AN EVE SEQUEL?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

2 Corinthians 11:1-4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Go back and think about the story of Adam and Eve for a moment.

Here was a couple who had it made in every way possible.

God had created them as the first man and woman, and then He gave them a perfect place to live, a place abundant with newly formed life. They lived a peaceful existence under the favor of their Maker and Master who provided for their every need. All they had to do is live in obedience to one simple command:

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16-17

It should have been an easy order to comply with. The garden was full of trees that bore different fruits and so avoiding one special tree should have presented no problem. God said they weren’t supposed to eat from it or else they would certainly die. That, in and of itself, should have been enough of a deterrent.

But as we see in the very first people created, free will can be one’s worst enemy and carry with it dire consequences. We see this at its worst as Genesis, chapter 3 opens.

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’?”

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

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

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.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened. Genesis 3:1-7a

God had given a command. The Divine Creator of all living things told His first created man and woman to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t need to east from that tree because God had provided fruit in so many other places within the garden.

And yet, when offered just a little nudge of temptation, first Eve and then Adam quickly allowed their own desires to be greater than the Lord who formed and then breathed life into them. They took the word of a conniving serpent as being more valid than the word of God and in doing so, corrupted mankind from that point forward by infecting creation with sin, sin we’re still dealing with today.

As we look at the opening verses of 2 Corinthians 11, we find the Apostle Paul concerned about a potential Eve sequel occurring within the Christian church of Corinth. He had worked hard to ensure the Corinthian believers were devoted in purity to Jesus and Him alone. Paul compared this spiritual purity to virginity of faith, a virginity of faith he likened to Adam and Eve in the garden before the great fall.

This was Paul’s fear, that despite his efforts to keep the Corinthian Christians dedicated to Christ and Christ only, someone else akin to Eden’s serpent would come into the church and lead the believers in Corinth astray. This could come from a preacher who preached Jesus inappropriately or any evil spirit or gospel than the Holy Spirit and Gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul had instituted within the church. Paul lacked confidence that the Corinthian believers would have enough spiritual discipline or strength to reject any false preaching or teaching. He felt the church would not only tolerate such a wicked, inappropriate attempt to mislead but willingly go down the wrong road they were being led to.

Today, the uneasiness of Paul should be the same uneasiness we feel as Christians when we look at how Satan is trying to infiltrate and influence the church today. He is never going to tire from his efforts to lead Christian believers away from the Christ they follow and serve because he knows that every person he can get to eat from the fruit of sin will be a person who will bring discredit to the Christian faith and dishonor the Lord who has commanded His people to be holy as He is holy.

Friends, we can’t afford to have any more Eve sequels today or anywhere in the future. It’s time for every Christ believer to recommit themselves to Jesus and Him alone, and then remain steadfast in obedience and devotion to Him in thought, word, and deed.

When we are fully invested in our Savior, there is no room for Satan who has already been ultimately defeated. For Satan cannot have a foothold anywhere where Jesus is present. Stay totally anchored in Christ and there will be no room for temptation, from a cunning serpent or anyone else for that matter.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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