Satan’s Work and Man’s Sin

Revelation 12:9 - And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 20:2 - And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

These verses give us information on the many names of Satan as well as his involvement back in Eden. However, one question I do have is: Was the serpent in Genesis a real serpent or was the serpent Satan?

In Genesis 3:14 - The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

We read in this passage that there is a very real physical serpent, receiving some very real physical consequences .

What we also know is that Satan is NOT a physical being, but he does operate in this physical world.

Job 1:6–7 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

So if Satan and his demons are disembodied spirits…Then how can Satan and the serpent both be the culprit in the Genesis account?

Luke 22:3 - Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

Matthew 16:23 - But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Mark 5:8–9 - For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

Mark 5:13 - So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

Time and time again throughout the Bible we see that Satan and his demons can enter into people or animals and influence them.

Satan’s spiritual influence may allude us but it is crystal clear to the Lord. God easily sees when Satan is up to something and will often speak directly to him.

In Ezekiel 27-28, We see God speaking to Satan as he influences the King of Tyre …which we spoke on last week.

In Isaiah 14, God speaks not only to the King of Babylon but to Satan who influences him.

And in the same way in Genesis 3, God speaks to both the physical serpent and to Satan who influenced it.

Martin Luther said it like this: “Let us therefore, establish in the first place that the serpent is a real serpent, but one that has been entered and taken over by Satan.”

The Bible tells us that Satan used a real serpent to deceive Eve, and because of his entrance into the Garden , he can be rightly called the “serpent of old!”

Christians can never sin cheaply ; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders prayer, brings darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf and bondman of sin. - Charles Spurgeon

There is a benign debate amongst christians about this:

Was Adam with Eve when she spoke to the serpent?

Genesis 3:1-6 - Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who “was with her,” and he ate.

There are two obvious camps that people divide into concerning this issue:

1. Adam was present with Eve during her conversation with the serpent

2. Adam was NOT present when the serpent tempted Eve

For the purposes of this lesson we will argue against Adam being with Eve when she was tempted

When we read Genesis 3, we do not read that Adam was with Eve when she was decieved - it only mentions Adam’s presence when she ate .

Could it be that the serpent waited for the opportune time for Eve to be alone ?

Could we consider that there was a small amount of time that passed after Eve was decieved. And that the reason for this belief is due to the events that took place in-between Eve being decieved and Adam eating in verse 6.

First off…We see Eve realizing [saw] that the “fruit was good to eat.” But how did she know? Perhaps she saw an animal or even the serpent eat the fruit. Remember it was forbidden for man to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the Bible gives no indication that animals could not have eaten from it.

Second…God rightfully charges Adam with being swayed by the influence of his wife…

Genesis 3:17 - And to Adam he [God] said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

It is probable that the way the Lord addressed Adam in verse 17 indicates that there was a conversation between Adam and his wife after Eve’s discussion with the serpent.

In fact, the account never states that the serpent spoke with Adam at all. Only Eve . It is only Eve that is addressed and it is only Eve that responds.

Why? Why would the serpent only address Eve? Well….Not only is it easier to deceive one person rather than two, but It is also very unlikely that Adam would’ve stood by and said nothing with such a blatantly errant conversation between the serpent and his wife being held in his presence.

The serpent usurped God’s created order. There was a reason for the serpent engaging Eve. First, Adam was directly given the command; Not Eve. [Gen. 2] Satan knew Adam would not be persuaded by the schemes of the serpent, and so he employed the allurements of the only person who could pull at the strings of Adam’s heart, his wife.

This is the point that Paul is driving home in 1 Timothy 2:14 - “and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

But Paul is only speaking comparatively . Not responsibly .Because it was Adam that chose to transgress the law that was given to him. He was responsible .

He chose to comply and to be drawn into the fatal ambition and attraction of his wife and because of this became a partaker in sin.

Genesis 2:15–17: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

The issue is that Adam gave greater credence to the flatteries of the devil than to the Word of God. Adam rightfully bears the responsibility of “man’s original sin” because he was God’s appointed representative of the race.

Romans 5:12 - Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man , and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

Lastly, when God inquired of Adam what it was that he had done, Adam solely blamed his wife. Nothing was said about the serpent . This could very well allude to Adam not being aware of the serpent’s conversation with Eve and would also support the belief that Adam was not with her as she was being tempted.

Like Adam and Eve, physical death may not come immediately…but do not be mistaken! The seeds of death are planted at the moment of disobedience .