Art: Hi Folks. We’re going to pick up where we left off last time in the conversation between Art (that’s me) and Rabbi Mordecai Klein. Once again, this is an imagined conversation.
Art: So Rabbi, the Bible tells us that this child, the Son of God and Messiah, was fully man and fully God. He was and is the God-Man.
Rabbi: But Art, why would God allow such a thing?
Art: As I said last time, God didn’t just allow this. He brought it to pass. He ordained it.
Rabbi: But why?
Art: Rabbi, please turn to Genesis 2 and read verses 15-17.
Rabbi: Sure. That’s in the Torah and I know it by heart.
Genesis 2:15–17 NKJV
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Art: Rabbi, wasn’t this instruction or teaching given to Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil the only law that Adonai gave Adam in the garden?
Rabbi: I believe so. I know of no other prohibitions that Adonai gave to Adam at this point.
Art: Please go back to chapter one in Genesis and tell me what verse 26 says.
Genesis 1:26 NKJV
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Art: So, Adonai gave Adam dominion over all the earth. The LORD, Adonai, made Adam ruler of the earth and all that was in it. Agreed?
Rabbi: Yes, Art. That is the truth.
Art: Now, the Torah tells us that Adam needed a helper, a helper comparable to him. So what did Adonai do, Rabbi?
Rabbi: The Torah tells us.
Genesis 2:21–22 NKJV
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
So, Adonai made a wife for Adam. And something else is to be noted here, Art.
Genesis 2:25 NKJV
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Art: That is an amazing statement, Rabbi. Adam and Eve had no shame at being naked.
But something bad happened after that. A deceiver comes into the picture. Let’s read Genesis 3:1
Genesis 3:1 NKJV
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
You know what happened after that, Rabbi. The serpent tricked Eve into going against the will of Adonai. She ate from the forbidden tree and she gave of this forbidden fruit to her husband, Adam, and he also ate of it. And what happened then?
Rabbi: Their eyes were opened, Art.
Genesis 3:7 NKJV
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
So now they knew they were naked. And they must have been ashamed because they covered themselves.
Art: Yes, Rabbi. They disobeyed God and something fundamentally changed in both of them. Sin entered into them. We’re talking about the Fall of mankind here.
Rabbi: How do you know that, Art?
Art: I need you to trust me now, Mordecai. At this point we need help from the Brit Hadasha, the New Testament. It will provide the answer to your question.
Rabbi: OK, Art. I trust you. Let’s go to the Brit Hadasha.
Art: Let’s read from Rabbi Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Romans 5:12 NLT
12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Art: So, we know sin entered the world when Adam sinned. There was no sin in the world before that. Sin entered Adam and sin entered Eve. Because of this, every human being ever born is born with sin in them. It’s as if sin was and is an inherited disease just as if it was an inherited form of cancer transmitted by faulty genes. The difference is that cancer and faulty genes are physical and sin is spiritual. Because sin was in Adam and Eve, our first parents, they have passed this spiritual disease on to each and every one of their descendants, including you and me. No one is born without indwelling sin. Absolutely no one.
Rabbi: That makes perfect sense, Art. Adonai said not to eat of the forbidden fruit. Our first parents disobeyed, they sinned against Adonai and something fundamental and profound entered into them both: sin. It’s almost as if sin is a substance.
Art: It’s a spiritual substance, Rabbi. A spiritual substance that causes both spiritual and material havoc.
Rabbi: But Adam and Eve didn’t die that very day, as Adonai promised, did they?
Art: Yes, they did. They died that very day spiritually. They were separated from God and had to leave the Garden. Again, the Torah tells us.
Genesis 3:24 NKJV
24 So He (Adonai) drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Rabbi: And what about that mamzer, the serpent? Was he punished for what he did?
Art: The Torah tells us. God speaks to the serpent.
Genesis 3:15 TLV
15 I will put animosity between you and the woman— between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.
Art: Rabbi, here is where God first shows us what is going to happen to the person who inhabited the serpent. He is Satan, the devil, also know as the Adversary. The Seed of the woman, the Messiah, is going to send him to hell for all eternity.
Rabbi: But, Art, you still haven’t told me why the Messiah has to be fully man and fully God.
Art: This is heavy stuff, Rabbi. We’ll do it next time. Thank you for your patience and for bearing with me.
