God gives man His Word because He loves man and gives man a free will - freely to obey His Word or to reject His Word. The basis of given man a free will is His love for man and His love to have fellowship with man. This is His primary purpose when He created man in His own image (Gen.1:27, NKJV) and commanded man to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28).
God's Word for Adam
God gave Adam a free will. He could always choose to obey or disobey. Free will is a mockery if there is no choice. After creating Adam, God did not remain around, like a policeman on duty, following Adam and saying, "Now do this!" or "Don't do that!".
Apparently, God left Adam and Eve for significant periods on their own. Genesis 3:8 says, "...the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day ...". That would be about the time that it was getting a little cool and the evening breeze was beginning to blow. It seems clear that God had not been in the Garden all day. The verse seems to suggest that God used to drop in for a visit and fellowship with Adam and Eve in the evening.
Although God did ot remain permanently present in person in the Garden, He left with Adam one permanent representative, one thing that always represented God, one thing that never departed from Him - HIS WORD. God left Adam the Word. Therefore, the basis of Adam's relationship to God was his relationship to the Word of God. God gave Adam not the entire Bible but only two verses:
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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'" (Genesis 2:16,17).
Take note of the three successive phases to God's Word to Adam:
1. Permission. "You may eat of every tree that is in the Garden except one".
2. Prohibition. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat".
3. Warning. "In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die".
As long as Adam believed and obeyed God's Word, no evil could touch him. Nothing could take away his peace, his life or his peace. But, Adam chose to obey the word of Satan who spoke, "You will not surely die" (Gen. 3:4). Adam and Eve were confronted by a situation where they have to exercise free will to obey God or to obey Satan. The tragic error was that they rejected the Truth of God's Word and received Satan's lie.
God's Word for Christians
There is a direct parallel truth between Adam's situation in the Garden and the situation confronted by the new creation in Christ in the present dispensation.
Christians are believers created anew in Christ. Just like what happened in Adam's time, God does not wave a big stick at us all the time commanding us, "Do this!" or "Don't do that!". Instead, He left with us one permanent representative of Himself - HIS WORD, the entire BIBLE.
Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23).
In other words, God the Father and Jesus will love the christian who keeps His Word. Not only that, God the Father and God the Son will come to him and dwell with him. God comes to us and abides with us through His Word. The spiritual principle is - the place that God's Word has in our lives is the place that God Himself has. The same honour and respect that we owe to God, we owe to His Word. The fact is that we do not love God more than we love His Word. The test of our relationship to God is our attitude toward His Word.
The Authority of God's Word
The psalmist David understood the authority of God's Word;
"Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89).
Jesus Himself said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt.24:35).
David said further that, "The entirety of Your word is truth" (Ps.119:160).
In other words. the Bible is true from Genesis 1:1 right on through to the very last verse of Revelation. Conversly, we can say the "The entirety of Satan's word is lie"!
Anyone who compromises the teaching of the Bible compromises and denies the truth of God's word. This is tantamount to committing the same sin committed by Adam who denied the Word of God, but took heed of the word of Satan instead.
If only Adam had said:
"Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You" (Ps. 119:11).
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