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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:16—3:6
The record of God’s creation in the first two chapters of Genesis reveals God’s desire and purpose, and it reveals the procedure with which God achieves His purpose. These two chapters can be considered as a picture of the whole Bible. When God spoke the content of the Bible, He first presented a picture to show His eternal purpose, the procedure of His work, and the issue of His work. After this, Genesis 3 can be considered the beginning of the official narration of man’s history in the Bible. Regrettably, however, this narration begins with the fall of man. Immediately after presenting a picture of His creation, God presents the fall of man.
We will first consider the source of man’s fall, that is, the cause of the fall of man.
The first cause of the fall of man was the serpent’s temptation. Without the serpent’s temptation and deception, man would not have fallen. The serpent that tempted man was the incarnation of Satan. Apparently, he was a serpent; actually, he was Satan. Satan hid in the serpent in order to tempt man. Therefore, Revelation 12:9 says, “The ancient serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole inhabited earth.”
According to Genesis 3:1, the serpent was made by Jehovah. We should not think that because the serpent is bad, he was not made by God or that what God made cannot become the incarnation of Satan. In the universe only God is life. Anything that is not of God or is severed from God, even though it was made by God, can be in the principle of the serpent; that is, it can be usurped by Satan to be his incarnation.
Some thank and praise the Lord for blessing them, for giving them an education, or for giving them intelligence. Others thank and praise the Lord for giving them a good spouse and good children. We should acknowledge that such things are from the Lord, but we must not forget that if these God-given persons, matters, and things are severed from God, they can be an embodiment of Satan and can be used by Satan.
The serpent was made by God, but in Genesis 3 the serpent was used by Satan, who hid within him, thus making the serpent the incarnation of Satan. This serpent was not only attractive but also cunning. Anyone who is cunning and clever is crafty. Dull people are not crafty, but clever people are inevitably crafty. Nearly every clever person is crafty. Being attractive, cunning, and clever are related to being crafty. Some people are very clever and considerate of others, but they are like “sly old foxes” and may have poison in them. Therefore, we must be watchful and guard ourselves against things that are attractive to us, for they can be the embodiment of Satan. Satan often hides within these things to tempt and deceive man.
How did the serpent tempt Eve? The serpent might have wrapped himself around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order to tempt Eve. When Eve noticed the serpent, she also noticed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tempted Eve by asking a question, which caused her to doubt God’s word. The first question in the Bible came out of Satan’s mouth. A great American evangelist, Dr. Haldeman, once said that when the serpent tempted Eve that day, saying to Eve, “Did God really say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” (v. 1), he might have shaped himself into a hook, a question mark. This is quite meaningful. All questions originate from Satan. When man accepted that question, he fell into the hand of Satan and became fallen.
The serpent asked a question, which caused Eve to doubt God’s word. God commanded man, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (2:17). However, Satan asked, “Did God really say...?” (3:1), and then said, “You shall not surely die!” (v. 4). Man accepted Satan’s question, doubted God’s word, and dared to take the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and to eat it. To this day Satan uses this method to tempt man to sin or to instigate man to reject God’s salvation. Man needs to know how steadfast the Lord’s word is: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall by no means pass away” (Luke 21:33). The Lord’s word is not yes and no (2 Cor. 1:19-20).
Furthermore, the serpent’s question caused man to doubt God’s heart. The serpent said to the woman, “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” (Gen. 3:5). The serpent wanted the woman to believe that God was deceiving them by forbidding them to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lest, like God, they would know good and evil. This is another of the sinister schemes that Satan often uses. People are far away from God and will not come to God, because they have been fooled by Satan to misunderstand God’s love and not know God’s heart.
In addition to the serpent’s temptation, there was another cause of man’s fall: the woman’s assuming of the headship. Did God create one man or two? Some say that God created two people. This is not correct; God created one man. Eve was built with Adam’s rib (2:22); hence, Eve’s head was Adam. Therefore, there was only one head, not two. God did not create two people when He created man; He did not take one lump of dust to create Adam and another lump to create Eve. He created one man, Adam, from one lump of dust, took a rib from Adam’s side and built it into Eve, and put the two together to be one flesh (vv. 7, 21-24). Thus, there were not two but one.
Weddings are held all over the world, but few people understand their significance. Whether a wedding ceremony is modern or traditional, Chinese or Western, there is only one head. Why is only one head exposed when there are two people? Why does the woman cover her head? In my childhood I saw traditional Chinese weddings in which the bride covered her whole head. When the couple bowed to heaven and earth, I saw only one head, not two. Today people are accustomed to modern wedding ceremonies, but most brides, whether Chinese or Western, wear a veil. They wear a veil to declare that henceforth, in this new household, there are not two heads; rather, there is only one head. If both the husband and the wife are heads, they will fight and then divorce. Just as a country cannot have two rulers, a household cannot have two heads. When a sister gets married, she must let her husband be the head. Please do not misunderstand me and think that I am advocating men’s rights for the brothers. This is not the case. I want you to know God’s ways.
In traditional Chinese weddings the bride cannot tread on the ground when she goes from her household to her groom’s household. The bride is usually carried from her room by her older brother to her bridal sedan chair. When she arrives at her groom’s household, a felt carpet is spread for her as she gets out of her sedan chair. The groom may tread on the ground, but the bride may not. Although this practice is a Chinese tradition, it is very meaningful. The bride cannot tread on the ground, because she has no position on earth. Eve’s position was in Adam; her position was Adam’s side, and Adam was her head.
This word may anger the sisters; they may think that I am belittling the position of women. In this age of respecting women’s rights in the twentieth century, to say that women have no position and that the man is the head of the woman sounds like a backward theory. I hope the sisters understand that this is not my word; this is the word of the Bible. There are many examples of this in the Bible. In Numbers 1 the children of Israel were numbered, but the Bible does not say how many males and how many females there were; it gives only the number of males, not females (v. 2). In the Gospels the Lord Jesus fed the crowd with five loaves and two fish. The Bible says that there were about five thousand men, apart from women and children (Matt. 14:19-21; Mark 6:41-44). In God’s household registration there are only men, not women, because on the wedding day the woman’s head is covered when she is given to the man, and the man becomes her head. The most beautiful condition between a couple is the husband being the head and the wife submitting to the headship. Such a household is sweet and will last. Everything has its God-given position; this is not a matter of equality or inequality.
About twenty years ago I met an educated sister who was not convinced concerning this matter, even though she had read it in the Bible and heard messages related to it. She said to me, “Brother Lee, does this saying in the Bible not value the male and belittle the female? Is this not gender inequality?” I answered her with a smile, saying, “The eyebrow is above the eye, and the eye is below the eyebrow. Would the eye say that the eyebrow is valued but the eye is belittled? Would moving the eye above the eyebrow be equality?” She smiled when she heard this. I said, “Sister, do not contend over this matter. The eye has its position, and the eyebrow has its position. The positions that God has arranged are beautiful. Would it look good for the eye to be moved above the eyebrow?” She said, “This is an arrangement that we are accustomed to. Later, we may discover that it looks better.” I said, “The eye is below the eyebrow not only for good looks but for use. I know this because I sweat a lot. Without these two ‘sweatwalls,’ I would not be able to open my eyes. Even if I sweat profusely, sweat will not get into my eyes. Even if I do not wipe away my sweat for two hours, sweat still will not enter my eyes. If we moved the eyes above the eyebrows, we would not be able to open our eyes when we sweat. Do you think being a woman is low? The man is often the ‘sweatwall’ for the woman. The man has his position and function, and the woman has her position and function. When we keep our position, it is beautiful, good, restful, and secure.”
A woman who does not keep her position is dangerous. Man’s fall was caused not by Adam but by Eve. She acted presumptuously and assumed the headship; thus, she made Adam fall and suffered loss herself. Man’s fall was due not only to the serpent’s temptation but also to the woman’s assuming of the headship. The serpent was successful because Adam was not with Eve. Countless disasters in world history were brought about by women because men were not around. The Lord has shown us how dangerous it is for women to assume the headship. We do not know where Adam went, but he was not with Eve. Had Eve known her position when the serpent spoke to her, she would have said, “Hold on, let me get my husband.” Eve did not fall when she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; she fell when she assumed the headship. The serpent was aware that Eve would fall under his control as soon as she assumed the headship. It is a terrible and uncomely thing for a woman to assume the headship.
The sisters should not be angry about this, because even the brothers are women. Before God we all have the position of a woman. Thus, the woman’s assuming the headship has a symbolic meaning as well. Men are not the head; our head is Christ, God. It is dangerous for us to do something apart from Christ, apart from God. This is the principle of the woman’s assuming the headship.
Eve was a woman; Adam was a man. Adam was the head; the woman was under the head. This is a symbol, a shadow, that shows the relationship between God and man. The unique Head in the universe is God, and we should be under His authority. Whenever we set God aside, set Christ aside, to deal with anything, we are setting our Adam, our Husband, aside and are assuming the headship. When Satan tempts us, he is afraid of our retreating into the Lord and letting the Lord assume the headship. This is the secret to overcoming. When we retreat and let God be our “sweatwall,” we overcome. We must remember that when we go beyond God, set God aside, and assume the headship, we have fallen into the hand of the evil one.
This is a great principle. The first fall of mankind involved man’s assuming the headship and setting God aside. Contacting something outside of God is the greatest cause of man’s failure. We must be watchful, because we are all women. We must not assume the headship in anything; instead, we must let God have the headship. When we retreat into God, we are preserved and we overcome. This is the secret to being preserved and overcoming.
