TEXT: Genesis 3:1: Now the
serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ye shall not
eat of every tree of the garden”?
Vs 2-3: 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”.
Vs 4-5: And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall
not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye shall eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil”.
Vs 6: And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Vs 7: And the eyes of them both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons.
In Genesis God is
revealed to us as the Creator God, Covenant God, Almighty God, as well as the
Most High; Possessor of heaven and earth!
In chapter one God
created the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested
(Genesis 2:2). So now in chapter two verse four, the LORD God
is creating the earth and heavens.
· Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man
of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and
man became a living soul.
The “dust” here
is not the dirt, but it’s from the root word “aphar” (aw-phar’), dust (as powdered or gray); rubbish; ashes. This
is the color of death, ashen or gray, regardless of the skin color.
The definition of “formed” in
Hebrew is yatsar’, through the squeezing into shape; to
mold into a form, fashion, frame, make. The LORD God squeezed
and pressured these people (Adam) out of the state of ignorance,
misery, confusion, and death that they were in and shaped and molded them
(male and female) into the very image of God
Himself. And “breathed” into their “nostrils” (aph’),
their face, countenance, forehead, the breath of life, and man became a
“living soul”.
In the natural we inhale
oxygen through the nostrils that’s carried throughout the
body, even to the brain via the circulatory system. Our brain has a
“frontal lobe” that deals with personality, concentration, and verbal
communication. So when the LORD God breathed (naphach’), puffed in
Adam’s face (countenance), he kindled (set
on fire; ignited; excited) within the mind (forehead) of
the (male and female) an understanding that they could be and
was made in the “image and likeness” of God which included God’s wisdom,
understanding, dominion, authority, and power to rule in and over the
creation.
And their name was
“Adam”. Adam in Hebrew is “Adam” (aw-dawm’), meaning
ruddy, ie a human being (an individual or the species mankind), man, people. This
name “Adam” is inclusive of both “male and female”.
· Genesis 5:1: This is the book of the generations of
Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made
he him;
· Vs 2: Male and female created he them; and
blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day
when they were created.
This same Adam (aw-dawm’)
is taken from another Hebrew word Adam (aw-dam’), meaning to
show blood (in the face), ie flush or turn rosy: dyed red. They
had the very blood of God in them. Blood in Hebrew
is “dam” (dawm) blood. Blood is synonymous with
“life”. Leviticus 17:11: The life of the flesh is in
the blood. God’s blood, that which is pure and innocent is that
which was breathed into Adam (aw-dawm’)! These
people were breathing the very breath of God with His blood in
it. The breath, being the neshamah’(nesh-aw-maw’), the
wind, divine inspiration, intellect; spirit) of God
Himself. When they “inhaled” God’s breath they were stimulated,
impelled, and motivated in their thoughts by divine influence with creative
ideas. They began walking in the power and authority of God! They
were walked out of their “humanity” into their “divinity” because they knew
only “the good” and not “the evil”. They were only eating of
the “tree of life” mentioned in Genesis 2:9, and were living
in eternity!
In Genesis chapter three
we see the “fall of man”. Why? Because, trust and
believe, when the “sons of God” come together Satan is among them:
· Job 1:6: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
The devil is in the midst,
doing what he does best, trying to manipulate, fool and destroy God’s people
with his lies and trickery.
· John 10:10: The thief cometh not, but for to
steal, to kill, and to destroy.
Here in Genesis chapter
three he is whispering to the “woman” the LORD God made from
one of Adam’s ribs (not a bone from his rib cage). Rib is
from the root word tsela’, meaning a rib (as curved),
(of the body) or (of a door, ie leaf) [technically any door featuring a single panel
that fills a doorway]; a side (of a person). A “doorway” is an entrance into or an
exit out of a house, etc.
Women in the bible many
times symbolize “churches”. This word “woman” in
Genesis is the Hebrew word ishshah’, meaning, wife, adulteress.
· Jeremiah 3:8: And I saw when for all the causes
whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery (na’aph’) (naw-af’)
[to apostatize (total desertion of one’s professed faith or party)] I
had
· put her away, and given her a bill of divorce;
yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot
also.
Harlot is from the root
word zanah’(zaw-naw’), meaning to commit adultery (apostasy
[desertion of one’s professed faith]); to commit idolatry (idol worship).
Israel was regarded as
the “wife” of Jehovah but she was always
committing adultery (apostasy) or fornication (idolatry [idol
worship]) against God.
This “woman” in Genesis
2 that was taken from man (Adam) is his “wife”, representing
a type of “church”, the womb into which the Word of God would
be planted that would reproduce and bring forth sons of God for His glory or
the “door or entrance” into the kingdom of
God. But she became an “adulteress”, and her husband
followed along to keep fellowship with her.
The “sleep” that
came upon Adam in Genesis 2:21, was yashen’ (yaw-shane’) [to be slack or languid (without
vigor or vitality); to die]. The revelation is that the LORD God caused a “sleep
of death or languishing” to come upon Adam revealing to him that out
of him was coming forth the reproduction of a “body of people” just
like himself with dominion, authority and power to subdue the
earth. This was a foretelling of what was going to and did happen to
Jesus in relation to His death and His resurrection! When He “fell
asleep” or “died” on the cross, He was one man, but when He “arose”, He arose as
a “many-membered body” of people, called CHRIST, which is the
church, His wife, of which He is now the Head!
· 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one, and hath many
members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one
body: so also is CHRIST.
· Colossians 1:18: And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in
all things he might have the preeminence.
Ecclesiastes 1:9: The thing that hath been, it is that
which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be
done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
This body of people
called “Adam” (male and female) ruled over the creation
until the woman listened to the serpent and
fed the information to her husband and he ate also,
which brought about the fall of creation. The “serpent” was Satan
and the devil himself.
· Revelation 20:2: And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan and
bound him a thousand years.
When the woman listened
to the enemy, the adversary, the enemy of God, and she fed it to Adam, they
moved away from their God given divinity (wisdom; knowledge; dominion;
authority and power) and fell back into their humanity (ignorance,
misery, confusion, and death). So "the eyes have
it", but we must keep our focus on God!
Now in chapter 3 this
“woman” has become an “adulteress” by committing “apostasy”, which
is the abandoning or renouncing of one’s belief.
Here the serpent (whisperer;
devil) is lying to the woman and she begins to listen and engage in
conversation with him.
· Genesis 3:1: Now the serpent was more subtil
(cunning; crafty) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?
· Vs 2-3: 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”.
These “fruit trees”
weren’t apple, peach, and pear trees, as such, but they were people that
were to manifest the fruit of God’s Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22), possessing dominion, authority, and power in the
earth!
·
Isaiah 61: 1: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath
sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound; vs 2: To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; vs 3: To appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for morning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Genesis 3:4: And the serpent (devil) said unto the
woman, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day
ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil”. “The eyes have it”!
This “serpent” is
not an actual snake but it is actually the “devil” himself
working through someone or some people he is using to fool or deceive the
woman:
· Revelation 20:2: And he laid hold on the dragon, THAT OLD SERPENT, which is THE DEVIL, AND SATAN, and bound him a
thousand years.
He aroused her curiosity
enough for her to take heed to what he was saying, and not what God had
said. Have you heard the old saying “curiosity killed the
cat”?
First the serpent got
the woman’s attention. Serpent in Hebrew is nachash’, a snake (from its hiss); whisper a (magic)
spell; enchantment. Scripture
states in Genesis 3:1, he’s more subtil [(aruwm’) (aw-room’), meaning, cunning (usually
in a bad sense); prudent; crafty] than any
beast (chay) (khah’ee) [raw (flesh); strong; life (or living
thing); creature; company; congregation; multitude;
troop] of the field.
Keep in mind this race
of people called Adam, was ruling over the creation until they listened to
the serpent (others
bound by the systems of religious order; of society). The “serpent”
was Satan and the devil himself. After the serpent got the woman’s
attention she began to listen to all he said. When he said in Genesis
3:4-5: “You shall not surely die”; for God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil”, he really got her
attention. The LORD God did not want them knowing “good
and evil”, He only wanted them eating of the “tree of
life”.
Opened, in this verse, is from the Hebrew root
word paqach’ (paw-kakh’) meaning, to open (the
senses, especially the eyes); to be observant.
We know God wasn’t
talking about their “ocular vision”, because they were already seeing with
their natural eyes. Eyes here, in Hebrew is a’yin (ah’yin)
a fountain (as the eye of the landscape). “Fountain” in Webster is
defined as a natural spring of water; a source. A “landscape” is a picture
of natural, inland scenery; an expanse of natural
scenery. Because “the
eyes have it”, what kind of “scenery” (view;
scene; setting) are you seeing? Are you seeing only that which
is natural? Or have you allowed God our “spiritual
optometrist and ophthalmologist” to examine, diagnose, treat your
eyes and make the correct spiritual interventions so that you (we) can
see as He sees?
Take note of what the
serpent (devil; deceiver) said: Genesis 3:5: For
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your “EYES” shall
be opened, and you shall be as gods (they were already gods), knowing good and evil. God didn’t want them
knowing “good and evil”, He wanted them to know only “the
good”! He only wanted them knowing and speaking life! Their
natural “EYES” were already opened, they could see, so he had to be talking
about another “EYE”. Mind you, they already had the wisdom,
knowledge, power, dominion, and authority of God in them. They were
in charge of the creation so they already had God’s MIND working
in them, or the “single eye” of
God working in them. But when they listened to the serpent, he
blurred their vision and they became “double-minded”!
· James 1:8: A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
The enemy is always
there to try and discourage, mislead and redirect the people of God from the
purpose He has for them.
The bible says Genesis
3:1: Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast (Being) of the
field (world). Therefore being “more subtil” (cunning;
crafty; sly) he will stop at nothing to stop us.
· John 10:10: The thief cometh not but to steal, kill, and
to destroy.
In Genesis 3:5-6, this
serpent (devil; Satan) is using a three-fold appeal to the woman,
because man is spirit, soul, and body. The enemy attacks all areas
to try and destroy us!
· 1 Thessalonians 5:23: And the very God of peace sanctify you
wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The enemy uses the “lust
of the flesh”, the “lust of the eyes”, and the “pride of life”.
· 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 (organized systems of
men).
The serpent first gets
the woman’s attention and then proceeds to have direct communication with
her. Genesis 3:5: For God doth know that in the day
you eat thereof, then your “EYES” shall be opened, and
you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
· Vs 6: And when the woman SAW that the tree
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the “eyes”, and
a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Up to this point they
were “single-eyed” and only saw “good”, eating of the “tree of life”.
· Matthew 6:22: The light of the body is the “EYE”: if
therefore thine “EYE” be single, thy whole
body shall be full of light. Vs 23: But if
thine “EYE” be evil, thy whole body shall be full
of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how
great is that darkness!
Back to Genesis 3:6:
·
When
the woman “SAW” that the tree was good for food”. This was appealing to “her flesh” -
the bodily senses, “the lust of the flesh”.
SAW is
the Hebrew root word raah’ (raw-aw’) meaning to see;
look; behold; show; appear; consider; respect; regard; enjoy;
discern; heed; approve; have experience; think;
view.
·
Then
it became “pleasant to the
eyes”. This was
the “lust of the eyes”. This appeal was to the desires of nature, the
emotions which have their seat in the soul.
Our emotions can be
stirred up and we can roar like a lion or purr like a kitten, depending upon
the situation.
·
Last
but not least, “a
tree to make one wise”. This was the “pride of life”.
· She took of the fruit thereof
and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
· Vs
7: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons.
Their “nakedness” wasn’t that they didn’t have on any physical
clothes. It was that they had become uncovered of
the “robe of righteousness” of God, which is the covering of
the Lamb’s wife: Revelation 19:8: And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white: for the fine linen is the “righteousness of saints”.
Contained in that “righteousness” is
what Jesus had, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear (reverence) of the
LORD (Isaiah 11:2). Adam (male and female)
had this same covering before they fell.
But now, Jesus has
restored this robe of righteousness back to us along with dominion, authority
and power! Everything Adam lost Jesus Christ has given it back to us
through His death, burial, and resurrection.
· In Adam all die, even so in Christ, shall all be
made alive (1 Corinthians
15:22).
·
2 Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
I heard for years that
the fruit the woman ate was an apple, but that’s not so. In relation
to “fruit”:
· Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law.
This is the fruit of
God’s Spirit and the opposite would be that of the devil. Everything
that God is that devil is the opposite. God is love, the devil is
hate. God is light, the devil is darkness. God is life,
the devil is death. God is truth: John 8:32: I am the way, the truth,
and the life: the devil is a liar: John 8:44: You are
of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode
not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is
a liar, and the father of it.
So what the woman ate
and fed to her husband was “A
LIE”. In
fact she “devoured” the lie. Devour means to
eat hungrily, to swallow up; to take in greedily, as with the eyes. “The eyes have it”! But the information she received from the
serpent was taken in through the “eye of her mind”, and when
she gave this “LIE” to her husband he received of it
also, and this brought on the fall of creation. Yes the woman was
deceived and not Adam (1 Timothy 2:14), but the fact that “Adam” (the head
of the creation) partook, that brought about the fall.
· Genesis 2:16-17: The LORD God commanded the man (Adam
[male and female]), 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”.
This “man” (Adam) was a
body of people consisting of both male and female.
· Genesis 5:1-2: This is the book of the generations of
Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made
he him; male and female created he them; and
blessed them, and called THEIR
NAME ADAM, in the day when they were created.
The woman (the church)
was his wife that the LORD God had brought out of him. So to keep
fellowship with her he ate of the fruit (the lie; deceit; trickery)
that she offered him.
When they believed the
lie, the whisper of that “old serpent” and appropriated it to
their lives they fell from light into darkness and became alienated, not
annihilated, but alienated from God and was driven out of the presence of
God. They no longer ruled as God.
· Romans 5:12: As by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned.
Believers we must keep
our “eyes” (spiritual eye) on Jesus
the Christ. Like Adam, the same tactics the devil used on that body
of people, he is and will use them on us!! But we have someone who understands
because the tricks the devil used on Adam he had the gall to use them on Jesus
in Matthew 4 when Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil. Guess what, Jesus didn’t fall for
the “okie- dokie”, as the woman did in Genesis. He
stood on 1 John 2:16 which says, “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”. He didn’t
dwell on anything the devil said. All Jesus did was use the Word of
God! Letting us see and know to hide the Word in our hearts,
meditate on the Word of God and use it in every aspect of our
lives. Don’t even have a conversation with the devil just speak the
Word. Our natural eyes see problems but the spiritual eyes
see solutions!
In Mark 5:22-43 [Jesus
restores the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus’ daughter back to
life. His daughter had died]:
· Vs 39: And when he was come in, he saith unto them, “Why make
ye this ado, and weep”? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. Vs
40: And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all
out, he takes the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with
him, and entered in where the damsel was lying. Vs 41: And
he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, “Talitha cumi”; which being
interpreted is, “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise”! Vs 42: And
straightway the damsel arose and walked; for she was of the age of twelve
years.
They laughed Jesus to
scorn when He said “She sleepeth”, because their natural eyes saw death, but
Jesus saw her as sleeping and not dead. He didn’t see a problem, He
had the solution!!! Because “His eyes had it”, Jesus
restored life into her!
St. John 11 when Jesus
heard of Lazarus’ illness, He said “This sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (vs
4). And He abode two days still in the same place where he
was (vs 5).
In vs 11:
Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake
him out of sleep. But His disciples didn’t know that He was
speaking of Lazarus’ death. Vs 14: Jesus said unto
them, “Lazarus is dead”. When Jesus got to Bethany vs
17: He found that Lazarus had lain in the grave four days
already. His disciples and everyone else saw a dead man, but
Jesus saw an “opportunity”. Because “His eyes had it”, He raised Lazarus
from the dead!
What are we seeing in
our situations? Are we just seeing problems? Or are our
spiritual eyes seeing solutions?
My prayer for God’s
people as well as myself is as Paul’s was:
·
Ephesians
1:17: That the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: vs 18: The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints.
Because “the eyes have it”, let us look through
the “eyes of God” so that we can see as He sees!
Evangelist Mary Perry