Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

than any other. Satan further insinuated that God could not trust them to know this and still refrain from partaking of the forbidden fruit, so He had told them a lie to prevent them from even touching it. In this way Satan aimed to lead Eve and later Adam down the same pathway that his own footsteps had trodden. His objective was to persuade them that they served God blindly because God, mistrusting them, had been careful to hide the real truth about Himself from them. Satan was confident that once he had placed Adam and Eve in a situation different from the idyllic one in which God had established them, they would no longer maintain their obedience. He was not disappointed, for they did withdraw their alle giance from God, and gave their support to Satan’s sophistries instead (see Genesis 3:6). Once they had accepted his accusation that the Creator did not trust them, it was inevitable that they would join Satan in his work of rebellion. But they had neither justifiable reason nor acceptable excuse for their defection. Sa tan was jubilant, for he considered that they had provided him with indisputable proof that his contentions were correct. However the eternal Father took the decidedly different view that Satan had not proved his point at all. It was true that Ad am and Eve had accepted his arguments and taken their place on his side, but this did not prove that his assertions were cor rect. Their decision only showed that, if people are persuaded by Satan’s sophistries, they will cease to walk with God. Their ac tion had not disproved the fact that God’s law can be kept under difficult circumstances as well as favorable ones. Nor did the wrong course taken by our first parents give any support to the charge that God had withheld information be cause He could not trust them with it. God had kept back no light whatsoever. It was made fully available to them as it is to us. One of the great blessings accorded to God’s children is the opportunity to be ever growing in knowledge and understand ing. Eternity itself will not exhaust the fields of study open to the redeemed and the unfallen worlds. In His love for Adam and Eve, God had protected them from the knowledge of evil. If they had asked Him about Satan’s allegations, He would have given them ample reassurance.