BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

8 : B V O V glistening light of God's glory fl owing from Adam and Eve's spirits, that covered and crowned their bodies, went out. In its place an unfamiliar and oppressive force overtook them. Without their magnifi cent coverings of light, Adam and Eve's now-naked forms were exposed in all their never-seen-before earthiness. Flooded with guilt and shame, they ran and hid themselves among the trees. Having turned their backs on God and His Love, the dark force of fear—the evil nature of the devil to which they had joined themselves—gripped them. For the fi rst time, death began overshadowing every aspect of their lives. Desperate and exposed, they came up with the idea of sewing together fi g leaves to cover their newly discovered nakedness (Genesis 3:7). It was man's fi rst attempt to provide for himself. He had fallen to the level of relying on works of his fl esh rather than on the power of God to meet his needs. With Adam's act of treason also came the contradiction to the Eden Covenant, a contradiction that can be summed up in one, small, simple word: sin. Sin became the major obstacle that threatened to dash all hopes of God's dream for a family ever becoming a reality. With one bite, everything was seemingly lost. Sin entered the world, and with it came death, and life was lost (Romans 5:12). Shame came in, and innocence was lost (Genesis 3:7). Fear came in, and Love was lost (verse 10). Satan came in, and authority was lost (Luke 4:5-7). Satan had already lost all his authority in heaven, and up to that point he'd had none on planet Earth. All authority here had been handed over by God the Father to Adam and Eve. But when they put their authority into satan's hands, they opened the door for him to rule over the earth— without having any covenant agreement with God. That was a serious obstacle to the fulfi llment of God's plan both for mankind and for the earth itself. As Adam and Eve were about to learn, the earth would now start to work against them. Adam would have to toil and sweat—which he had never done before—to get it to produce. "The earth is The LORD's, and the fulness thereof " (Psalm 24:1). Designed to respond to its true owner, only when man is operating in his proper, God-given authority (and within his covenant rights) does creation function appropriately. So, when Adam and Eve fell, creation did too. Because of their rebellion against God, the earth rebelled against mankind. Standing in stark contrast to the Eden Covenant contradiction, however, was the Eden Covenant seal—the tree of life. Planted by God in the center of the Garden, that tree was the guarantee of the Covenant God made with man in Eden. While in the Garden, Adam and Eve had access to it. But as we will see in the next chapter, when they sinned, God sealed the Eden Covenant by blocking not only Adam and Eve's access to the tree of life, but all mankind's. Why did their sin a ect all of us? Because when creating the earth, God mandated every living thing to reproduce "according to its kind" (Genesis 1:11, New King James Version). We call this the Law of Genesis— corn reproduces corn, cows reproduce cows, and so on. When Adam sinned, he became the fi rst man to be born again—not from death to life, as we're familiar with today—but from life to death. So, after the Fall, he and Eve could only reproduce in mankind the seed of sin and death that was now planted in their spirits. They could only reproduce after their spiritual overlord, satan. It might seem unfair that one man could blow it for the rest of us for all eternity, all because of just one tree. You might wonder why God set up a system that would leave us thousands of years later still su ering the very real consequences of Adam's decision—a decision that we didn't make. Once you see what He had planned, however, you'll realize God's strategy in allowing it to play out that way was brilliant. He knew exactly what He was doing by giving the Eden mandate to Adam and Eve before they rebelled in the Garden of Eden. He had a reason for making covenant with them when they were innocent, holy and without sin; and putting in their hands the destiny of all mankind. Yes, it meant that one man's sin could B V O V : 8 St. Louis Victory Campaign Oct. 26-28 | St. Louis, Mo. Omaha Victory Campaign Nov. 9-11 | Omaha, Neb. Kenneth Copeland is also speaking here: Upper Midwest Faith Explosion Aug. 18 | Brooklyn Park, Minn. lwcc.org FlashPoint LIVE Sept. 14 | Council Bluffs, Iowa Oct. 5-6 | Brooklyn Park, Minn. Nov. 30-Dec.1 | Pasadena, Calif. Schedule is subject to change without notice. For updated event information visit: KCM.ORG/EVENTS events 2023 Join us!

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