Reject The First Lie
Solzhenitsyn famously said "Live not by lies." And our human struggle agains the "First Lie" has eternal consequences.
Animal sacrifices are found in many cultures and many belief systems.
Which begs the question: where did this idea that blood was necessary to atone for sins originate?
Glad you asked.
It originated from the beginning. It started as God’s way of exposing just how deadly the “first lie” was and how believing the lie enslaves us to death!
Today is Monday of the Second Week of Great Lent. And the Church gives us this passage from Genesis to show us the origin of the lie that God isn’t good or loving, and God’s loving response to it.
Today’s Lesson: Genesis 3:21-4:7
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”—therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
The human mind is constantly tempted by delusion, self-focus, and deception.
And a major delusion has always been the temptation to believe the lie the snake told Eve in the Garden.
At the heart of that lie was the false notion that God wasn’t good. That God was hiding something from us. That God didn’t really love us. That God was withholding Himself from us.
This lie shows up in millions of ways through human history, and it is always (and I mean ALWAYS) destructive.
The end result of this destructive lie is death. Always. Death in all its forms, physical AND spiritual.
What Can We Take From This?
First, God’s actions after the fall prove He is good and loving, not distant or withholding.
“And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.”
Notice what God does immediately after Adam and Eve sin. He doesn’t abandon them. He doesn’t punish them with distance. He doesn’t withhold Himself.
He provides for them.
Adam and Eve were inadequate to cover their “nakedness.” The fig leaves they sewed together didn’t do the job.
So God Himself, the Author of Life, provides adequate “clothing” to cover the results of humanity’s sin.
He provides skins to cover them.
Which means something died. The first sacrifice. The first bloodshed. Not because God is angry and demands blood to be satisfied. But because God is loving and provides what His children need.
This is the origin of the sacrifice.
Not appeasing an angry God.
But God Himself showing that He will enter into death to provide for His children. He will do this again in the Person of His Son on the Cross, one final time.
The lie says God isn’t good. God is withholding. God is distant. God doesn’t really love you.
But the truth is: God immediately provides. God sacrifices. God enters into death for you. God covers your nakedness with His own hands.
Are you believing the lie that God isn’t good or loving? Or are you seeing His goodness in how He provides for you?
Next, God sends Adam and Eve from the Garden as protection, not punishment, which the lie makes them misinterpret.
“Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden... and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Notice: God sends them out of the Garden.
Not as punishment, but as an act of a loving Father protecting His children.
“Lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” If Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life in their broken state, they would live forever in disconnection from God. That would have made death eternal. And God had other plans for death.
Oh, to be sure, Adam and Eve experienced this as punishment. But there again, they were still under the delusion of the snake! Still believing the lie that God wasn’t good. Still misinterpreting God’s loving protection as harsh rejection.
This is what the lie does. It makes you misinterpret God’s goodness as punishment.
It makes you see His protection as withholding. It makes you question His motives and His intentions.
And this lie persists today. Atheism is the result of the lie that God isn’t good or loving. “If God is good, why does He allow suffering?” Because they’re still believing the snake’s lie, misinterpreting God’s protection as punishment, seeing His loving actions as evidence He doesn’t care.
But the truth is: God always intended to share Himself with us and make us like Him by grace. Everything He does is to protect that intention. Even when it looks like punishment to those still under the delusion.
Are you misinterpreting God’s protection as punishment? Are you questioning His motives because of the lie?
Finally, the lie poisons Cain to see unfairness where God sees sin crouching at the door.
“And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.”
Notice: God accepts Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. And Cain feels it’s unfair. The poison from the snake makes him question God’s goodness. Makes him angry at God’s decision. Makes him fall into despair.
But God responds with love: “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
God doesn’t say, “Too bad, Cain. Deal with it.” He warns Cain. He offers hope. He tells him there’s still a chance to do well and be accepted. He alerts him to the danger: sin is crouching at the door.
But Cain is still under the delusion.
Still believing the lie that God isn’t good. Still seeing unfairness instead of a loving warning. And this poison will be the reason for the first murder.
The lie is always trying to get you to question God’s motives and His intentions.
This lie is meant to keep you distant from God, who loves you more than you yourself know how to love. And this distance always results in death in some form or fashion.
But God turns death upside down and empties it of its power. So why should you continue to act as if death isn’t defeated? Why should you continue believing the lie that God isn’t good or loving?
Are you angry at God because you’re still believing the lie? Are you seeing unfairness where God sees His loving protection?
St. Hesychius the Martyr
Today we commemorate St. Hesychius the Martyr, a soldier who was martyred for his Christian faith during the persecution under Diocletian in the early fourth century. He refused to deny Christ even under torture and was eventually beheaded.
St. Hesychius understood the truth that defeats the lie.
God is good.
God is loving.
God isn’t withholding Himself. God has always intended to share Himself with us and make us like Him by grace.
Even facing death, St. Hesychius didn’t believe the lie that God had abandoned him or that He wasn’t good. He knew God had entered into death to defeat death. He knew God’s protection, even through martyrdom, was loving provision, not punishment.
He rejected the delusion of the evil one. He refused to question God’s motives. He remained in communion with God even through torture because he knew the truth: God is good, God is loving, and death is defeated.
That’s Normal Orthodoxy. Rejecting the lie that God isn’t good or loving. Seeing God’s provision and protection in every circumstance. Knowing that God has always intended to share Himself with us and make us like Him by grace.
Your Response Today
Today is Monday of the Second Week of Great Lent. Our Lenten journey is meant to help us confront all the places in our lives where we are still deluded. Where we’re still believing the lie. Where we’re still questioning God’s goodness because we misinterpret His protection as punishment.
Stop believing the lie. God made garments of skins for Adam and Eve. He provided through sacrifice. He entered into death for you, to destroy death in every way that death torments us.
God sent them from the Garden to protect them, not punish them. He guards the way to the Tree of Life until He can give it to you properly through the Cross.
God warns Cain about sin crouching at the door. He offers hope and acceptance. He loves even when His children are poisoned by the lie.
Press into this season with your whole heart. Confront the delusion. Reject the lie. See God’s goodness in every circumstance. Know that He has always intended to share Himself with you and make you like Him by grace.
Because death is defeated. The lie is exposed. And God is good and loving, always.
Being Orthodox on Purpose means rejecting the lie that God isn’t good or loving, seeing His provision and protection in every circumstance rather than questioning His motives, and knowing that God has always intended to share Himself with us and to make us like Him by grace!
P.S. St. Hesychius the Martyr, you rejected the lie and remained in communion with God even through torture and death. Intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.
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Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV
