Post 7 Serpent

It is difficult to leave the bliss of the garden with its pure state and go on to the next chapter where the devil enters the story in the form of a serpent. As in my picture the devil comes in many forms, even as an angel of light. And no marvel; for Satan, himself, is transformed into an angel of light. II Corinthians 11:14 He is powerful but not all powerful. He is not an enemy to take on but rather a deceiver to resist by the whole armor of God. Jude 1:9 (it has one chapter) Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durest not bring against him a railing acqusation, but said The Lord rebuke thee. For the armor go to: Ephesians 6:11-18 Verse 11 is presented here: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

A conversation with the devil:
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yes hath God said. Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 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. And the serpent 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.
What did God say:
Genesis 2:15-17 And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God 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.

A good lesson here is do not talk to the devil. Every time you open your mouth he gets more ammunition to throw back at you. You cannot reason with him or outsmart him. If you come into doubt about something, pick up your Bible and read scriptures concerning the subject, aloud if necessary. I do not want to give undue credit to him but he has been around for thousands of years and has had lots of time to study human nature. (Talk to the Lord. Cry help!) Notice the subtil difference in the two statements. The serpent added the "neither shall ye touch it" to the original command. The significance is that he added more to the statement making the command more restrictive and therefore making the temptation a two step process of touch and eat. In our day, it might be look, touch and possess. To possess immediately might be too shocking and repell one from temptation but to take it in steps eases the guilt process because there seems to be a turning back point. Regardless, the statement or command was changed.

Up to this point Adam and Eve are in perfect union with each other and the Lord. No sin has been committed to seperate them. In a manner, Adam and Eve were seperated from each other in that they later find it necessary to hid themselves. They are seperated from God in that sin has built a wall between them. We will discuss that more. For now, notice that there is a perfect state for man in the garden until Satan enters the picture. Satan's interest is not enlightening the man and woman. His interest is in foiling the plan of God. Satan cannot hurt God directly, so he does it by hurting that which God has created. Satan is a real being with a goal and purpose. He cannot succeed which serves to increase the intensity and bitterness of his attacks. He will use any means or form to forward his agenda and as I said our only defense is the mighty hand of God which He freely offers to us.