WHEN IS GOOD EVIL? OR what is so alarming about a tree that has the knowledge of good?
Genesis 2 reads: The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:4-5 reads: “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For GOD knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like GOD, KNOWING GOOD and evil.”
Now this section of the Bible is fairly well-known and attributed for the understanding that two major things happened to mankind. Evil was introduced to mankind. Death was introduced to mankind. But Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD and Evil. So, what is so alarming about a tree that has the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD?
We know what evil looks like and we can agree that evil is just plain evil. But what does good look like on this tree? When is good bad? What’s wrong with good here? Have you ever wondered why God didn’t just call this the Tree of the Knowledge of Evil?
Now what I am about to say is going to sound very controversial. So just what is wrong with organizations like the Red Cross or celebrities who promote benevolent causes? These are examples of the things referred to about the Knowledge of Good.
All the time you see celebrities who flaunt their immoral lifestyle choices to the public and then they turn around and promote helping children or helping underprivileged groups. People who don’t embrace God at all are doing good things openly? What’s wrong with that?
Good acts producing good for mankind—what is so wrong with that? This takes us back to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The trouble with good produced by people who don’t respect or acknowledge God is that they are essentially saying: “We don’t believe in God—we don’t need a God—and furthermore we can do “good” apart from God.” It is nothing more than man saying we can do good and look we don’t even need God to do good for mankind. We can do whatever we want—we can do good and we can do evil, so who needs God?
So that is the problem—man doing things apart from God—both evil and good. When you are out of the will of God, even if you are doing that which looks good, it is evil to God. So how do you know if you are in the will of God? The only way to really know if you are moving in the will of God is to repent to and surrender completely to Jesus, the Son of God and to make Jesus the Lord and Master of your life. This is in addition to making Jesus your savior and also being water baptized. Then the Holy Spirit can come into your life and change your heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26: 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Paul speaks of scales being removed from his eyes as described in
Acts 9:17: Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Once you surrender everything to Jesus, you will learn His will for your life and find out how to stay in His will by reading the Bible and praying. It doesn’t matter how much goodwill mankind is doing for mankind as long as men are following their own paths and not working within God’s will. Their good isn’t going to count to God when they face Him in the next life no matter how good it looks to the world.
This was the problem of the lukewarm church of Laodicea found in Revelations 3:14-18:
To the Church in Laodicea
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Laodicea is the church rich in everything but God—doing good works in their own power but not consulting God. And God declares this as evil—in fact so evil, He will spit out the church of Laodicea.
Isaiah 64:6 says: All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
Our good apart from God is like filthy rags—no good. If we surrender to Christ and give Him our lives—then He can use us the way He chooses. Then, and only then, will our acts of good be acceptable in the eyes of God. Everything else apart from God is generated from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
See also Matthew 7:21-23
