Gen. 3
It is a good thing, seeing the great levity of our hearts, that we should all of us sometimes look at our origin, at what we were, and the actual corruption of the stock whence we are derived Thus shall we see what God has done, and the revelation He has made of Himself in what we are.
The Israelite was instructed to remember the day that he came out of Egypt all the days of his life (Deut. 16:22Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. (Deuteronomy 16:2)); and the confession made by him when presenting his basket of the firstfruits of the land was this: “a Syrian ready to perish was [not I, but] my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous; and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: and when we cried unto Jehovah the God of our fathers, Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression: and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: and he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey” (Deut. 26:5-105And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: 6And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: 7And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression: 8And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: 9And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God: (Deuteronomy 26:5‑10))
Our first father had sinned. Thus the fountain was defiled. Evil since abounded, and sin has taken its free full course.
We learn in all this scene in the garden what has distorted the natural conscience, in circumstances so plain that we can say what they are. Now it is hard to learn what we are, because that which has made us sinners in heart has made us sinners in understanding also. As the conscience is affected and renewed by the Holy Spirit, so is it perverted by sin. There may be a false standard of good and evil, and thus blindness through that (as a law of darkness), as well as corruption of heart. Paul says, “I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did,” &c. (Acts 26:9-119I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. 11And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. (Acts 26:9‑11).) And the time was to come, the Lord forewarns, when those that killed the disciples would “think they did God service” (John 16:22They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. (John 16:2)).
The book of Genesis gives us, in the first dealings of God with man, the first grand elements of truth with exceeding freshness and energy.
All that was said by Satan to Eve (except “Ye shall not surely die,” ver 4), was in a certain sense true. This was not true. But this is the way he deceives. He does not present evil in its own hideous garb, but in a plausible insinuating manner. He can tell truth if it subserve sin—much attractive truth, so that he wins attention by it; but he never uses it to lead to obedience. Both that which was spoken by Adam and Eve, and that which was spoken by Satan, show the exceeding deceitfulness of sin. Where God has not His place in the soul, in the assertion of our independence, our weakness and inconsistency open the way to the guile of the enemy, and the mind does not see its departure from truth. “I said in my haste, All men are liars” (Psa. 116:1111I said in my haste, All men are liars. (Psalm 116:11)). So again Mic. 7 (where there is every kind of corruption), “The best of them is as a briar: the most upright is as a thorn hedge.... Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom,” &c. They had departed from God. To learn what sin is to any purpose is to learn the source from which we have departed. We have turned away from God.
Notice, the first thing introduced here is the subtlety of Satan. It was not flagrant open sin and wickedness when Eve replied to it; it is not, “I am the devil come to deceive you.” He puts the present pleasantness of the thing, and with subtlety inquires, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?” The Holy Ghost does not here say the devil was wicked, but “that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?”
The woman entered into conversation with him after throwing doubt on God's word, and soon she was clean gone.
This questioning what God had done was a calling in question of His goodness and love; just the temptation to mistrust God. “Hath God said so and so?” is in effect, “Well, do not believe Him, He has kept back something worth the having.” The moment Eve entered into discussion, and parleyed with the serpent, God had altogether passed from her; and all was gone.
She ought to have said, “Why ask me? Surely He hath done whatsoever it hath pleased Him to do.” A right mind would have rejected the temptation at once; a true heart would have fallen back upon God. “He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:1818We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (1 John 5:18)). Satan “touched” Eve. He had got his question into her mind, and she had departed from her strength; for God had lost His place in her soul. When Eve began questioning God's goodness and answering Satan's question, she was placing herself above God, and judging God; and thus she put herself into the hands of Satan. Had Eve been worshipping God, Satan could not have “touched” her; but, judging God, she took the place of independence, and thus Satan had power over her, and, being wiser than she, he deceived her.
We cannot judge God's ways without judging God: we may adore Him in His ways; but the moment we judge or question that which He has revealed, we get above God, we make ourselves gods, and put God in the place of the creature as subject to us. This brings our souls under the power of everyone that is more clever than ourselves; we are in their hands, and they can do what they please with us. Now the devil is more clever than we are (the woman was no match for him). Therefore we ought to keep God ever in His place of God in our souls, lest Satan should make gods of us, and set us judging God Himself. If God be displaced, we get into the place of those who are irresponsible, and as creatures become the prey of any more cunning than ourselves.
The soul, when first awakened, finds its place before God. It may not all at once have peace and joy; but this at any rate it learns—to submit to God, and to be willing to be taken up anyhow, so that God will but have us at all. Now does God keep this His place in our souls? Because it is the constant aim of Satan to slip in between God and our souls. In order to meet Satan, we must get into the place of entire responsibility to God. God did not hold His place in Eve's mind, or she would not have been questioning His love, and judging Him there was the want of submission. And may it not be that there is the want of submission in us? that our minds are questioning and judging, and not submitting to God's righteousness?
Notice also that Eve was in full recognition of God's command. “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” (vers. 2, 3). There was the clear and definite knowledge of what God had said to her. So with ourselves. We have all heard about God, and about His way of salvation; yes, many of us have before our minds much of scriptural knowledge. But this did not put Eve beyond the power of Satan. Neither will it us—it may only the more immediately put us into the hands of Satan. We all know what God has said about our sins (we may not believe it perhaps: that is another thing), that “there is none righteous, no, not one.” We all know that Christ came to save the lost; but then, if we do not know that we are lost, this knowledge, remaining without faith, does not take us out of the hands of Satan, but really gives Satan power over us. We must have delivering power from God before we can be out of Satan's power, We must have conviction of sin before we are off the ground of sin.
The very moment that Satan got Eve to listen to one breath of his suggestions, that moment he took God's place in her soul. You cannot suppose she would have parleyed with the devil, and have listened to him as to somebody speaking to her as her friend, if she had not had confidence in him. So that she did trust in Satan. The truth is, she held not with God, but with His foe. She looked upon the Serpent as a better friend than God. ( To be continued).