Unfortunately, Satan appeared at the place of fellowship. Satan might have been appearing several times at the sacred garden, merely exchanging seemingly harmless pleasantries with Eve. Pleasantries became exchange of words and opinions. Man began to negotiate his destiny, and each exchange inched man closer to his fall. When we engage in conversations, we exchange virtues. In this case, virtues flowed from the deceiver to a potential victim.
To parley with Satan, the outcast, is treason. Eve perhaps wanted to correct Satan’s impression about God; she wanted to prove to Satan that God would not lie. Sometimes, maybe like Eve, we have brilliant intentions while we negotiate with evil and welcome the enemy into our territory.
As man and woman, father and mother, wife and husband, entrepreneurs, captains of industry; professionals, community heads and politicians, church leaders, ministers and church members, we may have let Satan into our secret place of fellowship. We may have negotiated with the enemy, and in our most sacred place. We had hoped to make something good come out of the unlawful things we did. We cannot be lawful through unlawful methods. The church, each Christian, and the nation must beware of the wiles of the devil. We cannot go against God’s will and hope to get a testimony out of it.
The woman might have been deceived, but not Adam. Adam willingly chose to disobey. What Adam did was not mere disobedience; it was an act of rebellion because he submitted authority and loyalty to Satan – a rebel and outcast, and an enemy of anything Godly. It was not about the fruit, but a matter of loyalty. We must be about careful what we call ‘common’. We must be careful about what we term ‘little’.
The whole of creation and humanity consisted in Adam, and that is the catastrophe of his fall. Just as Satan promised, Adam and Eve received a new perception, so suddenly, so miraculously. But it was a perception of their physical and spiritual darkness. Since all of humanity consisted in Adam, his fall meant the fall of humanity. For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).
Maybe you do not understand how the deed of one man could mean the deed of all. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek after a successful military campaign. As at that time, Abraham had no child. But the Bible records that Abraham’s great grandson, Levi, was there also paying tithe to Melchizedek. This is the law of representation. The things you do now are the foundation stones for the dynasty you are building. If Abraham’s deed spoke for his great grandchild, what will the stones and beams you are erecting today speak for your offspring?
The consequences of man’s rebellion also meant his separation from God, the Giver of life. They did not invite Satan into the secret place of fellowship, but they accommodated and willingly submitted authority to him. Man rebelled against the finger that formed him; against the breath that gave him life. They were driven away from God’s presence. Man’s expulsion created a big hole in him, a hole which so many still carry today; a hole which Christ, and only Christ can fill.
Since all of creation is tied to the destiny of Adam, his fall also meant the fall of creation. Man was set at loggerheads with his environment. The natural disasters, ecological disorders and depreciating environment are the terrestrial implications of man’s fall. When Adam and Eve submitted loyalty to Satan, they were simply telling God to take His hands off creation. They handed the world over to Satan. They also became autonomous, that is, they became law unto themselves.
If you are not responsible to God, then God cannot be responsible to you. All blessings flow from God. No other source. That is what is meant by God is good. So, to withdraw God’s hands from creation is to cut off the flow of His blessings – the manifest goodness and mercy of God.
The cutting off of blessing is what is called curse. Now, curses are not consistent with God’s character. God does not curse. Absolutely not. When a judge says I hereby sentence you to death, it is not him speaking; he is only the voice of the law. God merely interpreted and explained the consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion, in case they did not know.
God told the serpent, which was the vehicle for Satan, “… thou art cursed (cut off, fallen short of my goodness) above all cattle and above every beast of the field…” That is, though all other animals have also fallen because of the sin of man, it is even worse with you. Fair justice.
God turned to Satan, and He did not even say anything harsh to him. God sounded the first apocalypse into the redemption of man. A redeemer is coming from the seed of the woman who would totally defeat you. Satan had thought that his schemes would spell the doom of man, but God frustrated all of it and turned it to blessing.
God’s covenant that Adam and Eve shall fill the earth was also threatened. Because the covenant was the exclusive initiative of God, the obligation of Adam and Eve was not so much needed. The only problem is that the spiritual disorder of man will produce physiological disorder. The cells, organs and systems of the woman’s body would malfunction, depreciate and even break down. This physiological disorder will make birthing a painful experience: God intended miraculous birth, Eve chose painful birth – in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. When God drew the woman out of the man, He blessed them, and each was to serve his or her purpose as fashioned. But a fallen Adam is way different from the perfect Adam.
Rather than mutuality and cordiality, there shall be friction and stress in their relationship. God set up the home of peace, Eve set up her own hearth for heartbreaks. The ultimate source of domestic violence is the fall of man. “And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over you” there is no gender battle, only a crisis of depraved and fallen men and women.
Cruelty and oppression has no sex. A woman sells another woman into sex slavery; a man stabs another man to death. The ultimate etiology of men’s chaos is sin. The ultimate remedy is Christ. Have you received Him into your life? He is patiently waiting for you to let Him in, so He can re-order and restore all that is fallen and broken in your life.
