time that i am participating, but i think that the bible doesn't explain well, What is the fruit prohibited.
    I think that the fruit prohibited of the tree of good or bad is the flesh, because i think it is the origin of the sin.
    if i have error about my write tell me please.
    I would like to participate little by little

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    • Diogenes, I would agree that the test with the fruit only revealed the true sin: departing from God by following the flesh(self) and not the Word of God, which is the result of unbelief; the real sin. This is enlarged in Romans 8 and it is the desires of the flesh (sinful nature) that leads to departing from the Lord (Jer 17:5). But Eve had no sinful nature.

      Eve was led to place her curious desires before the commandment of God, while knowing that God made all things and gave them this perfect world as a home with the right to every other tree including the Tree of Life. All this was traded for one little indulgence of desire once Satan was allowed to make it seem worthy of desiring by encouraging pride, which leads to coveting. (We all know from personal experience how good he is at doing that.)

      Satan knows all to well the power of that formula that led him to sin, and has learned how best to draw others into it's inevitable fulfilling except as we obey God's simple instructions through faith. God alone is our refuge from folly, as we trust and obey Him. The gospel of Christ proves God is worthy of our complete trust.

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  24. This becomes a bit complicated though we know that whatever is hidden belongs God. Up to now I was and I am still more inclined to side with Paul Robertson's point of view. In simple terms God was saying "the day you eat the fruit is the day death worm will enter your body and your literal body will have a limited time on earth until salvation comes with Jesus." I stand to be corrected. "In the day you shall eat" The day is related with the eating not the death in this sense and death becomes a consequense of eating.

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  25. Godfrey, either way, lets not get so hung up on words that we fail to see that regardless of the wording in Genesis 2:17, Revelation 13:8 tells us Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He grew the tree He knew would be used to make the old rugged cross. Also, either way, Desire of Ages page 660 tells us we owe this life to the cross. So regardless of the wording, Revelation 13:8 and Desire of Ages 660 as well as Titus 1:2, Matthew 35:34, and Ephesians 1:4 all tell us we are preserved today because of the cross. It doesn't have to be complicated. Just look at the cross and live.

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