3. What had God said to Adam about the punishment that would be due to him if he were to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Genesis 2:17.
NOTE: ‘The first moral lesson given to Adam was that of self-denial. The reins of self-government were placed in his hands. Judgement, reason, and conscience were to bear sway. “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.”’ Confrontation, page 12.
4. After Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree, they did not die, but how do we know that innocent substitutes did lose their lives, thus taking the punishment that Adam and Eve should have received? Genesis 3:21.
COMPILERS NOTE: Adam and Eve knew they were naked and these same coats of skins also provided garments for their comfort. However, it was also symbolic of the fact that they were only still alive because they had come ‘under the blood.’ The animals that died covered them, so they could remain alive for a second chance as they lived under these skins. This was also shown more clearly at the first Passover. The Children of Israel were to slay a lamb, which pointed to Jesus, paint their door posts and lintels with its blood and pass underneath into the house to find safety.as the angel of death passed over. This was the ‘plague of death’ that came upon Egypt for their defiance of the true and living God by worshipping gods of their own making. Exodus 12:12 ‘And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgement: I am the Lord.’ They even regarded Pharaoh as a god.
NOTE: ‘Jesus, our great Exemplar, in His life and death taught the strictest obedience. He died, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty, that the honour of God’s law might be preserved and yet man not utterly perish. Sin is the transgression of the law. If the sin of Adam brought such inexpressible wretchedness, requiring the sacrifice of God’s dear Son, what will be the punishment of those, who, seeing the light of truth, set at nought the fourth commandment of the Lord?’ Testimonies, volume 4, page 251.