What Happened When Adam and Eve Disobeyed God’s Law?

Answer: Through disobedience, Adam and Eve lost virtually everything that God had provided to them. First, they were evicted from their garden home.  “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’– (23) therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. (24) So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Gen. 3:22-24 NASB)

Second, they lost their perfection and everlasting life. Man would grow old, become sick and die because of their disobedience. “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19 NASB) Within the same thousand-year day that Adam sinned, he and Eve died (Gen. 2:17; 2 Peter 3:8)

Third, God cursed the earth so that man would have to work hard to scratch out a living on the unfinished earth to which he was evicted. “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. (18) Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; (19) By the sweat of your face You will eat bread.'” (Gen. 3:17-19 NASB)

To women, God multiplied pain to childbirth and had men to rule over them. “To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.'” (Gen. 3:16 NASB)

Finally, man lost fellowship with God. He was no longer an earthly son of God but a rebel no longer in harmony with his Heavenly Father. Men became aliens and strangers from God’s perspective. (Eph. 2:13-19) It would take Jesus Christ through the blood of his cross to bring mankind back into peace with God.

For additional information, please see the related booklets and videos listed below:

Booklet
Why God Permits Evil
Why God Permits Evil
Video
The Soul That Sinneth
The Soul That Sinneth
Video
This Gospel of the Kingdom
This Gospel of the Kingdom

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