TO SERVE AND PROTECT Published by Sowing the Word of God March 31, 2018 Genesis 2:15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden TO TEND (Abad) AND KEEP (Shamar) IT. What job was Adam, who was called THE SON of God (Luke 3:38), given by God? He was given the task of tending and keeping the Garden of God. Tend is the Hebrew word Abad, which means to serve it or work it, and Keep, which is the Hebrew word Shamar, and means to guard it or protect it. From whom did the garden of God need to be protected? Genesis 3:1a Now THE SERPENT was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of THE DRAGON, THAT SERPENT OF OLD, WHO IS THE DEVIL AND SATAN, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that HE SHOULD DECEIVE the nations NO MORE till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. 1
Adam was to protect the garden from Satan who crept in to deceive, but he didn't do the job that he was given. What might have happened had Adam or Eve rebuked Satan as the Messiah did? Matthew 4:8-10 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, AWAY WITH YOU, SATAN! FOR IT IS WRITTEN, YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE. Had they rebuked Satan and his deception in this way, things would have been very different. In what way did Satan deceive Adam and Eve? He convinced them that they would not die if they transgressed God s command. In what way, do you suppose, is Satan continuing to deceive God's children today? In the very same way, as God s people are being taught that they will live without having to do the things that God has commanded of them in His Word. Here, God gives a similar command regarding His Commandments to the CHILDREN of Israel. Deuteronomy 13:4 YOU shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and KEEP (Shamar) HIS COMMANDMENTS and OBEY HIS VOICE; YOU SHALL SERVE (Abad) HIM and hold fast to Him. Again, God's children are asked, by God, to serve Him, and protect HIS WORD. Is there a pattern here? Now, who is God speaking to here? Proverbs 7:1-3 MY SON, KEEP (Shamar) MY WORDS, And TREASURE MY COMMANDS WITHIN YOU. KEEP (Shamar) MY COMMANDS AND LIVE, AND MY LAW (Torah) as the 2
apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. Again, He is speaking to His sons, or His children. Who are His sons? A son of God is one who has been born of His Seed. Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: THE SEED IS THE WORD OF GOD. John 1:10-14 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, to them HE GAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God is talking to those who have received and believe in the Word made flesh, Yehoshua Messiah (Jesus Christ), and have been reborn through the Seed of His Word. We, like Adam, are called His sons through the blood of Yehoshua Messiah, and like Adam, God told us to serve and protect His commands, and His Law (Torah.) By guarding and protecting God's Words, which are called Truth, we are serving Him. From whom does God's Word need to be protected? From the dragon; that old twisted serpent the devil and Satan, the lawless one, who twists scripture, and deceives God's children into transgressing God's Word given to them from the beginning. II Thessalonians 2:7-12 For the mystery of LAWLESSNESS IS ALREADY AT WORK; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then THE LAWLESS ONE will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of THE LAWLESS ONE is 3
according to the working of SATAN, with all power, signs, and LYING wonders, and with all unrighteous deception AMONG THOSE WHO PERISH, because they did not receive THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that THEY SHOULD BELIEVE THE LIE, that they all may be condemned who did not BELIEVE THE TRUTH but had pleasure in UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. Those who perish did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. Psalms 119:142 Your RIGHTEOUSNESS is an EVERLASTING righteousness, And YOUR LAW (Torah) IS TRUTH. John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. YOUR WORD IS TRUTH. 1 Peter 1:22-23 Since YOU HAVE PURIFIED YOUR SOULS IN OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, HAVING BEEN BORN AGAIN, NOT OF CORRUPTIBLE SEED BUT INCORRUPTIBLE, THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD WHICH LIVES AND ABIDES FOREVER John 8:43-47 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO LISTEN TO MY WORD. YOU ARE OF YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and DOES NOT STAND IN THE TRUTH, BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF IT. But because I TELL THE TRUTH, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I TELL THE TRUTH, why do you not believe Me? HE WHO IS OF GOD HEARS GOD S WORDS; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. II Corinthians 11:2-4 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I HAVE BETROTHED YOU TO ONE HUSBAND, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest 4
somehow, AS THE SERPENT DECEIVED EVE BY HIS CRAFTINESS, SO YOUR MINDS MAY BE CORRUPTED FROM THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST. For if he who comes preaches ANOTHER JESUS whom we have not preached, or if you receive A DIFFERENT SPIRIT which you have not received, or A DIFFERENT GOSPEL which you have not accepted you may well put up with it! II Peter 3:14-18 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation as also OUR BELOVED BROTHER PAUL, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also IN ALL his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are SOME THINGS HARD TO UNDERSTAND, WHICH UNTAUGHT AND UNSTABLE PEOPLE TWIST TO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION, AS THEY DO ALSO THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, BEWARE LEST YOU ALSO FALL from your own steadfastness, being LED AWAY WITH THE ERROR OF THE WICKED; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 1 Peter 2:6-8 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he WHO BELIEVES ON HIM will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, TO YOU WHO BELIEVE, He is precious; BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE DISOBEDIENT, The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone, and A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense. THEY STUMBLE, BEING DISOBEDIENT TO THE WORD, TO WHICH THEY ALSO WERE APPOINTED. Psalm 119:165 Great peace have THOSE WHO LOVE YOUR LAW, And NOTHING CAUSES THEM TO STUMBLE. 5
The voice of the serpent still speaks to God s children to this day. Genesis 3:4 Then THE SERPENT SAID TO THE WOMAN, YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE." Revelation 12:17 And THE DRAGON WAS ENRAGED WITH THE WOMAN, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST. Through the blood of Yehoshua Messiah, and by the grace of God, we have been given the right to once again be called children of the living Elohim, by receiving the Seed of His Word within our hearts, and manifesting that Word in our lives. What job have we been given in this world? We ve been given the same job that Adam was given; to serve or work (Abad) for God, and guard or protect (Shamar) the Word of His Kingdom. Then the Lord God took the sons of His Kingdom and put them in the world TO SERVE (Abad) Him, and PROTECT (Shamar) His Word and His Kingdom from that old serpent the Devil who has not changed his deceptive ways to this very day. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A MAN WHO SOWED GOOD SEED IN HIS FIELD; but while men slept, HIS ENEMY CAME AND SOWED TARES among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Do you want us then to go and gather them up? But he said, No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. 36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field. He 6
answered and said to them: HE WHO SOWS THE GOOD SEED IS THE SON OF MAN. THE FIELD IS THE WORLD, THE GOOD SEEDS ARE THE SONS OF THE KINGDOM, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. THE ENEMY WHO SOWED THEM IS THE DEVIL, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and THEY WILL GATHER OUT OF HIS KINGDOM ALL THINGS THAT OFFEND, AND THOSE WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun IN THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die," but the woman remembered the Word of her Husband which had been implanted in her heart, and said to the serpent, "In the name of Yehoshua the Messiah, away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve. 7