My Thoughts on Chapters 10 to 12-Rachael Gregson


While Books Eleven and Twelve were great and beautifully written, I think I liked Ten the best out of the three because it showed just how merciful our God really is. To be honest, Adam and Eve didn’t get what they deserved. God had already made it clear from the start that whosoever should eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was to die, but the Son still had enough patience to intercede and basically say, “Hey, I know they deliberately disobeyed this rule, but it’s okay. They don’t have to die for this sin, because one day I will. I will fix what they have broken. I will fix what mankind has brought upon themselves.” Gosh, I just can’t even begin to imagine this type of patience our Lord has for us. It’s impossible, unthinkable, unmeasurable- things the human mind literally cannot wrap itself around. I know He had to be holding back in that moment. Even though He didn’t let Adam and Eve off the hook completely, there was so much more He could have done, so much more. And even with the punishment he assigned to each, man and woman, there was still something good they could get out of it, a blessing inside a curse. For Eve, she had to grapple with the pains of childbirth, but afterwards, got to hold a new life in her hands and look into the eyes of the very thing God formed inside her. For Adam, he had to work all the days of his life to provide for his family but still figured doing something every day was a lot better than doing nothing every day.  

This shows God isn’t a critic on a cloud. He’s the Father, our Father. He loves like a father would and he punishes like a father would, not to break us down like most people accuse Him of but to build us back up.

I commented on blogs by Madison Flowers and Moriah Nelson.

Comments

Madison Flowers said…
Rachael, I love this post! The forgiveness of God is unlike anything we could ever imagine or understand. You are right, there is so so much more that God could have done to punish Adam and Eve, but he showed mercy instead!
Osten Belew said…
I find it interesting that Jesus chose to die for us and not for the fallen angles. I know God needed someone to be evil because He can't do that. That sounds heretical. Satan is like a perpetual cycle of anger. He became angry at God for punishing him for evil and thus made him evil. Now because he is evil he is serving God's purpose which makes him more angry and thus hates God more thus more evil. This is a horrible never ending cycle that he cannot break. This is his personal hell.
Stephen Davis said…
I agree with your statements about how God could given Adam and Eve far more severe punishment and it just goes to show just how great and merciful He is. I also concur with your statements about how God loves and punishes us as a father would and not as a cruel taskmaster. He loves us enough to punish us, he does not punish us for the fun of it which I greatly appreciate.
Logan Turner said…
I agree. I find the fact that our collective punishments all served some sort of purpose to be pretty fulfilling. While our punishment could have been so much worse, it's heartening that they served some sort of purpose in the grand scheme of things and was much less severe than what the fallen angels received.
Christian said…
It's actually really cool to see the punishments inflicted in a glass half-full kind of perspective, good post.