Enlightened to See the Hope

Genesis 3:1, 6-10 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice 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 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Adam and Eve partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When they did, their eyes were opened and they knew. The Hebrew word “knew” is yada, meaning they knew from experience. They experienced the good and evil, and they knew that they were naked. Then when they realized that God was coming they hid themselves. Their first response after realizing they were naked was to cover up their sin.

The word “Genesis” means “beginning.” This is the book of beginnings, and Genesis chapter three is the beginning of religion. Their eyes were opened and they covered up their sin. They did not say, “Here we are, Lord. We stand naked before you. We have no excuse. We cannot defend ourselves. We are at your mercy.” They didn’t do that. They tried to cover up. Even when they realized that God knew, they made excuses. Eve said the serpent deceived her, so it was his fault. Adam said that Eve gave him the fruit to eat, so it was her fault. Neither took the responsibility for their actions.

Their eyes were opened, but they were only opened on the soul realm. They were aware of their sin and how they had erred, but not of much more.

Ephesians 1:17-18 (I pray) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened….

The Greek reads, The eyes of your heart (spirit) being enlightened. Referring back to Adam and Eve, their eyes were opened to the sense realm, which is the soul realm. They were aware of their nakedness and their sin. But Paul is saying, That the eyes of your heart being enlightened. This word “enlightened” goes beyond an awareness on the soul realm. It is one thing to have your eyes opened to see the problem. It is quite another thing to have them enlightened to see what is beyond the problem.

Ephesians 1:18-19 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe…

The eyes of Adam and Eve were not enlightened to the level of seeing the hope of glory! They could only see their problem. Their eyes were opened to where they were, but not opened to where they could be. There is the difference.

Paul is praying for the church saying, “I don’t want you to just be aware of what you are in your own nature.” If you only see yourself, you will only see your problems, your sin, and the corruption of your flesh. We must lift up our eyes to see what the Lord is bringing forth, what He wants us to become. So Paul says, “I am praying that you will be enlightened to know what is the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

This is what the Lord wanted Adam and Eve to see. But they were so locked-in to the flesh realm that they could only see what they were. They wanted to cover it up, hoping God couldn’t see it either. But He did see it! And He was trying to get them to open up and realize that they could become children of God.

Romans 8:17-18 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

There is a glory to be revealed. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27. Our flesh cannot find a place in God. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. I Corinthians 15:50. It is good that our eyes are opened to see what we are, for then we have the opportunity for godly sorrow. But if our hearts are not enlightened to the hope of His calling, we only see the negative and then comes the cover up. It is only when we are enlightened by the Spirit of revelation that we become aware of the hope of His calling and the riches of His glory.

Back