This short, beautiful video (watch the 30 second flash video here) captures the beauty of creation with the final pronouncement: God saw all that he had made and it was very good. What happened?! How did we get from the beauty and perfection of creation to the corrupted state we have today? What if your four year old daughter or granddaughter presented you with a Crayola™ crayon masterpiece that they had spent all afternoon crafting and you took one look at it and proceeded to tear it to shreds? Her lower lip would start to quiver, her shoulders would drop low and seconds later you would have full-fledged sobbing on your hands—and rightly so. What if you took all of the world’s most beautiful, rare paintings and heaped them into one massive bonfire? The reaction from most people would be one of utter shock and horror. Artists and historians especially would be devastated beyond words.

We should have this kind of reaction when beauty is corrupted, but nowhere is this more true than in the corruption of God’s perfect creation. What can we compare to the perfection of creation? There is no analogy that can capture it. Creation is unique and the perfection of creation was itself unique. All other forms of beauty are either part of creation or have been created by humans, God’s highest creation. Everything we have been talking about for the past nine weeks is part of this perfection: creation of the universe in six days; man created in the image and likeness of the almighty God; man and woman united as one flesh; and most important of all, a perfect union with their Creator. No doubt God could have described this perfection in many more verses and chapters and books and volumes of books, but all of those potential volumes of description are contained in the single divine pronouncement—it was very good. No sin. No death. No cancer. No suffering, just perfection in every possible way.

Chapters one and two are perfect, but there is a drastic change in the first verse of chapter three. A visitor dropped by paradise and it wasn’t the Lord God communing with his beloved.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

^2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ^3 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.’”

^4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. ^5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

^6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ^7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Adam and Eve had company. It wasn’t God and it wasn’t the Fuller Brush salesman—it was a serpent. (Actually, some door to door salesman are serpents selling “snake oil.”) The story is written as if we weren’t familiar with it. If you were reading this for the very first time, your immediate questions would be, “Where did he come from? Who is he? What does he want?” They are the kind of questions we might ask if a stranger knocked on our door in the middle of the night.

Where did he come from? The serpent is one of God’s creatures. The NIV calls him a “wild animal” and in the ESV he is a “beast of the field.” No matter what he is called, the important thing to note is that he had not always been there and he was created by God, just like the first couple.

Who is he? We are given clues as to his character. He was said to be “more crafty than all the wild animals”. The word translated as “crafty” is interesting. In most contexts, the word does not have a negative connotation and simply means “shrewd” or “wise”. In the parable of the shrewd manager, Jesus said that being shrewd was a necessary and commendable attribute for Christians (Luke 16:1-15). Jesus also taught us that we should “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matt. 10:16). So here in the Garden we have a shrewd snake which might seem to be a good thing, but he is far from innocent. Shrewd is one of those words that can go either way because it can be used for good or for evil. The author clearly knows that the serpent will use his shrewdness for evil ends, so this word is rightly translated as “crafty.”

But if his intention was evil and God created everything as “very good,” from where did this evil arise? This question is not answered in Genesis so we need to look to other parts of Scripture. The other bookend of the Bible, Revelation, fills in some gaps. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev. 12:9) Satan is called by many names and clearly “that ancient serpent” refers back to Genesis 3. Most commentators believe that Satan’s fall from grace is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15.

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! 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.

Satan is an angel who was created as “very good.” We know that there is a distinct hierarchy among the angels and it appears as if Satan occupied a high post in the heavenlies, much like the archangels Michael and Gabriel. This is just speculation, but since only three angels are named in Scripture—Michael, Gabriel and Satan, and since one-third of the angels followed Satan, perhaps Satan, Michael and Gabriel were a type of angelic trinity. Nevertheless, his fall was great and tragic.

Angels were created sometime during the creation week in chapter one because Genesis 2:1 reads, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (ESV & KJV; the NIV has a poor translation—“all their vast array.”) Therefore, some time between chapter one and chapter three, Satan and his angels willingly and willfully chose to reject God’s authority and were cast from God’s presence.

Here are a few more facts about angels.

1.      Angels were not created “in the image of God.” Could this be one of the reasons Satan was jealous of Adam and Eve? It is very possible that angels were created prior to humans, therefore Satan likely observed the creation of Adam and Eve in the likeness and image of God. In this sense, we are more like God than the angels and Satan may have been moved to jealousy by this fact.

2.      Angels are far more powerful than we are and presently we are “lower’ than them (Heb. 2:7), yet one day we will judge the angels (1 Cor. 6:3) and are, therefore, ultimately superior to them.

3.      Angels do not usually have physical bodies, cannot marry, bear children, etc.

4.      Angels are non-redeemable—they cannot be saved.[i] Two NT passages describe this.

·         For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.  (2 Peter 2:4)

·         And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude 6)

This is helpful for those who struggle with why some people are saved and not others. Was God just in his decision not to redeem the angels? Would we say that he was cruel to leave them to their own demise? God is under no obligation to save angels or anyone for that matter. It is all a matter of mercy.

Based upon the origin and character of the serpent, here are some principles we can draw at this point.

1.                  No Competition: God created everything, including the serpent. Therefore, Satan is not eternal, self-existent—he is a subordinate creature. God does not have any equals. He does not have any true competition. The universe is not a level playing field. We know that this is true from the rest of Scripture, but it is important to note that it is true from the first introduction of Satan and evil.

2.                  No Dualism: Dualism is the belief that evil has always existed alongside of good. Most of you are familiar with the Yin-Yang symbol in Buddhism. The dark and light are symbols are good and evil and the smaller circles symbolize the fact that a little bit of good exists within evil and a little bit of evil exists with good. Good and evil exist in an eternal struggle and some would say they are inseparable and even necessary for each other. One cannot exist without the other.  Can you think of where dualism is seen in popular culture? Star Wars is probably the best example. The “Force” is nothing more than ancient Buddhist belief dressed up in futuristic clothes. The “dark side” of the force is the evil—the yin and yang in eternal struggle. This was no mere Hollywood accident because George Lucas created the entire Star Wars franchise around his Buddhist beliefs. The Force does not just resemble Buddhism, it is Buddhism. Many people think you can mix Buddhist beliefs with Christian beliefs, but Genesis does not allow for this. Evil has not always existed nor will it always exist, which leads to our third point.

3.                  No Final Victory of Evil: if evil is not in a self-existent, eternal struggle with good, then evil cannot win in the end. Even though Satan has deceived himself and is the master deceiver, even he knows that his end is in sight. Revelation 12:12 says, He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. There may be one way that Satan has an “edge” over the average Christian—at least he lives with the ever-present sense that Jesus is coming soon. We know intellectually that he is coming, but practically speaking, it does not affect the way we live. On the other hand, Satan lives every moment of every day with a furious rage directed toward God and toward his Creation. He hates with an everlasting hate and he is very good at what he does—deceiving and destroying. But his time is short. There will be a definitive end to evil and sin. There is no final victory of evil.

What does he want? The serpent wanted to have a little talk with Eve. The conversation that is recorded for us is relatively brief, but we can learn a lot about Satan’s strategy from this.

1.                  The serpent is shrewd, crafty, subtle. Remember my diamond mine story from last week? The friend who got me into the investment, which by the way, happened eighteen years ago, was and is a shrewd individual. He is one of the best salesman I have ever met. In the investment after the diamond mines he managed to personally raise one million dollars to purchase a gold mine in South America that eventually went bust. This guy is shrewd, but not necessarily in a negative way and not at the level of the serpent. Satan absolutely excels at being shrewd and crafty. And he’s smart. He’s way smarter than you or I could ever be. He is powerful, filled with rage and has millennia of evil experience on his resume, but I believe his greatest weapon is his craftiness.

Jesus called him the “Father of lies. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) EX. introducing my kids to a new family by the wrong names—Jimmy, Suzie and Matthew. I can choose to lie, for good or for ill, but Satan cannot choose to tell the truth. He is a pathological liar to the extreme. He has deceived himself and believes his own lies.

2.                  The serpent utilized half-truths, at least three of them that I could find.

a.    you must not eat from any tree…? They were forbidden from eating, but only one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was forbidden.

b.    You will surely not die This was a half-truth in the sense that Adam and Eve did not die after eating the forbidden fruit. In fact, Adam lived to a ripe old age of 930! They didn’t die immediately, but they ushered in eventual physical death and more importantly, they died spiritually. It was the one and only reverse conversion ever to happen. Instead of passing over from death to life, like you and I did at our conversion, they passed over from life to death. When God cast them from the Garden they didn’t just lose paradise, they lost the presence of the Almighty. They no longer walked with the Lord in the cool of the day.

c.    You will be like God  I would call this a double half truth. First of all, they were already like God. They were created in the image and likeness of God, something that was not true of Satan. Perhaps this was a reason for extreme jealousy on his part. Second, they did become more like God, “knowing good and evil.” but this so-called “knowledge” was their death sentence.

We have to be aware of the danger of half truths. If I told you that the Bible was a book filled with man-made myths, you would throw me out on the street, but if I gave you five reasons why a particular section of Scripture no longer applies to you, and I backed up my arguments with other Scriptures, chances are you agree with me. The first is an outright lie and the second is a carefully disguised half-truth. John Murray has said, “the difference between truth and error is not a chasm, but a razor’s edge.” Most of you received an email from me last week regarding the book called The Shack. My intention is not to serve as the book police but to caution you against the danger of half-truths, even in Christian books.

3.                  The serpent encouraged doubting of God’s word—Did God really say? This is one of Satan’s most effective strategies. It is similar to a half-truth is the fact that it is not an outright lie. Half-truths and doubting will eventually lead to believing lies at their full value, but doubting is like taking a wrong turn on a long road trip—once you make the turn you are on your way to being lost. Doubting is like a small stone in your shoe—it’s a continual source of irritation. And what do you do with a stone in your shoe? You stop and take it out, right?

This illustrates the two types of doubting. The first type could be called “investigative doubting” which means that you have some doubts, but like stopping and removing the stone from your shoe, you plan to do something about it. Under careful conditions, this kind of doubting can actually be healthy because it drives you to answering the doubts. Your doubts become the fuel for finding answers. The second type of doubting is called ridicule or lazy doubting, because the person either ridicules the truth or the possibility of finding truth or he or she is just too lazy to investigate their doubts. This kind of doubting will either make you a lazy, unfruitful Christian or else it will drive you toward unbelief. Unfortunately, this type is far more common that the first type and it is the one that the serpent was suing on Eve.

4.                  The serpent was questioning God’s character

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  The serpent tried to make Eve believe that God was intentionally withholding something that would have benefited her. The ploy went like this. “God knows that when you eat the fruit you will become like him, but he doesn’t want you to eat the fruit because he wants to be over you. He wants to control you. He wants to keep good things from you because he is selfish. What kind of a cruel God would force his creation to be so deprived?”

These are the kind of questions we ask ourselves when we lay awake at night. In general we are too afraid to voice such questions out loud for fear of being ostracized. We might say something like, “Why would God allow this to happen?” or “Why would God do this to me?” but we would almost never say, why is God so selfish? Why is he keeping good things from me? Is he a good god? Are there chinks in his divine armor?

I think questioning God’s character is potentially much more dangerous than mere doubting. When I doubt a truth, all that is at stake is that one individual truth, but when I call into question God’s character, my entire faith is at risk. If there is even a hint of evil within the character of God, I don’t want anything to do with him and neither should you. If God contains evil then I will completely reject him.

The only hint of beauty in this tragic chapter in history comes in the middle f the chapter. We are told that a seed will arise from the woman who will crush the head of Satan. This, of course, is referring to Jesus Christ. Jesus was predicted to crush the head of Satan and that has been done through his death and resurrection. Earlier we sang about the “Meekness and Majesty” of Christ. If the Creator would lay down his life in order to crush evil and save me into his presence, do we dare label that unfair? Does God lack justice through the giving of his Son? God is holy and good and I cannot question his character.

Rich Maurer

July 11, 2009