Eve

Genesis 2:4-25 – “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens – and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground – the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘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 of it you will surely die.’ The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.“

Genesis 3:1-24 – “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 surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of 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, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?‘ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.‘ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?‘ The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.‘ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.‘ So the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.‘ To the woman he said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.‘ To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Eve is mentioned by name in just four Bible verses, but everyone has an opinion about Eve. Some think of her with pride, some with anger, some with shame, some think her actions give them a license to do whatever they want. But Eve is arguably the most influential woman who ever lived. In Ann Spangler’s book, “Women of the Bible”, Eve is described as follows – “She came into the world perfectly at peace with her God and with her husband, the only other person on the planet. She lived in Paradise, possessing every pleasure imaginable. She never knew the meaning of embarrassment, misunderstanding, hurt, estrangement, envy, bitterness, grief, or guilt until she listened to her enemy and began to doubt God. Her great sorrow was that she and her husband were banished from Paradise and the presence of God, and that her first son was a murderer and her second son his victim. Her great joy was that she had once tasted Paradise, and that God had promised her offspring would eventually destroy her enemy.” One book gives one-liner summaries of the 100 most well-known people in the Bible – it speaks of her in terms of success, “Eve was Adam’s wife and the world’s first woman. She was successfully tempted by Satan.” Hmmm.

Strong’s concordance lists her story in 4 parts – Eve was made, Eve was named, Eve was deceived, Eve lead Adam to sin. Notice the first three are passive. The only active role she is listed as having was in leading someone else to sin. Nice.

(take off scarf to reveal “daughter of Eve” t-shirt underneath)

I want to tell you my story. My name is Eve – Adam gave me that name, because I would become the mother of every living person. In Hebrew we say “Chavvah (khav-vaw’).” I never really spoke Hebrew in those days – that language came later, after the tower of Babel, but it’s been such a long time, and that’s how Moses wrote down my story. My name means “to live”, but it implies “to tell, to declare, to show,” and that’s what I do. I want to tell you what happened. I want to declare the greatness of God. And I want to show you what I’ve learned. In Greek my name is “Eua” (yoo-ah). You’ll be interested to know that Adam’s first words to me were – “Chavvah! You-a Eve!”

I think you call my story Genesis. It’s a good word, because it means “beginning,” and my story does go way back to the beginning. I’ve noticed that a lot of people get really excited when researching genealogies if they discover someone famous in their family tree. Well, I might be more infamous than famous, but I am in your family tree. Scientists and theologians argue about details like when I lived, but they both call me Eve (or Mitochondrial Eve), and they actually agree that I’m in everybody’s family tree. Forgive me if this sounds prideful, but you really can’t make sense of life in today’s world unless you understand how it was in the beginning. If you have an NIV Christian Growth study bible, you can find this summarized under the heading, “Unpacking Genesis, the first three chapters.”

1. Before anything else existed, God was there – He is the only unchanging reality. He was and He is and He is to come. Out of nothing and by His command, He created everything there is. Creation was an amazing EVEnt!
2. Before God spoke, there was total chaos, disorder, and darkness, but each of His commands brought purpose and order. In your culture you talk about science like it’s clinical and detached, but God created science too, as a way for us to investigate His wonderful world. God’s verdict on it was “very good.” Believe me, it was indescribably gorgeous. It’s hard to EVoke the beauty and sheer artistry of the Garden! It was beyond description – the most amazing place imaginable.
3. It’s crazy what theories people have come up with to explain how we all got here, but let me tell you, God made us, male and female, in His image – glorious! He made us for relationship with Him and with one another. He gave us authority over creation, and the wisdom and knowledge we needed to rule well. When God and man were in complete harmony with one another, things were smooth and EVEn.
4. God gave Adam and me real freedom. He only gave us one limitation, because He wanted us to rely on Him for wisdom in how to live and rule. Words are not enough to describe to you what this kind of freedom was like – we were at total peace, lived in unspeakable joy, in sweet communion with God our Father and in harmony with all of creation every moment of every day. My rebellion resulted in the biggest regret in human history. I wish I’d listened to God. I made a huge mistake when I tried to EValuate, to judge, what God had said. I should have simply trusted Him and obeyed Him.
5. My choice to sin against God resulted not only in a breakdown in our relationship with Him, but also shame, and judgment. Immediately I became only a shadow of who God had made me to be. You and I are capable of acts of great good, but we all have an inclination to wrongdoing and acts of great EVil.
6. Pain in childbirth and productivity of the soil were only the beginning of the curse of sin. It disrupted all of creation. The fullness of the Kingdom of God was EVicted because of my choice.
7. But God gave us hope. In our very first conversation immediately after Adam and I disobeyed God, He gave us a great promise. He said that my offspring would defeat the devil. God would restore order and all things would be reconciled. God gave us a great promise, His EVangel, a promise of hope and redemption. This is good news, THE good news!

Well, I hope that summary helps you make sense of our world. You know hindsight is 20-20, as they say. It’s interesting that in your language, my name has another meaning that makes it even more special.

Why is Christmas Eve special? Because of Christmas!

Why is New Year’s Eve special? Because of the New Year!

“Eve” in your language means the day before a special event, preparation time, anticipation, the period immediately before some event (“some event?” – you betcha!)

There’s a very special event that is already here but not yet fully here. That sounds mysterious, doesn’t it? But that’s what the Kingdom of God is. When my seed . . . you know Him as Messiah, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us . . . when He came, He did defeat my enemy as Father promised. He also initiated the coming of the Kingdom of God. But it won’t be here in completion until He returns the second time. When He comes, then Paradise will be restored – God created us for paradise, where there is no sorrow, no death, no sickness, no pain, no shame, no guilt, no sin, no suffering, no confusion . . . I could go on and on . . . it’s salvation and healing and peace and joy and love and life and redemption and restoration and face-to-face with our great God!

So when you hear my name, remember that now is a time of anticipation, preparation, expectation of the main event. The new day is coming when faith will become sight and we will be with God forever and ever in Paradise.

I’ve had a lot of time to think about my sin . . . there are four main pieces of advice I want to give you, so you can learn from my mistakes and embrace God’s grace!

I didn’t make just one colossal blooper but a plethora of mistakes, beginning with one that every child is cautioned against from the cradle: Don’t talk to strangers! Satan isn’t called the Father of lies for nothing. He opened his cozy chat using a deliberate lie – misquoting God, even putting words in the Lord’s mouth. Satan has been doing that for millennia, and he’s devilishly good at it. By twisting the Lord’s decree, Satan also tossed out one of the big stumbling blocks he still uses with great success today – making God look less than fair, kind, or loving. When tragedy strikes – a precious child is killed in an accident or a young mother dies of cancer – Satan tempts our faith with the same sort of opening line: “Would a good God allow that?” Cunning doesn’t begin to describe this wily serpent. Satan is full of lines. He reeled me in like an unsuspecting trout. When I spoke to the serpent, I meant well by correcting him, but dialoguing with him to begin with was my first mistake. Plenty of theologians and lawyers have been made fools of by Satan. Whether we’re innocent as doves or highly educated, the fact is, when Satan talks, the wise woman turns her back at the opening hiss and heads for the hills.

• Don’t get into a debate with Satan – get out!

Satan doesn’t always look like a serpent – he masquerades as an angel of light, too. He is always prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Those three wise monkeys were onto something with their “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” We can’t stop the Adversary from whispering in our ears, but we can refuse to listen, and we can definitely refuse to respond. No arguing, no debating! You will come out the loser, like me, if you do. Just stand and resist. “Just say no.” If he doesn’t flee, we can take off running for the safety of the Lord’s arms. God is our strong tower – we can run to Him and be safe. It’s our choice, though – we can stand around talking to the Father of all lies, or we can be wise and listen to God and talk to Him and run to Him. Satan has had a lot of time to practice his debates, and it is not worth spending even one minute talking to or listening to that deceiver.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss, in her book, “Lies Women Believe”, exposes areas of deception most commonly believed by Christian women . . . here are some of them:

Lies about God: God is not really enough, God’s ways are way too restrictive

Lies about themselves: I’m not worth anything, I should not have to live with unfulfilled longings

Lies about sin: God can’t forgive what I have done, I cannot walk in consistent victory over sin

Lies about priorities: I don’t have time to do everything I’m supposed to do, I can make it without consistent time in the Word and prayer

Lies about marriage: I have to have a husband to be happy, If I submit to my husband I will be miserable

Lies about their emotions: If I feel something it must be true, I can’t help how I respond when my hormones are out of whack

Lies about their circumstances: I shouldn’t have to suffer, I just can’t take any more

Those are all LIES, dear sisters . . . the truth is that God is enough, God’s ways bring true freedom, you are of infinite worth in God’s eyes, there are some things we will not fully understand on this side of eternity, no sin is too heinous for God to forgive, in Christ you can live a life of victory over sin and grow in consistency, God will give you everything you need to do what He wants you to do as you trust in Him, if you abide in Christ you will bear much fruit – without abiding in Him you will not produce anything of eternal value, you are complete in Christ whether you have a husband or not, obedience to God’s Word results in righteousness, peace, and joy, our feelings (which come from our heart) cannot be trusted, the Holy Spirit gives us self-control so that even in the middle of hormonal fluctuations we can respond in love instead of reacting, Jesus promised us suffering but also to take heart because He has already overcome the world, God will never give you anything you can’t handle in His strength – you can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you!

Run – run away from Satan, run away from sin, run to God. A great word study would be to look up all the references to “run” and “flee” in the Bible!

God is our:

Strength (Psalm 27:1 – “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” (NKJV))

Shelter (Isaiah 25:4 – “But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O LORD, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat.” (NLT))

Sustainer (Psalm 54:4 – “Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.” (NASB))

• Know God’s Word so you won’t be fooled.

My second mistake was that I added to the Word of God. The LORD never told me to “not touch it,” just not to eat of the fruit. When we exaggerate God’s Word, which literally means “to enlarge beyond the truth,” we sow seeds of doubt in the minds of others – Did God really say that other thing? – and in our own mind – Maybe God’s words need my help. The crafty serpent didn’t draw attention to my verbal blunder. I was already doing such a good job of deceiving myself, his assistance was hardly needed. Instead he picked the dire consequence of sin – death – and turned it upside down. He said, “You will not surely die . . . For God knows that when you eat of it . . .” (Genesis 3:4, 5). The serpent subtly shifted the conversation away from the Word of God and toward the desires of people, all the while invoking God’s name.

When the serpents in our lives say, “Did God really say . . .?” let’s be the first on our block to declare, “No, God did not!” Because I didn’t remember the words of God’s one commandment accurately, I left myself wide open for temptation to rush in. When we only “sort of” know what God has to say, then we are only “sort of” wise, which is a nice way of saying we’re fools! We need to hide and treasure God’s Word in our hearts so we won’t sin against Him. His way to live is the best way; it’s the only way to life. Studying and memorizing, verses from the Bible gives us the strength to say no because we know “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11) (give out books of Bible promises)

Remember – God’s Word, God’s promises

God has given us His:

Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 – “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (NLT))

Salvation (Romans 10:10 – “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (NASB))

Spirit (Romans 8:15 – “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”” (NLT))

• Watch out for the Big Three (1 John 2:16)

We are physical, emotional, and spiritual in nature, and all three areas have their weak spots. The serpent sank his fangs into all three in my case, by appealing to my physical appetite for food, my emotional appreciation of beauty, and my spiritual desire to be like God.

Notice that the serpent left himself out of the discussion entirely. He always does. We never hear about how our actions will benefit him or his evil kingdom; he brings up only our perceived benefits. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent reminded me of two appetizing promises. The first was that my eyes would be opened. It made me think, “I didn’t know my eyes were closed. Is there more of this lovely world to see? Am I missing something good?” I made the mistake of not asking God to open my eyes – I thought the tasty-looking fruit was going to do that for me. Boy, did it ever. The serpent threw out another promise, that I would be like God. Satan still peddles this one today with great success. Most of the false philosophies and religions making the rounds have this lie at their heart: You are God. People are easily misled by semantics: “Why invite Jesus to live in your heart, when little g god already resides in all of us?” goes the sales pitch. Since I knew God as all-good, all-loving, and all-knowing, I convinced myself that being like God was a grand idea. I became fixated about that tree.

1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” (NASB)

I stopped looking to God for the truth. I stopped looking to Adam for shared counsel. I stopped looking at the good, wholesome fruit already available to me. My problem was that I took my eyes off what was good and acceptable, and put them on what I knew, absolutely, to be forbidden. Pleasing to the eye isn’t the same as pleasing to God. I desired wisdom, and all I needed to do was to ask God. I knew that the fear of the LORD was the beginning of wisdom. But I wanted a shortcut to wisdom. We all do. We all throw away perfectly wonderful lives because our foolish, sinful appetites take us places we should not go. We need to guard our eyes and guard our hearts, and avoid like the plague cravings and lust for things that tempt us to turn away from God, whether food, men, shopping, internet, TV, uppers, downers.

Satan uses exactly the same tactics today. He’s not creative in the least, just persistent. By identifying our weaknesses in all three areas, then arming ourselves with biblical defense methods, we can keep from experiencing our own daily or hourly reenactment of the Fall. If we think we can withstand temptation on our own, we’re kidding ourselves. Joseph had the right idea – he refused to give in to the temptation that Potiphar’s wife tried to entice him with, and refused to even be with her!

Refuse – temptation

God is:

Sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9 – “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (NIV))

Satisfying (Psalm 107:9 – “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.” (NASB))

Steadfast (Lamentations 3:22 – “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end” (ESV))

• Let’s avoid the blame game

If you had any brothers or sisters, you probably got a lot of practice at the blame game when you were young. “Who me?” “Yes, you!” “Couldn’t be” “Then who?” “He (or she) stole the cookie from the cookie jar!” Shifting blame is practically a hobby in today’s culture. So who are we going to blame for our tendency to sin? Our mothers? Our grandmothers? All the way back to me? Or God? No. God gave us His Spirit to empower us, his Word to strengthen us, and his Son to catch us when we fall. Satan may be cunning, crafty, and clever, but he is in no way equal with God. We don’t need to live with this motto – “lead me not into temptation . . . I can find it myself.” We have no one to blame but ourselves when we choose to sin. And no one to thank but our Creator when he chooses to save us from our sins . . . again.

If we confess our sin to God, in other words, we own it and turn completely away from it, God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). When we confess our sin to each other and pray for each other, God heals us (James 5:16).

Repent – of our own sin

God is our:

Savior (Titus 3:4 – “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us” (NIV))

Sanctifier (1 Corinthians 6:11 – “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (NIV))

Song (Isaiah 12:2 – “See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The LORD God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” (NLT))