Curse & Judgment

Beginning with Moses and the Prophets

The Book of Grace

East of Eden - Paradise Lost

Part VIII(b): Curse & Judgment  

Genesis 3:8 - 24

Introduction

If you look at the first page of the insert you will see one of the Calvin & Hobbes cartoons from the 90’s it captures the no-fault characteristics of the culture then and more so how it is today. It’s mostly a monologue by Calvin, the little boy, to his tiger friend, Hobbes.

Victimhood is the fantasyland refuge of everyone, criminals, to politicians, lawyers, theologians who imagine you can put the blame for their conduct on other persons, or things or groups. Passing the buck is the treatment, the prescription drug of this new millennium, new age.

Its primeval root is original sin, (Genesis 3: 8-13). Looking at Adam’s sin through the lens of today’s world you’ll see the language of “victimhood - Adam is the poor victim of the woman and God gave her to him. God it’s your fault, You’re responsible for the situation that left me susceptible to sin -- my upbringing, my abuse, my inept parents and teachings;

This plays in our culture today where we have an excuse for every wrong done. It’s nothing new -- Adam’s sin brought instant death & instant sinfulness. Faster than you can snap your fingers they were both diffused with the tincture of sin - and just as fast both were dead in their transgressions & sins. Then came guilt and instant victimhood as Adam points the finger of culpability at the woman & the Lord God & as the woman pointed at the snake. Each passing the buck.

That’s how it has been throughout history until the Only Begotten One of Kind Son of God, the second Adam, God Himself became flesh and became the willing victim for our sins.

It’s significant to see that in the garden the Lord God did not question the serpent but without any hesitation whatsoever cursed him. Embedded within that cursing of Satan was a hope of grace for the couple. When God judged Adam & Eve, the judgments again were laced with grace.

The curse & judgment in the garden interwoven, strangely enough, with grace. Yes, paradise was lost; depravity & death became the lot for humanity. But the curse & the judgment as they were given, meant that paradise could be regained -- by grace.

The Curse

Here we summarize the events again but in reverse order. The last point in the “face-off” now becomes the starting point for the judgment, which proceeds to determine the punishment of the transgressors in the order in which each sinned: to begin with, the temptor; then the woman who was first to eat; and last the man who ate after his wife. The whole drame is reenacted in front of us in the original sequence of the happenings.

God made no corrective gestures to the serpent. Just a curse. There were two objects, the first was the reptile itself (v14), & then Satan who controlled the reptile (v15).

Reptile Cursed (14)

Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;

The serpent being cursed is consistent, the same as what will be the fate of other animals in Scripture that cause harm to humans & were therefore put to death. Exodus 21:28 says: If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned . . .

Animals that were used for immoral purposes were to be put to death also, not because they were accountable, but because they were used to abuse men & women who were made in the image of God (Leviticus 20:15-16). -- If there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. The Animal was made for man and subject to him; any perversion or abuse of the order called for strict judgment.

There are two places in the Bible where God Himself verbalizes a curse, here and in 4:11 where we read that God cursed Cain for the murder of Abel. In all other instances men invoke curses in God’s name.

The curse upon the serpent is given in physical terms - the snake crawling on its belly & eating dust. Is this a new way of travel for the serpent? From up-right to moving on its belly? Maybe, maybe not. Derek Kidner argues that the crawling is symbolic, (Isaiah 65:25)- The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Like Gen. 9:13 gives a new significance for the rainbow is given not a new existence. So a new significance is decreed for the serpent’s posture. You have have heard the term when one man tells another, “eat dust, eat dirt”, in Scripture it has a humiliating significance. Psalm 72:9- Let the nomads of the desert bow before him, And his enemies lick the dust.

Micah 7:17- Nations will see and be ashamed Of all their might. They will put their hand on their mouth, Their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent, Like reptiles of the earth.

The image we see is fitting, the snake exalted itself above man therefore it would go on its belly.

The snake is a repulsive image, fittingly, even though there are some who seem to like snakes but that has to be something of an acquired taste. I fit in right with Indiana Jones who feared snakes. Calvin said that in words to the effect that though some take pleasure in snakes, the sight of them inspires us with horror and renew in us the memory of the fall. Even non poisonous coral snakes that crawl into the garage. Serpents keep the revolting image of Satan before our eyes & in our minds.

Isaiah 65 pictures the whole of creation delivered from the effects of the fall except for the serpent, which lives in perpetual degradation, fulfilling, “all the days of your life.”

Satan Cursed (v15)

God addresses the reptile, but His speech goes beyond the snake, & the one being referred became Satan. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Here in this verse we read, we hear, we learn how much the Lord God loves His creation. Though the Lord must punish transgressions, sin, still we see a crystal clear picture of the grace of the Lord God. Here, in the book of Beginnings, Genesis, we are given an astounding gospel prophecy. From the second century A.D. this verse has been recognized as the “first gospel.” This gospel message was verbally spoken, mouthed directly from the mouth of the Lord God.

We say there are “four” gospel accounts. Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s, (the synoptics), & John’s. All four are inspired by the Lord God; but there is one that is spoken by the Lord Himself.

This, again, was recognized as the first gospel, or if you want to show off your Greek, “protoevangelium”, when the post-apostolic fathers Justin Martyr & Irenaeus preached that the woman’s offspring, (literally, “seed”) here referred to Christ who would crush Satan’s head.

In the early second century Justin Martyr wrote: "Christ became man by the Virgin that the disobedience which issued from the serpent might be destroyed in the same way it originated. Eve was still an undefiled virgin when she conceived the word of the serpent and brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin received faith and joy, at the announcement of the angel Gabriel...and she replied, "Be it done to me according you your word". So through the mediation of the Virgin he came into the world, through whom God would crush the serpent" (Justin Martyr, Apologia).

Irenaeus, a direct disciple of Polycarp - himself a disciple of St John, around 189 A.D., wrote on Genesis 3:15 as follows: "As thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, 'And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed...'. For from that time, He who should be born of a woman, [namely] from the Virgin, after the likeness of Adam, was preached as keeping watch for the head of the serpent" (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4.21.1)

This had been the church’s position, with hardly no variation, until the rise of biblical criticism, which viewed it as nothing more than a statement that there will be perpetual conflict between humanity and the snake population, but eventually humanity would win.

But this thinking was wrong. When the old Testament was translated Hebrew to Greek in 250 B.C. giving the world the Septuagint translation, the translators interpreted the word “seed” (“offspring” in the ESV) as a single individual, “he” will crush your head . . .” The Septuagint translators, who would not have had any inkling of Christian presuppositions, understood the seed of the woman to be a future individual who would deal a deathblow to the serpent.

Hebrew scholar Jack Collins has examined every use of the word “seed” when it means offspring and found that when used in the singular, as it is in Genesis 3:15,  it always denotes a specific descendant and when it is an individual, the pronoun will be masculine. Collins argues that, in the broad context, that this could be read as God’s threat to the serpent of an individual is going to engage the serpent in combat and win.

This argument is sustained by Paul in Gal. 3:16 on the basis of the use of the singular “seed” in God’s promise to Abraham, that the word “seed” refers to Christ: the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

In Genesis 3:15 we have the prophecy of the cross when Satan would strike the heel of Christ, through the suffering on the cross, but christ would strike the serpent's head through His death and glorious resurrection. All those who are in Christ participate in the crushing through Christ, as Paul writes in Romans 16:20 - The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

There’s more; when Christ came he understood the “first gospel” in Genesis. That He was the antidote to the venom of the serpent. We quote, I do, John 3:16, but just prior to that declaration verses 14, 15 He says As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

Jesus was referring to Numbers 21 where due to Israel’s sins, God sent venomous, poisonous, snakes into the camp so that many people died and were dying. As Moses was praying, God said to him to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, “shall live” (vv8,9).

Listen to these details, they’re really worthy of attention. You got these snakes all over the camp as a result of sin - they’re the perfect expression in that it was a serpent who tempted Eve & Adam in the garden, thereby  bringing sin into the world. Our own natures have been polluted by the venom of the serpent. Paul tells us in romans 3:10 that “there is none righteous, not one.”

Now above the dying people we see a likeness of a serpent lifted up on a pole, foreshadowing Christ who was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). It is significant that Moses did not use an actual serpent, but a likeness! The symbolism would not have been so exact & perfect if he had used a literal snake. Our Lord became sin (or a serpent) for us.

Romans 8:3 says, what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 adds - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And Galatians 3:13 states - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.

Out of all the animals in the animal kingdom, God chose the perfect representation - the serpent. On the cross our Lord Jesus Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself as symbolized by the withering serpent.

Let’s not miss the most important point, the gaze of faith. Numbers 21:9 tells us that, Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he LOOKED to the bronze serpent, he lived.

The command to look upon the uplifted serpent was a gracious foreshadowing of looking to the crucified Christ for our salvation.

Listen again to what Jesus says as written in John 3:14 - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; --

Moses lifted up that serpent high on a hill in the camp in the wilderness, and any and all Israelites that were dying had to do was look at that pole & be saved. It didn’t matter how badly they were bitten, no matter how many times they had been bitten, no matter if they were on the very edge of death, the opportunity for salvation was there.

So too for anyone today, even the most degraded & miserable sinner who looks to Jesus Christ alone for salvation will be saved.

This great, wonderful grace had its origins & image in the “first gospel” in the garden. There was hope in paradise lost. And there is hope for you who are lost, who do not know Jesus Christ, who are lost in the most miserable of sin, just by gazing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal, only begotten Son of God, you will go from death to everlasting life.

This is grace, the free gift of the Lord God.

My prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit convince you of your need for salvation; that He draw you to Jesus Christ who said- No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Come to me ALL who labor & are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)  I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

My prayer is that you see this “first gospel”, that the Spirit will give you understanding of the words of Jesus when He said - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3: 14-16)

I pray that: The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’

259 Beginning with Moses Part VIII(a) Face Off May 26 2019

Passing the Buck, Who's Fault Is It Really?

East of Eden: The Creator, The Serpent, and the Tree...

Beginning with Moses and the Prophets, Part VII(c) - East of Eden

Beginning with Moses and the Prophets

The Book of Grace

Part VII(c) - East of Eden

Genesis 2: 25 - 3:7

Introduction

And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. (John Steinbeck, East of Eden, chapter 13).

As we finished last week, the biggest temptation for all of us today, well, it has been always, to establish our wisdom apart from God’s word; centering all authority in the autonomous self.

The choice still remains, it’s going to be there - the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good & evil.

As the second chapter of Genesis comes to a close & we come to the third chapter of Genesis, Eve has been created & we see Adam & Eve living in what has to be unparalleled splendor; there can’t be anything anywhere on the earth today that can compare, or even come close. There they were amidst the crystal clear waters and the green forests of Eden in delight concert with each other and with the animals God had placed in the garden. Just think, you pet lovers would be in seventh heaven.

The couple shared the same bone, the same flesh. She was at once his daughter (she came out of him), his sister, (she had the same creator father), & his “one flesh” wife. This one-flesh relationship reflected the eternal intimacy & order of the Holy Trinity & foreshadowed the intimacy & order of Christ & His bride, the church. (Ephesians 5: 31, 32) - For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

Their intimacy was fundamental glory to God as a reflection of what always was & a glimpse of what was to come.

In the order of the husband & wife relationship as to Adam’s authority, this was part of the creation before sin & the fall entered into the picture.

This is evident because, as Paul makes this central in his argument for maintaining the creation order in 1 Tim. 2: 13, 1) Adam was created first; 2) Eve was taken out of man, as noted in 1 Corinthians 11: 8-9; Ee was designated Adam’s helper, (Gen. 2:18).

A note here on the word, the term, helper - One can’t imagine the term “helper” is a diminishing or serville term -

It has to be understood that it is the same name used to describe God as a helper of Israel, (Ex. 18:4; Deuteronomy 33:7; 1 Samuel 7:12).

The authority structure of Genesis 2 - 3 rest on the order of God, man, woman, & the animal (serpent). And all this was turned upside down & reversed by the fall. Kenneth Matthews, old Testament scholar and professor of Divinity, points out that the woman listens to the serpent, the man listens to the woman, & no one listens to God. The usurpation of authority God addresses right after the fall in His successive judgment speeches to the serpent, the woman, & to the man.

As it is, before the fall, Adam & Eve listen only to God - The sinless pair ride the zenith of innocence & openness - 2:25 says, the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. This detail, notes Umberto Cassuto, prepares us for 3: 7, and they knew that they were naked.

For now, they were spiritually naked before God. The Lord God came first in their love & their thoughts as C. S. Lewis says, without any painful effort.

There wasn’t any need to set aside time for daily devotionals - I mean, all of life was devotion. Loving God was as natural as eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, really as natural as breathing.

Domestically they were naked with one another. There was nothing to hide or protect - Neither was the center of his or her own life. God and each other were their centers. - All that they were was simply there for the other to see & love -

Eve was Adam’s constant soul she could be counted on and trusted - As Lorenzo speaks of Jessica in the Merchant of Venice - God, I’m crazy about her. She’s wise if I’m judging her right. She’s beautiful if my eyes can see. And she’s loyal, as she has proven. And as long as she’s herself—wise, beautiful, and faithful—she’ll always have a place in my heart.

2: 25 & 3: 7 enclose a unit because both verses focus on the nakedness of the couple but in profound variance - v.25 picture Adam & Eve at the apex of innocence & intimacy - v7 describes them in the pit of guilt & estrangement.

The couples fall from innocence to guilt describes what has happened countless times down through the ages. It’s universal & wise people de well to listen.

The Old Serpent

The six days of creation was complete, everything in the world was “very good”. Nothing was out of order; no pain, no suffering, no struggle for existence, no disharmony, no disease, & above all - no death. But we are going to see things that are not “very good”....

Verses 1 to 5 we have a dialogue that leads to the descent of Adam - further in verses 6 & 7 there is described the couples actual descent into the pit -

The surprising thing here is that the one that initiates this dialogue is a talking snake - It wasn’t a bad snake, look, everything that God created He called good - It’s not a good snake gone bad either; sin hasn’t entered into the world at this point.

The snake is described as “crafty & shrewd” but this doesn’t imply evil. The word has the idea of being wary & knowing when dangers lurk.

Scripture encourages us to cultivate a like attitude, Proverbs 1: 1- 4, The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice, and equity; To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, -

But if we misuse it becomes guile, Job 5:12 as one example - He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success.

This serpent, snake is a naturally shrewd creature, but seems to be under the control now of Satan & a natural tool - The New Testament ID’s this serpent as the Devil referring to this particular scene, (Rev. 12:9; 20:2), the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; . . .  he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

God’s Word Attacked

Did this snake just happen to tumble down from a tree? Did it extend itself upright so it could address Eve, “Good morning fair maiden, mind if I just coil up here for a while and shoot the breeze with you? Did it hiss his voice, stick out its forked tongue, or did it speak with a voice sounding like her husband’s? We don’t know, and I don’t think anyone has the faintest idea. But we can be sure that through its voice, however it was done, Satan attacked God’s word.

Remember that God’s word was responsible for everything that Eve enjoyed - day & night, the sun, the moon, the blue sky, the exotic garden, the flowers, the singing birds, all the adoring creatures, her Adam - all of it came from God’s good word, the word which Satan now attacks. Maybe you’d think that Satan’s attack wouldn’t stand a chance. But appearances sometimes are deceiving.

The Question

Have you ever watched the Senate & House hearings, or been interrogated by investigators? They always begin with a leading question to make you reply in the direction they want you to go. For the police, it’s the “good cop, bad cop” technic. An employer an attorney, they all follow the same procedure. Here and in other countries, there are absolutely no differences. Where did this technic come from? As far as I’m concerned, right here in the garden.

Eve, did God really say, note that he makes it as if he is quoting God, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”? So subtle is the prosecutor that he doesn’t directly deny God’s word, but he introduces the assumption that God’s word is subject to our judgment.

As we saw earlier last week, Satan avoids using God’s covenant name, “The Lord God”, in chapter 1 Elohim signifying God as creator was used in every instance, then in Chapters 2 - 4 the title YAHWEH-ELOHIM (combining His Creator Covenant-Redeemer name) is employed everywhere except here in this deadly dialogue in 3:1-5. Satan is careful not to mention God’s personal covenant name but stuck to Elohim, the more remote designation. And Eve followed his lead by only using Elohim in their dialogue.

I believe that we along with the secular world do the same. We talk of God with the remote designation, not realizing that we are in a sense just throwing the name around without truly honoring His name. We can say God in English, we can say Dios in Spanish, we can say Allah in Arabic, we can say Deus in Portuguese, but just saying God, one is taking away His majesty, who He is …. The same can be said of the name Jesus. It is a common name in the Latin community. I gave flight instructions to Jesus Alvarado in Panama. But how many will say The Lord Jesus Christ?

Satan’s incredulous tone & his conscious disuse of God’s personal name set up his studied distortion of God’s word.  If you look back to 2:16, the Lord commanded generously,  “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; Now Satan asks, Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?

Did y’all catch the distortion? God’s generosity was perverted by Satan’s question to suggest some sort of divine stinginess.

A good many of us do the same, use the same method to get someone to begin to distrust another, to put doubt in the minds of others. Some are as subtle as Satan who got Eve to not even suspect that God’s word was being attacked. Geez oh man, it was just an innocent question.

. . Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world; Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; (1 John 4:1; 2:17)

Revision’s By Eve

The leading distorted question by Mr. Snake provided Eve a chance to set him straight. But unfortunately, our mom failed. And, as the transcript shows, as provided by Moses, she ended up giving her own revisions of God’s word. Not just once, three times. She diminished God’s word, then added to it, and then she ended up softening it, His word.

God had said that they may eat of every tree of the garden, but now Eve leaves out “every” and instead says, “we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden” (3:2). What she is doing is minimizing the provision of the Lord. It seems as an unenthusiastic rendition of God’s word. Something was happening in her heart. Hey Paul, didn’t your dad say you can’t have any car? No, he said I could have a car but not a Ford . . .

Her subtle shift in the heart was now further revealed in her addition to God’s word: “But God [Elohim] said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it.

Is that what the Lord God said? First, how many trees and which ones were in the midst of the garden? Look back at 2:9 - the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

She doesn’t say which one of the two, and she adds the neither shall you touch it. She magnified the restriction, “touch the fruit and zap! - you’re dead - She makes it out that God was so darn strict that an inadvertent slip would bring instant death.

You tell your daughter or son who has a friend over and they are being much too noisy and so you say that their friend has to go home. The son or daughter then goes crying to mom and says, “dad just told me that I can’t have any friends over anymore!

Or, your boss calls you into the office because you have been late several time and says nicely to you, “I think you need to give attention to this, you don’t want to get into the habit of being tardy all the time, it isn’t fair to you, and to the other employees.” The employee walks out of the office and says to his coworkers, “Know what that stuffed shirt said to me? If I’m late one more time, I’m fired!” When we don’t like a prohibition or a warning, we magnify its strictness. Suggesting that our superior is unjust lessens our culpability. Then if we don’t perform, we think we have a morally superior way out.

And last, Eve in a self-contradictory way softened God’s word by saying “lest” you die instead of “surely”. The certitude of death was removed.

I posted a comment on the term RIP, Rest In Peace. Asking if it is said because one knows for a fact that the one who died is born again, a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Or is it just being polite; wishful thinking? A personal friend replied saying that some of us don't believe any of it and say it out of respect for the families belief.

So Eve in a breath, diminished, added to and softened God’s word. Her approach to the holy word of God put her in harm’s way. Many do the very same thing and likewise, today are put in harm’s way.

The Contradiction by Satan

But you’re not going to surely die, was the embolden blasphemous contradiction by the snake, (v4). This was nothing but an ‘in-your-face-God’. The Hebrew places the word lo (not) in front of God’s declaration. “Not-you shall surely die”; take that God! It’s now the serpent's word against God’s word - absurd juxtaposition -

Note, that the doctrine of divine judgment is the very first thing to be denied. From the very beginning, Satan attacks it. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that was, and is to this day at work in the sons of disobedience - paraphrased from Ephesians 2:2. Modern culture’s loathing for the doctrine of divine judgment comes straight from Satan. Attack it all you want, deny it all you want, divine judgment has fallen & will fall as surely as did for Adam & Eve.

Look at the dialogue. Satan offers a question on the perversion of God’s word. Eve then begins to question it herself; you see that by her own revisions of God’s word. Then Satan is free to declare God’s word as wrong. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

One would have thought that Eve should have recoiled in horror & run off - streaking through the garden to Adam. Adam should have stepped forward to uphold the word of God. God talked to him directly. But no, Eve was buying into it. She was entranced by the serpent & anticipation consumed her.

The Goodness of God was Attacked

It looks like Satan was now encouraged by the responses Eve gave with her revisions, and now he goes after God himself, attacking His goodness. God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be [just like Him] God, knowing both good and evil.” (3: 5).

Satan, through the serpent, cast God in an ugly light making out what God said into nothing but an idle threat, more scare tactic than anything else to keep Adam & Eve in their place. It’s obvious that God was jealous that the couple would ascend too high.

This is really something, think about; what an attack in light of the fact that the thousand goods of creation, not to mention the gift of each other along with their rulership of the earth, all came from God. This is nothing but an undisguised, glaring, flagrant slur on the character of God.

What more can you expect from the one who rebelled against His creator and stated -  ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ (Isaiah 14: 12-14).

But unfortunately Eve was buying it, she was believing it. If you’re going to lie, might as well make a big one, so big to totally reinterpret life.

. . . in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; . . . It would never come into their heads [those listening] to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. (Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X).

In the garden, the lie bore the lure of divinity for Eve. - “you can be like God”. I’m going to step out for a second on a limb. Vince Whelan, if I can get him back over here, is very well versed on the Mormons. One of the “neet” things about them is that you one day can be like God.

Satan says to Eve, “you will be like God!” Sin, a sin, failure hamartia holds a spiritual lure, a golden promise. Eve could just hold out her hand take hold of the fruit, take a bite, and whala, divinity was hers.

It also holds a lure for moral autonomy - “You will be like God, knowing good & evil”. Notice one thing that Satan doesn’t say ‘you can which leaves some possibility of not being like God. Satan says you ‘will’ be like God, leaving no doubt whatsoever.

So by taking the fruit, she’s going to become wise, equal with God, she will be able to autonomously decide what was right & what was wrong. Today she says, “It’s my body I can do what I want, I decide what is right and what is wrong.”

Men you aren’t off the hook. Adam also ate.

The sequence of events - “she took of the fruit and ate, and gave some to her husband who was with her”. That’s a shocker, looks like Adam was privy to the conversation between Eve & the snake. It says he was with her. Okay, that in itself doesn’t prove he was with her during the temptation. But what is decisive is that during the temptation, (verse 1-5), Satan addresses Eve in the plural “you,” which does imply Adam's presence. Adam watched everything passively.

Adam wasn’t deceived by the snake. He had his powers of discernment honed by naming all the animals; that was a rigorous intellectual ordeal, a process that probed the essence of each animal. Adam wasn’t some ignorant backwoods country redneck like many modern-day patronizing intellectuals like to image. St. Augustine surmised, “His mental powers surpassed those of the most brilliant philosophers as much as the speed of the bird surpasses the tortoise. Milton insisted that Adam had insight into the mysteries of the soul. Paul was insistent that Adam wasn’t deceived, but the woman was, (1 Timothy 2:14).

In Romans 5: 12, When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Verses 12-19, or the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. . . Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, . . . Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners.

Adam sinned willfully, with his eyes wide-open, no hesitation whatsoever. He watched Eve take the fruit, and nothing happened to her. He willfully sinned, assuming that there wasn’t going to be any consequences. Everything turned upside-down. Eve followed the snake, Adam followed Eve, nobody followed God.

She gave him of that fair enticing fruit With liberal hand: he scrupled not to eat, Against his better knowledge; not deceived, But fondly overcome with female charm. Earth trembled from her entrails, as again In pangs; and Nature gave a second groan; Sky loured; and, muttering thunder, some sad drops Wept at completing of the mortal sin Original: while Adam took no thought, Eating his fill;

The Pit

Adam & Eve had fallen from the apex of innocence & intimacy into the pit of guilt & estrangement: “Their eyes were both opened, & they knew they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together & made themselves loincloths. (v7)

How about that! What Satan had told them was true; well, half true. But a half-truth is still a full lie. Anyway, no they didn’t die right away, as they supposed they might. Adam lived for 930 years. Then he died. Their constant communion with God underwent death. They both would go to earthly graves. They would need a savior.

They got what they wanted, but they went about it the wrong way. Their eyes were opened. They got the knowledge they sought. They saw evil. They saw themselves; they realized they were naked & desperately tried to cover up. Their innocence vanished; guilt & fear gripped them, their hearts. Now they would have to labor to love God & each other.

2 Corinthians 2:11 encourages us to be aware of the schemes of Satan. so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes. 1 Peter 5:8 also warns us of his schemes, Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Genesis is packed with primary wisdom in this regard. We must learn from Adam & Eve’s sin that sin takes hold when we begin to doubt God’s word & His goodness.

Growing doubt about the word of God just naturally breeds biblical revisionism, both conscious & unconscious. We have the tendency to minimize Scripture promises. We, without color, spout out blanch renditions of God’s glorious promises from their polychrome wonders to a dull monochrome “Ho hum . . .”

Not only do we minimize His word, but we end up exaggerating what we don’t like by adding to his word. His commands become unreasonable, illogical grotesquely exaggerated representations that no one can be expected to obey. Becoming very much pharisaic, sanctimonious, self-righteous pious. Our adding & minimizing to His word leaves one free to subtract from His word.

This free fall is intensified, made worse by doubts about God’s goodness. “How can God be good & not give me the person, thing, position that I know is essential for my happiness. How can God be good and allow so much evil in the world?”

Sound familiar?

Moses was passionate about the need of God’s people being people of God’s word. He called his people to put God’s word at the center of their existence. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6:6-9 - These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses sings his song and ends with the following words - “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. (Deuteronomy 32:46-47a)

Your very life became the standard for all the Old Testament. The Psalter opens with, How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law, he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

When we come to the New Testament, Jesus, the second Adam, is the man of the Word “par excellence”. When Jesus was tempted, He, unlike the first Adam, threw himself on God’s Word, defeating Satan with three skillful, masterful quotations from Deuteronomy. How astonishing!! The eternal Word of God resisted temptation by turning to the written Word of God!

Moses, the earthly savior of Israel who delivered them from slavery in Egypt, said the word of God is our life. Jesus the eternal Savior said it must be our food. The Word must be our life & Food.

Jesus, through massive dependence on God’s Word, triumphed over the tempter, living a perfect life, & died victoriously with the cry, “it is finished.”Jesus rested everything on God’s good word & on the good God of the Word.

He did it for His creation so that you would believe and have the stain of sin removed and share in the eternal life for which you were truly made……….

Come to Him, just as you are.