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Scripture Reading: Gen. 3:1-7; Rom. 7:17-18a, 21, 23; Eph. 2:1, 12; 4:18
I. Being God’s adversary — Matt. 13:28a.
II. Hiding himself in the subtle serpent — Gen. 3:1a; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9a.
III. Preventing God by contacting man earlier.
IV. Approaching the woman by touching her mind — Gen. 3:1b.
V. Causing the human mind to doubt God’s word — v. 4.
VI. Stirring up the human emotion to dislike God — v. 5.
VII. Seducing the human will to choose the tree of knowledge — v. 6a.
VIII. Contaminating the entire human soul.
IX. Entering into the human body to be the evil in man’s flesh — Rom. 7:17-18a, 21, 23.
X. Capturing man through the woman — Gen. 3:6b; 1 Tim. 2:14.
XI. Becoming one with man and alienating man from God by deadening man’s spirit — Eph. 2:1, 12; 4:18.
XII. Usurping man to frustrate God from fulfilling His purpose.
In this lesson on life, we want to see Satan’s plot to spoil man.
Satan is God’s adversary. Matthew 13:28a is nearly the only verse in the New Testament that tells us that Satan is God’s enemy. In Matthew 13:28 the word enemy is used, but we have to realize that Satan is not only God’s enemy but also God’s adversary. This is because he is within the circle where God is (Job 1:6). The name Satan, from Hebrew, means “adversary.” He was and still is not only an enemy from outside but also an adversary from inside. We have to point out that in the universe God has an enemy and even an adversary within His kingdom.
Genesis 3:1 shows that Satan hid himself in the subtle serpent. For this point we can also use 2 Corinthians 11:3 and Revelation 12:9. Satan is always hiding himself in some thing, in some matter, or even in some person. In Matthew 16 Satan was hiding himself in Peter, so the Lord Jesus even called Peter “Satan” (v. 23). When Satan first came to man, he was hiding himself in a serpent. Because Satan was hiding himself in the serpent, eventually his name is called the ancient serpent in Revelation 12:9.
In this point we have to make it clear that God’s intention was to enter into man to be man’s life. But in the Bible we can see that when Satan realizes that God intends to do something, he will do it earlier, to prevent God from carrying out His intention. Thus, before God came to enter into man, Satan came. Because God is great, He would not force man to choose Him and receive Him. Satan acted first to enter into man earlier than God in an attempt to prevent God from carrying out His desire with man.
It seems that God always comes later than we expect Him. John 11 tells us that when the Lord heard that Lazarus was sick, He remained in the place where He was for two days (v. 6). During this time Lazarus died, and then the Lord went to raise him from the dead. Martha and Mary both told the Lord, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died” (vv. 21, 32). In the Bible there are many instances to show us that God would not do things that fast. But do not stress this point in your sharing. If you stress this point, you may distract the saints. You must stress the point that Satan came to contact man earlier than God did.
The subtle adversary of God approached the female, the weaker vessel, by touching her mind. In Genesis 3:1b he asked the woman, “Did God really say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” This was a question put into Eve’s mind, and this question stirred up her doubting mind. This is a strong point that we have to stress. Satan would always approach people by touching their doubting mind. Here Satan questioned something concerning God, and this questioning, no doubt, aroused the mind of Eve. Satan did this to keep Eve from using her spirit. When God comes to us, He always touches our spirit. When Satan comes to us, he always comes to our mind. Our spirit is the “room” that God comes to touch, and our mind is the “room” that Satan comes to touch. Satan will always come to touch the human mind.
After Satan came to touch the female mind, he caused the human mind to doubt God’s word (v. 4). In verse 1 of Genesis 3, he stirred up Eve’s mind; then in verses 2 and 3 Eve began to talk to him. This meant that Eve had fallen into the snare already. Eve should not have talked with the serpent or answered him. She should have stood on God’s word and run away from this tempter. Instead of running away, she responded by saying, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die” (vv. 2-3). This little talk meant that Eve had fallen into the snare already. Her answer opened the door for the serpent to say to the woman, “You shall not surely die!” (v. 4). This is a further step Satan took to deal with the female mind. Satan not only came to touch her mind, but eventually Satan caused the human mind to doubt God’s word. This means that the poison of the serpent got into her mind, because the word of Satan got into her. When the word gets in, the person gets in. Thus, the human mind was poisoned, contaminated.
Satan also stirred up the human emotion to dislike God. This is proved by verse 5, where Satan said to Eve, “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” This word was a word of evil, stirring up Eve’s emotion to dislike God. Eve probably felt that God had kept some good thing from her. This is the subtlety of the enemy to poison the human emotion.
Satan seduced the human will to choose the tree of knowledge. After Satan’s word in verse 5, verse 6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make oneself wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” This is the seducing of the human will to make a decision to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
At this point, Satan had contaminated the entire human soul: the mind, the emotion, and the will. The mind was poisoned, the emotion was poisoned, and the will was poisoned; thus, the entire soul was contaminated.
When Eve and Adam took the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Satan entered into the human body to be the evil in man’s flesh. Here we must use Romans 7:17-18a. Paul says, “Now then it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells.” Paul says that in his flesh there was no good thing. Then Romans 7:21 says, “I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me.” “The evil” must be the evil life, nature, and character of Satan himself, who is the indwelling sin in us. When sin is dormant within us, it is merely sin, but when it is aroused in us by our willing to do the good, it becomes “the evil.” Verse 23 says, “I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.” Sin and evil are in man’s members, in the flesh. This shows us that when man partook of the tree of knowledge, his whole being was taken over by Satan.
Satan captured man through the woman (Gen. 3:6b). He first secured the weaker vessel, woman, and then he used the woman to capture man. First Timothy 2:14 says, “Adam was not deceived; but the woman, having been quite deceived, has fallen into transgression.” It was not man who was deceived but the woman. History tells us that Satan frequently uses the female to gain the male and corrupt him.
Satan became one with man and alienated man from God by deadening man’s spirit. Here we have to use Ephesians 2:1 and 12 and 4:18. In these verses we can see that man was deadened in the spirit. By this, man was alienated, cut off, from God and even cut off from the life of God. We can see that man had fallen to the uttermost. The mind was poisoned, the emotion was poisoned, the will was poisoned, and the body was poisoned. Also man’s spirit was deadened. The whole being of man thus became contaminated, deadened, and alienated from God.
Satan usurped man to frustrate God from fulfilling His purpose. Today mankind is in the hand of Satan, and Satan uses the whole human race to do his will, to frustrate God from fulfilling God’s purpose. Man was made by God to fulfill God’s purpose. But man fell into the usurping hand of Satan, so man is being used by Satan to fulfill Satan’s purpose. This is the plot of Satan to spoil man.
We have to stress that Satan spoiled man by contaminating man’s soul and deadening his spirit. We also have to point out that man’s body was ruined to become the flesh. In the flesh, man’s ruined body, there is sin, and when this sin acts, it is “the evil” (Rom. 7:21). Sin and evil are the same thing. The term sin mostly denotes the nature, whereas the term the evil mostly denotes the activities. Actually, both sin and the evil are Satan himself. Satan himself in our flesh is sin. When sin acts, it is the evil. We can see that the whole human being became utterly fallen by eating the tree of knowledge. The soul was contaminated, the spirit was deadened, and the body was ruined.
We have to pray so that we can have the best utterance to present these things to the new ones and to the young ones. I feel that this is quite crucial for the coming lessons on life.
