Good Morning.
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4)
Here is the first recorded lie offered to mankind by the Adversary: “You won’t die if you eat the fruit the forbidden tree.” But notice, the falsehood is blended with something that is correct — “You will know good and evil.” From the beginning, Satan mingled falsehood with truth, thus crafting a convincing lie. But notice the intent of the lie: it’s as if he was saying to her, God had lied about the reason they should not eat of the tree. The serpent implied that God’s true motive was to prevent the man and woman from being like Him, in that He knows good and evil. In other words, God was withholding something “good” from man because He didn’t want them to have it — the Serpent was there to tell them that they needed it.
This is how he stoked the first rebellion on earth and, in my opinion, it is the method he continues to use in order to stoke the fires of rebellion and anarchy in our day. For instance, there is worldwide movement that marches under the banner of Socialism, Democratic Socialism, Antifa and a host of other names, but all having the same skewed mindset. They believe that others (the 1%) are withholding “good” things from them (the 99%) because they don’t want the 99% to have it. Consequently, the socialists, communists et al have concluded that, because the 1% wants to keep others dependent upon them, they (the 99%) should take these “good” things by force, if necessary.
We should take note of the fact that, in the beginning, the Adversary appealed to man’s lust for knowledge, specifically, the desire to know all that God knows. The Serpent hinted to the woman that God wanted to keep something from her and Adam in order to keep them dependent upon Him. But if man could know all that God knows, we wouldn’t be dependent upon Him. In essence, he appealed to the mindset that is inclined to throw off the idea of “God.”
In this day and age, being dependent on an invisible God is considered to be a sign of emotional weakness; to lean on Him is regarded as relying on myths and fairy tales as a crutch. The reality is this: He is the only One we can rely upon. Furthermore, He only wants what is best for us and, sometimes that means He does withhold things from us — things that would harm us. There are some things we aren’t supposed to know or it isn’t time for us to know. In the meantime, we are supposed to trust and obey.
Therefore, we would do well to close our ears to the voice of others and turn our eyes away from those things that have been forbidden. Instead let us keep our eyes on the Tree of Life, the Messiah, and heed His voice.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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