There is much that we can teach our children regarding the teachings of Scripture—including open the door to them to seek the deeper messages in the Word. Here is an example.
Did you ever stop to consider that when Adam ate of the tree, he broke all 10 Commandments in one fell swoop? He did not honor his father, stole what wasn’t his, committed adultery against God by fraternizing with Satan, etc.*
Here was the sequence…
Adam sinned before the introduction of the law, but by breaking the one prohibition he (and all mankind) instantly saw the veil drawn back upon the timeless, infinite full moral law of God in the universe. The majesty of pure and righteous jurisprudence was on display with blinding light. It was as if the entire law showed up…BOOM…right there, marching out from behind the curtain, in full force, through the one disobedience. And he died, spiritually.
God had told him he would die if he ate of that tree (it wasn’t as if something awesome hadn’t been hinted at), but he hadn’t been shown, ahead of time, the huge complex moral backdrop to how the universe works. I imagine the first view of it (when God’s presence showed up that evening and asked “Where are you?”) was breathtaking. I imagine Adam’s knees went out from under him.
When the whole moral story is finally understood, and owned (now, as then, via knee-knocking repentance), then it is that the love of God rushes in and engulfs the heart in an unfathomable remedy, the knowledge of which was also hidden in the first great prohibition. The LORD, the great keeper of the velvet curtains, is ever drawing them back upon the minds of the sons of God — to their perpetual astonishment.
* P.S. Additional notes:
One:
He bore false witness to his neighbor (his very own wife, by agreeing with her instead of with the LORD) and to all of the rest of his future neighbors—about 100 billion individuals—regarding the true nature of God, by asserting that He is not the last and final word, not to be obeyed. Adam falsely testified, at the time, before principalities and powers and Satan himself, about Almighty Gods real, eternal, perfect character. Adam spread bad press on the evening news.
Two:
Adam broke the Sabbath of rest that his existence was to have been continually lived within. Eden was the intended perpetual Sabbath. But “...he shall NOT enter my rest…” [Adam was banished from that rest and from that land] “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest” [Adam did not make the effort] so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11).
Three:
Adam took the LORD’s name in vain—dismissed the name (as people do when they swear; they use the name but render it powerless, a gutter word)—because he entertained the question, “Did God say?” which meant that he thought YHWH was now a contestable name, up for competition equal with other names, including his own name (“I shall now be my own idol and make my own decisions and worship me as the final authority”). Here, under new information (from Satan), new supposed “good” counsel, YHWH was no longer the ultimate name to Adam. But here is the real “rub” to the issue: Adam, no doubt, was hoping to have a continued relationship with God (to walk with Him that very evening in the garden) while believing in Him in vain! Checkmate.
