Introduction

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow
with it.” Proverbs 10:22, KJV

In the beginning God placed everything that man could use and enjoy in the
Garden. God saw to it that Adam lacked nothing. He lacked no good thing. He
was created in the image of God Himself, leaving nothing to be desired.
God furnished Adam with companionship, ability, abundance, and a
kingdom. He told Adam to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have
dominion over every living creature. Adam was the master of the Garden, and
God was the master of Adam. God’s man was free in every way! He knew no
bondage until that fatal day when he committed high treason against the Lord
God.

The Scriptures tell us that the woman was deceived but the man was not (1
Tim. 2:14). Adam knew that partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil
meant separation from God. Being fully aware of the consequences, he
committed high treason against God and made himself a servant to God’s enemy,
Satan.

God said, “In the day that you eat, you shall surely die.” When Adam
partook of the deadly tree, he died, not physically but spiritually. Spiritual death
—the nature of Satan—overtook his once righteous spirit, and he became one
with Satan. Sin and death consumed him spiritually. He was born again from life
into death. Oh, that horrible day when God’s creation came under the bondage of
corruption and united with Satan, the destroyer. Adam was separated from the
Father who is the God of love. Thereafter, he lived under the dominion of Satan
whose nature is spiritual death. By his own free will, Adam subjected himself
and his kingdom to Satan. Instead of a lord, man became the subject of a
merciless and cruel ruler. By natural birth Adam’s children— all of mankind—
would be born after his new nature of death instead of life, after the nature of
Satan instead of God (Rom. 5:12, 17).

Every phase of Adam’s life came under the curse of his new god, Satan. He
was driven from the Garden; abundance was no longer his to enjoy. He had to
toil and sweat in order to survive. His beautiful life was overrun by thorns and
thistles both in the physical world and in the spiritual world. Sin produced
sickness and disease to plague him. Even his wife’s nature changed from the
nature of God to the nature of Satan. What a catastrophe!