This scripture describes the first sin committed by any member of the human race. And for that reason, it is valuable for teaching purposes. Without anything as a precedent, Eve sinned against her beneficent Creator. IF the consuming fire of sin came about in an essentially perfect environment, what conflagrations can be ignited in our fuel-enriched society today? There is not one of us who might not be consumed in an holocaust of blazing sin created by ourselves.
Out of curiosity, Wednesday I googled the words “fire starters.” I was half expecting to be directed towards websites managed by arsonists and terrorists, but actually I found what I was seeking. A site called “Gearpatrol” gave me a list of the seven best ways to start a life-saving fire in the wilderness. All of them were under $10.00, except for the $30.00 Solo Scientific Tinder Hot Box. The Solo Scientific Tinder Hot Box Solar Fire Starter begins with an airtight capsule containing special shavings & a parabolic mirror used to reflect and concentrate light, igniting the dry tinder. The article didn’t explain what to do if it were the middle of the night, deep in a cave or in a storm. Then there was the FireKnife – a stainless steel blade with a rod of special material, stored in the handle, which when struck with the back of the blade creates a spark – good for 3,000 fires, it says. There was the Exotac NanoStriker – another really great name. Inside a waterproof key-chain thingy, there is a ferrocerium and magnesium rod with a tungsten carbide striking tool. The Uco Titan Storm-proof Matches, once they are lit, will not go out under any circumstances. You can even immerse them in water or dirt for a few moments, and they will reignite. So these would be great in rain and wind storms. And even faithful Colman has a nice fire starter. A steel blade is used to shave off a bit of magnesium from the rod enclosed. And then the blade is used to strike a piece of flint causing the magnesium to explode into flames.
One would think that igniting sin in the Garden of Eden would have been extremely difficult. The environment there was not conducive to starting that kind of fire. But the ingenuity of the human race seems to know no bounds. And when you add the imagination and magnesium of Satan, the fire of sin can be lit almost anywhere. In some fashion not clearly described, Satan approached the woman with a website full of fire starter kits. Eve could have chosen any number of Satanic tools to get the blaze underway.
Her first choice was to LOITER in the realm of temptation.
Sometimes this problem area is a very difficult to detect, as was true in Eve’s case. That lady may very innocently have been passing by the consecrated tree on her way to meet Adam. Preachers like to speak of “forbidden fruit” and that may not be a mistake. But there was nothing forbidden about the tree itself – it was simply “God’s tree.” It stood in the midst of the garden; it was difficult to avoid – at least to look at it. I wonder if there was a spring-time aroma to it? There are trees in my neighborhood to which my eyes and nose are drawn like that of a honey bee. “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.” Perhaps Eve may have stopped to examine the flower on the Lord’s tree. Maybe she enjoyed the location of the tree in the arbor amidst other trees of a different variety. She might have been thinking about this as a good place to picnic later with her husband. There were other things that she could have been doing – perhaps should have been doing. Maybe she should have been with Adam, wherever he was at time, tending to the Lord’s creation. She could have been doing a thousand other things – but she wasn’t. Would I be too bold to say that if she had been any other place than this – she COULD not have sinned? Isn’t it possible that since this was God’s only command – at least as far as we know – there could have been no other possible sin but this one? I am not smart enough to answer my own questions. Whether true or not Eve was standing in the only spot in that vast garden where Satan was ready to tempt her.
The point is – every one of us needs to beware of loitering in – or even passing – the realm of temptation. The smoker, whose job is to repair natural gas leaks, needs to find a new addiction. As a kid, visiting the Black Hills of the Dakotas, my family often visited a place called the “Reptile Gardens.” In one area of the place was a pit full of rattle snakes, and into that pit went one of the workers. He told us, but I have forgotten, how many times he had been bitten. Linger in a pit full of rattle snakes and you will eventually be bitten, no matter how expert you are. If you insist on vacationing in Brazil during the rainy season you are going to be bitten by a mosquito, and it may very well carry the Zika virus. Linger long enough in the vicinity of temptation, and you will eventually fall.
Some may think of me as thoroughly old-fashioned – senile in the faith of our fathers. As “Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” I’m not speaking from mere book-learning; this comes from experience. The child who plays with matches will eventually be burned. We are taught by the weakness of the flesh to flee when we hear the singing of the Sirens of temptation. Proverbs 4:14-15 – “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” Proverbs 5 – “My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:” “Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.” Isn’t the lesson obvious? Stay out of rattle snakes’ pit, the lion’s den and Satan’s web.
But remember that this particular tree – the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” – had been created by God Himself and may have been extremely beautiful. Certainly the Lord was not the tempter, and in Him there is never any sin. But even good things may become used by Satan, by evil people and by depraved hearts to start sinful fires. Your closest loved one can lead you into sin – perhaps never intending to do so. And even the most godly people can become sources of temptation. One of the fire starter kits which Satan held out to Eve was marked “Loitering in the realm of Temptation.”
Another kit offered to her was called “Relax Your Guard.”
When I read those verses from Proverbs, didn’t they sound a little far-fetched, old-fashioned, antiquated? The reason is due to the fact they ARE old-fashioned and out of cinque with modern society. Even the saints of God have grown too relaxed in the areas of sin and temptation. For example, the Bible says, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” How many ways are there to define “unequal yoke”? One professing Christian says, “‘Unequal’ means 95% evil against 5% righteousness or innocence.” Another replies, “No, the yoke is uneven if 60% of the weight is toward evil, and 40% is toward good.” And still another says, “An unequal yoke speaks of any link between righteousness and unrighteousness.” Is it incorrect to say there has never been a day when the true Christian permits as much sin before his eyes as he does today? Maybe that is just a personal observation and – thus – a confession.
Eve let her guard down; she grew lax in warding off Satan’s temptation. And she had an excuse, because this might have been the first time she’d ever been tempted. But in contrast to that woman, you and I know what temptation is. Don’t be a lazy Christian, and I’m not referring to your Christian service or to prayer. Don’t be lazy in the area of watchfulness. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” But then again, he may approach under the guise of the most beautiful creature in the garden. Eve may have been worshiping Jehovah by her examination and appreciation of His creation, but she wasn’t watching. Worship, which is contrary to the Word of God, has been one of Satan’s most successful areas of evil victory. Eve may have been counting her blessings – in the same way that David was counting his subjects. But she let up her guard – she was enchanted and then enticed into sin.
And then she LISTENED to a very SLANDEROUS SUGGESTION.
“Yea hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” “Come on did he really say that? You didn’t actually hear His voice did you? You only heard what your pastor – I mean your husband – told you what God said. What Jehovah meant was that He doesn’t want you to know what He knows. He doesn’t want you to become as wise as He is.”
This world abounds in slanderous suggestions about God. And that slander produces the fire of sin. Abraham listened to slander – “Yea, hath God said that he’d protect you, and give you a son?” Ananias and Sapphria listened – “Yea, do really think God is going judge you if you steal a few dollars? Do really believe all that theological talk about God’s omniscience? – His knowledge about all things?” Peter listened to lies – “Yea, did God say He would not hold you guiltless for taking His name in vain?” “Yea, hath God said, ‘Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish’”? “Yea, hath God said, ‘Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee’”?
Eve should have simply cut Satan off, walked away and waited to talk with Adam and the Lord in the cool of the evening.
Another Sin-Starter which Eve bought at a cheap price was the dull blade of a very weak FAITH.
The Devil likes to use a double-edged sword in his attacks upon us. He says, “First, let’s rob that woman of her faith in God. And then, if at all possible, get her to apply that faith to me.” Remember that Satan’s ultimate desire is to be worshiped in the way that only Jehovah deserves to be worshiped. And he is half way there if he can get us to decrease our faith in the Lord.
And what is faith? That word can be defined in many ways – both Biblically and philologically. We can define faith as “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” But then we’d have to define what things we should we hope for, and what it is we’ve not yet seen. In one way, faith is simply taking God at His word. It is in the Word of God where we find the only things worth hoping for. It is in the Bible that we see the thus far unseen God and all His glory. A lack of faith comes from not hearing, not believing and not applying what God has told us. It takes faith to believe that God would ever justify the sinner, regenerate a dead spirit, and glorify him. It takes faith to believe that the Son of God gave His life as an atonement for my wretched soul. It takes faith to trust Christ, and not to trust any imitation righteousness we may think that we have. It takes faith to adhere to the promise of eternal life. But it is to our obvious advantage to believe these promises – and all the others.
It is also to our advantage to believe those promises which initially sound distasteful. Like that of Genesis 2 – “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.” What was it called when Eve bit into the fruit which belonged only to Jehovah? She “sinned.” Ezekiel 18:4 succinctly summaries a dozen Biblical promises – “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall DIE.” To what part of Eve did Satan appeal in his temptation? Several parts, actually. He appealed to her vanity – “You are a smart, beautiful, worthy young lady.” He appealed to her pride – “Don’t you want to be smarter – as wise as the Lord Himself?” He appealed to her incredulity – “Did God really say that?” When the Devil stepped back, leaving the woman to stew in the juices of her own heart, that was when the weakness of her human flesh took over. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to he eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof….” And what does Galatians 6 tell us – promise us? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” That word “corruption” could be defined as “perishing” or “destruction.” The sins of the flesh – sin in general – end up destroying us. “The wages of sin is death.”
The serpent effectively destroyed Eve’s faith in the only promise to have been recorded by the time of the third chapter in the Bible. And notice how easy that destruction was. Don’t give Satan too much credit, it was Eve’s spiritual weakness permitted it. And don’t think that you are spiritually her superior.
Strong faith comes from knowing God and His Word. “Faith cometh by hearing – and hearing by the Word of God.” One of the characteristics of sin is the lack of true faith. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” And how much of the Word do you know? David said, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” I know people who think they know a lot about the Bible, but Satan has them thoroughly confused. And this brings us to our last point.
Eve reached out and accepted the fire kit of “Letting down the Standard of God’s Word.”
Humanly speaking, our greatest defense against sin is our good old King James Bible. I am not discounting the importance of the Lord in our defense, but I’m suggesting that if we expect God to protect us, we’ve got to take some steps ourselves. Eve didn’t think very much of God’s Word. Like most Christians, I am afraid, she didn’t even bother to really understand what the Lord had said. I have no doubts Adam had shared with his wife the prohibition which God had made. The proof is seen in the language of the serpent – “Yea, hath God said?” Eve’s pastor had warned her, giving her the Word of God.
But look at how she misquoted it – “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.” I quoted David a few minutes ago – “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” Would things have been different if Eve had gotten the command perfectly correct? One thing that Bible memorization accomplishes is forcing our minds to meditate on the scripture.
We are asking for trouble when we don’t know what it is that God has said. If He said that chewing bubble gum in church is sin, we’d better know that. Well, He has not said that, but what is it that He has commanded and has prohibited?
Perhaps even more tragic than misquoting the Lord is simply rejecting what He has said. How many are there in Hell today, who heard the words of Luke 19:10 and John 3:16, and yet they turned their hearts and minds to other things. Can we blame them when so many Christians do the same thing – like Eve? When we lower the standard of God – the Bible – we pocket a bundle of magnesium and the steel to ignite it.
But here is what I think about the final end of Eve.
It appears to me that this lady was chosen by God to salvation even before she was taken from the side of Adam. The Lord Himself slew a pair of animals – and I would venture to guess that it was sheep or rams. The Lord shed innocent blood in order to provide a covering – the illustration of an atonement – for sinful Eve and her even more sinful husband. Turning inside out one of the clear and important statements of the Word of God – “Because there was the shedding of God, remission of sin was provided for that sinful pair.” And like Eve – like me – redemption and deliverance may be a part of the will of God for you. Prove your regeneration – repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus. Accept the covering which God has provided.