Tricked Into A Treat Series

On Halloween night the streets are filled with masked children out to get

treats and to play a few tricks. Their masks may hide their identity from us,

but we are only moderately fooled because we know that underneath there are

children and not assorted demons, or at least not supernatural demons. This

was not so on one of the first days of history. It was not a Halloween, but it

was a day of tricks and treats. Satan was out to trick Eve into a treat that

would bring about the fall of man. Eve was not even aware that Satan was

using the serpent as a mask.

Satan's first role on the stage of history was that of a hypocrite. A

hypocrite is one who wears a mask and who plays a role externally which does

not correspond to his internal character. By the mask of hypocrisy Eve was

tricked into the first sin. It seems as if the odds were so great against her that

she didn't stand a chance. Milton says in Paradise Lost, "For neither man nor

angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible, except to God

alone." Satan appears to have all the advantage, and Eve stands helpless

before his cunning temptation. Except for one thing this was true. Satan then

and now has the advantage over man, and man in his own wisdom will never

outwit the subtle serpent. One of the very first lessons we learn from the

account of the fall is that there is only one way to victory over evil and that is

by obedience to the Word of God. Eve in her ignorance still had no excuse for

her sin because she knew God's command and was free to obey it. Milton

again has God speak concerning man:

"I made him just and right,

Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.

Such I created all the ethereal Powers

And Spirits, both them who stood, and them who failed.

Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell.

Verses 2 and 3 tell us that Eve had all she needed to gain the victory had

she chosen to live according to her knowledge. She did not know the reason

for God's command, however, and it was at this point of ignorance that Satan

worked and sought to get her to doubt.

A children's story about an ancient king who wanted to find a faithful

servant illustrates the need for obedience in spite of reasons. The king wanted

to make sure he had a servant who would obey him, and so he ordered two

men who applied for the position to draw water out of a well and poor it into a

basket. It was not long before one of the men threw his pain away in a rage.

He shouted, "This is foolish work. I will do no more of it." The other said,

"This is the work the king commanded us to do, and for which he is paying

us." He went on dipping his pail into the basket. When the water was nearly

gone he saw a glittering of something in the mud at the bottom. He brought it

up and found it to be a diamond ring. Then he understood why the king had

given them that apparently foolish work. If the ring would have been brought

up it could have been found in the basket. He took the ring to the king, and

the king gave it back to him as a gift saying, "You are a man I can trust,

because you obeyed and trusted me when you did not understand my reasons.

I see I can trust you in greater things."

This simple story carries the same profound truth as the story of the

Garden of Eden. If man has the knowledge of God's will that is all he needs,

for he can obey what he knows regardless of the lack of reasons and the

pressure to not obey. The test of the king was the same test that God gave to

Adam and Eve. The test was to determine if they could obey without reasons,

and even when the subtle one made it seem unreasonable. In verse 4 Satan

comes right out and denies that God has spoken the truth. You will not die as

God has said were his words. This left Eve standing where all of us stand, for

she was between two conflicting voices. Every command of God is challenged

by the voice of doubt. The first sin of man is usually thought to be

disobedience, but it is likely that doubt likely deserves the dubious honor of

being the first sin. Disobedience was the first sinful act, but before the act Eve

was deceased into doubting God's Word. Once Satan gets a person to doubt