The Eyes Have It!

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