but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’" ( Gen.3:3 )

The way to honor God and receive His truth with the reverence it deserves is to treat God's threats as unfailing...We learn by this example to magnify God and not to measure Him by our yardstick, and not to base Him, as we are accustomed to do. We are so inclined to evil that instead of adoring Him with amazement, we create Him a worth which seems right to us, and we would like Him to be satisfied with occupying that position and rank where we would place Him. Let us be careful, I say, not to obscure God's glory in this way, but let us, on the contrary, be moved by such reverence that when He is spoken of, we abandon all our affections and thoughts and dedicate ourselves completely to Him. That is where we begin. In addition, if it is said that a king's anger is a message of death, what will be the consequences when our Lord speaks? His voice will be like thunder. And if there is some remnant of rebellion in us or some brutish carelessness, all of that must be corrected and God's Word must sound out of the depths and draw into the light, whereas we would prefer to hide in the darkness and cover ourselves with leaves...

~ John Calvin, Sermons on Genesis 1-11