From Eternity Past

Is God Too Severe?

The tide of woe that flowed from the transgression of our first parents is regarded by man as too awful a consequence for so small a sin. But if they would look more deeply into this question, they might discern their error. In His great mercy God appointed Adam no severe test. The very lightness of the prohibition made the sin exceedingly great. Had some great test been appointed Adam, then those whose hearts incline to evil would have excused themselves saying, “This is a trivial matter, and God is not so particular about little things.” EP 29.2

Many who teach that the law of God is not binding upon man urge that it is impossible to obey its precepts. But if this were true, why did Adam suffer the penalty of transgression? The sin of our first parents brought guilt and sorrow upon the world, and had it not been for the goodness and mercy of God, would have plunged the race into hopeless despair. Let none deceive themselves. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. EP 29.3

After their sin, Adam and Eve earnestly entreated that they might remain in the home of their innocence and joy. They pledged themselves for the future to yield strict obedience to God. But they were told that their nature had become depraved by sin. They had lessened their strength to resist evil. Now, in a state of conscious guilt, they would have less power to maintain their integrity. EP 29.4

In sadness they bade farewell to their beautiful home and went forth to dwell upon the earth, where rested the curse of sin. The atmosphere was now subject to marked changes, and the Lord mercifully provided them with a garment of skins as a protection from the cold. EP 30.1

As they witnessed in drooping flower and falling leaf the first signs of decay, Adam and his companion mourned more deeply than men now mourn over their dead. When the goodly trees cast off their leaves, the scene brought to mind the stern fact that death is the portion of every living thing. EP 30.2

The Garden of Eden remained upon the earth long after man had become an outcast from its pleasant paths. But when the wickedness of men determined their destruction by a flood of waters, the hand that had planted Eden withdrew it from the earth. In the final restitution, when there shall be “a new heaven and a new earth” it is to be restored more gloriously adorned than at the beginning. Revelation 21:1. EP 30.3