The Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil

Introduction

Okay, I’m going to ask you to buckle down with me for the first 15 minutes or so of this lesson. There’s a lengthy introduction. Don’t worry, we’re making progress. But you need to understand what I’m saying before we get to the body of the lesson, which will go more quickly. Okay? We’re going to learn something today. At least kids, we’re going to try. You ready? This all started as the result of a random text. And if you know my daughter, you’ll understand a random text about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Her mind was pondering that in Genesis chapter 3. And really, my response as to the why of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I simply suggested that perhaps violating the instruction God had given, enlightened them to the conscience and guilt for the very first time.

And while I’m okay with that answer, because of the question, I did a lot more study. I don’t know that I’ve ever preached a sermon just on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So this is my attempt at it. Most of you are familiar with the story in Genesis chapter 2 when Adam and Eve are placed in the garden. They have access to everything, all the wonders of the garden, in the paradise that God had placed them in. They had access to absolutely everything except one thing that was forbidden. You shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. If you eat of it, you shall die. So impressed by that instruction Eve was that in her conversation with the servant that the serpent that unfolds in Genesis chapter 3, she says, even more, you shall not eat of it or touch it.

I don’t know if that was really a part of the instruction or not, but it was certainly a good idea. If you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because you’re going to die, better off to flee from it, not even touch it.

Giving the name this moniker, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is an example of what is called marism, a term that I had never heard before in my life, believe it or not. At least not that I remember.

In part related to the figure of speech synecdoche, which I’ve mentioned before, in which totality is expressed by contrasting parts. High and low, young and old. And of course, the idea is by contrasting the parts that it represents everything in between. Sherry writes me a note before I get up here saying, she knows what I’m preaching. Merism, give us the long and short of it. How cute was that. Like many figures of speech. We don’t know the names that are given to them. Synecdoche is one of my favorites. Another is ellipses, another is metonymy, and you know why I like that one. It’s spelled me, Tony, my. But they’re all over the Bible. And sometimes we don’t know the names for them. We know things like metaphors and similes, but metonymy, we’re we’re not gonna oh, that’s metonymy.

Now, you can train yourself to notice these things. But we don’t often know that the figures of speech are, but we know not to take them literally. Interestingly enough. We know that something is going on with that we’re not supposed to take it literally. Most of them are understood as figures of speech. You don’t have to know the names of them. But when you start looking in depth, you realize there are a lot of them. The Bible is written in a very colorful way, using all the conventions of communication that we still use. We use these kinds of things all the time, as Sherry demonstrated. And some of the problems people have in understanding the Bible because of these agendas that they have is they try to literalize what are figures of speech.

An example. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Oh, that’s saying what people want to hear theologically. I don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation, but that’s an elliptical statement because Paul goes on to talk about people that he baptized, and we know that baptism is essential to salvation from so many passages. That’s not Paul’s point. It’s an elliptical statement saying baptism will take care of itself. I’m here to preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1 17 is misunderstood by thousands of students because of where they want to go theologically. I think we may even struggle a little bit at 1 Peter 3.21, which is an example of synecdoche. Baptism doth also now save us. Well, where’s repentance in that? Where’s confession?

Where’s belief for that matter? Although I think it’s pretty much implied in 1 Peter 3.21. But the fact is, the whole plan, the whole process of salvation is implied. Baptism is like the catchword for the whole process. It is the culminating step that places us in Christ. But it’s a figure of speech. It’s not excluding faith. It’s not excluding repentance or confession. And so sometimes because we don’t understand that it is a figure of speech that’s being used, we don’t get the point or the full point. And I think that happens with merism. Here’s an example of merism. We talk about something locked, stock, and barrel. You gun guys have probably used that term before. Those parts of the gun representing the whole. It’s an example of merism or hook, line, and sinker is another one.

And hey, I know you know this one. You’ve heard it all your lives. Some of you have cited it to another person. For better or for worse. It’s a merism. For richer or for poor, in sickness and in hell. It’s saying both extremes are contrasting parts and everything in between. The whole thing. So that’s exactly what’s going on with merism in regard to this tree. The tree of knowledge of good and evil. Good. Knowledge of good, knowledge of evil, and everything in between. Representing all that can be known. Now you’re going to be surprised as to how often merism is found in Scripture. And you didn’t even know the term. I didn’t know the term, at least. Some of you more enlightened than myself, of course, might have known this.

But in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Created everything. Heaven and earth stands for the whole thing. Day and night. The whole thing. There’s twilight and dusk and other things, other terms that we have for parts of the day, but day and night represents the whole thing. How many passages? I mentioned to you 2 Samuel 3 25 this morning in our class. How many times do you see the expression his going out and his coming in? Well, that’s not just when he leaves and when he comes home, is it? That’s also everything in between. Psalm 121 and verse 8. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. He’s not just going to guard you when you leave the house or at the moment when you get home.

But that represents the whole of a man’s course in life. Look at Psalm 139. You’ve seen this before. Psalm 139 and verse 2. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. It’s another example of merism. Verse 8. If I ascend to heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed and Sheol, thou art there. Representing God’s knowledge of every place that we are. Another one, Isaiah chapter 57. See, we’re learning something this morning. Isaiah 57 and verse 19. Creating the praise of the lips. Peace to him who is far and to him who is near. Far and near, representing every place that man might be in. Here’s the one that I really want to call your attention to you. I want you to get this.

It’s in Romans chapter 8. In that very familiar passage where Paul is asking, what shall separate us, or who can separate us from the love of Christ? For I am convinced that neither, look at this, two contrasting extremes. Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. There are several merisms there. And we’ve understood the point if we didn’t know what the figure of speech was, that there is not anything in natural human experience, nothing in the supernatural realm, nothing in time, nothing in space. There is nothing exists, there’s nothing that exists that can separate us from Christ.

Except, of course, your own simple choice and decision to not believe in him. And sir, there is no power strong enough to take us away from that real. Not anywhere, not in the spiritual realm, not in time, nowhere. Only yourself. And then there’s this one. You’ve heard this one before, right? In the book of Revelation. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Now you may not know that those are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In English, it would be like saying, and if the Bible had originally been written in English, it would have said, He is the A and Z. And so might I recommend on Valentine’s Day that you husbands tell your wives that next to the Lord, next to God, you are my A and Z.

You are my everything. That’s a little corny, but it’s better than nothing. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. He’s the A and Z. He is everything in between. And another merism, he is the first and the last in the same passage. And it’s interesting understanding and appreciating this as everything in between. When you come to Revelation 21 and all the enemies are defeated, he is again mentioned as the Alpha and Omega. All of that opposition, he is still reigning king and Lord of Lords and triumphant over all his foes. He is still Alpha and Omega. It is used actually in three parts in Revelation 11 and verse 17 when it says, He who is and who was and who is to come. Interesting. And one said, one author, a writer, said, it may be a stretch to the point of merism a little bit, but even when we say Old Testament and New Testament is really a merism for the entire Bible.

I thought that was interesting. So let’s get back to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We have the totality of something by the mention of polarity. Now you do like that graphic, right? Of good and evil. You did see the evil in the graphic. Okay. Just make sure you saw that. A totality of something expressed by the mention of polarity, its opposites, symbolizing all that could be known. So have you ever stopped to ask the question what was it about that tree? Why did God name it what he did? Why was the rebellion in that one instruction? How did it cause eating of a tree? How did it cause so much damage? Well, remember there was another tree, right? In the Garden of Eden, the tree of life.

When you ate of that tree, what? You live forever. I mean, it provided sustenance for they would have lived forever. In fact, after they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they are kept from because of what they now know. Hey, if that’s the tree of life, I can just keep eating the tree of life and avoid the effects of this curse. So God placed cherubim at the gates of the garden of Eden to keep them from accessing the tree of life. One of the consequences of their disobedience. No longer would they have access to the tree of life. And so this tree is called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the fact that when they do partake of it, what does it say?

1. Paradise Lost

Their eyes were opened. They now know something. Just like when you eat of the tree of life, it’s the same their lives. They now know something that they did not know before. And they saw that they were naked. And they were ashamed. The text says. I want to make three simple observations. It took 15 minutes. You stayed with me. That’s good. Paradise lost. What was that tree all about? And the mistakes of Eve and Adam and violating the commands of God and all that results. Why was paradise lost? Before they partook of the fruit, whatever it was, we don’t know if it was an apple. Whatever that fruit was. Before that time, Adam and Eve knew only. It was bliss. It was paradise. It was perfect fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden.

And when they partook of the tree, which was a violation of the instruction God had given them, now for the very first time, there is evil. Not just good, all that they had known prior to that time, but now there was evil in the world. They began to taste the whole spectrum of what can be known. And immediately the consequences of their sin, the knowledge of evil begins to unfold. And where before there was only good, now there’s going to be what? There is going to be sorrow and toil and sweat and misery and death. That will be known as well. God does not want them to know all that can be known. And thus they were restricted from that tree. How did Satan get it done?

God’s trying to keep you from something that would really be good for you to have. You see, Satan says, God is a cosmic kill joy. He’s trying to prevent you from really living and really having a good time. You’ll be like God. No, you won’t. You’ll never know as much as he knows. And he is not tempted with evil. You know Satan still uses that tactic. In regard to the commandments of God. He gets people not to listen. He gets people to do their own thing by whispering in their ear. This really isn’t in your best interest. This really isn’t the best way to live. God is a cosmic killjoy. He is keeping you from what is best for you. Carve out the mat for yourself.

Do what you will. Satisfy the flesh. And God says, if you sow to the flesh, you’re going to of the flesh reap corruption. And I know I’ve been hard on Peyton Manning lately. Sorry, Hark Riders, it’s not just him. I’m happy for your Broncos. You rejoice. We like Bon Miller here, right? All you AM people. But that really bothered me. This post came back. I had this vision of Peyton Manning. And it all came crashing down in a moment. I’m going to drink lots of Budweiser. He didn’t just say it once. And in the same sentence, thanking the man upstairs. For I guess his talent and accomplishment. You can see the whole thread of that discussion on my Facebook page. As Jared called me the next day and said, Tony, you created a fire storm.

But I’ll tell you what bothers me the most about that. The message it sends to kids. That’s what life is. That’s how you celebrate. And to know the financial stakes that he had involved in making that statement. And that’s really what it was all about. Oh, if he’d have just said, I’m going to go to Disney World, that would have been so much better. But the message that’s promoted today is that drinking is fun and drinking is cool. And I’ve got to tell you, I not just picking on Peyton Manning. I was equally appalled at a today episode where they were telling the audience and doing it live on stage, the best wines to drink with Girl Scout cookies. We had some people distributing Girl Scout cookies Wednesday night.

Don’t watch that segment. No drinking wine with Girl Scout cookies. I mean, and that sort of pawned off as cool. How many hundreds of thousands of lives have been devastated and ruined by the consumption of alcohol? And we don’t hear about that.

2. The Progression of Evil

Because fornication is so commonplace that it is sinful. That it is avoidable. Paradise lost. God created man upright. But he sought out many inventions. And that’s really the second point that I want to make. Is that what happens as a result of the fall in Genesis chapter 3 is the progression of evil, the advance of evil. And I really put it in parentheses, really, it’s not advanced, it’s a decline. And we see that going on in the book of Genesis when we come to the reason for the flood and the intermingling of the sons of God with the daughters of men. I don’t believe that’s angelic beings. I believe that’s the corruption of the race through intermingling, the influence of evil with the influence of those who were righteous, the descendants of Seth who were more righteous than the descendants of Cain, and the intermingling by marriage that really ended up corrupting the whole society.

And their thoughts were only evil continually. What we see happening in the book of Genesis that began with the murder of his brother Abel by Cain, we see the progression of evil. All that can be known. Man is just making it up as he goes along.

Again, we see the progression of evil. And here’s the point that I would have made is that Satan’s assault on goodness is persistent, it is fervent, and it continues to this time. And the same minds, the same brilliant minds that can create a computer and can create an internet. Thank you, Al Gore. Some of you are too young for that joke. As wonderful as those tools are and can be, as Mike pointed out last week. The same brilliant minds that can create these great instruments can be used for the progression of evil. Think of television. What a wonderful thing in its invention, the opportunity to get news, Mayberry RFD. Not many shows like Mayberry anymore. The Gutenberg Press. Let’s go back even further in time. What a tremendous invention.

Now everybody can have a copy of their own Bible. Look at the print media. We can send Bibles all around the world. But look at the magazine covers in the grocery store. Don’t look at them. You see what man has done to the invention of everything? Everything that’s good is turned into evil. Be not ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. And now, because of the progression of evil, there are more choices at your disposal and whim than there have ever been in the history of man. And it’s all going to come down to am I going to choose good or evil? It’s Deuteronomy 30. We talked about, it’s it’s about life and blessing or curse and death. But thanks be to God.

3. Paradise Restored

That ultimately all the wrongs will be righted. And that we are all, as his people, anticipating the return of the paradise of God. And the paradise that we’re longing for. And the paradise that we’re walking toward will be far greater than the paradise that Adam and Eve was in. Where we will bask literally in the presence of God.

At the end of the story, as all the evil has been vanquished, and there’s a tree by the river of the water of life, and it yields its fruit in its season, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Paradise restored. And it says, His bond servants shall serve him. Heaven will restore perfect fellowship with God, where there will only be holiness and praise and triumph and bliss forever. So, one thing to learn about the progression of evil and how it dominates our world. That ultimately God will say, I’ve had enough. And this world and its works. Not just the world, the world and its works are going to be set on fire. And the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is that God is patient.

When you woke up today, that was a signal that God is patient. He’s not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance. Account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. That’s why you woke up today. That’s why the world still stands. That’s why God hasn’t dealt with evil ultimately and irrevocably, but he will.

And we need to be ready. And it’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, Paul says, and we need to have a healthy fear for the judgment of God and being cast away from his presence forever, just as Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden and had to reap the consequences of their sin through sweat and toil and more evil, the death of their son Abel. Just the beginning. We need to have a healthy fear for the judgment of God. And those that will be lost, and we don’t need to be in that number. Look at the opportunity you have today to embrace the message of the gospel and to not be numbered in the massive throng that will live eternity or die eternally away from God.

But there’s a wonderful message in our salvation. That you realize where we’re going.

Conclusion

But you know, you probably wouldn’t appreciate it as much if you lived there for a year. You’d get old. We’re headed somewhere where it’ll never get old. When we’ve been there 10,000 years, we’ll have no less days than when we first begun. I wonder if where we’re headed is as motivating to us as it should be.

There will be an absence of evil for all time. We might be more motivated in the areas of purity and prayer and service and confession as we live our lives. I’m just not so sure that heaven is as motivating to God’s people as it needs to be. It’s everything. Because Jesus is our everything. Because he is the Alpha and Omega. Because I tell you, all that this stuff that we have is ultimately going to mean nothing to us. Our nice cars, our comfortable houses, our air conditioning. You know, when the Lord appears in the air, we’re not going to say, oh, well, I love my AC in the living room. None of that’s going to matter. All that’s going to matter is the only one who is A to Z.

And that’s Jesus. Hopefully you can appreciate the merisms. It’s particularly that way. Christina texts me every now and then, pesters me. She listens this. I don’t know what sermon she was listening to. It was an older sermon. And she mentioned a phrase that I’ve used before. I used to say it a lot, and I’ve not been saying it much of late. But it’s the perfect summation of this lesson. So I’ll bring it out again, Christina, just for you. And that is that everything that means anything is in Christ.

And if you’ve not come into that relationship with him by listening to his instruction, turning from sin, confessing his name, and being baptized into him, we sing this song to encourage your response. If you need to respond in any way to the message of the gospel this morning, come now. Let’s stand and sing.