After God brings Eve to Adam to be his helper, Adam makes a very powerful statement that has future implications for all married people. Here is what he says in reference to Eve:

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh …” (Genesis 2:22)

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

Right at the beginning of creation with the creation of the first man and the first woman, God tells us how powerful and holy the marriage union is going to be. Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh – two people becoming one flesh! These words right there tell you why divorce and marital breakups are so painful. It’s like flesh ripping from flesh when two married people try to dissolve the marriage union.

This is why divorces or even any type of breakup in a deep love relationship are so painful when one or both of the partners try to break it off. There is a spiritual union that occurs when two people marry for true love. And when one or both want out of the marriage for whatever reason, the pain can literally be excruciating because of the spiritual union that has taken place within the love of that marriage.

Then the bible says that God now puts man in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. The stage is now set. God has given this first man and first woman everything they could possibly need to be happy and fulfilled.

They have both been made in the image and likeness of God. They now have each other as marriage mates. God has given them total dominion over everything on the earth. He has told them that they are free to be fruitful and multiply – which means they are free to start having children within the marriage union.

They both have direct contact and fellowship with God Himself as this account says that God walked in the Garden of Eden where they were now living. They literally had it all!
However, there was just one small catch!

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

1. After God perfectly sets the above stage forAdam and Eve and literally gives them everything under the sun, He tells them that there is now one thing that they cannot do. He specifically tells them that they can eat of every single tree that is in this garden – with the exception of one tree. This one tree was called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Think about this. God makes this test that they both had to pass for the future implication of all mankind as easy as He possibly could. He tells them that all they have to do is stay off of this one tree. He tells them that they can literally eat from every other tree that is in this garden.

The Bible does not tell us how many other trees were in this garden – but I bet there were thousands of them. All they had to do was to obey God’s direct command to stay off of this one tree – and they would have eventually passed the test – and all of us could have been born into this perfect God environment. But they blew it big time – not only for themselves – but also for the rest of mankind that was to follow.

In addition to telling them not to eat any fruit that was on this one tree, God allowed one other thing to occur in this setup. He allowed Satan himself to be able to roam in this garden in the form of a serpent – knowing full well that Satan would try and tempt them to disobey His direct command to the both of them not to eat any fruit off of this one forbidden tree.

So God sits back and watches this scenario unfold. Will Adam and Eve listen to and abide by God’s direct command not to eat any fruit off of this one tree – or are they going to allow themselves to be duped by the devil?

Article by Michael Bradley, you can save up to 20% and have free shipping on discount Christian bookstore