Before we continue with last week’s narrative, prepare yourself for a series of legal actions which must, of necessity, have preceded Jesus’ horrendous beatings, his subsequent crucifixion and ultimate resurrection. The entire picture that I’m trying to lay out in what I’m sharing as “It is Finished” is a series of actions necessary for the Universal Court in Heaven. Jesus was already “the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the earth,” but now it was necessary to fulfil from legal and practical standpoint. All of this was purposed before the first words of Creation were spoken, but now it was being acted out in reality! We pick up again where we left off last week.

Had to stop again in the middle of this discussion we’ve been in for the past couple of weeks. We’ve been in the middle of the Garden experience, and all the issues that resulted from Eve first partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then Adam following instead of utilizing the authority God had given him to cancel out Eve’s actions. Adam had authority to deal with this failure, but he chose human compassion over spiritual authority. That, unfortunately has been a problem in the human race ever since. Anyway, back to our narrative. A funny thing happened when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were stripped. And of course, we know they had no clothes to be removed. But they were stripped, nonetheless. They were stripped of Truth. They were stripped of Righteousness. They were stripped of the glory of the Lord. And their intimate relationship with the Lord was history.

We are going to dive right in and pick up where we left off a week ago. We were talking about Adam and Eve’s partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Let’s recap a few lines from the end of last week’s discussion. Adam's face is filled with puzzlement as he hears the serpent say to Eve, "You shall not surely die. For the Lord knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Thoughts race through his mind. What does being gods have to do with anything? We have fellowship and intimate friendship with the Lord God, our Creator, even now. We have been given dominion over the earth, and over every creature that walks upon the earth. There has been nothing withheld from us. Do we need something that He has not given us? We have been created in the likeness and image of the Lord God. Are we not "as God" even now? Hmmmm.............what is good? For that matter, what is evil?

It had been my intention to continue today with the theme we took up a few weeks back, and look at the life of either David or the apostle Paul. Those are not complete yet, and the subject of the Throne of God is one that is fresh in my spirit. It seemed appropriate to go there today, and perhaps for the next few weeks. We will come back to the life of David, and the life of Paul in the weeks to come, so bear with me. Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden for a bit.