Genesis 3: 24 Commentary

A Voyage of Discovery

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
(Pro.3: 5).

Our Lord spoke of Two Foundations

1)….“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”

2)… “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell —And great was the fall.”
(Matt.7:24-27)

Our Lord also spoke of Two Ways:

1)… “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

2)… For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
(Matt.7:13-14).

Two Foundations:

The first foundation is founded on the kingdom of God with our Father of Light as its Master. Entry into this kingdom is based solely on doing the Father’s Will, and this involves total dependence on His agent the Holy Spirit for everything, since originally man was totally innocent and this was the only knowledge he had; to do His Will in everything.

The second foundation is founded on the kingdom of Satan with our father of darkness as its master. Entry into this kingdom is based solely on doing Satan’s will, and this involves total dependence on his agent our own will/ understanding or initiative to do all things. This new knowledge, the ability to use his own understanding/will or initiative that man had acquired from Satan in the Garden of Eden was more appealing to him than the former, the Holy Spirit, so he replaced it in his intellect as Satan’s forked tongued agent. Man had freely rejected God and Light and chosen Satan and darkness as his master.

Thus both kingdoms are summed up in the Proverb; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding”.
(Pro.3: 5).

So we now have two kingdoms founded on two vastly different masters, God and Satan, both plying for our soul. But we are told that no man can serve two masters. So we are left with the choice; we can either put our trust entirely in God’s agent the “Holy Spirit” and serve Him and shut Satan’s agent “our own understanding/imitative or will” out completely, or we can trust entirely in Satan’s deceptive agent “our own understanding/initiative or will” and shut God’s agent “the Holy Spirit” out completely. We cannot serve both.

Two Ways.

The first of these Ways leads to the kingdom of God. It has a small gate and a narrow path which only a few are able to follow through the delusion of (cherubim) darkness surrounding them to enter.

The second of these ways leads to the kingdom of Satan. It has a wide gate and broad path through which the many enter groping in the delusion of (cherubim) darkness that surrounds them..

Now we have two vastly different kingdoms, two vastly different masters and two vastly different ways. Plain common sense tells us that the teaching coming out of each one is bound to be vastly different; one being the truth and the other a lie.

As we know there can only be One Truth and we also know who that spirit of Truth is. God’s agent; the Holy Spirit.

All else is the spirit of a liar and we also know who that liar is, Satan’s agent; our own understanding/will or initiative.

We have to be honest with ourselves here and ask! Based on these findings, which of the two ways is the supposedly believing world following? Is it the narrow way of complete trust in the Holy Spirit with a total disregard to what their own understanding is telling them, or is it the more natural and appealing way of trust in their own understanding/will/initiative through a deep study of the Scriptures and following what it is telling them?

Bible colleges are spiritually speaking illegal, have become big, business and are opening up at virtually every street corner. Colleges are expensive, they involve hard work in deep study and deep study involves the human intellect. This proves that man puts greater trust in his own will/initiative or understanding for an interpretation of the Bible than he does in the Holy Spirit. But by following this path which he most sincerely believe to be the right way regardless of God’s warning to the contrary (Pro.14:12 & 16:25) he is ending up not serving God, as he believe he is doing, but Satan and doing Satan’s will. This goes to prove that all Christianity (the many) with its vast array of denominations, sects and cults is under an influence of delusion that the Lord has placed over the world (cherubim) and is believing the lie and as a result is serving Satan.

The few who have insight (Dan.12:10) will be able to see Satan’s trap through that influence of delusion (cherubim) and avoid it.

Who then are the insightful? They are the few who obey the commandment (Gen.3:24) & (Dan.12:4)that the Book is closed and learn to do God’s Will and rely completely on the Holy Spirit and stop challenging Him by using their own will/understanding or initiative to study His Word and try to take from it in defiance. Man must learn that all things belong to God and that He gives freely from His abundance to them who ask but it is sheer arrogance on the part of man to think that he can take anything out of or away from God, which is what he is trying to do. Those who try are the many and the wicked who continue in their wicked ways and remain under that influence of delusion believing the lie that they are serving God whilst rejecting the truth.

Here we have the two masters; the spirit of truth, God’s agent, the Holy Spirit and the spirit of lies, Satan’s agent, our own/will/understanding or initiative.

Take for an example Our Lord’s rebuke to the Pharisees and scribes with the strong word, hypocrites. He does not say commandments (plural) but draws their attention to a specific commandment by quoting Isa.29:11). What He is saying there is; they are following the traditions of man, introduced by Adam, that of using their own will/understanding or initiative studying the Scriptures in search of the truth whilst disobeying the commandment of God which very plainly says that the Book they are using for their study is both closed and sealed.

He was accusing them of using their own initiative/will or understanding of the Scriptures through study (traditions of men) and teaching what it was telling them (precepts of men) as doctrine (truth). This was a lie coming from a liar, Satan, trying to read a closed Book and not from the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit.

So what are the words, the commandment, which our Lord drew the Scribes and Pharisees attention to?

We receive the commandment in both Gen.3:24 and Dan.12:4. Gen. 3:24 tells us that God cast the man out of the Garden of Eden into the darkness of Satan’s world and withdrew His Spirit. But knowing that the heart of man was evil and could not be trusted and that he would try to use the new powerful knowledge he’d acquired from Satan, his own understanding/freewill or initiative, and try to take from the tree of life, therefore He stationed (cherubim or deluding influence) at the entrance to guard it. And again very plainly in Dan.12:4 we are reminded that the Book or Way to Life is Closed and Sealed beyond man’s limited ability to open or take from it.

Therefore for all intents and purposes THE BOOK IS CLOSED and SEALED and the insightful true believer must accept that it has been placed beyond his reach. But the wicked will persist in their wicked ways using their own initiative/will or understanding and will continue trying to open it as they are doing to this present day and will be finally judged.(Matt.7:2-23).

By Roy Monis (wrote 3 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/19/2011 17:57 pm

Variations on a Theme:
Gen 3:20-24
The musical story of Peter and the Wolf is a good learning tool for children. It not only introduces them to the sound of some instruments, but also demonstrates how music can tell a story. The story begins light with Peter represented by string instruments, but soon it becomes dramatic when the wolf, sounded by horns, comes on the scene. Now imagine Scripture being set to music. (I have heard of people singing verses in Hebrew.) In the beginning we heard the majestic sounds of creation. But then in chapter three the music becomes moody as sin enters the score. The rest of the Bible will be the interplay between sin and redemption. We have already read the first prophesy in verse 15, and now we have the first sacrifice in verse 21. Sacrifice is a variation on the Messianic theme. Note that the fig leaves that the couple used were not good enough. God had to provide an animal sacrifice because only blood can cover sin.
Finally, man is cast out of paradise. It seems that there was the possibility of Adam both being immortal and knowing good and evil. Perhaps it would have been a fate worse than death. Cherubims are set in place to guard the garden. They are a type of angel, and I assume that they were visible to Adam. However, beings from the spirit realm are usually invisible. I admit I’m confused on that point. But I do like the mention of the flaming sword. It’s a light saber!

By Terik Q (wrote 65 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 3/6/2009 20:54 pm