The Hope of the Story of Adam, Eve, and Satan
Our fall into sin is not a death sentence...there is always the hope of redemption
The fall of Adam and Eve is an essential story of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions. In it, there are lessons to be learned about the nature of evil, its hatred for us, and the nature of human beings. It is a sad story of human heedlessness and forgetfulness, followed by a devastating fall from grace. Indeed, God says as much in Scripture:
And indeed, We once made a covenant with Adam but he forgot, and We did not find determination in him. (20:115)
I can only imagine how our father Adam must have felt having to deal with the fact that his mistake led them to fall from the Garden and live a life of hardship (compared to that of Paradise) on this earth.
Yet, the story of Adam and Even is not only a story of a fall from grace. It is also a story of the attainment of Grace. After they ate of the forbidden fruit, God gave them the words to seek forgiveness:
Then Adam was inspired with words [of the prayer of forgiveness] by his Lord, so He accepted his repentance. Surely He is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful. (2:37)
Elsewhere in Scripture these words are revealed to us:
“Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers.” (7:23)
This is truly incredible. Our father falls from grace, makes a mistake, and the the Lord teaches him how to seek forgiveness and then forgives him.
What kind of a Beautiful Lord is this? What kind of a Magnificent God do we worship? What kind of Love and Mercy does our Lord possess?
This teaches us that we should never despair of the Mercy and Grace of the Lord. We can never think - not even for one moment - that any sin we commit is greater than the Mercy of the Lord our God. He says as much in Scripture:
“O My servants who have exceeded the limits against their souls! Do not lose hope in God’s mercy, for God certainly forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (39:53)
There is no where to go from God except back to Him. No matter what. This is the hope of the story of Adam and Eve. And I promise, when we go back to the Lord, we will find Him so eager to see us, meeting us more than half way. What an Awesome God we have.