The first time I heard about Adam and Eve in children's Sunday school, I remember thinking that the devil was right when he told Eve that she was not going to die, because once she ate of the fruit, she still lived. Obviously, to a child it is unfathomable to think that there could be another kind of death besides the one where your heart stops beating. The reality is that, at the very moment Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, they both died spiritually and a dimension of suffering and hardship was introduced into creation. It was far worse than physical death, for spiritual death separates one from the holy presence of God. It bends our hearts towards unspeakable evil and makes us hopelessly inadequate for righteous attainment (Jeremiah 17:9, Isaiah 64:6).
Now, I want to soon deal with the subject of Adam and Eve's initial responses concerningThe Fall, but until then let's focus on the implications of Genesis 3:6, which reads, “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.” There are three aspects revealed concerning Eve being tempted to eat of the fruit. First, she became convinced that the fruit would be physically nourishing and incredible to taste. Secondly, after satan caused her to question God's command and intentions over her not eating of the fruit, somehow what she once feared to even touch (vs. 3), started looking more and more desirable. One could say that she began to covet it. Thirdly, the promising potential of self exaltation started to grow in her heart and make its way into her actions. It is nothing short of what is described in 1 John 2:16, when the apostle John wrote, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh (sensuality and physical gratification), and the lust of the eyes (greed and coveting), and the pride of life (pride and vainglory), is not of the Father, but is of the world.” The devil's arsenal is vicious, but it is not new. We are often plagued with the same three tools of temptation: self-indulgence, avarice, and haughtiness.
Of course, when God questioned Adam and Eve over their disobedience, both played the blame game. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. Yet, no one can truthfully lay claim to Flip Wilson's famous line “The devil made me do it”, because we all have a choice. Whatever temptation the devil slings our way, we cannot yield to it and then somehow plead the 5th, or act as if he forced our hand and we had no other feasible recourse (1 Corinthians 10:13). James 1:13-15 states, “When someone is tempted, he shouldn't say that God is tempting him. God can't be tempted by evil, and God doesn't tempt anyone. Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to death(GWT).” Could there be any clearer of a depiction over what happened to Adam and Eve? The temptations that the devil introduces to us may continually tug at our flesh; they may dangle the shackles of sin and present them as beautiful gold bracelets, but if we choose to step back inside the prison of iniquity, the blame must be laid solely at our feet.
The ultimate question is whether we are going to yield ourselves to the temptations of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” In a garden of paradise, Adam and Eve did. In a wilderness of suffering, Jesus did not. In the beginning of Matthew 4, we find that Jesus spent forty days fasting in the wilderness “to be tempted of the devil (vs. 1b).” He faced the danger of starvation and perils within the environment such as being exposed to harsh weather conditions and to the wild beasts that roamed the land (Mark 1:13). During this time, satan continually sought to onslaught Christ with his tricks. That ancient tempter tried his best to crush the Anointed Messiah under the weight of physical suffering and sinful allurements.
What is recorded in the scriptures are three main temptations that the devil put before Jesus. First, we see the lust of the flesh in Matthew 4:3, “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” For well over a month, Jesus had not eaten. When it comes to our musings over the life of Christ on earth, we must be cautious not to forget that, though He was God incarnate, He was also fully man. Like all of mankind, He experienced physical suffering, emotional heartache, and even health issues (Philippians 2:6-8). Do you not think that He got sick as a child or that He sometimes clasped His back and winced in pain, after a long day of carpentry? He hungered, thirsted, and wept. It is not enough though to just acknowledge that Jesus faced common bodily maladies, as we see in Matthew 4, He faced spiritual temptations as well. Truly, in Jesus, “...we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15 / ESV).”
It was in the midst of extreme deprivation, that devil tried to tempt Christ with the lust of the flesh. It seems so trivial for the One who “created all things” (Colossions 1:16) to turn stone to bread, but it was much more than this. In the first two temptations, satan would begin with, “If Thou be the Son of God.” He was demanding proof of what had already been established, during Christ's baptism, when God the Father declared, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17b). Concerning this temptation, Albert Barnes wrote, “Here you are,' was the language of Satan, 'hungry, cast out, alone, needy, poor, and yet the Son of God! If you have this power, how easy could you satisfy your wants! How foolish is it, then, for the Son of God, having all power, to be starving in this manner, when by a word he could show his power and relieve his wants, and when in the thing itself there could be nothing wrong!” Turning stone into a viable source of sustenance, what is the harm in that?
To some, the fall of man is equally puzzling because they mull over how God could cast Adam and Eve out of the garden over simply eating fruit! But we must remember that in every act of disobedience to the will of God, no matter how petty we perceive it, it ultimately stems from a heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12, 10:22) and it is sin all the same. Esau gave up the blessing of his birthright for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34). Over such a little thing Esau threw away something so valuable, but at the time, all he was concerned with was his hunger pains. And almost 2000 years later, the writer of Hebrews warns, “Make sure that no one commits sexual sin or is as concerned about earthly things as Esau was. He sold his rights as the firstborn son for a single meal. You know that afterwards, when he wanted to receive the blessing that the firstborn son was to receive, he was rejected. Even though he begged and cried for the blessing, he couldn't do anything to change what had happened. (Hebrews 12:6-17 / GWT)”
Jesus did not need to prove that He was God's Son nor did He succumb to placating His physical malnourishment. He simply declared to satan, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The passage that Christ quoted is found in Deuteronomy chapter 8 in which Moses told to the Israelites, “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live (vs. 1-3).” How imperative it is for a believer to realize that their resource for abundant living is not found in the commodities of this world, but in following the will and Word of God! After all, “...the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1 John 2:17),” and “The law of Jehovah is perfect, refreshing the soul, The testimonies of Jehovah are stedfast, Making wise the simple, The precepts of Jehovah are upright, Rejoicing the heart, The command of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes (Psalms 19:7-8 / YLT).”
In John 4, when the Samaritan woman first saw Jesus, she thought that He was just another uncaring, contemptible Jew. It wasn't until Jesus spoke to her with kind interest and told her about the abundant life found only in Him, that she realized who He truly is: the Promised Messiah who had come to seek and to save the lost. After her unforgettable conversation with Christ, she ran back to the city to testify of His delivering power. Interestingly enough, near the time she turned away from Jesus to run back to the city, the disciples were bringing food to Him. They became perplexed for two reasons. First, they saw the Samaritan woman leave Jesus and marveled over how He could even speak to someone like her. Of course, they chose to keep such a prejudice quandary to themselves. Second, they couldn't understand why Jesus refused to eat the food they brought, even after they urged him repeatedly to nourish Himself. It had been such a long time since His last meal, and yet He was perfectly content to continue the day without anything to eat. Why? Did someone already give Him something to eat? Jesus responded to their confused state by saying, “I have food to eat that you do not know about...My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work (John 4:32, 34 / ESV).”
Now, would He have been able to truly make this declaration, if He had hearkened to what the devil said and turned stone into bread? What brought Christ satisfaction and sustained Him was not indulging in the appetites of the flesh, but in pleasing the Father. This was proven, during His trials in the wilderness. The disciples didn't understand that there is a heavenly manna, a holy fulfillment to which the world will never be able to replicate. May we all seek after the spiritual food found only in heeding to God's Word. For the believer to cling onto the psalmist declaration, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart (Psalms 40:8),” is something that infuriates the devil. Oh, how he would rather you be a nominal Christian, satisfied with the comforts of this life! But it is often in the midst of the wilderness of deprivation that we see what this world truly offers and that trusting in the Almighty is what brings true satisfaction to our hearts! Lord willing, I will write more about the other recorded temptations which satan futilely hurled at Christ, but for now, I want to simply end with the prophet's proclamation, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts (Jeremiah 15:16).”
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