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1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 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.'" 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." ~ Genesis 3:1-5
Today, we transition into Genesis 3. In Genesis 1-2 the focus was on God's creation. In Genesis 3-11 we will learn of man's degeneration. In order for the fall of Genesis 3 to make sense, we need to understand from what we fell. We better understand the horrors of sin when we understand the beauty of God's creation which is a reflection of His person.
The degeneration of man was caused by the serpent whom we have not been introduced to quite yet. He seemingly appeared suddenly from out of nowhere; up to this point in history there was not even a hint to his existence. But, those who know their Bible know who he is and from where he came. According to Revelation 12, we find that he is none other than the dragon who was cast out of heaven. He was cast out of heaven because pride was found in him. And, when he was cast out of heaven by God, he convinced a third of his angel friends to follow him. This is where demons came from; demons are fallen angels.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'"
When we ignore the teachings of Genesis 1-3 the story of humanity becomes impossible to understand and to explain. The serpent or the devil as he is called in Revelation 12, we are told, was more cunning than any beast of the field. That means the devil or Satan is most crafty at convincing others to believe that God is not good. This is why the devil entered into that snake in the Garden because the snake was already known to be crafty. As is made clear throughout the Bible, the devil always comes in a crafty disguise. He never appears announcing that he is the evil one. If he came that way, everyone would reject him. No, he always appears in disguise as he does here, as an angel of light, appearing not to be bad but good and trustworthy.
The first words from the devil was a question that misguided Eve. The serpent tempted Eve to doubt God's goodness by misquoting God. As a result, he made sin enticing and at the root of all sin is his idea that God is not good. To Eve, he said, "Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" But that was not at all what God said. What God said was, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." The word "freely" gets at the root cause of sin which is to try to make a life for oneself apart from God. This is always a losing proposition.
The first couple were naked before each other. The need for clothing never crossed their minds. They suffered not from an inward pull of selfishness or shame. Before they rebelled against God, they had an outward look on life. They did not possess an inward look on life before they chose to disregard the word of the LORD. When Adam and Eve broke God’s command, a cancerous corruption filled their hearts and instantly spread throughout the whole world. This is why everything and everyone we know, including ourselves, is dysfunctional, hurting, and broken. Original sin explains why we pursue self-destructive behavior even though God has placed eternity within our souls.
In v.2-3 of today's passage we read, "2 And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 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.'"
The devil was so good at deception that he led Eve to misquote God. God had not said, "nor shall you touch it." In addition, it was the tree of life, according to Genesis 2 that was in the middle of the garden not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan always uses the same tactic when he tries to get us to think that God is more strict than He really is. Also, Satan will always tempt us to seek out the lust of our hearts. The problem here is that we entertain lust which is not a skill we want to give safe haven to in our souls.
In v.4-5 of today's passage we read, "4 Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"
These words of the devil were a bald faced lie and they brought the integrity of the Lord into question and was a direct challenge to His authority. The serpent denied that there is any danger in disobeying God. In fact, he denied that Adam and Eve would die. So, the first doctrine to come under attack by Satan was the doctrine of divine judgment. He knows that if he can get us to believe that there’s no judgment, then we’ll live however we want. No judgment means that we don’t have to live with reference to God. But, if there’s a judgment, then everything changes. The reality of judgment reveals our need for a Savior, for someone to take our place because we know that we don’t have what it takes to survive God’s judgment. I find it instructive that in Genesis 1-2 God spoke and the result was life and order. In Genesis 3 Satan speaks and the result was death and chaos.
The devil also said something that was true when he said, "God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The problem with this was Adam and Eve had not been told this by God yet. The devil made it sound like it was therefore something God held back for His own purposes. This appeal from the devil was an invitation to Eve to be worshipped and served. By his cunning craftiness, the devil undermined God's word by misquoting Him and therefore causing Eve to doubt God. The devil has always called God’s word and His goodness into question and sadly most people believe his lies.
Finally, you will remember that back in Genesis 2 there was an emphasis on the name of the LORD God. Over and over we read, "LORD God." The word LORD puts the emphasis on God's sovereignty and this gets to the heart of the waywardness of sin. The devil readily refers to God as Elohim which is a more generic word for God. He will not use the word LORD, because he somewhere along the way made the decision to be his own God. This is his tactic with us. He does not try to get us to follow him directly. No, he gets us to follow him indirectly by getting us to follow ourselves. This is why he sought to overthrow God's sovereignty in his rebellion. It is the sovereignty of God that got him thrown out of heaven, along with the rest of his fallen angels. We must always be most wary of anyone who values us more than God.
