Genesis 3:1-13

You’ll find that there’s a massive gap that needs to be filled. Something devastating has happened.

For example, in Genesis 1 and 2, we find man in a perfect setting in perfect innocence. Everything is perfect. There’s perfect harmony in nature, a perfect balance to the earth’s environment and there’s perfect fellowship between God and man.

But then you begin chapter 4 of Genesis and read to chapter 11, and what do you find? Jealousy, anger, murder, lying, wickedness, corruption, rebellion, and judgment.

So, what happened? What changed?

Chapter 3 fills in the gap for us. It’s the key that unlocks the answers to “Why God?” Nothing about our lives makes sense, nothing fits without Genesis chapter 3. In this chapter, we find the answers to why our world is self-destructing, weighed down by unstoppable evil.

It’s in Genesis chapter 3 that we trace back the source of the great drama of human history, which after more than 6,000 years has not been fulfilled.

It’s here we find the reason for the fallen, ruined condition of the human race. We learn of our enemy, the devil here and his weapons that are used against us. We learn how utterly powerless mankind is to walk in the path of righteousness without God’s saving Grace extended to him.

In this chapter, we discover the spiritual effects of sin, man seeking to run and hide from God, and we see God’s justice toward the guilty sinner.

We learn how human nature tries to cover its own shame with religion and good works and the futility of it.

Here we’re taught of God’s provision to meet our great need and the river of prophecy that runs through the whole Bible. But by far the most important thing we learn is that man simply can’t approach God except through a mediator, a saviour.

In this first section, we have the setting for the temptation of man.

And so we read in Genesis 3:1,  “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

So, we first need to ask why the temptation?

We need to go back to chapters 1 and 2, where we find that man was created innocent, but man was not created righteous. What’s the difference? What is righteousness? Well, righteousness is innocence that has been maintained in the presence of temptation.

You see, temptation will either develop you or destroy you.

Man is not a wind-up doll without the ability to decide his path. Man has a character and that character must be developed, and it can only be developed in the presence of temptation. It’s easy to do the right thing when there’s no other choice, not so easy when there are many choices to do the wrong thing and those particular choices appear better and more attractive.

Man was created a responsible being, and he was responsible to glorify, to obey, to serve, and to be subject to God’s government. Only in this regard could man in turn be fully satisfied.

Now, God tells man in Genesis 2:17, “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.”” That tree was not the only tree in the garden that could be eaten from. Man would not have starved to death if he had not been able to eat of the tree. There were plenty of trees in the garden which bore fruit; so that man didn’t need to eat of this tree at all. So, we find that man appears on the scene as a responsible creature.

Now, in this first verse we’re introduced to the serpent.

Where did he come from?

How did he get into the Garden of Eden?

Again, we’re not told how he came to be there; we’re just told he was there. The serpent was simply a creature that could be used of Satan, and Satan certainly used him.

It’s no different from the method Satan uses today. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11:14,  “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”

The Book of Revelation says more about Satan than anywhere else in Scripture. “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” That’s Revelation 12:9.

This creature was not a slithering snake as we think of it today. That’s not the picture that the Word of God gives of him at all. “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years..” That’s Revelation 20:2.

This is a creature with tremendous ability. There‘s no record of his origin here in Genesis at all. It appears that we learn the origin of this creature and also how he became the creature that he was in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

Now we read in Genesis chapter 3 verses 2 to 3, “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ “.

Let’s look a bit closer.

Why did the serpent approach the woman? Why didn’t he approach the man? When God created Adam, He had told him that he could eat of every tree of the garden, but of this one, he was not to eat. Woman was created last, and she got her information secondhand, from the man.

It’s a hard thing to say but unfortunately, women seem more open to suggestions, especially in spiritual things. It’s the woman whose more likely to fall into astrology, fortune telling and seances. It’s the ladies who are usually running the crystal stalls and the palm reading tents at markets and it’s mostly the ladies who are the customers.

Why? I don’t know. Maybe the woman is more sensitive and more emotional than a man.

We do know that this powerful creature, Satan knew exactly what he was doing.

He came with a very subtle method. He asked her this question, which cast doubt on the Word of God, “Has God indeed said (or has God really said), ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” ”

He raises doubt in her mind and excites her curiosity. She answers and we read again verses 2 & 3,  “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

By the way, you can’t find anywhere where God said, “You are not to touch it.”

Now, in verses 4 to 5 we read, “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

He’s saying in effect, “Come on, how could you possibly believe such nonsense!”

He questions the love of God, the goodness of God and the sovereignty of God. In effect he’s saying, “If God is good, why did He put this restriction on you?” The serpent implies that God is not righteous when he says, “You will not die.” Then he questions the holiness of God by saying, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

He’s painting a picture saying, “What you have here in this garden is really good but imagine how much better it’ll be when you’re like God and you know good and evil. God just doesn’t want you to share in His wisdom and knowledge.”

The serpent cunningly denies God’s truth by substituting his lie for God’s word.

The Book of Romans teaches the obedience of faith. Faith leads to obedience, and unbelief leads to disobedience. Doubt leads to disobedience—always.

The Word of God says in John 6:29, “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

How important this is!

Now we read in Genesis 3 verse 6,  “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Notice how the serpent homes in on particular areas.

It was an appeal to the flesh—“the tree was good for food”. Also, “It was pleasant to the eyes”—it was an appeal to the psychological part of man, to his mind. Manipulate the way they THINK and you’ve got them!

“And a tree to be desired to make one wise”—this is an appeal to the religious side of man. Make him religious and he FEELS like he’s on the right track.

Satan has never changed his tactics. He uses the same tactics with you and me, and the reason that he still uses them is that they work. He hasn’t needed to change his tactics. We all seem to fall for the same lines.

The trick that Eve fell for was no different than the trick every living person is subjected to every day. “How can the Bible be true?” “It’s just too far-fetched to believe.” “You can make yourself acceptable to God by doing good works.”

“We’re all children of God, one big brotherhood of man.” “There’s no need to believe in the cross of Calvary.” “If I end up in hell, I’ll have a ripping time there with all my mates.” For believers, the subtlety may be, “Yes, it is by faith, but it’s faith plus something else, we must repent and do good works.” As a result we’re in a state of constant hopelessness because of our every day failures or we feel puffed up with pride because we think we’ve done a couple of things right.

John wrote in 1 John 2:16, and  we read “ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

“The lust of the flesh”—that is, the tree was good to eat. “The lust of the eyes”—the tree was good to look at. “The pride of life”—the tree was to be desired to make one wise. These things are not of the Father, but of the world. Jesus said that these sins of the flesh come out of the heart of man, way down deep. This is where Satan directs his deceptions. This is the method that he is using to reach in and lead mankind astray. And he succeeded. They were told that they would know good and evil—and what happened? We now have the results of the fall of man.

The one weapon this being has is deception. Lies that are skilfully targeted to achieve the one purpose they have, to make each of us choose, by our own free will, to accept them as truth and act accordingly.

Now we see that Eve is deceived. Adam is not! In fact we see in verse 6 that Adam was with her when she ate. What did he do? Stood and watched her.

In 1 Timothy 2:14 Paul says “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression”.

Adam walks into transgression with full knowledge of the awful consequences. Although Eve was deceived and Adam was not, the result was the same death for both of them.  Both were guilty in the end.

Both die spiritually that very day, and they began to die physically.

An enormous change took place at the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

Those changes are outside our ability to imagine as we cannot imagine the magnificence of a world without sin.

Genesis 5:5 tells us that Adam lived to be 930 years old. He lived into the lifetime of Lamech, the father of Noah, which means he was able to see the long-term consequences of his disobedience. Adam and Eve grieved over the death of their son Abel at the hand of their son Cain, and watched their descendants grow increasingly more wicked and violent. It’s easy to imagine Adam and Eve’s horror as they saw the once-perfect creation dissolve into evil.

They had succeeded in obtaining the knowledge of good and evil.

How many times did they wish they had never gained that knowledge?

Now we see Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

“And the eyes of them both were opened”—this refers to their conscience. Before the fall, man didn’t have a conscience; he was innocent. Innocence is ignorance of evil. Man didn’t make conscience. It is an accuser that each one of us has living on the inside of us.

“And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” These fig leaves concealed but did not really cover. Adam and Eve did not confess; they just attempted to cover up their sin. They were not ready to admit their lost condition.

This is the same condition of man today. He goes through religious exercises and rituals, he joins churches, and he becomes very religious. Have you ever noticed that Christ cursed the fig tree?

That is quite interesting. And He denounced religion right after that, by the way; He denounced it with all His being because religion merely covers over sin.

In this temptation, Satan wanted to come between man’s soul and God. In other words, he wanted to draw man from God, to win man over to himself, and to become the god of man.

The temptations of the flesh wouldn’t have appealed to man in that day. He wasn’t tempted to steal or lie or covet by yearning to possess something they didn’t have. He was just tempted to doubt God.

First, Eve saw that the tree was good for food; second, it was pleasant to the eye; and third, it was to be desired to make one wise. Satan works from the outside to the inside while God, on the other hand, begins with man’s heart.

Religion is something that you rub on the outside, but God doesn’t begin with religion.

Christianity is not religion; Christianity is Christ. There are a lot of religions, but the Lord Jesus went right to the fountainhead when He said, “Ye must be born again.”

In Matthew 23:27 He said to the Pharisees who were very religious on the outside, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ”

What a picture! And Adam and Eve, instead of confessing their sin, sewed fig leaves together as a covering.

Men are still doing it today, believing that they are acceptable to God by going to church and going through religious exercises and good works instead of confessing the sin of their hearts.

In Genesis 3:8 we read, “And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden.

And in verse 9, “Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

Religion will separate you from God—and Adam surely is lost. Although he’s lost, he’s not searching for God. It’s God sarching for him.

Now verse 10, So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Verse 11, And He (God) said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

Verse 12,  Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Notice there’s no confession on Adam’s part. It’s not so much that he blamed the woman and even tries to blame God for giving him the woman in the first place, but that there’s no confession of sin on his part.

Verse 13, And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  More buck-passing!

How terribly like us all. We’re so quick to give a reason for our actions other than our own failure. There’s always someone else to direct a greater blame to. Yes, I may have done it BUT…

Congratulations, Adam and Eve. They‘ll now have to deal with evil in their new world. The woman will now face great pain in her bearing of children. Her relationship with her husband will change as well; she’ll want him, but he’ll rule over her. That wasn’t God’s original plan. His plan was one of equality: God had made the woman from the rib of Adam as his partner and helpmate. As a result of sin, she’ll now have to face his domination, but she won’t want to leave him.

The man is held to the greatest responsibility. God had given Adam the one commandment directly, and he chose to follow his wife’s offer over the word of their Creator. He was created to be in harmony with nature; he’ll now have to battle it to produce his crops. He’ll have to work hard to make food grow from the ground, fighting thorns and thistles until he dies and returns to the ground from which he was made.

Their new situation has been pronounced; pain, hard work, and death. Yet even here, God demonstrates His own purposes and plans as we’ll see in the next episode.