The Worst Decision

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

You put a child in a room with lots of nice toys which you tell him that he can play with, but you instruct him that he is not to play with this one thing which is off to the side.  You tell him to leave that one alone.  There is a good chance that the child will eventually make his way over to that one thing that he was told to leave alone and will check it out.  Why, when he has a room of nice toys, does he want to play with the one he’s told to leave alone?  Why is it when we are told not to do something, that we get an overwhelming desire to do that one thing?  That has been the case since our first parents, Adam and Eve.  In today’s Old Testament Scripture we will take a look at the tragic day when they could not leave alone the one thing they were told to not eat.

As we begin, we read that God placed the man that He had created, Adam, into the Garden of Eden, which he was to tend and take care of (vs. 15-17).  The Lord then instructed Adam that he could eat from every tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  He was warned that if he did eat from that he would die. The command was simple, clear, and rooted in God’s goodness.  He gave abundant freedom, but one prohibition, and the consequence was certain.

We then jump over to the beginning verses of chapter 3 of Genesis where we first meet the serpent (vs. 1).  The serpent was used as Satan’s instrument in tempting Eve.  In the last book of the Bible, the serpent is specifically identified as Satan (Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2).  Eve’s first mistake was that she wandered near the Tree of Knowledge.  God hadn’t prohibited getting near it, but when He forbids something, it is best to stay far away to avoid temptation.  However, Eve had ventured near.  The serpent’s first tactic in tempting was to sow doubt, so he asks her if God really said what He said.  The serpent wanted to raise doubts about God’s good intentions.  Satan always attacks God’s Word, having people question its accuracy before he leads them to deny it.  The doubt that Satan plants are the seedbed of disobedience.  Every temptation begins with a challenge to God’s authority, His goodness, or His clarity.

As soon as the serpent began to talk with Eve, she would have been wise to turn and run the other way, but instead she stayed and talked with him, listening to him try to cast doubt on God’s Word (vs. 2-3).  Eve answered his question, however her answer was only partially accurate.  She repeated God’s command, but she added “nor shall you touch it”, which actually the Lord had not said.  She also omitted the word “surely” when speaking of dying.  It is wrong to either add to or subtract from God’s Word.

Satan next went for direct denial of God’s Word and deception (vs. 4-5).  He boldly told her the lie that she would not die, calling God a liar.  Instead, Satan promised her that her eyes would be opened, and she would be like God.  He implied that God was withholding something good from them.  His temptation appealed to their pride, autonomy, and self-exaltation.  This is the essence of sin - the desire to be independent of God, and to define good and evil or oneself.

Next followed the most devastating act in human history - when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit (vs. 6).  This temptation was threefold.  She saw that the fruit was good for food, which is lust of the flesh.  She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes, which is lust of the eyes.  And that it would make one wise, which is the pride of life (I John 2:16).  Eve ate and then Adam followed after her.  She was deceived, but Adam was not deceived.  He sinned willfully (I Timothy 2:14).  His sin is the one through which death entered the world, plunging the human race into sin (Romans 5:12).  Their act of disobedience stemmed directly from the temptation to mistrust God’s loving relationship.

Then followed immediate consequences (vs. 7).  Their eyes were indeed opened, but not as promised.  They gained experiential knowledge of evil, but not divine wisdom.  Though physical death wasn’t immediate, it began its process.  However, spiritual death was immediate, which leads to eternal death, apart from salvation through the Lord Jesus.  Their innocence was lost and shame entered. The two made a feeble attempt to cover themselves with fig leaves, which symbolizes human attempts to deal with sin.  However it was insufficient, temporary, and inadequate.  God would later replace their coverings with animal skins, which is a foreshadowing of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.

We have to wonder why Adam and Eve would trust the serpent who they didn’t know, and not trust the Lord God who they did know.  The Lord would meet with them and walk with them every evening, yet they took the word of that serpent, Satan, who they had just encountered.  Man had every reason to trust and obey his loving Father, yet he sinned at the first opportunity and disobeyed, breaking the one rule.  However, God showed His love, as He immediately began to redeem mankind from sin.