Battle For The Truth (Part 27)

Genesis 2:8,16-18; 3:1, “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (16) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (18) And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 3:1, Now the serpent was more subtil 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?”

Introduction

As we continue our review, I think it necessary to remind my listeners and readers that the Book of Genesis is categorized as the historical narrative genre of literature and not allegorical, myth or fiction. It deals with real geographical locations, real people that lived, and real events that occurred. Genesis, which means Beginnings, provides the only True and Authoritative explanation for the origin of the universe, and life as we know it here on planet earth. As we saw last week, Chapter 2 gives a more detailed description of how God made man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Today, we will look at why and how woman was made, and the gracious home, the Garden of Eden, that God prepared for their pleasure and enjoyment. The Garden of Eden was a utopia abundant with a variety of good food, fresh water, and beauty. We also learned that their lives and new home came with instructions [be fruitful and multiply], and only one prohibition—not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because disobedience in this one area would result in certain death. Besides this one prohibition, everything else was theirs to eat and enjoy. In accordance with God’s will for humanity, their lives were full of love for one another, and they enjoyed the privilege of regular fellowship with God.

How could life that was going along so beautifully well deteriorate into what it is today? What really happened and who is responsible? These are good questions, and Chapter 3 unambiguously provides the answers. Time permitting, we will unpack the revealed truth of man’s fall from grace and the hope provided for his redemption.

2:8 – “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

Here we find God graciously preparing an abode for the man that He had formed. As previously mentioned, Eden was a real place. Also, notice that the man [Adam] was not left on his own to find the Garden, but God put him in his new home. Subsequent verses describe the abundant supply of good food, fresh water, and beauty of this utopian Garden. Adam’s only job was the joy of maintaining it.

2:16-18, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (18) And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

Here we discover that this new home comes with unambiguous and non-negotiable instructions: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it…” This command could not be clearer. First, God told Adam what he was free to eat, and then what he was prohibited from eating. And although God was not obliged, He lovingly warned Adam what would happen if he disobeyed His command: “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The fact that Adam did not ask any questions strongly suggests that he understood and accepted God’s command.

Side Note: God giving a warning before judgment is consistent with His character throughout Holy Scripture. In Genesis 6:13, God warned Noah of the coming judgment upon the world: “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Again, in Exodus 8:20-21, God warned Pharaoh to let His people go: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. (21) Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.” Again, in Deuteronomy 30:19, God warned His people to obey His commands: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” I could go on. For example, 2Chronicles 36:15; Jeremiah 7:13,25; 26:5; 35:15; Ezekiel 33:3,6; and, in the John 8:24, Jesus told the Pharisees who were opposing Him, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” Moreover, this same warning, “Thou shalt surely die…” applies to mankind today. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen somebody.

2:18 – “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

Here God makes a declaration that Adam has a need in which he is completely unaware—he needs a suitable companion to help him with the great task of maintaining the garden for the reproduction of human life. To provide what the man needed, God put him to sleep and performed the first surgery on him by removing one of his ribs and making woman. This explains why and how woman came to be. Subsequent verses tell us that God awakens Adam and brings the woman [Eve] that He made unto him. Adam was so moved by God’s gift of Eve that he began to prophesy: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Chapter 2 ends with an extremely important state of affairs concerning the man and the woman: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

Side Note: At this point in the human experience life on earth has never been better. God created the perfect environment and sweetened it with the perfect companion for the man and the woman. They were both naked, yet unaware and unashamed of their nakedness. They were in perfect harmony with one another and righteous before God. No one can improve on this model. Amen preacher. I can only imagine how good life was then. To be naked, yet unaware and unashamed. Not only was there no shame, but there was no disease, no pain, no worries, no wars, no gangs, no guns, no crime, no need for money, no bad weather, no earthquakes, no heartaches, no deadlines, and no fears. Could life have ever been this good? I believe it was this good. Why, do I believe it? Good question. Because God’s word declares that it was, and God’s word is the truth. Amen somebody. Now how long this blissful existence lasted is unknown. Was it a day, a week, a month, a year? No one knows and the text is silent on the question; nevertheless, however long it was, it was not long enough. Amen again somebody.

3:1 – “Now the serpent was more subtil 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?”

Chapter 3 marks a major milestone in the Creation narrative. Several messages ago I dedicated an entire message to Genesis 3:1 alone. However, since this is a review, I will limit the scope and try to deal with the highlights. With that in mind, I believe to properly understand the human dilemma, it is critical that we grasp what occurs here in Genesis 3. Herein we discover the reason for not only the problems of the human condition, but also the problems manifested within the celestial, terrestrial, nature, plant, and animal kingdoms. Moreover, this chapter lays the foundation for a proper worldview and perspective of not only why things are the way they are, but also God’s plan to fix it.

Again, let me reiterate that we are not dealing with legend, myth, or allegory, but historical truth. God is real, heaven and earth are real, and now we are introduced to a new character on the scene—the serpent. The serpent is an actual animal; however, the serpent is not acting on its own. Now I do not have time to take a deep dive into this issue but suffice it to say that it is Satan working through the beast to accomplish his purpose. The first thing God points out about the serpent is his character—subtlety. This is another way of saying that the serpent was crafty. The Hebrew word for subtil (old English spelling for subtle) is ‘aruwm aw-room’, which means shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible, or prudent. It could also be expressed by the words astute, clever, or cunning. This same word is translated as prudence in Proverbs 1:4, “to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth” (ESV) Therefore, whatever amount of craftiness other creatures possessed, the serpent possessed more. Craftiness in and of itself is not necessarily evil; however, as seen here in our text, it can be perverted for sinister purposes.

Notice who the initial target is—the woman. Like a true predator, the serpent hunts and targets the easier prey. Eve is the target and her being alone is the opportune time for a strike. So, the serpent approached innocent Eve with a twisted question about the word of God. Testing Eve’s knowledge and adherence to God’s word the serpent asked, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” There are a few things we should notice about the serpent’s question because it illustrates not only his craftiness but also one of his primary methods of attack—distorting the word of God. Also, notice that he misquotes the Lord’s command given in Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Other translations read as follows:

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The fact that he asked Eve a question to which he already knew the answer reveals the true nature of his craftiness. How else would the serpent know to ask a question about what God said, if he was not already aware of what God said? Please understand, Satan knows the word of God. He simply misquotes, misinterprets, and misapplies it to cause people to sin. This alone should put us all on high alert!

Side note: Notice that even the serpent knew it would be foolish to argue the existence of God. Yet, some people are so lost that they take a position that even the devil and his demons do not take. As the Apostle James wrote, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” James 2:19

Eve had no idea what she was getting herself into. Understand that at the heart of craftiness is concealment and deceit. Included in the deceit is the planting of a thought that seduces the mind in a particular direction. As previously mentioned, craftiness or shrewdness is not evil in and of itself. A topnotch salesman possesses this attribute, which is why people often buy things that they do not need or buy things that do not do not work as they were sold.

What the serpent is doing here is planting a thought to sell the Big Lie that God does not tell the truth and therefore cannot be trusted, and that our lives would be better if we believed him instead. It is the original lie created by the original liar. Jesus exposed Satan’s true character and nature while speaking to the Pharisees in John 8:44. Jesus said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”. Amen somebody.

Conclusion

Well, I am out of time and will have to pick up next week to see the outcome of this life-changing encounter. And although these things happened long ago, we still are caught within its web today. So, until next time may God richly bless you my beloved.