Donna Beccia Carick
In the book of Genesis, we see the historical record of the creation of the first man and woman, which have come to be called Adam and Eve. We are all familiar with the story. God told Adam he could eat the fruit from the Tree of Life, which was placed strategically in the middle of the Garden of Eden. If Adam ate from this tree, he would live forever in this glorious place. Somewhere else in Eden was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but Adam was forbidden to eat the fruit from it. He was told that he would “surely die” if he ate from that tree.
God gave Adam the task of naming all the animals. Adam noticed that the animals were either male or female, each having a mate, but he didn’t have one. So God put Adam to sleep, and from his side, God formed a mate for him. Eve was “bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh”, and they were the perfect couple.
One day, Eve was approached by a serpent who beckoned her to eat from the forbidden tree. He said to her, “Has God REALLY said that you can’t eat from this tree?” He went on to declare that the fruit would open her eyes, and she would be like God. That sounded pretty enticing to Eve. After all, she had met God, and she knew it would be good to be like Him. So she ate the fruit.
The account tells us that Adam was with her at this time. Why did he not stop her from eating the forbidden fruit? Remember, Adam had received the order before Eve was created. He knew better. Apparently, Eve did not. She hadn’t been created when the order was given. The Genesis account says she was tricked by the words of the serpent, but Adam was the one to commit the first sin of mankind.
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil DID open their eyes. Suddenly, they noticed they were naked, something they had not thought about before. Suddenly, they felt shame for the first time. They were beginning to feel the effects of the evil to which they had just opened themselves. They decided to hide from God, hoping he wouldn’t notice what they had done.
So shame and guilt had entered their existence, and now they were going to try to distance themselves from God. Isn’t this exactly what we humans do? We run away from God, rather then running to Him, when we know we have failed. Instead, we should be running to Him, to acknowledge our guilt, and ask for His forgiveness, so we can restore our relationship with Him.
At that point, God, of course, knew what Adam and Eve had done. They had covered themselves with fig leaves, to attempt to hide themselves. When God approached them about their transgression, the account says that he covered them with the skins of an animal. That means that an animal had to die to cover their sin.
Adam and Eve had brought upon themselves the consequences of eating from the frobidden tree. They would “surely die.” If they were to decide to eat from the Tree of Life, which would cause them to live forever, then they would live forever in the state of knowing good and evil. Evil was not what God wanted them to know. To protect them from causing such a thing to happen, he would expel them from the Garden. Before doing so, he gave them a pomise — that he was going to bring a solution for mankind in the future, someone who would crush the serpent’s head, and remove the curse that was brought upon mankind. He had even given them an illustration of this while they were in the Garden. He had sacrificed an animal, and used it to cover their sin.
So Adam and Eve were blocked from Paradise. They were doomed to die. Yet, there was a promise made, that someday a sacrifice would be made to cover mankind’s sin. This person was a “mashiach”, meaning the “anointed one.” This mashiach would bring the solution. “Mashiach” is a Hebrew word which is translated into English as “Messiah.” Thousands of years after the lives of Adam and Eve, this Messiah would enter the world.
Many centuies later, there was a pharaoh (an Egyptian king) who was very concerned about the explosive population growth of the Hebrew slaves living in his land. He was worried that they would eventually attempt to take over Egypt. He made a proclamation that all Hebrew males must be killed as soon as they were born. A Hebrew boy named Moses was born during this time, and his Hebrew mother tried to protect his life. She decided to put tar all over a woven basket, to make it waterproof, and she put Moses in the waterproof basket, and placed the basket in the Nile River at a time when the Egyptian princess would come to bathe herself. So the pharaoh’s daughter found the baby in the basket, and decided to take it to the palace to be raised by her. Moses spent 40 years in the palace, as a prince of Egypt. Later, he went to the land of the Midianites, married a woman there, and spent another forty years working for his father-in-law as a shepherd. Then, at 80 years old, God spoke to Moses, and told him that he was chosen to deliver the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. Could this man be the promised messiah?
Moses had to return to Egypt, and face the pharaoh. He requested freedom for the Hebrew slaves, but pharaoh refused to grant the request. Each time he refused Moses, God sent a plague upon the Egyptians. Each plague got worse. God told Moses he would need to prepare the Hebrew people to flee quickly, as soon as pharaoh finally granted the request for freedom. God’s orders were very specific. Each household of Hebrews must slaughter a lamb, and use the lamb’s blood to cover their wooden door frames. This reminds us of the animal that died in Eden, to cover the sins of Adam and Eve. God was about to bring upon Egypt the worst plague of all — he was going to kill all the firstborn males of every household, to force pharaoh into action.
Moses went to Pharaoh one last time, and made the request to free the Hebrew slaves, or else this plague would come upon the land. Pharaoh refused. God acted on his promise. If the Hebrews were obedient to his orders, and had smeared blood upon their wooden door frames, God would not kill the firstborn males in those houses. The blood of the lambs would be their protection. So the plague was brought upon Egypt, in every household that was not protected by the blood of the lamb, but the Hebrews were “covered by the blood.” That night, they fled from their houses, and ran together toward freedom.
Moses was their messiah. He saved them from slavery, and from the evil pharaoh who held them in slavery. But Moses did more than that. Moses was a picture of a future messiah, long into the future. This next messiah would be called the “Lamb of God.” This was Jesus, whose Hebrew name is “Yeshua”, which literally means “salvation.” Yeshua was slaughtered, just like the lambs in the story of Moses. His blood was on the wood of the cross, just like the other story. His sacrifice covered our sins, just like the Genesis account. He delivered people from the bondage of sin to the freedom of walking in restored relationship with God.
Remember, Moses lived as a prince for 40 years, then as a shepherd for 40 years, and then as a deliverer of his people, for another 40 years — prince, shepherd, deliverer. In the Scriptures, Yeshua is called the “Prince of Peace”, the “Good Shepherd”, and the “Mighty Deliverer.” Moses led the Hebrews to the Promised Land. Yeshua leads His people to the Promised Land — an eternity of the Tree of Life.
God kept His promise to Adam and Eve, that he would deliver them from the curse, and that they would have a restored relationship with Him. God kept His promise by sending a messiah, THE Mashiach, Yeshua of Nazareth. So, what do we do with this information? Do we continue to live under the curse brought to us from Adam and Eve? Or are we willing to accept the sacrifice of Yeshua that covered our sins, so we could eat from the Tree of Life and live forever? Just like Adam and Eve chose, we get to choose.
Donna Beccia Carick is co-leader of Shalom Yeshua Ministries, Inc., in Evansville, Indiana. You can reach her by email at donna@ShalomYeshua.org. Additional teachings by Ms. Carick can be found on Facebook, at Shalom Yeshua Ministries, or at http://ShalomYeshua.org.
