January 2, 2024
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 3:6-7 ESV). Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, was
January 2, 2022
DO YOU QUESTION GOD’S WORD? The first temptation by the serpent was to question God’s Word. Not to understand it, but to challenge its veracity. Notice Satan’s use of the word, “really.” He did not ask, “Did God say?” He asked did God “reeeally” say. By inserting this one little word he planted a seed
January 2, 2021
WHO QUESTIONS GOD’S WORD? The first temptation by the serpent was to question God’s Word. Not to understand it, but to challenge its veracity. Notice Satan’s use of the word, “really.” He did not ask, “Did God say?” He asked did God “reeeally” say. By inserting this one little word he planted a seed of
January 2, 2018
Genesis 3 tells the story of what the poet, John Milton called, “Paradise Lost.” For Adam and Eve gave in to the three-fold temptation of eating the forbidden fruit. Notice the three observations that Eve makes of the forbidden fruit: 1) It was “beautiful” to the eyes, 2) it looked like it would taste “delicious,” and 3) the serpent had promised it would make her wise “like God.” At the very “moment” of eating the fruit, humanity’s innocence was lost and so was paradise.
The apostle John recognized this three-fold weakness of humanity. He wrote, “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:16).
Yet, Jesus Christ, as the “second Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45-49), has overcome this three-fold temptation (see Matt. 4:1-11). So, that when we are found in Christ, we are overcomers too (1 John 5:5).
January 2, 2016
Even within the curse of sin, God gave a promise. Some have called Gen. 3:15 the “protoevangelium,” the “first good news,” because it speaks of an “offspring” of the woman that will “bruise” the head of the serpent. That this promised “offspring” or literally, “seed,” will come through the woman foreshadows the virgin birth of Christ, as women have no “seed.” That this one should be bruised of the serpent (or Satan), points to his suffering on the cross. But that the serpent’s head shall be bruised of him, points to his ultimate victory over evil through the resurrection. God removed humanity from the garden because of their sin, but He left them with a promise that one of their descendants would save them from their sin. In Christ, God has kept that promise.
January 2, 2013
The first temptation by the serpent was to question God’s Word. His evil strategy hasn’t changed. It’s not enough to know the Word, we must also believe it. Let’s counter today’s culture of biblical illiteracy and doubt. Read, know and believe God’s Word.