Thou Shall Not Surly Die
When God spoke the world into being, He said, “let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). He was direct and commanding. There was no confusion about the words spoken, what He meant, and what He created. It was light.
When the serpent came into the picture, words got muddled and turned subtle. When the woman told him she couldn’t eat from the tree of good and evil or else she would die. “And the serpent said unto the woman. Ye shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4). Technically, it was a half-truth. They didn’t die right away. Parts of their mind died, their spirit experienced death-like trauma, and their bodies remained the same. Eventually, their bodies will give up, just not right then. To fully tell the truth, he would need complete disclosure documentation for Adam and the woman in writing. With a list of their right for review, signed, initialed, and witnessed by the tigers, lambs, and anyone else seeing the event unfold.
Unaware of the new character in the garden scene and the new method of communication. The first couple fell for the serpent’s trick. They’ve only interacted with God and understand how He talks to them. They give the snake the same treatment. The lie continues into more half-truths: "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5). How convincing. Your eyes gain a filter for the world, and you have sight but no vision.
Again, it’s not technically a lie. He omitted the full disclosure that they can pretend to become gods without power or authority. They can know right and wrong but don’t have the authority to judge. He didn’t warn them that they could wear paper crowns and have no kingdom to rule. The Creator of the Kingdom didn’t give them that authority. He permitted them to use it, tend to it, and eat of its fruits (Genesis 2:15-16). But they don’t own it.
Lies are too easy to detect. Half-truths are harder to pin down. They give just enough information, the viewer fills in the blank, and they are untraceable by a third party. This art takes time, drive, and practice to master. Thou shall not surely die turns into a perpetual nightmare to the living. Man and woman try to control nature, God, and each other. Trying out their like-god status. Experiences of spiritual disconnect due to sin and half-truths repeat in a loop of confusion and chaos in a one-sided story. Blinded and unable to see the wholeness and glory of creation and Creator.
Full vision sees the lies and endures the pain of truth—Respects truth and desires revelation of the same. It takes on the anguish of shame like the Son of Man who died to reconnect us to Himself so that death no longer has dominion over us. “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” (Genesis 3:22). The serpent then changed his tactics to keep up with the Times morphing into a new “Thou SHALL surely die” lie as his latest propaganda for chaos and disconnect. On a mission to perpetuate spiritual death. Disorder is a lucrative business. Demons need work and he has to change his marketing strategy.
Demons know and will try to distract us from the Tree of Life, The Christ. He knows the risk of us eating Christ. To ask for mercy, reach for a handout, and bite into His flesh and blood. They know who Christ is and His power to forgive. That salvation lives in childlike innocence instead of knowledge and love to replace judgment. Their tactic is to distract you and retell the half-truth focusing on your fear of pain, soothing through worldly sedation, and boosting your pride. They take you back to the scene where you bought into their first lie to show how to worship shame and death by comingling them with fear. Prevents you from seeing that dying in sacrifice and love gives way to life. Life is in worshipping Christ on the tree.
Are you willing to look shame in the face, give and receive forgiveness, and tell the demon to go away? Or are you continuing to listen to him asking you…Is the Man on the cross really God or just a foolish Man who died in shame?
Image: Titian, The Fall of Man, 1500, Oil on Canvas.