Glory of Righteousness (eBook)

1. The Origin of Conscience

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.”

God gives here a command to Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day that he would eat from it, he would surely die. Then Satan comes and tempts Eve with deception by bringing doubt about the Word of God that was spoken to them. As we all know, Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree and something interesting happened to them when they did, beside the fact that their spirits died instantly and were separated from God. Let’s read it in Genesis 3:6–7:

Genesis 3:6–7 (NKJV)

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

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.

This passage tells us that the moment they ate from the fruit, their eyes were opened. What eyes? Didn’t they see before? Of course, they had seen perfectly before, but they had been walking and seeing by faith. That doesn’t mean they were not aware of their natural surroundings and were not seeing and enjoying the garden, the animals, and the whole of creation before the fall. However, because death had not entered onto the scene yet, the natural world was in tune with the spiritual world in such a way that there was no conflict between the two worlds. In this perfect harmony, they were more God-conscious than self-conscious. They were dominated more by the spiritual world in their inner vision and perception. The spiritual things were more real to them than the physical things. However, when they ate of that fruit, their perception of spiritual things diminished, and their perception of the physical things became dominant. We consider it normal today the way you and I see, feel, and think in the present, but it’s actually abnormal compared to the way God initially created us. Through our new birth, we receive a new spirit inside of us that is capable again of walking by faith and not by sight. The apostle Paul says the following in 2 Corinthians 5:7 and 5:17:

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

We are called to walk by faith in what the Word says about our new identity and not walk by what we see with our physical eyes. Through the eyes of the new spirit, we can behold and perceive that all things have become new for us. We, as New Testament believers, should go back to the way Adam and Eve were intended to be. Together, the spiritual realm, with what the new spirit holds inside of us, should be more real to us than anything else. That must become more real to us than this natural, physical, and tangible realm. It’s so sad that very few Christians today live in and from the spiritual realm. We are physical, carnal beings influenced and dominated by what we see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. In 2 Kings 6:15–17, Elisha’s servant had his spiritual eyes closed, and Elisha prayed that his spiritual eyes would be opened. Let’s read:

2 Kings 6:15–17 (NKJV)

15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

16So he answered, “Don’t fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

In this instance, it was the exact opposite of what happened to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had been walking by faith prior to their fall, but when they ate of the tree, the eyes of their hearts were closed to spiritual things and opened to physical ones. Here, on the other hand, Elisha’s servant had the eyes of his heart closed to spiritual things and open to the natural ones. But when Elisha prayed for him, God opened the servant’s spiritual eyes so he was able to see, by faith, what Elisha was already seeing. Coming back to Genesis 3:7, it says that the eyes of both Adam and Eve were opened, they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Let’s continue reading up to Verse 11:

Genesis 3:8–11 (NKJV)

8And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden.

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

Let’s focus on Verse 11 for a minute and think about it. “Who told you that you were naked?” This is not talking about just being without clothes. Who told you that you were defeated? Who told you that you were sick? Who told you that you were poor? Where did you get this knowledge? Who told you all these things? This is important! Where did you get this knowledge? Here comes into play the human conscience.

First, Satan didn’t tell Adam and Eve that they were naked. There is no scripture to indicate that. When they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they intuitively and automatically recognized their nakedness, their sin, and their failure. Immediately, fear and shame came as a result. And the very fact that God asked them, “Who told you that you were naked?” shows that God was not the one who told them. He was the one who asked them the question. God didn’t tell them that they were naked, so where did they get this from? How did they know that they were naked so they would go and hide from God? Think about this. The Lord has never given them a reason to be afraid of Him. He created the perfect environment, the perfect world, and everything was awesome. There was no reason for them to be fearful toward God in the sense of feeling threatened by Him. It’s obvious that this knowledge came from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God knew that they were naked before. They were not clothed in the glory of God or in a robe of righteousness, as some people preach. We can clearly see this in Genesis 2:25:

Genesis 2:25 (NKJV)

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

If they had been clothed in some kind of robe of glory or light or righteousness, then they would not have been naked. This would be an incorrect statement. The Bible says that “they were both naked, the man and his wife.” God knew that they were naked, but He never mentioned it to them. He never wanted them to be aware of that. He didn’t create us, human beings, with a conscience. The conscience is defined as the faculty of being able to discern right and wrong in one’s own actions. God didn’t create us with the ability to sit down and judge ourselves and constantly evaluate whether we are right or wrong. He created us as innocents. Adam and Eve were completely naked, and they were not ashamed.

Let’s think about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for a moment. The name of that tree is descriptive of our conscience, isn’t it? When Adam and Eve ate of that tree, this must have been the place and time they received a conscience. It was either that God created them with an inactive conscience, which was activated when they ate of the tree, or the tree actually gave them a conscience. I am not exactly sure which way it was, but I tend to believe that the tree is what actually gave them the conscience. I say this because of what the Bible says about the tree of life in comparison with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

Genesis 3:22–23 (NKJV)

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

23...