Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the
field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God
said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
This temptation, that Eve had, was like many temptations today. You
will notice that the serpent did not just come right out and say that God
didn’t say, or that He did. He just put a question in her mind. You see, God
really did not tell Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. He told Adam not to eat of the tree. Eve’s information was second hand
from Adam, nevertheless, she was aware that they were not to eat of this
tree. Most temptation comes in a very tricky way, as Eve’s did.
There are some writers that do not believe this was an actual serpent,
but the punishment God puts on the serpent would be of no effect if he were
not truly a snake.
People who try to do sneaky underhanded things are commonly known as a
“snake in the grass”, reaching right back to this Scripture where the
serpent first got Eve to questioning this statement of God. (Beware of those
who are encouraging you to question your relationship with God, or with your
church). That is just a clever way to plant doubt.
Verse 2 tells us for sure that the woman knew the restrictions in the
garden, even though she did not have 1st hand Knowledge.
Genesis 3:2 “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden:” Genesis 3:3 “But of the fruit of the tree
which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
From the above words we know that Eve knew the location of the tree.
She changed (added to) the caution of God (neither shall ye touch it). Her
first mistake was listening, and then entering into conversation with him
(the serpent).
So many of our problems in our church could be stopped, if we did not
enter into conversation with those who are opposed to the church. The devil
has always been sneaky, and his tactics have not changed. The best thing we
can do is recognize the enemy and stay away. DO-NOT enter into conversation.
We have everything to lose and nothing to gain.\
Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely
die:”
Once the serpent had her listening, then he called God a liar
(indirectly of course). The devil is the liar, and always has been. God is
truth.
Genesis 3:5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Again, he came to Eve with a half truth. Surely her eyes would be
opened, but how horrible an opening. He was thrown out of heaven himself for
wanting to be God. The flesh desires power and authority; the flesh must be
controlled by the spirit, so as not to sin. Many false teachers today again
are saying that man will become God. This has never been true. God alone is
God.
Secular humanism in our schools is teaching our children that they are
their own god. Satan is bringing a half truth through our schools and many
of our churches today, and we, like Eve, are falling for it. She looked, she
saw, she desired. She had lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and worst of
all, a desire to be as God.
Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food,
and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
[one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her; and he did eat.”
You see the lust of her eyes when she looked, the lust of appetite,
(she ate), the lust for worldly wisdom (make one wise). She was not
satisfied to just ruin her standing with God; she included her husband as
well.
Isn’t that just the way of the sinner today, not satisfied to fall
themselves, trying to drag someone else down with them?
Adam had the choice (he did not have to eat the fruit just because his
wife did). He knew the prohibition God had made; he ate the fruit anyway.
Genesis 3:7 “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons.”
As I said before, (part of what the serpent said was true) their eyes
were opened to realize the terrible sin they had committed. They suddenly
were not innocent (they had sinned). The first awful thing they discovered
was that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness.
Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”
This is the first specific time it is mentioned that Eve heard God’s
voice. God had come for fellowship. Guilt and shame entered, and man and
woman hid from God. Just as it is today, there is no place to hide from God.
Be sure, your sin will find you out.
Genesis 3:9 “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
Where [art] thou?” Genesis 3:10 “And he said, I heard thy voice in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.”
So many times quilt of sins causes us not to come to God. We feel we
have done something so bad, that God will not listen and forgive. You see,
in verse 10, Adam’s guilt and sin had caused a separation from God.
Genesis 3:11 “And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast
thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not
eat?”
Without knowledge of sin there is no guilt association. Here God
reminded Adam that his commandment was not just a request, but if disobeyed
would be sin.
Genesis 3:12 “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
Adam is half accusing God. He is saying if you hadn’t given me this
woman, I wouldn’t have sinned. He was trying to shift the blame to someone
else. He was trying to say he really wasn’t to blame himself.
Genesis 3:13 “And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this
[that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I
did eat.”
Now that it is too late, the woman realized the serpent had tricked
her. She, too, did not want to take the blame and tried to push her guilt
to, the serpent. The difference between her and the man was that she was
tricked; the man sinned with full knowledge.
There is a certain comedian today, as part of his act, says the devil
made me do it. Excuses never change. We still try to look for a scapegoat,
someone else to take the blame for our sins. It just won’t work. Each person
is responsible for his or her own acts.
We will see in the following verses that, just as sin is individual and
each responsible for his own, so is the punishment for sin.
Genesis 3:14 “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast
done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the
field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life:”
You see, God did not give the serpent a chance to explain. The serpent,
the spirit of Lucifer, had already fallen and been cursed. There was an
additional curse pronounced here. (Many believe the serpent went upright
before this curse was pronounced). He would now crawl on his belly and eat
dirt all the days of his life, (lower than all the other animal kingdom).
Satan as well as the serpent, was to be bound earthly.
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel.”
This is one of the most important verses in the Bible. This is the
promise of Jesus Christ as destroyer of the devil. The very first verse said
that the serpent, or Satan, would be the natural enemy of mankind.
This statement truly means Satan is our enemy, but also that the snake
is the natural enemy as well. The statement, “between thy seed and her seed”
indicated that the enemy of Satan (Jesus) will be of the woman and not of
the man. The devil, Satan, or his demons truly do nip at the heels of the
Christian, but through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can stomp on
his head.
The Scripture teaches that the devil and his demons are subject to us
when we cast them out in the name of Jesus the Christ