Before the events of this chapter the world was perfect, because there was no sin. God had created a perfect world and had given Adam and Eve a garden filled with good food to eat. He gave them everything that anyone could want, but He gave them one rule – DO NOT eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan told Adam and Eve to not trust God’s words and encouraged them to disobey Him. But did they listen and obey? Read on.
There were two trees in the Garden of Eden:
1. The tree of knowledge of good and evil – This tree represented good and evil together. Its purpose was to provide man with a choice – to love and serve God willingly or to rebel and reject the one rule He had given them. God instructed Adam that he could to eat of any tree in the garden, except this tree. The tree didn’t contribute to man’s sinfulness except to provide him with an opportunity to obey or disobey. The fruit was not poisonous and was not the problem; man was the problem.
2. The tree of life – God allowed them to eat from this tree. It represented eternal life. It represented the perfect state where Adam and Eve were placed. If they obeyed God, they would live forever without sin, pain or death. There would be no sin and death in the world.
The serpent isn’t described here as Satan, but the rest of the Bible makes it clear this is Satan appearing as a serpent. Ezekiel 28 tells us about Satan - he was in Eden, he was an angel of the highest rank, and something of a leader of worship in heaven. In Rev. 12:9; 20:2 the serpent is called the devil and the great dragon.
The serpent was more crafty than any of the other wild animals God had made. He met Eve in the garden. She wasn’t startled by him or his appearance. The enemy will not always appear scary. He preaches a counterfeit gospel. He stirs up doubt. He is deceitful. He tempts people to doubt God and specializes in half-truths. He is very effective in causing people to sin. We can’t outsmart him, but we can overcome him with the power of Jesus.
Adam told Eve what God had said about not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If they ate from this tree, they would die. The crafty serpent caused Eve to question God by asking, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” – Gen. 3:1. He enticed her to be independent from God causing her to think these instructions were unfair. He convinced her she needed what God had forbidden.
Eve told the serpent what God had said – or at least what God told Adam, but she added that they were not even to touch it. The serpent told her they would not die. He told her what she wanted to hear and this caused her to doubt God. Eve was greedy because she desired the fruit and she wanted to be like God. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” – Gen. 3:6 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked” – Gen 3:7.
They focused on the serpent’s words and their desires and lost sight of God. Eve was deceived and sinned. Many blame Eve for the fall of the human race, but it was Adam who willfully chose to sin. He even stood by and didn’t try to stop her. He sinned with his eyes wide open.
Notice that it didn’t take much convincing for Adam to follow along with Eve’s sin. He is just like us today. We blindly follow along with what the crowd when we know it’s wrong. We tell ourselves if everyone else is doing it, it must be ok.
When we compare this scripture with Jesus’ response in Matt. 4:1-11, both quoted what God said and both Eve and Jesus were tempted: Eve with wisdom; Jesus with power. Eve gave in, but Jesus did not. Temptation is not a sin. It is only sin, when you give in to it and your evil desires that it becomes a sin.
Characteristics of Satan:
Gen. 3:1 – he is crafty.
Matt. 13:19 – he snatches away what is sown in your heart.
Matt. 13:25, 39 – he sows seeds
John 8:44 – he is a murderer from the beginning, a liar and the father of lies.
John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11 – he is the prince of the world.
2 Cor. 4:4 – he is the god of this age.
Eph. 2:2 – he is the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
Because of sin we have constant problems in this life. These problems make us fight against each other and against God. We are always in opposition to the world in some kind of way. We’re never satisfied. We long for something, but we’re not really sure just what it is. We see this longing in various ways and in various people. We long of happiness. We move from one to another in relationships looking for happiness. We long for heaven even if we don’t know it.
Satan has a strong influence in the world, because it is so easy to follow him – just do what you want to do. It’s hard work being a Christian and obeying God. We really have to work at it. Remember the devil has limitations. He can only do what we let him. He can only do what God allows him to do. He has to ask God’s permission. One day he will be stopped and bound for a 1,000 years. Then he will be released for a short time to deceive the world again, and then he will be destroyed and thrown into the lake fire and be there forever. See Job 1:6-12; Luke 4:1-13; Rev. 20:2, 7-10
What temptations are you facing?
Do you give in, because it’s easier than obeying God?
Do you try to justify your desire because everyone else is doing it?
When we are tempted, we do have defenses against the schemes of the devil:
1 Thess. 5:17, James 6:16 – we have prayer.
Matt. 4:1-2; Luke 4:1-2 – we have the Spirit within us
Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12 – we have the Word of God
James 4:7 – if we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us.
People who want to be in control and don’t want to be under God’s rule usually question Him and His Word. God knows what we need and what is best for us. After all He is the one who created us.
Do you have moments when you think God doesn’t know what you need?
Do you doubt God and His goodness?
We struggle when we don’t get what we desire. Man’s wrong choices are not God’s wrong doing. Adam remained silent when Eve was being tempted by the serpent. A lot of times we remain silent, when we see others being tempted, struggling, or doing wrong. There are things we can do. We can speak up, pray about the situation, or share the gospel; but many times we remain silent.
When have you been silent when you should have spoken up?
Both Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God in their own way. Eve gave in to the lust of the flesh when she saw the food of the tree was pleasant to look at. She gave in to the pride of life by desiring to be wise. She was tempted, but the taking of the fruit was all her doing. She could have simply run from Satan and the tree, but she didn’t. She became an agent of Satan by giving it to Adam. When Adam ate, he was as deceived as Eve. He knew firsthand what God had said. It was an open rebellion against God.
After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened. They saw their nakedness and the entire world was now different. They heard God walking in the garden. They were in fear of God and like many of us they hid from Him, but God sees all and knows all. He gave them a chance to confess and repent.
Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed God saying “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”- Gen. 3:12. They were just like us today, always making excuses and blaming others for our mistakes. True confession accepts full responsibility for actions instead of trying to justify self and blame others.
Are you convinced God is mad at you?
Do you blame others for your mistakes?
As a result of their sin God punished the serpent by cursing him above all livestock and animals. He made him crawl on his belly and made him enemies with the woman. – Gen. 3:14-15. God punished Eve by increasing her pain in childrearing and her husband would rule over her. – Gen. 3:16. God punished Adam by cursing the ground and making his work painful and hard. – Gen 3:17-19.
As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin there is now sin in the world with physical and spiritual death that comes to all men. Satan thought he had won, but he failed. God’s judgment on Satan is for him to always know defeat. Satan will continue to temp and cause sin. He will always reach for victory, but in the end will always fall short.
God’s
remedy is forgiveness of sin. His remedy
of fear is His Son, Jesus Christ. He
wants to forgive you and restore you. God
provided a way to restore our relationship with Him. He reconciled us through the blood of Christ. He provided Jesus as a sacrificial lamb to
take away the sins of the world. John 1:29 – “Look,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John
14:6 – “Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one come to the Father
except through me.’” Rom. 3:25 – “God
presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” 2 Cor.
5:17-19 – “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to
himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” THANK YOU, JESUS!!!
Have you allowed Jesus to reconcile you to God?
Do you still feel guilty and afraid?
What do you do now? Choose to believe. Adam believed God and demonstrated his faith by giving Eve her name in Gen. 3:20. Her name, Eve reflects life.
The first shed of blood in the Bible was when God made garments from the animals for Adam and Eve’s nakedness. Their life was perfect, but they chose to believe otherwise. Satan hates you and he wants you to be absolutely certain you can’t be certain of God’s grace. God is the only solution to sin in your life.
Because of their Adam and Eve’s sin, they would know good and evil. God had protected them from having to live as sinners when He told them to only eat from the tree of life. God banished them from the garden and placed cherubim to guard them from entering. There would be no more easy life for them. Adam would have to work the ground for food.
Principles:
Sin takes hold when we doubt God’s Word and God’s goodness.
Sin leads to shame, fear and hiding.
Sin results are pain, conflict and death.
The Lord Jesus Christ is man’s only solution to the power and penalty of sin.
Join me here next week for the next chapter in Genesis. -- I encourage you to trust in Jesus.
__________________________________________
If you have enjoyed my post and have found if helpful, please leave a comment or share this post with the buttons below.
You can follow this blog by clicking "Subscribe by Email". If you follow by email, you will receive an email every time there is a new post.
No comments:
Post a Comment