Escape from Paradise Chapters 24-25 Study Questions

Chapter 24 Meanings

The king of the lowlands (Satan) promises Abigail there are a hundred paths leading out of the orchard. This illustrates the world’s belief that there are many paths to God or that all religions lead to God.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The Wind Touches Adam

When Adam had lost everything and was at the end of his rope, the wind touches him. He feels crushing guilt.

This represents the work of the Holy Spirit to convict unbelievers of sin (John 16:8).

Chapter 25 Meanings

The result of Adam’s crushing guilt is a compelling drive to go to the Ruler. This shows the difference between worldly regret and godly sorrow. Mere regret over sin leads to death, but godly sorrow leads to repentance, which drives us to God (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Another feature of his repentance was hatred for the orchard. To fear the Lord is to hate sin (Proverbs 8:13).

“In that moment, Adam knew there was only one hope for Abigail, and, for that matter, for himself. He must find the Ruler.”

True repentance forces a person to Christ because it becomes plain that the problem of sin is so massive, only God can solve it.

“When he saw the change in Abigail, something changed in him. Desperation? More than that. It was like the morning sun had broken the horizon on the world—the real world. Values came into focus. He was beginning to see what mattered … and what didn’t.”

The opening of Adam’s eyes to reality illustrates the enlightenment brought by the Holy Spirit when he draws a person to salvation (2 Corinthians 4:6).

The wind is at Adam’s back all the way to the banquet hall, showing that when a sinner comes to Christ, the Holy Spirit enables him to do so.

The Coming Destruction

Destruction is coming to the lowlands. This depicts the coming judgment on this world.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10).

“When the Ruler comes in judgment, he will offer them amnesty. But all who are enslaved by Judas desires will reject it and will be destroyed.”

God offers all sinners amnesty (Revelation 22:17). But those who love the darkness will reject the offer (John 3:20).

Wholesome Desires

“Then, a hunger pang. It was a strange sensation. A pure, wholesome desire—powerful, yet no threat to his self-control.”

This illustrates the fact that when our desires are good, we are free to indulge them without fear of losing control or overindulgence. There is no law prohibiting good things (Galatians 5:22-23). When our desire is for the Lord, there are no rules restricting our indulgence of that desire (Psalms 37:4). I depicted this in the story by the fact that the one and only law in the high country is that one must prefer the Ruler’s delicacies over the fruit.

Hodia And Tichi

The Hodia and Tichi characters are based on Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4. Both were godly women who had worked with Paul, but they had a conflict with one another that was so serious, Paul wrote about it in his letter and commissioned a third party to work it out.

In the story, the conflict begins with Hodia developing a self-righteous, judgmental attitude. When she begins to gossip about Abigail, it infects others in the church like a disease. This illustrates the infecting nature of gossip.

“The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts” (Proverbs 18:8).

As the problem progresses, it can affect the whole church, so that everyone attacks one another.

“If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15).

The Mutilated Bodies

It is in this chapter where the mystery of the mutilated bodies is explained.

“Levi, I saw your body in the lowlands. You looked like your heart had been ripped out. I know it was you.’

‘That’s the old me. When I went through the cottage, the old Levi died.’”

“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:5-6).

The Ruler of the Kings of the Earth

The spectacular appearance of the Ruler in this chapter is derived from Revelation 1.

“And among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:13-18).

The Ruler’s speech is a combination of Revelation 21:6, Psalms 2, Isaiah 40:11, and Matthew 11:28-30.

The Servant Ruler

“Isn’t it amazing? He’s the great Ruler of the kings of the earth, and yet he serves every week as our chef.”

Jesus taught that the greatest is the one who serves (Mark 9:35). This applies to Jesus as well.

“For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).

“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them” (Luke 12:37).

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Chapter 24 Study Questions

EXCERPT

    “You told me I could leave this place whenever I want. But I feel like a prisoner. Can you show me the way out?”
“Of course. There are a hundred different paths. And I will gladly point you to any or all of them.”

QUESTION 1

The most popular religion in our culture is the one that says all religions lead to God and all paths point to heaven. What does Scripture say? See John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:13–14, and Matthew 7:21–23. Why is it impossible for any other religion to lead to heaven?

MY ANSWER

It’s impossible because there’s no other way to satisfy God’s justice. Jesus died for our sins. No one else did. Apart from Jesus, there is no sacrifice to cover our sin, which means we would have to pay for our own sins.

EXCERPT

 You feel trapped because you’ve been trained to fear freedom. All those taboos and rigid traditions in the high country—it’s paralyzing.

QUESTION 2

The world defines freedom in terms of breaking free from moral taboos. How does this compare to God’s definition of freedom? See 2 Peter 2:19; John 8:34; Romans 6:22.

MY ANSWER

The person who breaks “free” from moral taboos becomes enslaved to depravity. The only other option is to be freed from sin and become enslaved to God. There is no absolute freedom. Either we are free from sin and slaved to God, or we attempt to free ourselves from God’s law and become enslaved to sin.

EXCERPT

 The wind gusted and a painful gnawing grew in his stomach. In the past, pangs of conscience struck only after bingeing on fruit. But why now? He had eaten no fruit today. Yet these guilt pangs pressed harder than ever before. He sensed they had nothing to do with any individual failure. It was something worse—something deeper, as if he were failing in his very purpose for existing.

QUESTION 3

Which is more accurate:

We are sinners because we sin.We sin because we are sinners.

See Romans 7:15-24; Mark 7:21-23.

MY ANSWER

Both are accurate. However the second one is a better description of our condition.

Chapter 25 Study Questions

QUESTION 1

True repentance not only turns from evil, but also hates it. See Amos 5:14-15. Why do you think the emotional element is so important to God? See James 4:4. What tends to prevent us from hating our sin? See Psalm 36:2.

MY ANSWER

If all God cared about were behavior, he could have simply created a race of robots. What he desires is our hearts. It’s like a marriage. If a wife tells her husband, “I will cook and clean for you, but my heart belongs to the guy next door,” that would not be acceptable to him. He wants her heart. If we stay in love with the world, our “good” deeds become meaningless.

Our inner lawyer constantly arguing in our own favor prevents us from making honest assessments of our own sin. Even when we admit committing the sin, we tend to excuse it because of the difficulties and exigent circumstances surrounding it.

QUESTION 2

How can one be freed from the bondage of his own will—when his own desires hold him in chains? See Romans 6:6-8; 8:13; Galatians 5:24-25.

MY ANSWER

First, he must be converted. It is only when a person is born again that he dies to his old life. After that, it is important to be continually reminded that we died to that old self.

Secondly, he must keep in step with the Holy Spirit. The more we respond to the Spirit on a moment-by-moment basis, the more we will desire righteousness and develop a distaste for sin.

QUESTION 3

What is our message to the world in light of the looming threat of judgment day? See Acts 17:30-31; Luke 3:9-16.

MY ANSWER

Repent! Now! Lest you end up in hell forever.

QUESTION 4

What does Scripture teach about the urgency of rescuing those who have wandered from the truth? See James 5:19-20; Jude 1:23.

MY ANSWER

The picture is of something that is moments away from being lost forever. And even if you somehow manage to pluck them from the flames, they have most likely already been deeply damaged, and you risk being damaged as well if you’re not careful.

QUESTION 5

Satan’s objective is to take you captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26). What are some strategies he uses for that? See Acts 8:23 (the term for bitterness in this verse refers to the bitterness of envy); Colossians 2:8; Titus 3:3; 2 Peter 2:18.

MY ANSWER

Acts 8 – Envy. He diverts our attention from what we have been given to what others have been given.
Col.2 – Philosophy and human wisdom.
Titus 3:3 – Passions and pleasures.

QUESTION 6

God offers forgiveness to all (Revelation 22:17), but most will reject it. Why? See John 3:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

QUESTION 7

Can you think of an example of a time when God’s enlightening grace opened your eyes in a way that changed your values?

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