The Everlasting Covenant - 3.3 Temptation and Fall

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3.3 Temptation and Fall of Man
Deceived and Blackmailed
By Hubert F. Sturges. www.everlastingcovenant.com, September 2009

Topics:
A Warning: War in Heaven
Temptation: A Story
The Fall of Man
Steps to Sin

Temptation is something that we humans face every day. It is a very practical issue. We want to do what is right but somehow we end up doing wrong, failing to reach the goal, or not doing what needs to be done.
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A Warning: War in Heaven

The day came when the fellowship of God with Adam and Eve took a serious turn. Lucifer, the leading angel in heaven, rebelled and became Satan. There was war in heaven and Satan with his evil angels were cast to earth (2). On earth, his temptation was limited to just one place. Adam and Eve were warned that they must not eat of a certain tree in the middle of the garden. Satan could not bother them in any other way. Not much else is recorded about the instructions God gave to Adam and Eve. All we have are two short verses:

    “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
    “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” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Would God fail to warn Adam and Eve of the danger of sin? No! The fact that eating of that tree would cause death indicates that Adam and Eve were told much more about sin and the devil than is expressed in the record. “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7 NIV).

Adam and Eve were bound by only one very simple and limited restriction. They could eat of every tree in the garden except for ONE. This test was given to determine whether they were willing to obey God in all things. To eat of the tree was wrong simply because it was forbidden, and not evil in its own nature. To obey this command, Adam and Eve would lay aside their own reasoning and accept God’s will. They would recognize a mind and an authority higher than their own. But, if they should eat of this tree and thus choose not to serve God, they would disconnect from the One who gives life and would die. Adam and Eve were informed of these things. In their sinless pristine state, Adam and Eve had the strength to resist the devil and to obey this simple command.
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The Temptation: a Story

All went well for awhile. Then one day as Eve was exploring, she suddenly came upon the tree in the middle of the garden. The fruit was ripe and it was beautiful. It shimmered in the sunlight. Then she remembered. . . . Quickly turning away she started to return to Adam. She was arrested by a beautiful musical voice. Wondering who it was, she turned back. All she saw was a serpent in the tree.

“Hello, Eve! My, you are beautiful! Why don’t we talk a little?” The serpent certainly had a good voice.

“Well, who are you? I’ve never heard a serpent talk before. How did this happen?” Eve was very interested.

The serpent noisily bit into a piece of fruit, “I didn’t know anything about talking until I ate this fruit. Tell me, did God say that you could not eat of every tree in the garden?”

“Well, no. God said we could eat of every tree in the garden, except this tree, which is in the middle of the garden. He said we must not eat of it or even touch it or else we will die.”

The serpent jerked his head up. “He said that! You will NOT die! God knows that when you eat of this tree, your eyes will be opened and you will be able to choose your own way. You will know both good and evil.”

Eve was involved deeper than she thought. She had never heard a serpent talk before. Even to question what God had said was new to her and seemed somewhat of a challenge! Apparently she was alone as there was no conversation with Adam until after Eve ate of the fruit and after she had given some to Adam. She, unknowing, tried to reason with an intelligence far superior to her own, the intelligence of Satan himself, using the serpent as a medium.

    “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?’ And the woman said unto the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’
    “And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’
    “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:1-6).
Satan, through the serpent, offered new and strange things to pique her curiosity. But curiosity can be dangerous at times. Satan is a master of hypnosis. We don’t know how much of this was a factor here. But it is a warning that humans must never put themselves in the path of temptation.

What was it that happened to Eve from this brief encounter? God had warned them that eating of the fruit would bring death. But here she listened to the devil (in the serpent) and looked on the fruit as a means to a greater existence, a more exalted state, a broadened and more enlightened experience. She mistook the curse for a blessing.

Can Satan offer anything that God has not made? No! God is the Creator of all science, all the arts, and even of history. Is there a wisdom outside of God? Was God trying to withhold this wisdom? Could she gain wisdom without effort? If eating the fruit made the serpent able to speak, what might it do for her? Could she even be like God?

On the down side, why would a person desire to have this wisdom? Satan found in Eve a hint of worldly ambition and pride. She had a curiosity for interesting forbidden things and a willingness to question what God had said. She did not know that the only thing “outside the box” is pride and self-serving; leading to disappointment, disease and death. Blessing can be found only in serving God.

Adam and Eve faced temptations that face all of us. We cannot blame them without sharing in that blame ourselves. In seeking a better solution for them, we find the way of escape from temptation for ourselves. This was a new experience for Eve. She did not realize that she had only one option – to immediately turn to God and to flee temptation.

Was Eve helpless? NO! She could and should have immediately left when she found herself in the vicinity of the tree. She should have immediately left when a serpent “talked.” And she should have immediately left when the “serpent” questioned what God had said. To linger in the presence of temptation and sin is to invite disaster.

    “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
God had provided her with at least three “ways to escape,” but she continued to linger and eventually took of the fruit. She was tempted on the basis of appetite, beauty and wisdom.
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The Fall of Man

Eve accepted the fruit from the serpent and ate. She immediately felt a change. She imagined a new life giving power. She picked more and took it to Adam. As she approached she was enthusiastic about the beauty, the taste, and the promise of greater wisdom. In alarm, Adam averted his eyes. Eve had lost her beautiful robe of fluorescent light! (1) She was naked! As she explained what she had done, Adam listened with a sinking heart and with tears in his eyes. Eve must die. How could he give her up? Deciding to die with her, he quickly took the fruit and ate.

Eve watched with apprehension as the robe of fluorescent light faded from Adam’s form. She realized for the first time what had happened to her. The enthusiasm of the moment quickly turned to dread. In sorrow the afternoon passed..... then it was time for their visit with God. They quickly made aprons of fig leaves.

    “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
    “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, ‘Where art thou?’
    “And he said, ‘I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’
    “And he said, ‘Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?’
    “And the man said, ‘The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.’
    “And the Lord God said unto the woman, ‘What is this that thou hast done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat’” (Genesis 3:7-13).
Why would this world be thrown into chaos and confusion, disease and death from two people "stealing fruit?" Wrapped up in this question is the majesty and holiness of God before whom sin cannot exist. This is contrasted with the malignant destructive nature of even small sins which show an element of pride, unbelief and rebellion against the Creator God, the God who is love. When these are admitted into the soul, they can only grow and lead a person into deeper sin unless they are saved by grace. A Christian must not see, listen to, taste, feel, or harbor feelings for sin in any guise.

When a person chooses to sin, he is choosing to obey another master. It was the purpose of Satan to usurp the dominion of this earth through his temptation. Eve was deceived and fell. Adam was not deceived. But Satan had an effective agent in his new convert, Eve. Satan could not control this earth until Adam fell too. In this Adam bears the greater responsibility.

The fall of man, and the entrance of sin was a “watershed experience.” Everything changed. From this has come all the disappointment, disease, and death we see today. But God who promised in the New Testament, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20), would not abandon His Creation. He would redeem man and restore all that was lost – but at a price.
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Steps to Sin

Eve had wandered away from Adam. Not serious, but in effect she was “going it alone.” When she found the tree she lingered, curious. When she heard a serpent talking, an impossible occurrence, she did not quickly leave. When the serpent raised doubts about God’s instructions, she listened. When the serpent promised wisdom from eating the fruit, she believed his lie, and had now crossed the line into sin. This was completed by her eating of the fruit.

If Adam was not deceived, why did he eat the fruit? So soon, the virus of sin destroyed faith, belief, and joy and brought in mistrust, fear, and guilt.

There were TWO temptations. Eve was deceived, tempted and fell. Adam was not deceived. Even though Adam loved Eve with all his heart, did not God love her even more? Would not God have a better way of solving the problem of Eve’s sin than what he (Adam) could devise? Satan could not gain dominion of this planet unless Adam sinned too. In his sin, Adam showed more unbelief and distrust of God. For this, he was more responsible than Eve and in his choice, he chose for the whole world (4).

Was Adam provided with a “way of escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13)? Yes! When I visited London some time ago, I found very pushy fast talking salesmen on the sidewalks looking for gullible Americans. No way could I out talk them. But I found one way that worked every time: Never reach for your wallet! What can a Christian do when tempted? First of all, take a minute and send a quick prayer to God for help. Then do what you know is right.

From their sin, Adam and Eve were separated from God, choosing their own way rather than God’s. They would find their own solutions to problems rather than to seek the Lord. They would depend on themselves rather than on God. It was the beginning of “old covenant legalism.”

Now having a selfish nature, man could not even worship God except for selfish motives. This could be changed only by the mysterious “born again” experience. Man had chosen his own way, and this same principle extended into all the earth. Animals became wild, the land became less productive as weeds, thorns and thistles grew. The weather became unpredictable. Man had to work harder to make a living. But through His everlasting love and mercy, God had a plan.
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