Genesis 3

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea hath God saith, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But 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

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die;

5 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.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat 

We’ll profit well in this meditation if we first settle the matter of the serpent.

This is the first mention of the word in the Old Testament scripture. In this first mention, he’s presented as a crafty, willy beast. He’s more than that; he’s the adversary or enemy or opposer of God. He’s super Intelligent and has the capacity to manifest in many ways he wills. More worrisome, he knows the principles of life and is adept at manipulating these laws to swiftly obey and swing to obey his thoughts. In the few pages before the end of the New Testament, he’s unveiled as the dragon. The great dragon was hurled down – the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray (Revelation 12:9). The Lord Jesus Christ called him your father, the devil. He, continued the Lord, was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and father of it (John 8:44). It’s easy to infer from these scriptures that the serpent was Satan who was the devil. He is called a murderer and author of lies. He once got the permission to deal with a righteous man called Job and stood against Israel (Job 1:6, 2:1 and 1 Chronicles 22:1). He spins temptations and trials. His first outing in the scriptures is in his business of tempting the newly created humans; this was how he murdered life. He took hold of Job and shook him to the root, bringing all sorts of calamities and death and destruction. Accidents, wars, tragedies are his effective instruments.

He’s a spinner of the changing and advancing human civilisations from that conversation in Genesis, the third chapter till now. He told the Lord Jesus Christ that he has control of the kingdoms of men; and, my, he wasn’t lying in this case. Intelligent people have been known to question God when tragedies happen. Some describe themselves as deists which is the word for those who describe themselves as believers in a god  created the world, allowing it to run its own course. Some say they’re agnostic who, having examined the order in the world accept that a “Force” certainly created the universe unsure whether this creator still has not control on His creation. Atheists wonder why the world is full of calamities and disasters including the death of children if really there is God.

These are few of human responses to the idea of God’s existence. If one is in need of understanding of this present life where unrighteous and injustice reign supreme, it will be good to know that there’s one who is against all that God stands for in man. Civilisation has always been the design of Satan and it is called glory, including everything that man puts out his might and mind to pursue in each evolvement of each type of civilisation. Satan, the ancient serpent, who’s the devil tempted the Creator himself with the beauty of his glory and civilisation. Showing the Lord Jesus Christ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, Satan  told him, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

James teaches that God is not a tempter but that each one is enticed and lured away into sin or distrust of God by his own evil (from the point of view of God but not from the point of view of the tempted) (James 1:13&13). Eve, the woman was lured, enticed and drawn away from God’s divine warning of the consequences of allowing oneself to be felled by a curious stumbling substance. Eve was powerfully drawn away by her curiosity and was enticed, lured away from the Lord.

 

Father may we not be drawn away from You but may we be drawn irrestibly towards You always, amen.

Thank you, Lord