As we look at the conditions that prevail in the world within which we live, we become aware of the results of sin: sickness, suicide, parents without natural affection, covetousness, murder, deceit, covenant-breakers and a myriad of other activities that result in heartache and death. Just as violations of civil law leave in its path a score of victims, so it is when man violates the laws of God. But it hasn’t always been that way.

    The Bible reveals a time when man was in a garden east of Eden. It was a time when man enjoyed fellowship with his Creator. A time when there were no victims, no heartache, no sorrow and no death. And man had access to the tree of life (Genesis 2:1-16). Being a creature of free will, God established laws to regulate the conduct of His creation. The scriptures may, or may not, reveal all of the laws first given to man, but they do tell us of one: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The law of God, concerning the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is the one Adam and Eve violated and is thus the one essential to the text and the explanation of why mankind suffers so many ills.

    Genesis chapter three begins with the introduction of “the serpent.” Centuries later the serpent is described as “the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan” (Revelation 20:2). The serpent is described as having “beguiled Eve in his craftiness” (2 Corinthians11:3). The first introduction describes the serpent as “more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made” (Genesis 3:1). It is not possible to describe what it was like in the first days after creation. What wedo have are the particulars describing why things are as they are today.

    The serpent said unto the woman, “Yea,hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” In answer, the woman said, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (Genesis 3:2-3). To the woman’s response, the serpent said, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil” (vs. 4-5). The serpent did two things when he beguiled Eve. First of all, he changed what God had said: God said, “thou shalt surely die” and the serpent said, “Ye shall not surely die.” Secondly, the serpent implies that God’s restrictions were to keep the man and the woman from being as God, “knowing good and evil.” Children often believe their parents are trying to keep them from having fun when they restrict the activities of the child. After Satan placed the doubt in Eve, she “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 one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6). The serpent appealed to the “lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life” (1 John 2:16). The woman“saw that the tree was good for food,” she saw “that it was a delight to the eyes” and she saw “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” These are the same tactics utilized by Satan today: an appeal to the gratification of the flesh in what it wants to make it feel good, what it sees and wants to possess,and the glory of having or achieving something that will make the individual feel important or powerful.

    As a result of the man and the woman transgressing the law of God a curse came upon them. To the serpent, God said,“Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Unto the woman, God said, “I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” And, unto the man, God said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee,saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

    Often times, individuals will say thatit’s their life and what they do doesn’t hurt anyone but themselves. Justremember, with Adam and Eve, there wasn’t anyone else yet, and what they choseplaced a curse on all that would come through them.