Can I Know The Will Of God? Pt. 1 God's Will In Genesis

I want to share a simple series of lessons that answer this basic, fundamental question "Can I know the will of God?"

Much has been said, written, preached and debated about the will of God over a long period of human history.

I will not address any of those issues with this series. Rather, I want to let the scriptures speak and show us whether or not we can know and obey the will of God. 

I propose to do this by looking at texts in each post, beginning with the Old Testament 

God's will with respect to creation. 

Genesis 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 

Genesis 1:1 tells us that God created all things. This text is the first time where we read of God speaking. When He speaks, He makes His will known. 

God spoke and said "Let there be light: and there was light." 

What was God's will? That light should exist. Only God knew what "light" was because He commanded it to exist. 

What happens when God expresses His will? In this case, His will was perfectly fulfilled. 

What does this mean to you and me as believers in Jesus Christ? 

First, that whatever God said, is His will, and we find what He said in the pages of scripture. 

Second, that whenever God speaks His will, it will come to pass. 

Therefore, the remaining creative acts of God that are recorded in Genesis 1 and 2, are expressions of His will, and reflections of His power to make His will happen.

God's will was to create man as a rational, thinking, moral creature. 

Genesis 1:26,27  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

God's will for Adam and Eve to follow.

Genesis 1:28-30  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29) And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30)  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 

What God said to Adam and Eve was His will for them to follow. 

First, He said be fruitful and multiply. His will was for them to bear children, populate the earth. 

Second, He said they were to subdue the earth and have dominion over all other animal life. 

Subduing the earth means agriculture, plowing, planting, growing and harvesting. 

Having dominion over animal life is animal husbandry, providing day to day care and management of flocks and herds. 

Third, God's will was for both man and beast to eat herbs and fruits. 

We can see that the will of God is revealed by what He says or commands. We can also see that His will for Adam and Eve was simple, clear and easy to follow. 

Genesis 2 provides more details about the creation of man and the fact that all other animals were created male and female, but there was no female counterpart for Adam.

God's moral will for Adam has consequences for disobedience. 

Genesis 2:16,17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17)  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 

Jehovah Elohim revealed His will to Adam in the form of a moral command, where Adam could choose to obey or disobey. 

God said that Adam could eat fruit from every tree in the garden of Eden except one. There was a specific tree called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam (and later, Eve) was not permitted to eat fruit from that specific tree. 

Why the single prohibition? Disobeying the will of God in this instance would result in death. "If you eat this fruit, you will die."

The will of God was clear. Eat from every tree and herb that was available, but do not eat fruit from this specific tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

God makes it clear that disobeying His moral will has consequences. 

The danger of listening to other voices instead of God's voice.

Genesis 3:1-3  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2)  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3)  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

We see why God told Adam and Eve about the consequences of disobeying His will. He knew that they would soon be put to the test by the serpent, as Satan used this creature to deceive them.

What can we learn? 

First, Satan began by immediately challenging the will of God. He called into question what God said regarding the specific tree. 

He said "God did not really say you cannot eat of that fruit, did He?"

Eve's reply indicated some uncertainty. She added "neither shall ye touch it" to what God actually said. 

The serpent changed the truth of God into a lie.

Genesis 3:4-6  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5)  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6)  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Next, Satan directly contradicted what God said as He spoke His will to Adam. God said "you will most certainly die if you eat this fruit." Satan said "You will not die."

The serpent went on to tell Eve that God was withholding good fruit from them, because He did not want them to become like "gods" knowing good and evil.

Eve then looked at the forbidden tree more closely and saw it was good to eat, pleasing in appearance and able to make them wise. 

Therefore, she disobeyed the will of God and ate the fruit. She also gave it to Adam to eat and he did.

Spiritual death was the consequence of disobeying God's will.

Genesis 3:7,8  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8)  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 

Though Adam and Eve did not yet know this, their bodies began to die. However, spiritual death was immediate. Their eyes were opened and the guilt of sin and shame overwhelmed them.

Adam and Eve tried to cover up their disobedience, and instead of wanting to walk with God in the garden, they ran and tried to hide. 

The beginning of blame shifting.

Genesis 3:9-13  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10)  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11)  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12)  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13)  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 

Politicians and their spokesmen do this all the time. They attempt to put a favorable "spin" on bad policies.

God called out to Adam and Eve and this reminds us that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. God knew where they were, but He sought to draw their sin out into the open, in order to deal with it.

Adam blamed God for giving him Eve because she gave him the forbidden fruit to eat. 

Eve turned and quickly blamed the serpent for tricking her into eating the forbidden fruit.

Blame shifting began right here in the garden because Adam and Eve disobeyed the clear will of God. 

God pronounced judgment upon the serpent by revealing that the seed of the woman (Messiah) would crush his head, dealing him a death blow. 

God told Adam and Eve that physical death would certainly happen, along with spiritual death. 

Thorns and thistles would grow and farming would require much more work than the Garden of Eden required. 

All women would experience life threatening pain during childbirth. 

Both Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:16-19).

Thoughts to Ponder...

We can know the will of God. We find it by reading what He says in His word.

We can choose to obey God's will, which is the path to blessing.

Unfortunately, we can also choose to ignore or disobey the will of God, and find ourselves on the path of cursing. 

We learned that there are consequences to disobeying the will of God. Spiritual death and physical death. Experiencing guilt and shame for sin. 

We also learned how the consequences of Adam's sin impacts our own behavior.

We will tend to shift the blame or responsibility for our wrong actions onto someone else. 

Finally, let us not miss the fact that God sought out the sinning couple. He drew them out, led them to confess their sin and after pronouncing judgment, He clothed them with skins, so that they might still have a relationship with their Creator. 

This is the final aspect of the will of God in the early portion of Genesis. An innocent substitute would have to die, shedding it's blood, in order to provide a covering for our sins. 

The perfect fulfillment of his is Jesus Christ's death on the cross. 

Genesis 3:21  Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 

The rest of the Bible tells the story of God calling sinners to repentance and obedience to His will. It culminates in the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ, the birth of the church at Pentecost and preaching the gospel of Christ. 

May this encourage our hearts. God seeks out sinners in order to save them. The consequences of our sins have been taken care of by Jesus Christ on the cross. His blood saves us, reconciles us and robes us in His righteousness before God.

Bob