Article 2015-01 - Adam & Eve Face Temptation
Chapter 4: Adam & Eve Face Temptation
Introduction
Sin seeks companions in evil. The first to do that was the devil. After seducing one third of the angels he extended his operations to mankind. Had Adam and Eve opted for plain obedience to the words of God, they would have stayed free of sin, but they were tempted easily, just like most people today. The devil has developed master skills of disguise when he tempts people. When people start thinking about sin, such ‘meditation’ often leads them to commit an act of sin. Adam & Eve found after eating of the forbidden tree, that knowledge of sin did not make them any happier. This has been true ever since. All sins reap consequences, many of which are irreversible. The good news is that God has a salvation plan in the midst of any chaos in man’s life.
In this chapter we understand more about the second foundational theme in Genesis: man’s sin problem.
Scripture reference
‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened… (Gen. 3:4-7a)
The story
God planned to create the world long before its foundation. We now look at Adam and Eve and see how God made them part of His plan, despite their failure.
For us it is hard to imagine, the man and his wife walking through the garden of Eden. It was always nice weather, never too hot or too cold and there was plenty to eat. It was easy to talk to God and understand His voice. There were no quarrels, sickness, death or fear of anything. Life was perfectly pleasant and exciting. Man and animal lived together in peace without threatening each other’s existence. Nothing was wrong and there were no problems. Man and woman walked through the garden with God, surprised enjoyment at every turn of their path about all beauty their eyes met, ever drinking in the greatness of their Creator.
God had told them they could eat from all trees in the garden, except one, called the ‘Tree of knowledge of good and evil’. Man had no idea what that meant, because he was not acquainted with evil. The only thing he had to do was trust that God had given him this instruction for his good.
In the mean time God’s enemy thought about how he could thwart God’s plan with man. He had been there when mankind was elected by God to share the throne with Him. Morning Star had rebelled against that idea. He wanted that throne for himself, so he started looking for weaknesses in the human race he could abuse to his advantage. He knew that it would not be easy, as God had given man extraordinary capacities to communicate with Himself and carry out His purposes. After a while he realized that he might exploit man’s unique gift, his free will, to his advantage. He understood that he had to be very clever, because man was very intelligent. Slowly his plan developed.
He started by assuming the body of a snake for doing his research. Time and again he crept up closely to Adam and Eve when they discussed God’s words. The snake listened and realized that his only chance lay in corrupting man’s mind with lies. Not clear lies of course, but lies that sounded as if they were true. He also understood that if he could twist God’s plan for man to rule a little bit, he might persuade man to use such power for his own ends. Then he found out that man is curious to learn and the snake knew that man had no idea what evil was. And so he decided to use their curiosity, to let them eat from that tree. After that man would know what evil is – and be hooked, unable to detach himself from it. And so the devil worked out his first tricks on mankind.
One day the snake talked to Eve. We don’t know whether it surprised her that a serpent could talk, but we do know that she listened to the animal. Neither did she show surprise that the snake talked about what God had said to Adam and herself. How did the reptile know? Why should it care? Eve did not ask those questions and when the animal quoted God’s words, just differently from what the Most High had said, Eve, in her answer also said something God had not said:
Scripture reference
… God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’ (Gen. 2:16,17)
… the serpent … said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die” (Gen. 3:2,3, italics added)
The story, continued
The deception had started and the woman had not even noticed, no, she had even sided with it by misquoting God! Satan must have laughed in himself. He had won the first round. Now he just had to listen to what the woman said to her husband. His seed had been planted.
Eve talked to Adam about what had happened. She expressed her desire to know what ‘evil’ meant. Adam countered that God had told them not to eat from that tree. Yet, he was curious too. From time to time they passed by the tree and saw how good its fruit looked like. Would it really be so deadly? Was God right? Was the snake right when it said they would not die? Their doubts grew stronger and stronger. Can you imagine Satan grinning maliciously when he heard them talk? He understood that his evil seed had started to germinate and produce fruit in their minds. If only they had asked God how a serpent could talk, and why he said what he said, God would certainly have enlightened their minds and added teaching to His earlier warning. That would have made Adam & Eve stronger, but unfortunately they relied on their own reasoning.
Eventually Adam gave in. Eve took one of the forbidden tree’s fruit, ate it, gave some to Adam – and they did not drop dead. Eve concluded that the snake had been right after all. They were still alive, but suddenly realized that they were naked – an unknown feeling until then. Shortly afterwards they heard God appear in the garden. They hid behind a tree, trembling like they never had before; there had never been a reason to fear. ‘Adam, where are you?’ God asked, looking for the man and his wife.
Never before had either of them hidden from God or felt fear for Him. They were ashamed because of their nakedness and each accused the other of eating the forbidden fruit. Now they understood what ‘evil’ meant and from that time on wished they had never been so curious – and disobedient to God’s clear instructions.
When God asked what had happened, He added: ‘Have you eaten of the tree of good and evil, which I had forbidden you to eat from?’ Their lives would from that day on come to an end eventually. They were not allowed to stay in the garden. They had to leave and work hard for a living and it was going to be painful for Eve to give birth. Yet God promised that One of their descendants would one day crush the serpent’s head. This is a reference to the Messiah: the serpent would bruise Jesus’ heel at the cross but through that same cross Jesus would crush the serpent’s head.
By this one act of disobedience to God, Adam, Eve and their descendants were now contaminated by sin. From then on it became hard for man to communicate with God. The Father did not speak with them so often, and they had trouble to understand His voice. They intimately came to know sickness, grief, fear, accusation and many other evils. They became acquainted with so much evil, that they could hardly distinguish what was still good. They regretted their wrong choice as long as they lived. Yes, God forgave them and covered their nakedness. He promised that salvation would come eventually, and He gave them children. Yet, Paradise lay behind them. They wished they could return but knew they could not.
Satan and his demons must have been jubilant. They had created a gap between God and man. Now it was much easier to influence people to sin. The human race had handed its freedom over to God’s enemy. Satan now exerted power over man and bound him to himself and to the power of sin. Man could hardly resist temptation and sinned more and more. It became a his natural habit. Sin was no longer recognized as sin. People did things differently from how God desired them.
What would God do for man now? What would come out of this sad story? Will darkness ever be driven out again? And what would become of Adam and Eve? Would God still use them for His purposes? Yes, God continued His story with them and the following generations. His plans are not ruined; they will be worked out!
Comment
We must obey God, even if we do not understand why. He knows what is best for us. We must not deceive ourselves: Adam and Eve could be seduced to sin easily and so can we; having conversations with the devil is dangerous! Often we do not recognize the devil when he tempts us and even thinking about sin is dangerous. Getting to know sins you did not know before does not give you any happiness; on the contrary, you may regret the consequences for the rest of your life. Yet, it is never too late to return to God with a repentant attitude. You may have a sin problem, but God has the solution for it!
This is now what you and I, as missionaries, are privileged to do: with God’s help we may obey Him, conquer sin in our lives and tell others the good news that salvation is possible for them too. God still looks for people that are prepared to help Him finish bringing His message of salvation to people who know nothing about it yet.
Scripture reference
… God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, … I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel’ (Gen. 3:14a,15)
THEME 2: MAN HAS A SIN PROBLEM |
Comment
Man was created because God wanted to have fellowship with him. God desired a lover, with whom to share His heart and blessings. He wanted to share His power and dominion, even His throne, and therefore created man with a free will. A relationship that does not come from someone’s free moral choice is not one of love. A love relationship exists by virtue of the free choice behind it. Man was created a free moral agent, endowed with the possibility to choose: either to accept or reject the love relationship God offers. The choice became visible when God placed two kinds of trees in the garden and man was instructed not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Disobedience, God said, would certainly result in death. The consequences of making the wrong choice were spelled out clearly.
The choice involved life or death, and this is still true today. There is only one choice: will man accept God’s one way of salvation from damnation and death?
Salvation in Scripture means that people are saved from their sins, that the relationship with their Creator is restored and that they are no longer dead in sins and trespasses. This can only be achieved by believing in Jesus Christ as God’s way for people to return to His family. No other form of salvation (for instance from political or racial oppression by using weapons) is even worthy of that name.
The sin of this one couple affected the whole of creation: it included not only man and his descendants but also the animal kingdom and the world of vegetation, and of course the serpent (Satan) and his offspring (demons that had followed him in his fall).
When Cain murdered his brother Abel, God said that one person killing another brings a curse over himself. It is the first time that this principle is mentioned and therefore sets a pattern. Murder is the worst of sins and generates the strongest sense of guilt. The only way to deal with that, apart from repentance, is to justify oneself. The consequence is a hardening of heart that makes it easier to kill the next time. Cain chose not to repent, left God’s presence and founded his own Godless line of descendants.
Discussion & dialogue
Discuss how problems, torments, and issues in society have their roots in the sinfulness of man
Write a brief case study of a sin decision and its consequences, and discuss how this illustrates the fall of man
