Chapter 14: The Gift of Jesus

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It is certainly easy to understand that in the beginning there was a

creation and that both man and woman dealt directly with God. This is Phase 1 and it constituted a simple and direct relationship between God and man. For visual graphics and writing ease, I have used the term “man” but this should be understood to also cover woman. Can you imagine how

simple and wonderful communications were between God and man? It is also clear that there were no intermediaries involved. This was God’s plan and design. It was going to be Heaven on earth and everything was simple to grasp. At the time, mankind did not know that it was naked and neither

did it have knowledge of the evil side of life; the things that God hates!

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31 KJV

When Eve and Adam committed sin against God, the picture for mankind took an immediate and permanent alteration for the worse. Instead of God’s primary influence and direct dialogue, man was now confronted

with both good and evil thoughts on a regular basis. Mankind’s spiritual influence picture took on a new third level with Satan. In the process, God withdrew His presence in anger and the earth became a place of human toil. Where once mankind had no idea it was naked, it now felt shame over the

idea of bare flesh. We literally went from a paradise into a land of toil.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:17

Did mankind “die” on the day that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? The answer is yes they did, despite various

resurrection theories that take a different position. The death that occurred was an immediate spiritual death. God, in some large degree, stepped away from the direct fellowship that He originally planned for man.

When Christ cried out on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” — It was because Jesus Christ also had to first endure and