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 we need to ask is Why? Why did God allow this to happen? Why does God allow evil to exist in this world?

Some people believe that God had no choice in the matter—that evil exists because God is not able to prevent it. For example, in a recent interview, author Norman Mailer said “I found 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 neither of these alternatives is biblical. The Bible teaches us that evil came into being as the result of a free choice that God allowed one of his creatures to make. And that creature was not a man, but 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, those passages begin by speaking about an earthly king—Ezekiel talks about the king of Tyre, and Isaiah talks about the king of Babylon. But in both cases, the prophet, under the inspiration of God, goes beyond and behind that earthly king’s situation to tell us about a heavenly creature who rebelled and sinned.

Ezekiel describes him 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 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! (The Latin translation for “morning star” is Lucifer, which means “light bearer”. We get our words lucid, translucent, luster from this Latin word.) You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

What was 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 (we believe he is referring there to the Shekinah glory of the Lord); I will make myself like the Most High.”

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

In Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4, we learn that Lucifer persuaded other angels to join him in his rebellion, so that as many as a third of the angels fell. Lucifer comes to be known in the Bible as Satan. The fallen angels are the demons—Satan’s forces.

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. But in His sovereignty, he permitted it to exist as the expression of the free choice of Satan and his followers. They chose to set themselves up in opposition to God. And that is a choice that God allowed them to make.

So it’s not surprising then that, wherever we find God at work, we also find Satan at work in opposition to what God is doing. There is this clash of wills. And Satan makes his very first appearance just three chapters into the Bible. And he makes his very last appearance three chapters from the end of the Bible.

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 you 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 was a shining angel—a creature of dazzling beauty—probably the most beautiful of all God’s angels. The Bible tells us that Satan, although he has lost his lofty position, still masquerades as an angel of light. That’s why he chose the form of a shining serpent to come into the Garden to tempt Eve.

And v. 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 for “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 not open and transparent; it is hidden and concealed.

Now what was Satan’s strategy? It was threefold, and it was centered upon the Word of God. Thus far in Genesis, the Word of God has had a prominent place.

In Genesis 1, God speaks and the universe comes into being. The Word of God gives form and fullness. It creates life and light. Then, in chapter 2, the Word of God gives purpose and promise. God tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We learn that the Word of God is the means by which God brings blessing to mankind.

So it’s no wonder that when Satan attacks in chapter 3, his strategy is to undermine the Word of God.

Now notice that the serpent approached Eve. Where’s Adam? We don’t know, but Eve must be apart from him at this point. Satan always attacks us most strongly when we are alone—when our defenses are down. He always tries to divide and conquer.

And look at what he says: “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 said? No, that is not what God said. If you’ll look back at chapter 2:16, you’ll see what God 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.”

By deliberately misquoting God, and sowing seeds of doubt in Eve’s mind as to what God really said, Satan is challenging the authority of God’s Word. Remember, God gave this command to Adam before Eve was created. So Eve had to learn it second-hand, from Adam. And this is where Satan attacks. “Did God really say this, Eve? Are you sure? Maybe Adam didn’t get it straight. You know men! Maybe Adam garbled the message.”

He’s undermining the authority of God’s Word in her life. And this is where he’ll try to get you and me if he can. He’ll 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 in translation down thru the years. Maybe it’s not to be trusted.

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

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 contradicts the Word of God. He says, in essence, “The Word of God 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 has to be the mother of all lies. 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 testimony to the fact that Satan lied to Eve when he said this.

But Satan’s strategy has not changed. He wants us to believe that it isn’t him that’s 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 challenges 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, and as wonderful, as fun as if you believe me. Because I’m telling you that if you eat of that fruit, you’re going to be like God himself, and that’s pretty cool.”

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.

You see, when it comes to the Bible, the biggest question is not “Do I believe it?” It’s “Am I going to do it?” Because if you do it, it proves you 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 challenged the acceptability of God’s Word.

Now what was Eve doing in the face of this onslaught? Well, she made several fatal mistakes while Satan was tempting her. First of all, she minimized 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 is? It’s not on God’s provision, it’s on God’s prohibition. God said that they could eat from the fruit of any tree, not just “from the trees”, as Eve said. God gave them great liberty, great freedom. But Eve was focusing on the limits to that freedom. And in doing so, she was minimizing God’s provision.

Secondly, she added 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 said? No. God 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 felt that she had to make a new law for herself. A law that said not only “Don’t eat it” but “Don’t even touch it.” And the interesting thing is that she then attributed that law to God.

One of the reasons we have made such a mess of our lives is that we have made up all sorts of strict religious laws and attributed them to God. If Satan cannot get you to break God’s law directly, he will get you tied up in knots formulating new laws that are supposed to prevent you from breaking God’s law. And you become a legalist. And you start killing people who break your man-made laws.

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.

Thirdly, Eve weakened God’s promise. She reported to 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, or you will die.”

But that is not what God said. God didn’t just say “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 it. God was making a solemn and a certain promise here, but Eve seems to be weakening God’s promise.

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 attacks the Word of God; he tries to distort and undermine and contradict God’s promises and God’s provision. But Jesus is there with the right answers. And he uses the Word of God as a sword against Satan.

Look at temptation’s legacy. 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 Eve began to go into denial about the seriousness of what she was about to do. Satan will always try to get you to believe that sin has no consequences. You can go outside the will of God and the Word of God and not get caught. You won’t have to pay. In fact, you might even reap rewards in your life if you disobey God. Satan always tries to make sin look good, but in the end it turns to ashes in your mouth.

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

Sin has a deluding, blinding effect 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 do we 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 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 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 dependent image. There are other, more robust passages which 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.