“…the SERPENT said to Eve, “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 (KJV says “ye shall be as gods”), knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4-5)
Notice, that talking serpent was not some snake with magical powers to speak. That serpent is the main adversary of God and man, “The great dragon was thrown down to the earth, and his angels with him. The dragon is that OLD SERPENT called the devil, or Satan. He leads the whole world DOWN THE WRONG PATH.” (Rev. 12:9)
Satan spoke two lies here to Eve, he said:
- YOU WILL NOT SURELY DIE: Adam and Eve lived in God’s special eternal paradise, with HIM! Every evening, God would appear to and talk with them. God’s condition for all of this to continue was, “…the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.” (Gen. 2:16-17) Eternal life ended for them, death came into existence and they were thrown out of the paradise of God!
- YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD: Every temptation to sin is an invitation to take matters into our own hands, to be our own lords, to do ‘what is right in OUR OWN EYES,’ to manipulate people and things to suit our own ends, to live as if we are worthy of respect and honor, even worship. In other words, because of the fall of man, the sin beneath every sin is a prideful attempt TO BE LIKE GOD. We know God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26) We know that God is not saying that we will be omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence because only God has these abilities. But Satan is wanting us to believe that anything God can do WE CAN DO so we don’t need God. That is a GREAT LIE, we definitely need God and we cannot do anything God can do!!!
“Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path…I am confident I will see the LORD’s goodness…wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE LORD.” (Psa. 27:11-14)
-Bill Stockham