The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
We have written at some length about the two special trees God planted in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve’s first home. Here we say more about the tree of knowledge of good and evil, especially its purpose in light of Deuteronomy 8:2-3. We believe that the tree of knowledge of good and evil represented the important spiritual principle taught in that verse.
First, remember that the fruit of the tree was itself good. There is no reason to think that what Eve saw was untrue: it was “good for food,” “pleasant to the eyes” and “a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Gen. 3:6). Why, then, did God forbid eating of it?
The answer is found in Deuteronomy 8:2-3. God was teaching Adam and Eve that man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God. There is more to life than mere physical existence, more than the life of the body sustained by eating. Life for man is fellowship with the living God through obedience to His word.
As one commentator says: “That tree offers bread to Adam, good bread prepared from the earth. And yet it offers bread not to eat. Instead comes the word of God, commanding him that from this one tree he must abstain, thus directing his life in the way of obedience to God. And by abstaining from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam would exercise that other, that higher, spiritual side of his life: he would obey in loving friendship and service of the Lord his God, and thus truly live.”
Adam chose to satisfy the lusts of the flesh rather than to obey God. He was the first to live whose god was his belly (Phil. 3:19), the first to “mind earthly things.” So men have lived ever since: of the flesh and of the mind, not counting God’s favour better than life. They still try to live by bread alone without the word of God.
But where Adam fell, Christ stood. He not only said again that man does not live by bread alone (Matt. 4:4), He stood to that principle, though perishing of hunger after forty days in the wilderness. Filling the wilderness with bread enough to satisfy all the hungry of the world was not as important to Him as obedience to God. Would the church today feel the same?
What happened in the wilderness was the story of His whole ministry. Even His death testified that, for Him as for no other, obedience to God was more important than earthly life and the things that sustain it. He obeyed even unto death, and so redeemed us, fallen children of Adam. Rev. Ron Hanko
The Lord’s Sovereignty Over the Wicked
“The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil” (Prov. 16:4).
Scripture, the infallibly inspired word of God, uses very strong expressions to set forth the great truth of God’s sovereignty. Some expressions in the Bible are so strong that we would not dare to use them if they were not in Holy Writ. This verse is one of them.
At the outset it is worth noting that this verse is an example of Hebrew parallelism. The two clauses express one thought in slightly different form, so that they explain and interpret each other. The first statement is the main thought, while the second explains the words “all things” in the first. “All things” include the wicked.
With that in mind, consider briefly what the text teaches. First, it asserts that God is the Creator of all things. He has made all things, and they come forth from His hand. This includes the entire earthly creation and the heavenly as well. It includes the brute creation, men and angels. No theory of evolution can be made to fit with Scripture as a whole, or with this passage in particular.
Secondly, the text states the purpose of creation. God made all things for Himself, that is, for His own sake, glory and honour. Paul puts it this way: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
Thirdly, the text leaves no doubt that “all things” means exactly that: it includes even the wicked, both men and angels. God created them for Himself, that is, for His own glory. Yet God did not create men and angels wicked. He created them good. They fell by their own wicked choice and became corrupt through their own act of rebellion, both the wicked angels in heaven and man here upon earth.
Nevertheless, although God created men good, He was not surprised by man’s sin, nor is He without control over man’s wickedness. He remains sovereign over all sin. That sovereignty is plain from the second statement: “The Lord has made the wicked for the day of evil.” Even though God made them good, He made them for the day of evil. The fall of devils in heaven and man upon earth was not outside God’s control and direction.
Remember too that God not only made all things, but upholds every creature by His providence, even wicked men and devils. They owe their existence to Him and are under His complete control. They cannot so much as move a finger without His will. Can a creature who owes his breath to God be outside God’s control?
The creation serves God’s purpose in the glory of the new heavens and the new earth. The righteous are for God’s glory because they reveal, in Christ, the riches of His grace, mercy and love. The wicked are for God’s purpose because they reveal God’s justice against sin, His hatred of all evil, His holiness and beauty when they perish everlastingly in the day of evil. They also serve God’s purpose because God uses them for the salvation of His elect (cf. Isa. 43:1-7, 45:1-7).
This is the teaching of all Scripture. It would be good sometime to collect the texts that speak of God’s sovereignty over sin, but a few will do here. Peter, speaking of the sin of rejecting Christ, adds: “whereunto also they were appointed” (I Pet. 2:8). John explains the unbelief of the Jews in terms of God’s sovereign purpose in reprobation: “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep” (John 10:26). “They could not believe, because Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart” (John 12:37-41).
Sin also serves God’s purpose to glorify Himself. Man remains without excuse and goes to hell justly for his sin. God, who rules sovereignly, creates also the wicked for His own name’s sake. Many who do not want this doctrine throw it away. In doing so they deny the Scriptures and put wickedness outside God’s control. But in doing so they also rob the believer of comfort, for in the distresses and sufferings of this present time, and as we suffer persecution for God’s sake, we are comforted that all things work together for our good (Rom. 8:28). Prof. Herman Hanko
What Happens to Animals When They Die?
One of our readers has asked, “What happens to animals when they die?” and “Will there be animals in heaven?”
Scripture indicates that there will be animals in heaven. In Revelation 4, gathered around the throne with the twenty-four elders (representing the church), are four living creatures, three of which are beasts. That these in some way represent the brute creation is suggested by their number (“four”; think of the “four corners of the earth”) and by the confession of verse 11 that God created all things for His glory. Does that not suggest that all things are represented by the twenty-four elders and the living creatures?
Other passages, notably Romans 8:19-22 and Colossians 1:20, also teach that the so-called brute creation shall be redeemed from the curse and glorified with believers. The kingdom of heaven will be a new creation in the fullest sense.
Does this mean that individual animals, such as we now see and own, will be raised, glorified and go to heaven with us? That does not necessarily follow and, we believe, is contrary to the teaching of Scripture.
Genesis 9:4 says that the soul of an animal is its blood (“life” is literally “soul”). If that is to be taken literally, it not only points to another difference between man and beast, but also means that when an animal’s blood is shed, or when it dies, its soul perishes with it.
Ecclesiastes 3:21 supports this idea, for it speaks of “the spirit of the beast, that goeth downward to the earth.” The best way to understand this is that the spirit of the beast, like the body of man, is of the dust of the earth, and returns to the earth when an animal dies. The spirit of man, who is not created from the dust, does not perish with man’s body, but “returns to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). This is part of man’s preeminence over the beast, something denied by the theories of evolutionism.
What must be remembered, however, is that all created things will have a place in the new creation. According to Romans 8, this is proof of the glory which shall be revealed in us, so great that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with it. Rev. Ron Hanko
