Why on earth did God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden—-KNOWING they would eat of it???
For one, He already had the plan of salvation in place to cover their sin……ultimately to show the glory of His mercy. In fact, the whole scenario was all about God’s glory. Think about it, Adam and Eve learned obedience by the things that they suffered, (an O.T. antitype for what Jesus would do for us).
Jesus died for His people, “learning obedience by the things that He suffered” Heb. 5:8. Showing that this is how God changes our will so that our conscience is purged from dead works so that we can serve the living God–Heb. 9:14
Only after God covered them w/ animal skins (the first blood sacrifice)—could they then serve God w/ fear and godly reverance. Their eyes were not only opened to how terrible sin is but opened to the goodness of God, which they may have taken for granted had He not allowed them to choose and to suffer as a result.
Like Adam and Eve, we may think that we want freewill, but realize its freegrace we really want.
As one can see, it wasn’t about how great it was to have a freewill, but one of the main points was God, through this scenario, showing us how thankful we should be that we are not just left to our own devices. The devil is a liar. Did they really become like God??—NO—or else they would have created their own planet to inhabit, etc. etc.
That demonic lie in the garden is still w/ us today. The flesh wants to scream—-freewill—but it is in the fiery furnace of failure that we learn it is really God’s freegrace that we want more than life itself!!
What do you really want?
Just remember that when we follow God, we are automatically going to suffer at the hands and mouths of the wicked, but this is also part of God’s chastening process so that we learn obedience because we are not condemned with the world, but saved out of it. Heb. ch.12
Phil. 1:29 “For it has been granted to you, not only to believe in Him, but to suffer for His name sake”—–What a gift!!!
Christ Rescued Me! 