2018-08-19T08:00:00-05:00
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman 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 its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
Perhaps you’ve seen this E-trade commercial? The camera bounces back and forth between a stoic, thoughtful person silently watching an admirable, wealthy person who is captivating a large group, while a smooth, baritone voice reveals the inner envious dialogue. The voice reveals how successful this second person is and how, in fact, the stoic first person even, despite his envy, begrudgingly likes him. Then the commercial finishes, “but you’d like him a whole lot more if you made more money than him. Don’t get mad. Get e-Trade.”
Unfortunately, that’s not how envy gets cured. If you like her more if you are better than her, you’ve never truly liked her. The problem isn’t a readjustment of circumstances. The problem is an envious heart.
But the commercial is fascinating to me because it eloquently describes the war, but it goes to fight the wrong battle. And that’s Ephesians 6. Paul tells us that our struggle is not actually against flesh and blood, but against demonic systems set up by the forces of darkness, the powers of evil, and our enemies in the spiritual realm. For us enlightened, western, individual materialists, that’s not the battle we are accustomed to fighting. Spiritual warfare seems like something from the forgotten realm of superstition, vampires, and blaming Zeus for impregnating my cow with a demi-god. But Paul tells us the real battle between good and evil, isn’t against other human beings, but against, as we say at baptisms, the world, the flesh, and the devil. The real battle happens first at the spiritual level.
Paul is not implying some gnostic nonsense like only the spiritual matters. Rather, Paul is illuminating this point: Christ wasn’t battling the Roman Empire on the cross. He was shaking down the powers of the spiritual world. He was crushing the very head of Satan. In His death and resurrection, He was forming a new eternal Kingdom of heaven and of earth. He waged war not against flesh and blood, but against the devil himself. He won. And as a matter of fact, in time, the Roman Empire shook and disappeared and God’s people and God’s Kingdom picked up the pieces and marched on.
That is the battle we still wage on His behest and through His power. The flesh and blood that we so want to dismiss, defeat, or better are not our enemies, but our potential allies in God’s Kingdom. The circumstances are second to the spiritual forces that tell us money will make us happy, power will make us secure, and sex will satisfy. The real battle is fought on the spiritual plane everyday. Which is why Paul tells us to have already put on God’s armor, but to always be praying. Prayer is the putting on. Prayer is aligning our hearts for the real battle. Prayer is asking the crowned King for strength and His will. So be praying, at all times, in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.