Picking up with our look at Genesis 2 and verse 16 where we left off:
Genesis 2:16-17
"And the LORD God (which is God the Son, Yehovah on this occasion for He is Master which is what LORD here means) commanded the man, 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."
Or he would be separated from God. There will become a gulf between them. That's what's going to happen within Adam, when he followed the woman and ate, if he eats of this one tree. Now let's go over to chapter 3 and see what happened. And again we all know this, but there's some that don't. Let's jump in at verse 2. Now woman who will become called Eve shortly is now on the scene.
Genesis 3:2a
"And the woman said unto the serpent,..."
Remember back there in verse 1 he was called the "most subtle of all the creatures" that God had created. If you ever wonder what that word means, look in the dictionary. It means to be sly, cunning, crafty, deceitful, full of pride, boastful and animal like and so forth. He is skilled in mind games and all forms of deception. That is why he's called the "prince of the power of the air". So all these things were wrapped up in this creature that Satan is using. Let's see what Eve says to the serpent.
Genesis 3:2b
"...We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:"
Now Eve wasn't with Adam when he got his instructions from God back there in chapter 2. So where did she find out what God had said? From Adam. He had to have revealed these things to her but did she fully understand them, don't know. And we're bringing that out to point out Adam's headship. God told Adam, not woman, and that's where He left it, and then it was Adam's responsibility to instruct Eve, and he had. So she has the right answers. BUT....
Genesis 3:3
"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."
We've had people ask, "Well did they have a concept of death?” Well it's kind of hard to say yes or no, but we believe they did, or otherwise God would have just been speaking empty words. Keep this one thing in mind Adam had named all living insects, animals and plant life. So he understood what He was talking about. They knew that if they disobeyed Him they'd be separated from Him. Now verse 4. Here comes the very first lie in Scripture. First turn quickly to John chapter 8 and verse 44.
John 8:44b
"...for he (Satan) is a liar, and the father of it."
This is Jesus speaking to the Jewish leadership here and he reveals just who they are of. Now let's see what Satan says to the woman. Turn again to Genesis 3 and verse 4 and following.
Genesis 3:4-5
"And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know (doesn't that sound like the false teachers of today using the Scriptures? Oh they give credit to the Holy Spirit, and make it sound so official, but it's just as much the power of Satan as this was. So Satan can say) that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, (small "g" of course) knowing good and evil."
Now is that what God had said? Come back to chapter 2 again for a moment, we've got to compare Scripture with Scripture. God-Yehovah is speaking.
Genesis 2:17a
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:..."
See that's exactly what God called that tree. Do you see how meticulous Satan can be when he gets ready to deceive somebody? Oh he didn't goof it up, but rather Satan said it to woman just exactly the way God said it. Now coming back to chapter 3 and verse 5
Genesis 3:5-6
"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. (this is why God had told Adam not to eat of the tree) 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, (remember knowledge leads to mans form of wisdom) she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
OK the moment Adam ate, what happened? He died spiritually being separated from the God of all goodness, Love and Life. By way of then being united spiritually to Satan from that moment or instant on. Oh not physically, but spiritually, and he was separated from God. He could no longer expect Him, God to come and fellowship with him, and walk with him, because that had been totally destroyed, because of sin. Now remember sin in it's simplest definition is what? "Disobeying the revealed Word, Will of God." That's what sin is, and they disobeyed the Will of God by eating. Now if you'll just look at the end of verse 6 where it says, "and he did eat." Immediately what happens in verse 7? Well the results of their sin.
Genesis 3:7a
"And the eyes of them both were opened,..."
That's exactly what Satan said would happen. But not to have their eyes opened for a greater appreciation for their Creator, but rather to know good and evil. Their ability of seeing and hearing the divine spiritual communications became veiled, they became a shamed of the nakedness which before they knew not of because of the glory which covered them. So immediately, the moment Adam sunk his teeth into that fruit, their spiritual [soul and spirit] eyes were veiled, darkened by sin and their natural eyes opened to know good and evil, and their relationship with God was immediately broken. He took on the nature of the bestial world or Satan's nature. So spiritually they died. Not physically of course because Adam lived 930 years, but when did the seed of death begin? The moment he took part of that fruit. Now do you see all of that?
To help us visualize these things we'll make use of three circles to just simply indicate the three parts of man. The outside circle represents the tent of flesh in which we live which is what we call the "body." That's just the simple exercise of the five senses. Now within this body, we also have a smaller circle called the "soul," and within the soul is a still smaller circle called the "spirit."
Now the "soul" also reaches to the "mind, the will, opinions, imagination, intellect and emotions," all of which are invisible. But these make up the personality, and it's in the area of the "soul and spirit" that we were made in the likeness and image of God. Now turn all the way to the Book of I Thessalonians chapter 5, and then we'll come back to Genesis. I think it's interesting to note how much in Scripture is tied to the number three. Beginning with God Himself, as a Trinity by the title Elohim. Here Paul is signing off his letter to the Thessalonians, and let's see what he says.
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