**ADAM AND EVE**
Adam and Eve had EVERYTHING that they could possibly want. They had food, the y had freedom, they had dominion over the animals etc. Most of all they had relationship with God! They had unqualified access to God. They had intimate conversations with Him on a regular basis. In the cool of the day they would talk to Him and spend time with Him. What more could they want?
**THE SERPENT**
The serpent is usually thought to represent Satan. What we know about the serpent s that he was very crafty, cunning and deceptive. We also know that he was/is a liar and the father of lies, that there is no truth in him and that he only comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 8:44; John 10:10). The serpent tempted Eve with something that she desired.
When the serpent approached Eve, he did not even take the time to introduce himself. He did not offer up his credentials. He did not even say that he knew God. He found a weakness and he exploited it. Eve was not the weakness, her free choice was. He used that to his advantage. The serpent presented Eve with a question. However, the question was totally invalid because it was a question AGAINST what God had already told her! “Did God really say that?” This is the same dilemma that we face today with many New Age preachers trying to re-interpret the bible and ask that very same question, “Did God really say that?” The bible clearly states that God is not a man that he should lie nor is He the son of man that he should repent (recant). Yet, Eve was now in a sticky situation. She was tempted by one who God had already deemed a rebel and a murderer.
Verse 1: “…Did God say that you shall not eat from ANY tree in the Garden?”
Notice the qualifier, ANY. He is opening the door. That is Satan’s job, he opens the door, we walk through it. Our job is to do exactly what Jesus did! Refute any claim of Satan with scripture- if we know that he is a murderer and a liar and we know that God CANNOT lie, why would we argue with Satan with anything other than God’s word? EVE HAD ONE SIMPLE COMMAND AND AS SOON AS HE ASKED THAT QUESTION…”DID God say that?” her answer should have been a RESOUNDING YES!
Eve went on to explain what the command of God was, so she knew EXACTLY what God had commanded. DON’T GO NEAR THE TREE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GARDEN! She knew the command AND she knew the consequences…”you shall surely DIE”. The serpent is setting EVE up!
**WHY DIDN'T EVE ASK ANY QUESTIONS?**
If we are to be a discerning people, we MUST ask questions when presented with something that does not line up with scripture (the Word of God). The serpent asked more questions than Even did. She asked absolutely ZERO questions.
Adam received the direct command from God and gave it to Eve unaltered- yet as soon as Eve was presented with doubt, she buckled and placed her will over the will of the Father! Eve never questioned Satan- who was a liar/murderer from the beginning
**WHY DID SHE TAKE THE SERPENT'S WORD OVER GOD'S WORD?**
Eve was deluded by Satan into believing that God was depriving her of something [verse 4-5]-
“The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Here is Satan’s loophole…GOD KNOWS something that you do not and he wants to keep it from you!!!!! According to William Dembski the author of “The End of Christianity”, we have a hard time believing that God is good- this is the reason that so many rebel against God! We think that there is something that we are not getting and that God is withholding it to spite us. Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
**WHAT DID EVE THINK THAT GOD WAS WITHHOLDING FROM HER?**
Remember, THEY HAD EVERYTHING! Verse 6: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that they tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her and he ate.”
In verse 6 Eve saw that the tree was good for food, but so were the other trees. She saw that the tree was a delight to the eyes, but so were the other trees. Then she was that the tree was desirable to make one WISE which was a quality the other trees did not have.
Aha! That is what God is keeping from me!
**WHY DID SATAN BUCKLE?**
Satan rebelled for the same reason- He believed that God was withholding something from him! Satan wants us to be exactly like him in rebellion against God! So his mission is simple: continually tempt and try to influence us to believe that God is denying us something! Influence us to rebel and then accuse us of said rebellion.
Saints of God, it is really simple. God will NEVER deny us anything that is beneficial to us. Many times what we deem as beneficial, God doesn’t. He KNOWS EVERYTHING that we need and will give it to us. Paul said it best in 1 Cor 10:23 “all things are permissible, but all things are not beneficial”. Let God do the sorting and trust his judgment.
**CONSEQUENCES**
Adam, who received the direct command from God was severely punished for listening to the “voice of his wife” over the voice of God. Regardless of how much we love someone, what God says is what goes. Jesus said it a different way in Matthew 10:37. He said if you love father, mother, son or daughter more than Me, then you are not worthy of Me. Adam was sentenced to hard labor i.e. what was previously given to him; he now had to work for by the sweat of his brow. Eve and all subsequent descendants of Eve were cursed with pain in childbirth.
The serpent, who was the one that incited the rebellion, would have a different fate. He would have to tangle with the Lion of Judah and would eventually be crushed by the heel of the “seed of the woman”.
The most dire consequence of all is that now sin had entered the world. The fellowship with God and man was now corrupted and through Adam, all have sinned (Romans 5). But thanks be to God that the second Adam, Christ Jesus, was the one man that redemption and life came through. This situation in Genesis is quite ugly, however God had a plan from the very beginning to send the Savior into the world to correct the mounting insurrection that happened because of the actions of two people and a serpent. The tree of life was there also, yet Satan did not influence Eve to eat from that tree which would have meant eternal life!
When presented with ANYTHING contrary to scripture, test it by comparing it to scripture. Ask the right questions and you cannot be lied to. Ask these questions: 1. Does this line up with what God said (scripture is the inspired, God breathed word of God)? 2. How will this be beneficial in my walk with Christ? 3. On what authority is this person/thing presenting this “new information” to me? Remember there is no authority greater than that of God’s so if God didn’t say it, don’t buy it.
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