It Happened
in a Garden
Genesis 3:1-6
by Paul
George
It is
written in the Genesis account of beginnings God saw all
He had created and it was very good, it was perfect. We
know the world is no longer perfect. This means that
something occurred that changed the original state of
the world. At some point in time, evil, pain, suffering
violence, lawlessness, and wickedness entered the world.
Why didn’t God prevent this from happening? Could He
have prevented it from happening? If He could have
prevented it from happening and didn’t can we say He is
a loving and caring God? Did God reveal His love in not
preventing what happened?
God could
have prevented the entrance of evil, pain, suffering,
violence, lawlessness, and wickedness into the world.
Why didn’t He? When God created man He instilled in him
the ability to make decisions and act upon the decisions
he made.
When God
placed Adam, in the Garden of Eden there was peace,
harmony, and unity on earth. He saw divine things
clearly. There were neither errors nor mistakes in his
knowledge. His will complied readily to the will of God,
without questioning or resistance. His affections were
directed toward his Creator. There was neither vanity
nor rebellion found in him. What caused the change in
the nature and character of man? It was due to a
decision he made and acted on. His decision was based on
the decision his wife, Eve, made.
Eve is
called upon to make a decision. She will make her
decision based on what she is told by the serpent. The
serpent is not the originator of the question he will
ask Eve or the contradiction of what God told Adam. The
originator of the question and the contradiction is
Satan. In his original state he was called Lucifer. He
was an anointed cherub, a guardian of the throne of God
and he led a revolt against God. His revolt was put down
and he was cast down to earth. Determined to have a
kingdom of his own he turned his attention toward the
Garden of Eden. Using the body of the serpent he entered
the Garden of Eden and asked Eve “Indeed has God said
you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” A very
popular question, asked today in various forms, “Indeed
has God said.” This is a closed end question. The answer
is either yes or no. It requires no explanation. All Eve
had to do is answer yes.
Satan knew
what God said and he knew who God told not to eat the
fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
He is testing Eve, just as he tests every child of God.
He didn’t want to know what God told Adam, he wanted to
know if Eve understood what she had been told and put
doubt in her mind. He wants her to question what she has
been told. Why is she forbidden to eat the fruit from
the tree? Is there something God and Adam don’t want her
to know?
Satan used
Eve’s answer to deceive her and convince her no harm
will come to her if she eats the forbidden fruit. This
is what Satan does today, through various agencies he
deceives and convinces people if they commit an immoral
act, fill their bodies with drugs and alcohol, violate
the laws of nature, and disobey God’s moral law in any
shape or form no harm will come to them.
Eve’s
answer, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we
may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the
middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat
from it or touch it, or you will die.” Is that what God
said to Adam? He told Adam, “From every tree of the
garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in
the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Eve
misquoted. She added to what God had said.
Eve’s answer
opened the door for Satan and he attacks the nature and
character of God. You can almost hear the sarcasm in
his voice when he told Eve, “You surely shall not die.”
The he tells Eve why God has forbid the eating of the
fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes
will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.” Satan didn’t tell Eve she would become a god
or goddess. He told her she would become like God. She
could raise her level of knowledge to that of God’s. She
could move up on the ladder of creation. She could gain
the honor and happiness God is withholding.
Satan
accomplished what he set out to do, get Eve to doubt the
love, integrity and goodness of God, draw her allegiance
away from God and direct it toward herself, which would
be the same as directing it toward him. Now he will use
Eve to convince Adam there is no harm in eating the
forbidden fruit. Satan knows if Adam eats the forbidden
fruit he will gain control of governorship God gave to
Adam. Satan did not know if Eve would eat the forbidden
fruit. He didn’t know if Adam would eat the forbidden
fruit. Satan does not know what we will or will not do
all he does is offer a choice. We can choose to obey God
or believe a lie.
When Satan
attacks the Christian, he doesn’t normally get him or
her to commit some crime or immoral act. He uses some
incident in their life, other people, or world events to
try and get Christians to doubt God’s love, goodness,
and integrity. If God loved you, you wouldn’t be
suffering like you are. If God is a loving God why does
He permit evil, pain, and suffering to exist? He tests
the faith of Christians. In the wilderness Satan told
Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command that these
stones become bread” (Matthew 4:3). He was asking Jesus
to prove His is the Son of God. Then he said to Jesus,
“If you are the Son of God throw your self down”
(Matthew 4:6). He wanted Jesus to test God’s love. If he
dared Jesus to prove He was the Son of God and test
God’s love. When Satan told Jesus to turn the stones
into bread he was using Jesus’ the situation He was in.
He was in the wilderness, He was hungry, and there was
no place where He could get something to eat. Satan’s
point was if Jesus is the Son of God providing something
to eat would be no problem if was the Son of God. Why
wouldn’t Satan use our situations and the events in the
world to test our faith and use them to test God’s
love?
The battle
is over. When Eve saw the fruit from the tree of the
knowledge was “good for food…a delight to the
eyes…desirable to make one wise” she ate the forbidden
fruit. Looking at the tree from her point of view the
tree looked like the rest of the trees in the garden. It
grew out of the same ground. There was nothing in the
outward appearance of the fruit that indicated it was a
danger to ones health or the eating of the fruit could
cause a person to die. There was nourishment in the
fruit. What harm could come from eating the fruit? The
conclusion Eve came to was influenced by what she saw.
We need to
be careful what we look at. The eyes are the windows of
the soul. Windows Satan can throw fiery darts through
and pierce the heart. These darts are loaded with a
deadly virus, called sin. While it is true there is no
way we can avoid seeing things that are inappropriate,
we are surrounded by them. What was once hid behind
closed doors is telecasted into our living rooms in
living color. Satan is able to use them to lead a person
astray when that person follows Eve’s example.
Satan didn’t tell Eve the truth and she believed a lie.
She took the fruit from the tree and ate it. Satan
didn’t give Eve the forbidden fruit, she took it from
the tree, and he didn’t force her to eat the forbidden
fruit. Satan could not make Eve do anything she didn’t
want to do. Satan can tempt us but he can not force us
to anything we don’t want to do. We can blame God,
Satan, parents, pastors, teachers, the media, friends
and neighbors for our shortcomings, but no one can force
us to do what we don’t want to do or what we know is not
the right thing to do.
Adam knew
what the right thing to do was. He knew what God had
said about the forbidden fruit. No one forced him to eat
the forbidden fruit. Why did he take the forbidden fruit
and eat it. We aren’t told. Could it be Eve used the
same argument Satan used to convince her to eat the
forbidden fruit? We don’t know. We don’t know what the
state of Adam’s mind was when he ate the fruit or what
he was thinking. When he found out Eve had eaten the
forbidden fruit did the words “you shall surely die”
come to mind? Did he picture himself alone in the garden
as it was before Eve was given to him to be a help mate?
Is it possible God was wrong or he misunderstood what
God said? We don’t know. All we know is he ate the
forbidden fruit.
We have all
seen people do something that was contrary to their
normal behavior. We ask the question why they did what
they did. We even speculate and form opinions. But we
may never know why did they do what they did or what
motivated them to do what they did. We have all done
something that was contrary to our normal behavior and
afterwards ask ourselves why I did that, I knew it
wasn’t the right thing to do. From the human point of
view, I believe Adam and Eve both asked that question
many times.
Adam and Eve
ate the forbidden fruit and their eyes were opened. This
is not a reference to their physical eyes but to the
eyes of their consciences. They saw it was now too late.
They had believed a lie and now they must pay the
consequences. They saw a loving God provoked. They saw
their natures were corrupted and depraved. They saw they
were naked. They were stripped, deprived of all honor
and favor. They saw the serpent was a deceiver, a liar.
He told Eve her eyes would be opened and she would be
like God. They didn’t become like God they became like
their deceiver.
The first
step they took after eating the forbidden fruit was not
upward but downward. A strong sense of guilt overcame
them. When they heard the Lord God walking in the garden
their hearts were filled with fear and they tried to
hide from His presence among the trees of the garden.
Before they disobeyed God if they heard the voice of the
Lord God in the garden I believe they ran to meet Him.
They welcomed His presence. But now, they fear Him. They
knew they had done an evil deed. They saw God coming
into the garden as a Judge and they tried to flee from
justice.
They
realized Satan is not going to protect them. He is not
going to accuse them. They will accuse themselves. The
garden becomes what it never was intended to be, a court
room. The earth will become what it was never intended
to be, the domain of the enemy of God. The world will
become what it was never intended to be a terrifying
place. Evil, violence, pain, suffering, lawlessness, and
wickedness will run rough shod over the land.
Why didn’t
God nip in the bud what was coming upon the earth? He
could have wiped out all that He had done and start
over. Why didn’t He? He had set the course of history
into motion and He will not go back and begin again what
He has determined to do. Satan and his demonic host, man
nor beast can turn Him away from the course He has set.
He will accomplish His goal. At the end of time the
morning stars and the sons of God will sing together and
shouts of joy will be heard around the throne of God as
it was at the beginning of time. The good news is the
redeemed will join in the singing and shouting. I want
to be in that great celebration. Do you? You will be if
you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior
and Lord. You can be if you will accept Him as your
Savior and Lord.
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