Serpent: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not
eat of any tree in the garden’?”
Eve: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees
in the garden, 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.’ ”
Serpent: “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.” [1]
In order to see
the full picture, let’s compare this conversation with the one alluded to by
the serpent and Eve.
Lord
God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 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.” [2]
What was the
serpent’s lie? Do you see it? If not re-read the transcript again until it
grabs you.
Satan’s tactic
was to put to test God’s promise that Adam and Eve would die. And sure enough, the deceiver’s words seemed
to prevail against God’s words. Eve sank
her teeth into that fruit and sure enough, she didn’t die. Yet, to her ignorance, her biological time
clock had just started counting down.
But, seeing that she was not dead and beginning to believe that God
duped her into thinking she would die, Scripture reports, “she also gave some
to her husband who was with her.”
She now became
the catalyst to the serpent’s lie as she handed her husband the poisoned fruit
that would curse him and the rest of mankind if he was to eat it. Sure enough, Adam set aside his ability to
critically think, and ignoring the words of truth by God himself, he took a
bite of the fruit.
The serpent was
very crafty. He knew that if he twisted
God’s words slightly that he could throw Eve into a state of confusion. Once confusion set in (which revealed itself
in Eve not being able to remember God’s exact command), he could then get into
her weakened mind and manipulate her to do what he wanted. God told Adam and Eve that they would surely
die the moment they ate of that fruit.
The serpent said they would not die.
Did they? Not immediately. Eve bit the fruit but did not keel over,
causing her to believe the serpent over God.
But to her unawareness, something changed in her at a cellular and
spiritual level that she could not see.
Physically, her
body began to age. Her physical days on the earth were now set in stone.
Her immune
system would begin to operate as never before to fight off death and other
debilitating diseases. Her skin was now prone to damaging effects of the sun,
revealing. And tragically, she will
witness the death of her very own son, Abel.
I could only imagine the thoughts Eve was plagued with as she buried her
son as a direct result of not being more careful in the Garden.
Something else
that resulted in her outside of her physical body was her relationship with God. She could no longer walk and talk with God as
she did just the day before. Now she
would need a sacrifice to atone for her sin.
She would need the death of someone else to ultimately allow her to live
again. Death would be the only thing
that could turn this curse around.
God’s words are
being twisted to this day. I urge you to
stay close to the Words of God that are found in the Bible. When we set down God’s words and subscribe to
blogs and articles and use these as our means of the truth, then we have no way
of seeing the subtle lies (innocent or not from the one speaking them) of the
enemy. They are out there. The enemy is actively looking to deceive
you. Your greatest protection is to know
the truth.
Psalm 119:15-16
says, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in
your statutes; I will not forget your word.”
Can you make
that promise to God today, “God I will not forget your words.” If so, then you are one step closer to
discerning the twisted words of our enemy.
