The one
thing that amazed me when I began to study the incident with the fig tree was
how this event so paralleled the events of the fall of man in the Garden of
Eden.
Part 2
In this Garden, God created Adam,
the first man, though he was created as an incomplete being until God created
man’s complement – a woman, whom Adam later named Eve. Both were created
perfectly, for when God was finished, He reviewed His handiwork and announce
it, not just good, but “very good.”
Yet all who know the story also know that shortly after their
creation, the woman was tempted by and deceived by Satan into doubting the
words of God and into acting upon that doubt. The man joined her in her
rebellion, though he was not deceived,[2]
but acted in willful disobedience to the clear command of God. By this one
simple act of self-will, they stood condemned in the sight of God.
But Satan was not through with them yet. We tend to think
that Satan has exited the picture about verse 6 of Genesis 3, maybe because he
knew that God was on His way, but if we keep reading, the serpent is still in
the picture in verse 14. Satan is the Great Deceiver, and he is still active in
this story until cast out by God. Here’s how.
Just as they were blinded by the words of Satan, they
remained blinded to their true standing before God. Instead of an awareness of
their spiritual condition in the eyes of God, they could only see their physical
condition. By their act of eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil, they were made aware of a significant change in their
relationship with God and with each other. However, instead of seeing this
change in a spiritual sense, they saw only the physical.
Immediately they noticed something that before had been of no
consequence to them – they realized that they were naked. Man had eaten of the
fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was imbued with a power
which was intended only for God [3] –
a power he was not capable of wielding.
Yet he tried to wield it and, in the limits of his inability,
recognized his sinful condition, but, based on his own misunderstanding of the
laws of good and evil, concluded that their nakedness was the sin itself and
not the consequence of sin.
Once again, Satan was still at work here. With all of the
resources at his disposal, Satan is determined to prevent man from
understanding the depth and the degree of the consequences of his rebellion as
well as its remedy. He could never allow man to understand that sin, though it
may be revealed in the physical, actually finds its roots in eternity – in
Satan’s own rebellion against the throne of God.
Since the root of sin is found in eternity, therefore, so
must its remedy be found in eternity. Thus the remedy for sin could never be
discovered within the realm of the knowledge of good and evil, but only in the
grace of an eternal God and the righteous actions of an eternal Savior.
Working within the limits of the knowledge available to him –
the knowledge of good and evil – and believing that his sinfulness was in his
nakedness, Adam attempted to restore the relationship he had had with his
Creator before his willful disobedience. He did so by visiting another tree in
the Garden – the fig tree.
From this tree he gathered leaves and, sewing them together,
covered up his nakedness and, at the same time – at least, in his own
understanding – covered up (made atonement for) his sinfulness in the sight of
God.
Because so much of what we believe about the Bible comes from
tradition, we often do not stop to consider the truth of an issue in a Bible
story. Here is an example.
When you hear the story of Adam and Eve sewing together fig
leaves and covering themselves, what is the picture that is immediately formed
in your mind? Unless I miss my guess, most people envision a man with leaves in
front of or around his loins and a woman similarly attired with leaves around
her loins and chest.
But suppose that sewing leaves meant that Adam and Eve wove
the branches of fig trees so that they were completely covered. In fact, they
were so efficient in their work that from a distance they looked very much like
fig trees themselves. There they stood, covered in fig leaves, making a claim
of righteousness based on goodness. This
was Adam’s profession.
Genesis 3:9 says, “The LORD God called to the man and said to
him, ‘Where are you?’” Since God is omniscient, certainly He would not need to
ask where Adam was, therefore the question was rhetorical. Maybe when God came
looking for Adam, all He could see was what looked like a fig tree.
Yet, when God approached, He who knows all things knew that
Adam had been cut off from the source of fruit by his rebellion, and, in spite
of his profession, could never bear any fruit worthy of repentance and
salvation.
And thus Adam stood condemned and withered by the judgment of
God.
[1]
From earliest
conception, we have visualized or even taught that the fruit that Adam and Eve
ate in their rebellion was an apple, but of course, such a belief is from a
fairy tale version of the story, not from Genesis. Some would argue that the
first fruit mentioned is that of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil, and that Adam ate of that fruit, which he did. But we have no personal
experience with such a tree or what its fruit might have looked like. The same
might be said for the Tree of Life. Even though these are trees that bear
fruit, we do not have any first-hand experience with such trees. We only know
them by the singular reference of Scripture. On the other hand, we all can have
first-hand, physical knowledge of a fig tree. Thus this is the first and only
fruit tree mentioned in the Garden of Eden with which we have any practical
experience.
[2] Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression. 1 Tim. 2:14
[3] Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become
like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and
take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever…“ Therefore the Lord
God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was
taken. Gen. 3:22-23
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