What God, Satan, Eve, and Adam Said
—(Genesis 2 and 3)
Words matter. This is shown in the record of what was said in the garden of Eden. We see that the conversations revealed choices, and the choices had consequences.
Notes:
❖ You will get more out of this lesson if you read Genesis chapters 2 and 3.
❖ The snake in the garden of Eden is Satan, seen in Revelation as the great dragon. He is identified as "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world" (Revelation 12:9)
❖ This lesson uses excerpts from Genesis chapters 1-3 (NKJV)
1 The Conversations
Looking back to the sixth day of creation...
GOD SAID: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" (Genesis 1:26 NKJV).
When Adam was created and placed in Eden...
GOD SAID: "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV).
After making that prohibition...
GOD SAID: "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him" (Genesis 2:18 NKJV).
After Eve was created...
ADAM SAID: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Genesis 2:23 NKJV).
When Eve encountered the snake...
SATAN SAID: "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1 NKJV).
In response to Satan's question...
EVE SAID: "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die'" (Genesis 3:2-3 NKJV).
And Satan answered Eve with the lie...
SATAN SAID: "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 3:4-5 NKJV).
After Eve and Adam had eaten the fruit, God challenged Adam...
GOD SAID: "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (Genesis 3:11 NKJV).
Adam responded by telling the truth...
ADAM SAID: "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12 NKJV).
So then God challenged Eve...
GOD SAID: "What is this you have done?" (Genesis 3:13 NKJV).
Eve responded by also telling the truth...
EVE SAID: "The snake deceived me, and I ate" (Genesis 3:13 NKJV).
2 The Choices
In what is said above, we see choices being made by God, Satan, Eve, and Adam.
GOD CHOSE to make man male and female; flesh and blood; in the image of God; distinct from the animals.
GOD CHOSE to forbid Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of a certain tree.
GOD CHOSE to chose to punish Adam and Eve with death if they disobeyed his law.
SATAN CHOSE to tell the lie, accusing God of being the liar. Satan said that if Adam and Eve ate the fruit they would share God’s knowledge and be like God; and indeed they would not die.
GOD CHOSE to let the snake, attempt the deception. (This is a choice that certainly causes us to ponder and wonder).
EVE CHOSE to let herself be deceived by a snake, albeit a most cunning snake. She chose to eat some of the forbidden fruit herself and offer some to Adam.
ADAM CHOSE to eat the fruit that Eve gave to him. However "Adam was not deceived" He knew that he was doing wrong (1Timothy2:14).
3 The Consequences
Because of what they had done, God pronounced curses on the snake, and Eve, and Adam.
God pronounced a curse on the snake...
GOD SAID: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:14-15 NKJV).
God pronounced a curse on Eve...
GOD SAID: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you" (Genesis 3:16 NKJV).
God pronounced a curse on Adam...
GOD SAID: "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life... For dust you are, And to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV).
These curses, however, were minor compared to the death God had warned them of...
GOD SAID: "In the day that you eat of [that tree] you shall surely die". They did not die in the flesh that day, but they died spiritually losing their fellowship with God and being alienated from the everlasting life of God (Genesis 2:17, Ephesians 4:18).
But there is hope, because embedded in the curse on Satan there is the promise that a descendant ("seed") of Eve would overcome Satan...
GOD SAID: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15 NKJV).
The scriptures unfold this promise to reveal that the Christ would come to this world, and offer himself as a sacrifice to make atonement for all sins (1John 2:1-3). He would become a curse to rescue those condemned by God’s law (Galatians 3:13).