Obedience to God means to hear His Word and bidding, to trust in Him, submit to His instruction and surrender to His will. When we do this, we are in tune with Our Creator. He abides in us; we feel His presence, His love, grace and fullness of life. We are blessed beyond our expectations and have the grace of God in our struggles through life.
When God made His creations, He made them subject to Him and all creations were made in order and harmony. Everything God made was good and for His divine purpose. When our Creator made us out of clay, He fashioned us in His image and likeness by giving us life, and man became a living being.
We resemble Him because of the dominion He gives us over the rest of creation. Indeed, the first man and woman enjoyed the fruits of God’s creative work. God blessed them and gave them the earth to subdue it. Man, rules over the fish and the birds and every living thing. God provided everything that man needs to survive: a beautiful place to live in, to care and cultivate, and every seed-bearing fruit tree for food; and the animals and birds were given green plants. They were given the tree of life that man, by eating of the fruit of it, would have been preserved in a constant state of health, vigor, and strength, and would not have died at all.
In Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve ‘heard the sound of the Lord God walking about in the garden.’ They were in communion with God. But after Adam and Eve had sinned, God veiled His face and communion was no longer possible. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of which God forbid them to eat from (Genesis 3:11). From the beginning, there were attempts to blame another for the sin. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake (Genesis 3:12,13).
The Scriptures point out that Adam and Eve’s sin is the sin of both and consequently the sin of all. What are the consequences of that first sin? The lack of harmony in creation; tensions in the relationship between men and women; and subjection of creation to decay. Through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, death came into this world. Their sin of disobedience and the effects of that sin are felt by all, including an inclination to sin, which, since then, has become part of our nature. Thus, the first sin was then followed by Cain murdering his brother Abel and the rest of human history bears witness to that same proclivity: to disobey the divine. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:8).
If neither had sinned, creation would have conceivably continued in its state of original harmony. Neither Adam nor Eve would have died. But then, God responded and came to the rescue. He gave us His Son, our Redeemer. The sin of disobedience of Adam and Eve is undone by the obedience of Jesus in God’s plan of salvation.