Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER 3
Schoolmaster to Christ
GENESIS CHAPTER 3
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3 (KJV)
This chapter abounds in weighty principles; and sets forth the truth of man's ruin and God's remedy. With a bold question as to Divine revelation, the serpent enters – terrible model and forerunner of all questions raised by those who faithfully serve the serpent's cause in the world; questions that are only met by the supreme authority and Divine majesty of Holy Scripture.
"Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" This was Satan's crafty enquiry. Had the Word of God been dwelled richly in Eve's heart, her answer might have been direct, simple, and conclusive. The true way to meet Satan's questions and suggestions is to repel them by the Word. To let them near the heart is to lose the only power by which to answer them. The devil did not openly present himself and say, "I am the devil, the enemy of God, and I am come to traduce Him, and ruin you." This would not be serpent-like; and, yet, he really did all this, by raising questions in the mind of the creature. To admit the question, "hath God said?" when knowing that God has spoken, is infidelity; and the very fact of admitting it, proves a total incapacity to meet it. Hence, in Eve's case, the form of her reply evidenced the fact that she had admitted the serpent's crafty enquiry to her heart. Instead of adhering strictly to the exact words of God, she adds thereto.
Either adding to, or taking from God's Word clearly proves that His Word is not dwelling in the heart, or governing the conscience. If we are finding enjoyment in obedience, if we are living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Jehovah, we will be acquainted with, and fully alive to, His Word – not indifferent to it. In His conflict with Satan, the Lord Jesus accurately applied the Word, because He lived by it, esteeming it more than food. He could not misquote or misapply the Word; neither could He be indifferent about it. Not so Eve. She added to what God had said. His command was simple enough, "Thou shalt not eat of it." To this she added, "neither shall ye touch it." These were Eve's words, and not God's. He had said nothing about touching; so that whether her misquotation proceeded from ignorance, indifference, a desire to represent God in an arbitrary light, or from all three together; it is plain that she was off the true ground of simple confidence in, and subjection to, God's holy word. "By the words of thy mouth, I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer."
Nothing possesses more commanding interest than the way in which the Word is put forward throughout the sacred canon, together with the immense importance of strict obedience thereto. Obedience to God’s Word is due simply because it is His Word. It is blasphemy to raise a question when God has spoken. We are the creature; He is the Creator. Therefore, God may justly claim our obedience. The infidel might call this "blind obedience;" but the Christian calls it intelligent obedience, because it is based on the knowledge that it is God's Word being obeyed. If we did not have God's Word, we might actually be in blindness and darkness, because the only ray of Divine Light within or around us emanates from God's pure and eternal Word. When we know that God has spoken, obedience becomes the highest order of intelligent actions. When the soul gets up to God, it has reached the highest source of authority. No man, nor body of men, can claim obedience to their word, because it is theirs; hence man’s creeds, dogmas, religious organizations are arrogant and impious. But, by his claim of obedience man usurps the prerogative of God; and all who yield it, rob God of His right. Such “religious” men presume to place themselves between God and the conscience; and who can do this with impunity? When God speaks, man is bound to obey. Happy are they who do so. Woe to them who do not. Infidelity may question if God has spoken; superstition may place human authority between one’s conscience and what God has spoken; by both we are effectually robbed of the Word of God, and of the deep blessedness of obedience.
There is blessing in every act of obedience; but the moment the soul hesitates, the enemy has the advantage; he will use it to thrust the soul further and further from God. Thus, in the chapter before us, the question, "Hath God said?" was followed up, "Ye shall not surely die." First, the question was raised as to whether God had spoken, followed the open contradiction of what He had said. This solemn fact should be abundantly sufficient to show how dangerous it is to admit a question near the heart regarding the fullness and integrity of God’s Holy Word. A refined rationalism is very near akin to bold infidelity; and the infidelity that dares to judge God's Word is not far from the atheism that denies His existence. How could Eve have stood by as God was contradicted? No doubt because of looseness and indifference regarding God’s Word. She, too, had her phases of Infidelity: she allowed God to be contradicted by a creature simply because God’s Word had lost its proper authority over her heart, conscience, and understanding.
This provides solemn warning to those who are in danger of being ensnared by rationalism. There is no true security, save in a profound faith in the plenary inspiration and supreme authority of ‘all Scripture.’ The soul that is endowed with this has a triumphant answer to every objector. "There is nothing new under the sun." The self-same evil that now corrupts the very springs of Christianity is that which, in the Garden of Eden, laid Eve's heart in ruins. The first step in her downward course was hearkening to the question, "Hath God said." Then, from stage to stage, she went on until finally bowing before the serpent, treating him as her god, and the fountain of truth. Yes, the serpent displaced God; displacing God’s truth with a lie. So it was with fallen man; and so it is with fallen man's posterity. God's Word has no place in the heart of an unregenerate man; but the lie of the serpent has. If the formation of man's heart could be examined, no doubt a place would be found therein for Satan's lie, but not for the truth of God. Hence the force of the word to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again."
But, it is important to observe the way in which the serpent sought to shake Eve's confidence in God's truth, bringing her under the power of infidel "reason." He shook her confidence in God's love. "For," he said, "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil" (v 6). In other words, ‘There is positive advantage connected with the eating of that fruit of which God is seeking to deprive you; why, therefore, should you believe God's testimony? you cannot place confidence in one who, manifestly, does not love you, for, if He loved you, why would He prohibit your enjoyment of a positive privilege?’
Eve's security against the influence of this reasoning would have been simple repose in the infinite goodness of God. She should have said to the serpent, ‘I have the fullest confidence in God's goodness, therefore, I consider it impossible that He could withhold any real good from me. If that fruit were good for me, I would surely have it; but the fact of being forbidden by God proves that I would be no better, but much worse off by the eating of it. I am convinced of God's love and I am convinced of God's truth, and I believe that you are evil for trying to draw my heart away from the fountain of goodness and truth. Get thee behind me, Satan.’
This would have been a noble reply. But it was not given. Her confidence in truth and love gave way. There is little place for God’s love or truth in the heart of the fallen. The heart of man is a stranger to both, until renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, it is deeply interesting to turn from Satan's lie in reference to the truth and love of God, to the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came from the bosom of the Father in order to reveal what He really is. "Grace and truth" – the very things man lost, in his fall – "came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). He was "the faithful witness" of what God was (Rev. 1:5). Truth reveals God as He is; but this truth is connected with the revelation of perfect grace; thus, as sinners, we find with unspeakable joy, that the revelation of what God is becomes the basis of our eternal salvation, not our destruction. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). If we truly know God, we have life. The loss of the knowledge of God is death; but the knowledge of God is life. This makes life a thing entirely outside of us, and dependent on what God is. It is not said that "this is life eternal, to know themselves" – though no doubt the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self go together, still, "eternal life" is connected with God, and not with self. To know God as He is, is life; to know Him not is death; eternal banishment from His presence.
It is important to understand that what really stamps our character and condition is ignorance or knowledge of God. This marks our character here, and fixes our destiny hereafter. Am I evil in my thoughts, evil in my words, and evil in my actions? If so, it is the result of being ignorant of God. On the other hand, Am I pure in thought, holy in conversation, gracious in action? If so, it is the practical result of having knowledge of God. To know God is the solid ground of endless bliss – everlasting glory. To know Him not is the opposite. The knowledge of God is everything, quickening the soul, purifying the heart, tranquillizing the conscience, elevating the affections, sanctifying the entire character and conduct.
Is it any wonder that Satan's grand design was to rob the creature of knowledge of the only true God? He misrepresented the blessed God, saying He was not kind. This was the secret spring of all the mischief. It matters not the shape of sin; it matters not through what channel it has flowed, under what head it has ranged itself, or in what garb it has clothed itself; it is all to be traced to one thing: ignorance of God. The most refined cultivated moralist, the most devout religionist, the benevolent philanthropist, if ignorant of God, is as far from life and true holiness, as the publican and harlot. The prodigal was just as much a sinner when he crossed the threshold, as when he was feeding swine in the far country (Lk. 15:13-15). So it was in Eve's case. The moment she took herself out of the hands of God, out of the position of absolute dependence upon, and subjection to, His Word, she gave herself to the government of sense, which Satan used for her overthrow.
The sixth verse presents three things; "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life:" which three, as the apostle states, comprehend "all that is in the world." When God was shut out, these things took the lead. If we do not abide in the happy assurance of God's love and truth, His grace and faithfulness, we surrender ourselves to the government of one, or maybe all of the above principles; and this is simply another name for the government of Satan. Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as man's free-will. If man be self-governed, he is actually governed by Satan; and if not, he is governed by God.
The three great agencies by which Satan works are "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." In the temptation, Satan presented these things to the Lord Jesus. He began by tempting the Second Man to take Himself out of the position of absolute dependence upon God. "Command these stones that they be made bread." Why did Satan ask Him to do this? Not to make Himself what He was not as in the case of the first man, but to prove what He was. Then Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of this world, and all their glory. Then, conducting Him to a pinnacle of the temple, he tempted the Lord to give Himself, suddenly and miraculously, to the admiration of the assembled people below (Compare Matthew 4:1-11 with Luke 4:1-13). The plain design of each temptation was to induce the Blessed One to step from the position of entire dependence on God and perfect subjection to His will. But, "it is written" was the unvarying reply of the only dependent, self-emptied, perfect man. Others might manage for themselves; but God managed for Him.
What an example for the faithful, under all their circumstances. Jesus stayed close to Scripture, and conquered; with only the sword of the Spirit, He stood in the conflict, gaining a glorious triumph. What a contrast with the first Adam! One pleaded for God; the other against Him. The garden, with all its delights, in the one case; the wilderness, with all its privations, in the other: confidence in Satan, in the one case; confidence in God in the other: complete defeat in the one case; complete victory in the other. Blessed for ever be the God of all grace, Who has laid our help on One so mighty to conquer – mighty to save.
We now inquire regarding how far Adam and Eve realized the serpent's promised advantage. Such an inquiry will lead us to an important point in connection with the fall of man. The Lord God had ordered that in and by the fall, man would get a conscience, knowledge of both good and evil. Evidently, man could not have had this before; he could not have known about evil, because evil was not there to be known. He was in a state of innocence, which is a state of ignorance of evil. Man got a conscience in, and by, fall; and the very first effect of conscience made him a coward. Satan utterly deceived the woman. He said, ‘Your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil!’ But Satan left out a basic part of the truth, that they should know good without the power to do it; and that they should know evil, without the power to avoid it. Their very attempt to elevate themselves in the scale of moral existence involved the loss of true elevation. They became degraded, powerless, Satan-enslaved, conscience-smitten, terrified, creatures. "The eyes of them both were opened," no doubt; but to what a sight – their own nakedness. Their eyes opened on their own "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" condition. "They knew that they were naked" – sad fruit of the tree of knowledge! They did not attain fresh knowledge of Divine excellence – no fresh beam of Divine light from the pure and eternal fountain. No; after knowledge, the earliest result of their disobedient effort was discovering they were naked.
We need to understand this; we need to also be aware of how conscience works, that it makes cowards of us. Many misunderstand this; thinking that conscience brings us to God. Is this how it operated in the case of Adam and Eve? No; nor will it in the case of any sinner. How could it? How could the sense of what we are bring us to God, if not accompanied by the faith of what God is? No; it produces shame, self-reproach, remorse, anguish. Also, it may give birth to certain efforts on our part to remedy the condition it discloses; but these efforts do not draw us to God, but instead act as a blind, hiding Him from our view. So, in the case of Adam and Eve, the discovery of their nakedness was followed by their effort to cover it. "They sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons." This is the first record we have of man's attempt to remedy his condition by his own device; and the attentive consideration thereof affords little instruction as to the real character of human religiousness in all ages. In the first place we notice that not only in Adam's case, but in every case, man's effort to remedy his condition is based on the sense of nakedness. Truly we are naked in God’s sight, and all our works are the result of being so. This can never avail. We must know that we are clothed, before we can do anything acceptable in the sight of God.
This is the difference between true Christianity and human religiousness. The former is founded on man being clothed; the latter, on being naked. The more we examine the genius of man's religion, the more we see its insufficiency to remedy his state. It may avail for a time; as long as death, judgment, and God’s wrath are looked at from a distance, if at all. But, when we look these realities straight in the face, we find that ‘our’ religion is a bed too short for us to stretch ourselves upon – a covering too narrow for us wrap ourselves in.
The moment Adam heard the voice of the Lord in Eden, "he was afraid." Why? Because, as he confessed, "I was naked." Yes, naked, although he wore an apron. Obviously, his covering did not satisfy conscience. Had his conscience been divinely satisfied, he would not have been afraid. "If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God" (1 John 3:20, 21). The human conscience cannot find repose in man's religious efforts, nor can the holiness of God. Adam's apron could not screen him from the eye of God; and he could not stand in His presence naked; therefore he fled to hide. This is the end result of conscience. It causes us to hide from God. In other words, our own religiousness offers only a hiding-place from God. This is a miserable provision, because sooner or later each of us must meet God; and if we have a bad conscience regarding what we are, then, because we know only our own unfitness, we will be, we must be afraid.
If Adam had known God's perfect love, he would not have been afraid. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4:17, 18). But Adam did not know, because he believed the serpent's lie. The fact that Adam could not venture into God’s presence, demonstrates that he wasn’t thinking of God’s love. He could not do it. Sin was there, and God and sin can never meet. As long as there is sin on the conscience, there must be the sense of distance from God. "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity" (Hab. 1:13). Holiness and sin cannot dwell together. Wherever it is found, sin can only be met by the wrath of God.
But, there is something beside the conscience in what we are. There is the revelation of what He is; and this revelation the fall of man really brought out. In creation, God did not fully revealed Himself: He revealed "His eternal power and Godhead,"1 Theiotes, but He did not reveal the deep secrets of His nature and character. Therefore, Satan made a grand mistake in meddling with God's creation. He only proved to be the instrument of his own eternal defeat, and confusion. His lie gave occasion for the displays of the full truth in reference to God. Creation alone would never have brought out what God was. There was infinitely more in Him than power and wisdom. There was love, mercy, holiness, righteousness, goodness, tenderness, long-suffering. Where could all these be displayed? – in a world of sinners. At first, God came to create; and, then, when the serpent presumed to meddle with creation, God came down to save. This was brought out in the first words uttered by the Lord God, after man's fall. "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, “Where art thou?" This question proved two things. It proved that man was lost, and that God had come to seek. It proved man's sin, and God's grace. "Where art thou?" Amazing grace faithfulness, disclosing, in the very question itself, the truth about man's condition: grace, bringing out the truth about God’s character and attitude, in reference to fallen man. Man was lost; but God came down to look for him – to bring him out of his hiding place, so that in the happy confidence of faith he might find a hiding place in Himself. This was grace. To create man out of the dust of the ground was power; but to seek man in his lost estate was grace. But who can explain all that is wrapped up in God seeking a sinner? What did God see in man that led the Blessed One to seek for him? Just what the shepherd saw in the lost sheep; what the woman saw in the lost piece of silver; and what the father saw in the lost son. Yes, the sinner is valuable to God; but exactly why only eternity will unfold.
Adam’s reply to the faithful and gracious inquiry of the Blessed God reveals the awful depth of evil into which he had fallen. ‘And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.’
Here, Adam actually lays the blame of his shameful fall on the circumstances in which God had placed him, and thus, indirectly, on God Himself. This has always been the way of fallen man. Everyone and everything is blamed but self. In the case of true conviction, the reverse is exhibited. "Is it not I that have sinned" is the inquiry of a truly humbled soul. Had Adam known himself, how different would have been his style! But he knew not himself or God, so, instead of placing the blame entirely on himself, he threw it on God.
Here was man's terrible position. He had lost his dominion, dignity, happiness, purity, peace; all was gone from him; and, worse still, he accused God of being the cause of it.2 There he stood, a lost, ruined, guilty, and yet, self-vindicating, God-accusing sinner.
But, just at this point, God began to reveal Himself, and His purposes of redeeming love; and herein lay the true basis of man's peace and blessedness. Only when man has come to the end of himself, does God show what He is; but not until then. The scene must be entirely cleared of man’s vain pretensions, empty boastings, and blasphemous reasoning, before God can or will reveal Himself. When man was hidden behind the trees of the garden, God unfolded His wondrous plan of redemption through the instrumentality of the bruised seed of the woman. Here we are taught a valuable principle of truth regarding what will peacefully and confidingly, bring one into the presence of God.
We have already learned that conscience will never affect this. Conscience drove Adam behind the trees of the garden; revelation brought him out into the presence of God. The consciousness of what he was terrified him; the revelation of what God was tranquillized him. This is truly consolatory for a sin burdened heart. When the reality of what we are is met by the reality of what God is; salvation is near.
There is a point where God and man must meet, whether in grace or judgment, and that point is where both are revealed as they are. Happy are they who reach that point in grace. Woe to them who reach it in judgment. God deals with what we are; and deals with us as He is. In the cross, we see God descending in grace to the lowest depths, settling our sinful condition, providing perfect peace. When, by true faith, we meet God in our actual condition, He Himself provides an adequate eternal remedy. But all who do not by faith see God in the cross will meet Him one day in judgment, according to what He is, with what they are.
The moment we realize our real state, we can find no rest until we have found God in the cross, and then we rest in God Himself. He is the rest and hiding-place of the truly believing soul. This puts human works and human righteous in their proper place. Those who rest in human things have not arrived at a true knowledge of self. It is impossible that a divinely quickened conscience can rest in anything save the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God. Any effort to establish one's own righteousness comes from ignorance of the righteousness of God. In light of Divine testimony, about "the seed of the woman," Adam’s leaf apron was worthlessness. The magnitude of what had to be done proved the sinner's total inability to do it. Sin had to be put away – could man do that? No, it was by him it had come in. The serpent's head had to be bruised – could man do that? No, he had become the serpent's slave. God's claims had to be met – could man do that? No, he had, already, trampled them under foot. Death had to be abolished – could man do that? No, by sin he had introduced it, imparting its terrible sting.
No matter how the matter is viewed, we see the sinner's complete impotency; and, as a consequence, the presumptuous folly of all who attempt to assist God in the stupendous work of redemption.
However, even though Adam could never accomplish all that had to be done, yet God revealed that by the seed of woman, God Himself would achieve every jot and tittle thereof. In short, we see that God graciously took the entire matter into His own hands. He made it a question between Himself and the serpent. Although the man and woman were individually and in various ways called on to reap the bitter fruits of their sin, yet it was to the serpent that the Lord God said, "Because thou hast done this." The serpent was the source of the ruin; the seed of the woman was to be the source of the redemption. Adam heard all this, and believed it. In the power of that belief, "he called his wife's name the mother of all living.” This was a precious fruit of faith in God's recreation. From nature's point of view, Eve might be called, "the mother of all dying." But, in the judgment of faith, she was the mother of all living.
It was through the sustaining energy of faith that Adam was enabled to endure the terrible results of what he had done. God's wondrous mercy allowed Adam to hear what God said to the serpent, before being called to listen to what God had to say to him. Had it not been so, Adam would have no doubt been plunged into despair. It is despairing to be called on to look at self, without being able to look at God revealed in the cross. No child of fallen Adam who could bear the reality of seeing what he is and what he has done, without being plunged into despair, without taking refuge in the cross. The more we realize the holiness of God, the more we know our security; but, with regard to the lost, that very holiness will be the ratification of eternal doom.
Consider now God providing coats for Adam and Eve. "Unto Adam, also, and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." In figure, the great doctrine of Divine righteousness is here set forth. The coat God provided was an effectual covering, because He provided it; in contrast to the apron that was an ineffectual covering, because man provided it. Moreover, God's coat was founded on blood-shedding. Adam's apron was not. Likewise, God's righteousness is set forth in the cross; man's righteousness is set forth in the works, the sin-stained works of his own hands. When Adam stood clothed in the coat of skin he could not say, "I was naked,'' nor did he have occasion to hide himself. The sinner may feel perfectly at rest, when he knows that God has clothed him: but to feel at rest without that knowledge is the result of presumption or ignorance. To know that the clothing you wear, in which you appear before God, is provided by Him, must set the heart at perfect rest. There can be no true, permanent rest in anything else.
The closing verses of this chapter are full of instruction. Fallen man, in his fallen state, must not be allowed to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, for that would place on him endless wretchedness in this world. To take and eat of the tree of life, and live forever in our present condition, would be terrible misery. The tree of life can only be tasted in resurrection. To live for ever, in a frail tabernacle, in a body of sin and death, would be intolerable. Therefore, the Lord God "drove out the man." He drove him out into a world that exhibited the lamentable results of his fall. The Cherubim and the flaming sword, too, forbid fallen man to pluck the fruit of the tree of life; while God's revelation pointed him to the death and resurrection of the seed of the woman, where life beyond the power of death was to be found.
Thus Adam was outside the bounds of Paradise. Inside his depended on himself, now it depended on another, even a promised Christ. And as beheld "the Cherubim and the flaming sword," he could bless the hand that had set them there, "to keep the way of the tree of life." If the Cherubim and flaming sword stopped up the way to Paradise, the Lord Jesus Christ has opened "a new and living way" into the holiest of all. "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Compare John 14:6; Hebrews 10:20). In the knowledge of this, the true believer now moves onward through a world under the curse – where the traces of sin are visible everywhere. By true faith, the believer has found his way to the bosom of the Father; and while he can secretly repose there, he is cheered by the assurance that the One Who conducts him has gone to prepare a place in the many mansions of the Father's house, and He will soon come again and receive him unto Himself. Thus, in Christ we find our present portion; our future home and reward.
Footnotes:
1
There is a profoundly interesting thought suggested by comparing the word Theiotes (Rom. 1:20) with the word Theotes (Col. 2:9). They are both rendered "Godhead;" but they present different thoughts. The unbeliever might see something superhuman, something Divine, in creation; but pure, essential, incomprehensible Deity dwells in the Adorable Person of the Son – Jesus Christ
2 Man not only accuses God of being the author of his fall, but also blames Him for his non-recovery. How often do we hear people say that they cannot believe unless God give them the power to believe; that unless they are the subjects of God's eternal decree, they cannot be saved. It is true that no man can believe the Gospel, except by the power of the Holy Spirit; and it is also true, that those who truly believe the Gospel are the happy subjects of God's eternal heaven. But does all this set aside man's responsibility to believe plain testimony set before him in God's Word? No; But it does reveal the sad evil of man's heart, that leads him to reject Gods plainly revealed testimony, giving as a reason for so doing God's decree which is God’s profound secret, known only to Himself. However it will not avail, for we read in 1 Thessalonians 1:8, 9, that those "Who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be punished with everlasting destruction." Men are responsible to believe the Gospel, and will be punished for not believing. We are not responsible for knowing anything about God's counsels which are not revealed, and, therefore, there can be no guilt attached to ignorance concerning them. The apostle could say to the Thessalonians, "knowing brethren beloved, our election of God." How did he know it? Was it by having access to the page of God's secret and eternal decrees? Certainly not. Then how? "Because our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power" (1 Thess. 1:4, 5). This is the way to know the election of someone. In other words, when the Gospel comes in power, it is a plain proof of God's election. Could it be that those people, who blame God for rejecting the Divine testimony, only want some flimsy excuse to continue in sin? Obviously, they really do not want God; and it would be far more honest to plainly say so, instead of putting forward a plea that is both flimsy and blasphemous. Such a plea will not avail amid the terrors of the fast approaching judgment day.
