Genesis 3:22-24 [AMP]
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us [the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit], to know [how to distinguish between] good and evil and blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever—Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So [God] drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep and guard the way to the tree of life.
If one perceives God as an angry and morose God, that act of God would be seen as a form of punishment meted out of wrath.
But if the same one can see the love of God behind that act, that one would realize the immensity of God’s love.
How could that act be done out of love?
When Adam ate from the forbidden tree, it signified his choice to judge good and evil for himself based on his own limited knowledge and intelligence. In essence, Adam rejected God.
Romans 1:22 [AMP]
Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves].
It is pertinent to note that when Adam made that decision to disobey God, sin was not yet in the world.
Romans 5:12 [AMP]
Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.
Romans 5:19 [AMP]
For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).
Disobedience gave rise to sin.
There was a missing element in Adam, the representative of mankind, which underlined his decision. That missing element was the knowledge of God’s great love for him.
The Tree of Life would have given him that knowledge.
But Adam would have been so completely devastated and crushed if he had that knowledge against the backdrop of his rejection of God. The consequential guilt and condemnation would utterly destroy him.
There was a need for the expiation or appeasing of that resultant guilt and condemnation. God in His everlasting love for us that spans from before antiquity to eternity provided for that propitiation; the death of His only Beloved Son as a mere man in the name of Jesus Who would become the Christ or Messiah (God’s Anointed One).
Hence, Romans 8:1, AMP tells us that there is therefore now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus.
At this juncture, it is exciting to compare and contrast Judas Iscariot and Peter. Both of them betrayed or rejected Jesus, Who is God [John 1:1].
I believe Judas Iscariot is a picture of Adam partaking from both the forbidden tree and the Tree of Life, in that order. It also reveals the reason for the banishment of Adam from the Garden of Eden and the great love of God for having done so. It also shows the dire need to seek the gift of no condemnation in, from and through Jesus the Christ.
Judas Iscariot chose to manage the guilt and condemnation based on his own judgment just as Adam would have done. For Adam had chosen to judge good and evil for himself.
Matthew 27:3-5 [AMP]
When Judas, His betrayer, saw that [Jesus] was condemned, [Judas was afflicted in mind and troubled for his former folly; and] with remorse [with little more than a selfish dread of the consequences] he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, Saying, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. They replied, What is that to us? See to that yourself. And casting the pieces of silver [forward] into the [Holy Place of the sanctuary of the] temple, he departed; and he went off and hanged himself.
Acts 1:18 tells us that the middle of his body burst open with the intestines pouring out.
How did Judas Iscariot receive the apparently sudden revelation that he has betrayed innocent blood?
He was one of the twelve apostles who followed Jesus in His earthly ministry. I am sure he witnessed for himself first-hand the acknowledgement of Jesus as the Son of God even by demons.
Matthew 8:28-29 [AMP]
And when He arrived at the other side in the country of the Gadarenes, two men under the control of demons went to meet Him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce and savage that no one was able to pass that way. And behold, they shrieked and screamed, What have You to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come to torment us before the appointed time?
And right before that, Jesus calmed the storm with just a word leaving the apostles bewildered.
Matthew 8:27 [AMP]
And the men were stunned with bewildered wonder and marveled, saying, What kind of Man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!
I believe Judas Iscariot received that revelation in the same way Peter received the revelation of Jesus as the Son of the Living God.
God, the Father Himself told him.
Matthew 16:13-17 [AMP]
Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they answered, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus answered him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.
When Judas Iscariot received that revelation of love against his betrayal of such great love, he could not handle the immense guilt and condemnation that ensued. Instead of running to Jesus, Judas Iscariot chose to appease those crushing emotions in his own way.
Is it any wonder that God warned us through the prophet Isaiah against such efforts that are based on our own estimation? They are like filthy rags!
Isaiah 64:6 [AMP]
For we have all become like one who is unclean [ceremonially, like a leper], and all our righteousness (our best deeds of rightness and justice) is like filthy rags or a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away [far from God’s favor, hurrying us toward destruction].
Peter also betrayed Jesus. However, the defining difference was that Peter continued to fix his gaze on Jesus; that same gaze that enabled Peter to walk on water.
Matthew 14:28-29 [AMP]
And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.
Bible says that even after Peter rejected Jesus, he followed Jesus throughout the ordeal.
Peter was also stricken with the debilitating guilt and condemnation. However, he caught the look of Jesus. I believe that was a look of forgiveness. It was a look of no condemnation.
Luke 22:54-62 [AMP]
54 Then they seized Him and led Him away, bringing Him into the house of the high priest. Peter was following at a distance.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and were seated together, Peter sat among them.
56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and gazing [intently] at him, said, This man too was with Him.
57 But he denied it and said, Woman, I do not know Him!
58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, You are one of them also. But Peter said, Man, I am not!
59 And when about an hour more had elapsed, still another emphatically insisted, It is the truth that this man also was with Him, for he too is a Galilean!
60 But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about. And instantly, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter recalled the Lord’s words, how He had told him, Before the cock crows today, you will deny Me thrice.
62 And he went out and wept bitterly [that is, with painfully moving grief].
When our Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected, he singled out Peter to receive news of His resurrection.
Mark 16:1-7 [AMP]
And when the Sabbath was past [that is, after the sun had set], Mary Magdalene, and Mary [the mother] of James, and Salome purchased sweet-smelling spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus’ body].
2 And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb; [by then] the sun had risen.
3 And they said to one another, Who will roll back the stone for us out of [the groove across the floor at] the door of the tomb?
4 And when they looked up, they [distinctly] saw that the stone was already rolled back, for it was very large.
5 And going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting [there] on the right [side], clothed in a [long, stately, sweeping] robe of white, and they were utterly amazed and struck with terror.
6 And he said to them, Do not be amazed and terrified; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.
7 But be going; tell the disciples and Peter, He goes before you into Galilee; you will see Him there, [just] as He told you.
When the resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples, it was the disciple who was conscious of His love that recognized Him. And Peter who received just a look of no condemnation that kept him alive sprang towards love personified.
John 21:7 [AMP]
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord! Simon Peter, hearing him say that it was the Lord, put (girded) on his upper garment (his fisherman’s coat, his outer tunic)—for he was stripped [for work]—and sprang into the sea.
The resurrected Lord Jesus then went on to reaffirm Peter and entrusted Peter with what He came to die for; His lambs and sheep [John 21:15-18, AMP].
I believe the dialogue between the resurrected Jesus and Peter in John 21:15-18 was about the Lord letting Peter know just how much He loved Peter. It was not about how much Peter loved the Lord.
It has always been the case. It is about how much God loved us.
We love Him, because He first loved us. [1 John 4:19, AMP].
We can never love our Lord Jesus Christ as much as He loved us.
How precious is that free gift of no condemnation wrought by and through the blood of God’s only Beloved Son!
When the Bible is read from the lens of God’s great love for us, we would begin to catch a glimpse of just how much God loves us.
At this point, let us lift our hearts to thank God our loving Father for giving us His only Beloved Son as a mere man in the name of Jesus to die the horrific death as the scum of the world on the Cross.
He Who knew no sin God made Him to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. [2 Corinthians 5:21].
We have been given the power (might) to be free from condemnation!
Material blessings alone can never convince us that God loves us. This has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt by Adam.
Adam was blessed with every material blessing. God even ministered to his other needs by giving him a wife.
Yet, without the knowledge of God’s great and everlasting love for us, we fall prey to the lie that God is withholding good things from us.
Genesis 2:16 [AMP]
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;
Genesis 2:18 [AMP]
Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.
Genesis 3:5 [AMP]
For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.
Today, God is refuting that lie through Romans 8:32 [AMP], He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?
God is telling us to seek first the knowledge of His love for us and all the things we need shall be added to us [Matthew 6:33].
Let our soul be filled with the knowledge of His great love.
3 John 1:2 [KJV]
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
Remember that the serpent is cursed to eat dust all the days of his life [Genesis 3:14]. We have been made from dust [Genesis 2:7]. And the adversary roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour [1 Peter 5:8].
Satan can only deceive those who do not know of God’s great love. This is evident from the account of the Fall. Adam and Eve did not possess this knowledge.
God created the entire cosmos to show mankind, the crown of all His wonderful creation, just how much He loved us. This is so that we will choose to receive His love and become His beloved children.
Love cannot be made or forced. Love has to be mutual for it to be beautiful.
Our temporary existence in this transient world is to learn just how much God loved us.
God made Adam with the gift of free choice. God intended for man to exercise that gift with the knowledge of His great love and not based on sight-driven desires.
God yearns for us to willingly accept His love for us with the gift of free choice He first gave to us.
The gift of free choice would cost God His treasure of treasures; the Son of His love [Colossians 1:13, AMP], Who came in the flesh not just as a mere man but as the scum of the world.
Ephesians 2:6-8 [AMP]
Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
In Roman times, only the worst of criminals die on the cross.
The only Beloved Son of the Living God came just to do that.
Today, we have a wonderful and beloved friend in Jesus. He is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble [Psalm 46:1, AMP].
If you have been struggling to know your purpose in life, let it be known to you that it is to learn the great love of God for you; His great love that has been shown and proven by the death of His only Beloved Son, Jesus the Christ.
We have been born with that inherent guilt and condemnation. There is nothing that we can ever do to remove them. Their total and complete eradication has been done in the Person of Jesus the Christ, the only Beloved Son of the Living God. [Acts 13:38-39]
What is sin? Sin is missing the mark.
What mark? The duty to know how much God loves us.
Hence, sin is rejecting God's love. The inherent guilt and condemnation that we inherited from Adam when he first rejected God.
If you want to taste the goodness of this great love, give permission to Jesus to lavish it on you. Invite Him into your life. Let Him lead you; let His love for you be your guide; let Him (His love for you) be the Lord in your life.
In and of ourselves, we can never appease that inherent guilt and condemnation that drive us towards pain and despair.
Receive that gift of no condemnation. Let Jesus the Christ fill you with joy and peace!
