Obedience is Always Best

Did you know in addition to Satan speaking to Eve, he was also attacking God? Satan aimed to in 3 areas of his character and attribute. Satan not only wanted to deceive Eve but by deceiving Eve tried to discredit God. Let’s look at three things here.

 1.    Challenging God’s Wisdom

     He began by criticizing God's wisdom. He demonstrated to Eve that only one tree is prohibited by comparing all the trees. This created uncertainty in her thoughts. He was essentially asking, "Why would God plant a tree and then forbid you from eating from it?"

 2.    Creating Doubt of God’s Word

      Satan disputed the veracity of God's Word. He warned Eve that God was exaggerating the consequences of eating from the tree. The serpent charged that the Lord's description of the outcomes of acquiring this new knowledge was untrue.

 3.    Attacking the Character of God.

Satan made attacks on God's integrity and character. Satan said that God's prohibition on eating from the tree of knowledge was an attempt to keep Eve in the dark. God was accused of being selfish since He doesn't want humans to know as much as He does.

4.    What happens next?

The Bible records that the serpent only spoke twice to Eve, but this was enough to offset the trust she had in her Creator. Scripture says that Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation of the serpent.

Genesis 3:6 - So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, beautiful to look at, and a tree that would make one wise, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave it to her husband, who ate it Genesis 3:6

Eve's sin progressed in three stages (she saw, she coveted, she took). This same downhill path is used in Scripture to describe the sin of others. The same sinful progression of Achan can be found in the Book of Joshua. He saw, desired, and took some of the booty from the destroyed city after Jericho was destroyed. This was a clear violation of God's commandment, and it resulted in the death of Achan and his family.

James 1:14-15 - But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown brings forth.

We see this same threefold progression in the lives of many today that caused Eve to sin.

1 John 2:16 - For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The temptation of Jesus by Satan parallels Genesis three. The devil wanted Jesus to turn the stones into bread (flesh), to gaze at all the kingdoms and their glory (eyes), and to jump down from the Temple to prove He was the Messiah (pride of life). The methods of Satan never change. Luke 3:1-14

Eating the fruit did not make them wise as Satan had promised-rather it caused alienation from each other. They began to mistrust the other, blaming each other and became fearful of God. They learned the hard lesson that Satan's promises never come true. Furthermore, humanity can never become wiser by disobeying the Word of God.

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.