OUT OF MUCH TRIBULATION
The Creation of Evil
When Adam chose to eat of the tree of death, he lived to regret it. He knew and understood the commandment of God - and as he "was not deceived" (says Paul, 1 Tim. 2:14), he sinned "wilfully," or by choice (Heb. 10:26) and so experienced "a certain fearful looking for of judgement." Hence his confession (Gen. 3:10), "I was afraid."
It was an open and shut case. Adam could have been dissolved back into the dust of the ground there and then on the spot - but such was not the way of the Almighty Creator. Instead, He addressed Adam saying, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake..." (Gen. 3:17). The very ground of which he himself was composed, would henceforth bring forth trouble - "in sorrow (Heb. worrisomeness and pain, Strong) shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life."
So, even though Adam had fallen, he was to be permitted a lifetime - "days of thy life." It would be a lifetime of worry, of pain and of sorrow - and it would all come "for thy sake!" The idea surely is that it was all for his ultimate good. That through the sorrow and labor, he would at last be saved. This is perhaps hard to understand - God says, "I form the light and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things" (Isa, 45:7). The cursing of the ground in Genesis 3 is an illustration of this creation of evil for the sake of mankind.
The very first sorrow to be experienced was doubtless the trauma that would have been felt as an innocent lamb was put to death so that they might be clothed with its skin. Amongst other things, this impressed upon their minds the necessity of having to put to death the flesh - of having to "mortify" the desires that had already resulted in their shame, nakedness and fear.
The Bible Magazine Vol. 15, Issue No 1.
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