The Entrance of Evil

At the battle of Gettysburg, at one point in the action, a Confederate general was supposed to get his unit to move up to the front lines to attack the Union forces. For some reason, he was unable to bring his men forward. He sheepishly reported this to General James Longstreet, his commanding officer. Longstreet replied sarcastically “Never mind, just leave your men where they are. The enemy is soon going to advance and spare you the trouble.”

Today we come to that crucial turning point in human history where evil invaded God’s perfect creation and advanced into the Garden of Eden. And the first question that comes to our lips is Why? Why did God allow this to happen? Why did God allow evil to come into being, and why does God allow evil to exist in his creation?

This is the whole question that theologians call “theodicy” – a term coming from the Greek words for God and justice. How can God be a just God and allow evil?

Philosopher David Hume put the problem of theodicy this way:

“Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent.

Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”

No one can deny that evil is real, and that it is present in this world. So, in order to come to terms with that fact, we find ourselves modifying our view of God.

The position that many people adopt is that God is less than all-powerful; evil exists because God is simply not able to prevent it. For example, author Norman Mailer said “I find myself having to choose between believing in a God who is all powerful but basically bad; or believing in a God who is basically good but not all powerful, because he isn’t able to prevent all the evil and suffering in the world.”

But that view is not biblical. The Bible teaches us three things:

1. God is good – He is not the source of evil

2. God is all-powerful – He can prevent evil

3. Evil is real, and owes its existence to a free choice that God allowed one of his creatures to make. And that creature was not a man; it was an angel.

There are two fascinating and mysterious passages in the OT that talk about that angel. They are Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. Now in both cases, the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah begin by speaking about an earthly king—Ezekiel refers to the king of Tyre, and Isaiah refers to the king of Babylon. But in both passages, the prophet, speaking under the inspiration of God, goes beyond that earthly king’s situation to describe an angelic creature who rebelled and sinned against God.

Ezekiel describes this angel as a guardian cherub—the model of perfection; full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. This angel lived in the very presence of God; and walked among the fiery stones—the other angels. Ezekiel says that he was blameless in all his ways from the day he was created until the day that wickedness was found in him. His heart became proud on account of his beauty, and he corrupted his wisdom because of his splendor. And as a result, God had to cast him out of heaven.

Isaiah gives us more detail in Isa. 14:12: “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” (The Latin translation for “morning star” is “Lucifer”, which means “light bearer”. We get our English words lucid, translucent, luster from this Latin word.)

What was the essence of Lucifer’s sin? Isaiah tells us: “You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.”

The essence of Lucifer’s sin was that he wanted to be God. He rebelled against his appointed place in God’s created order. He set his own free will against God’s will—and that is always the danger when you have a creature with a free will. It can always choose to pit its will against God’s will.

In Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4, we learn that this angel who sinned persuaded other angels to join in his rebellion, so that as many as one third of the angels fell. Lucifer came to be known in the Bible as Satan – a Hebrew name that means “the opposer, the adversary”. The fallen angels became known as demons—evil spirits who are in league with Satan.

So in answer to the question “Where did evil come from?” the Bible says that God allowed evil to come into being. He did not create it. He is not the origin of it. He could have prevented it by overriding the free will of his creatures. But in His sovereignty, he permitted it to exist as the expression of the free choice of Satan and his followers. They chose to oppose God. And that is a choice that God allowed them to make.

So the way that this has played out in the universe is that, wherever we find God at work, we also find Satan at work in opposition to what God is doing. There is a cosmic clash of wills. And the book of Genesis acknowledges this. Satan made his very first appearance just three chapters into the Bible – shortly after God created the heavens and the earth. (Interestingly, he makes his very last appearance just three chapters from the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation.)

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

Wait a minute! This is talking about a serpent; it doesn’t say anything about Satan here. It isn’t until you get to Revelation 12:9 that we learn that the serpent in the Garden was, in fact, Satan. He was in disguise, and he chose the form of a serpent to be his disguise. That’s interesting because the word serpent in Hebrew is the word “nahash” which means “the shining one”.

Remember, Satan originally was the “light-bearer”, a shining angel—a creature of dazzling beauty—perhaps the most beautiful of all God’s angels. The Bible tells us that Satan, although he has lost his lofty position, still presents himself as an angel of light. That’s why he chose the form of a shining serpent to come into the Garden to tempt Eve.

Gen. 3:1 tells us that the serpent, indwelt by Satan, was more crafty than any of the other creatures. The word crafty there is the Hebrew word “arum” and it is the opposite of the word “naked” in 2:25 - “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Adam and Eve had nothing to hide. They were innocent. But Satan had something to hide. There was a devious concealment about him. He came into the garden in disguise. And that is part of the nature of sin and evil. It is neither open nor transparent; it is hidden and concealed.

Now what was Satan’s strategy? It was a three-part strategy, and it was directed against the Word of God. Thus far in Genesis, we have seen that the Word of God has had a decisive role.

In Genesis 1, God spoke his Word and the universe came into being. The Word of God gave form and fullness. It created life and light. Then, in chapter 2, the Word of God gave purpose and promise. God spoke, and told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The Word of God was how God brought blessing to mankind.

Now when Satan moved in to attack mankind in chapter 3, his strategy was to undermine the Word of God.

Notice that the serpent approached Eve. Where was Adam? We don’t know, but Eve must have been alone at this point. Satan always attacks us most strongly when we are alone—when our defenses are down. He always tries to isolate and conquer. Now look at his assault on God’s Word.

“He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Hold it right there. Is that what God had said? No, that is not what God said. Look back at chapter 2:16, and you’ll see what God had really said: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Satan deliberately misquoted God. He was trying to cause confusion in Eve’s mind as to what God had really said. In doing so, Satan challenged the authority of God’s Word. Remember, God gave this command to Adam before Eve had been created. So Eve had had to learn it second-hand, from Adam. And that is where Satan attacked. “Did God really say this, Eve? Are you sure? Maybe Adam didn’t give it to you straight. You know men! Maybe Adam garbled the message.”

He tried to undermine the authority of God’s Word in her life. And this is where Satan will try to trip you and me up if he can. He will take away our confidence in the authority of God’s Word. He’ll try to sow seeds of doubt in our minds. Does the Bible really say this? How can I be sure that the Bible is really the Word of God? Maybe it has been hopelessly confused or corrupted in translation down thru the years. Perhaps it really is not trustworthy. And if it is not trustworthy, it is not authoritative for my life.

The second line of Satan’s strategy is to challenge the accuracy of God’s Word. Look at what Satan says in…

Genesis 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

(Now look at what Satan does…) “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan directly contradicted the Word of God. He said, in essence, “The Word of God is not true. It is not accurate. I know that God said ‘you will surely die.’ but Eve, I’m here to tell you that that’s not true. You will not surely die. In fact, just the opposite—you will become like God.”

Satan is called in the Bible “the deceiver.” Jesus called him “the father of lies” and this lie that he tells Eve here in the Garden of Eden is the mother of all lies. He said “You will not die if you disobey God.” Just think of all the tombstones in all the cemeteries in all the countries of the world. Every one of those tombstones is a silent witness to the fact that Satan lied to Eve when he said this, because death is the result of believing this lie.

But Satan’s strategy has not changed. He wants us to believe that it isn’t him who is lying, it’s God. He wants us to believe that the Word of God is not accurate; it cannot be trusted; that life doesn’t really work the way God says it does. He challenges the accuracy of God’s Word.

Finally, he challenged the acceptability of God’s Word. Satan says “Look. You can believe God if you want to. But if you do, your life won’t be anywhere near as exciting, as wonderful, and as fun as if you believe what I’m telling you. Because I’m telling you that if you eat of that fruit, you’re going to be like God himself, and that’s a pretty exciting prospect. And God doesn’t’ want that to happen, because God wants to keep that for himself. God doesn’t want what’s best for you; he wants what’s best for himself.”

You know there are a lot of people—including born-again Christians—who affirm the authority of the Word of God. They affirm the accuracy of the Word of God. But when it comes right down to it, they’re not living in obedience to the Word of God because they just don’t find the Word of God acceptable.

When it comes to the Bible, the biggest question is not “Do I believe it?” It’s “Am I going to obey it?” Because obeying the Word of God proves that I believe it. Jesus said “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” The primary question is not with your intellect; it’s with your will. You can say “Yeah, I agree with the Bible—it’s an amazing book. But I’m still going to live life my way.”

Satan…

1. Challenged the authority of God’s Word

2. Challenged the accuracy of God’s Word

3. Challenged the acceptability of God’s Word.

Now what was Eve doing in the face of all these challenges? Well, she made several crucial mistakes while Satan was tempting her.

Her first folly was that she acted without her partner. Where was Adam? We don’t know. He may have been off somewhere else in the Garden, but presumably Eve knew where he was.

Here she was, involved in the most fateful conversation in history, talking about matters that were of the highest importance, and she was doing it alone. She had been created to be a partner for Adam, a team-mate, a companion. And yet she was squaring off with the devil one-on-one.

Satan always tries to isolate us so that he can pick us off one by one. He tries to cut us off from our support systems, rupture our fellowship with other believers, put up walls between us and our spouses, so that we find ourselves alone and weak.

I don’t know if the result would have been different had Adam been at her side at this moment. I do know that there would have been a better chance for one of them to say “Wait a minute. We need to talk to God about this. We need to evaluate what this serpent is saying before we act on it.”

Her second folly was to minimize God’s provision.

She replied to Satan in v. 2 ““We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden.”

You see where her focus was? It was not on God’s provision; it was on God’s prohibition. God had given Adam and Eve permission to eat from the fruit of any tree, not just “from the trees”, as Eve put it. God had given them great liberty, tremendous freedom. But Eve was focusing on the single limit to that freedom. And in doing so, she was minimizing God’s provision.

Her third mistake was to add to God’s prohibition. She told Satan that God said “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it…” Is that what God had said? No. God had never said anything about touching it. But here was Eve, and she was probably standing right next to the forbidden tree, and she probably felt an overwhelming desire to touch it.

So she probably felt the need to make a new law for herself. A law that said not only “Don’t eat of it” but “Don’t even touch it.” And the interesting thing is that she then attributed this new rule that she had just made to God.

One of the reasons we make such a mess of our lives is that we make up all sorts of rules and regulations and attribute them to God. If Satan cannot get us to break God’s law directly, he will get us tied up in knots formulating new man-made rules and regulations that are supposed to keep us from breaking God’s law. He turns us into legalists. And we start judging, and condemning, and even hating and killing people for breaking our man-made rules.

Proverbs 30:5–6 says “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” Eve added to the Word of God.

Eve’s third folly was to weaken God’s promise. She reported to Satan that God had said “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

But that is not what God had said. God hadn’t said simply, “You will die.” He said “You will surely die.” The literal Hebrew is “dying, you will die.” It is the most emphatic, most urgent, and strongest possible way of saying something. God was making a solemn and a certain promise here, but Eve seemed to weaken the strength of that promise.

She acted without her partner, she minimized God’s provision; she added to God’s prohibition; and she weakened God’s promise. If we are going to stand against the temptation of Satan, we must know the Word of God. Eve knew it, but she didn’t know it well enough. She hadn’t internalized it.

I wish we had time today to look at the temptation of Jesus in the NT, because it goes over the same territory. Satan attacked the Word of God; he tried to distort and undermine and contradict God’s promises and God’s provision. But Jesus was there with the right answers. And he used the Word of God as a sword against Satan. Because he knew what it said, and he trusted it.

What was the result of the temptation of Eve? What legacy did it leave in her life? Eve began to have doubts about God’s Word and God’s character. Satan is always trying to get us to believe that God doesn’t love us and want what’s best for us. When we listen to the tempter, we begin to doubt God.

Then she began to go into denial about the seriousness of what she was about to do. Satan will always try to get us to believe that sin has no consequences. We can go outside the will of God and the Word of God and not pay a price. In fact, we find ourselves believing that we might even come out ahead by disobeying God. Satan always tries to make sin look appetizing, and without negative consequences.

And finally, Eve began to have delusions. She really started to believe that if she ate of the fruit, she would become like God. The truth was just the opposite—she was going to die, but she thought she would become more alive, more godlike.

Sin has a deluding, blinding influence on us. Satan makes us think that life is going to get a lot better if we sin, when in actual fact, it’s going to get a lot worse. When we fall under the tempter’s sway, we become delusional. Because he is a deceiver.

So how do we resist temptation? How are we to fight against Satan? Well, the first thing to realize is that you and I, in our own power, cannot fight against Satan. He is smarter, more powerful, and more persuasive than we are. He knows exactly what buttons to push in our nature to get us to yield.

That is why we need a power greater than ourselves to fight against temptation. And that power is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who can defeat Satan.

Martin Luther was once asked how he resisted temptation. The great man said “Well, when Satan comes knocking at the door of my heart, and calls out ‘Martin, are you in there?’, the Lord Jesus Christ goes to the door and says to the devil ‘Martin Luther used to live here but he has moved out. Now I live here.’ And Satan takes one look at the nail prints in the Lord’s hand, and he flees.”

That’s a cute story but it has a profound truth to it. Galatians 2:20 says: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So that means that when I am being tempted, I must cry out to the Christ who lives within me, and have Him answer the door. I must shelter behind him, just the way a little child shelters behind the legs of his father in the presence of a stranger.

I know that that is a rather weak and dependent image. There are other passages that talk about putting on the whole armor of God and standing against the devil. But I have found that, when the tempter comes calling, I don’t feel like a knight in shining armor—I feel more like a terrified child.

We can only stand firm on the Word of God in the power of Christ.