Gen 3:6 "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise..." There are four points here that establish a pattern that Satan followed in his temptation of Jesus and he still follows with us today: 1. she saw; 2. good for food; 3. pleasant to the eyes; and 4. makes one wise.

The first point is: when the woman SAW. In Mark 4:24 says, "And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given." Rom 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Remember: Jesus would say, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Decisions are to be made based on the word of God, which comes through hearing, rather than what we see. Eve is using the wrong gate.

The second point is what Eve saw, that the tree was good for food. The tree was NOT good for food because the fruit had no seed in it, but Eve may not have known that. She thought she was forbidden to even touch the fruit. She probably had not cut a piece in half to see what was in the middle. Even so, the command should have been enough. In this clause we see a reference to food - what is food for? To nourish the BODY. Without food the human body will die. So we see a reference to physical needs or desires. I Cor. 15:45-49 refers to Jesus as "the last Adam," because he passed the test that Adam failed, only it wasn’t in a garden that contained nothing but blessing - it was in the wilderness. Immediately after his baptism by John, Jesus went into the wilderness where he fasted and prayed for forty days. After the forty days ended Satan came to Jesus with three temptations, and the first was this: Matt 4:3-4 "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Life is not found only in what we put into our bodies through our mouths, but what goes in through our ears. Jesus passed the first test. I John 2:15-16 tells us, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Notice, the lust of the flesh. Most people would probably think this clause specifically refers to sexuality, but it really has to do with anything and everything that has to do with the physical body: food, clothing, music, sex, career, money, fame, power. None of these things are wrong if acquired and used as God directs; the problem comes when they take precedence over God and his will in our lives. In short, when they become our gods.

The LUST for these things is inspired by Satan. What does God say? John 16:7-9 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me." According to this verse, sin, ALL sin, is directly related to not believing in Jesus Christ.

The third point: the tree was pleasant to the eyes. Eve is still considering the tree, but she stepped out of the order given by God in Gen. 2:9. He would draw them to the tree that was (1) pleasant to the eyes and (2) good for food, and Eve reverses the sequence. At this point she has already decided that the tree is good for food and now, oh yes, it’s also pleasant to the eyes. In this clause we see the expression: pleasant to the eyes, and this would impact man in the realm of the soul, the part of man that makes decisions, feels emotions, thinks and considers. If something is pleasing to the eyes it will have a positive impact on the soul unless the soul itself is governed by a higher authority.

Look what happened in the wilderness temptation: (Matt 4:5-7) "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." In this second part of Jesus’ temptation, Satan tried to reach him through fear (an emotion), but Jesus was not afraid of death. What Satan saw as a fearful situation, Jesus saw as tempting God: testing him to see if his word was or was not true. In John 16:10 Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict the world "of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." Rom. 10:10 says that with the heart man believes unto righteousness - specifically belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Notice Jesus says essentially the same thing - I go to my Father and ye SEE me no more. Again, lust of the eyes, what we see, what Eve saw, all of these affect the soulish realm: the mind, the will and the emotions

The fourth point is that Eve saw was that it was "a tree to be desired to make one wise." Nowhere in scripture, ever, is wisdom gained through any natural means. Wisdom is a gift from God - period. James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Solomon knew this. I Kings 3:5-14; 4:29-34. 1 Cor 1:30-31 "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

Need more wisdom? Get more Jesus! He brings it with him. Because of its source and because of WHO it is, wisdom is of the spirit. Those who are without God, without the Holy Spirit, may exhibit a certain wisdom, but it is not from God and it is not reliable because it will be founded on the principles of this world and it will be in error. Eve thought she could gain wisdom from eating a certain piece of fruit. This is what happened in the wilderness: Matt 4:8-10 "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." True wisdom is dependent upon who we worship. Jesus exercised true wisdom here: he sent the devil packing. Eve could have done the same. I John 2:16 equates it with the pride of life: man’s claim to be I am what I am through my own doing. How foolish - Jesus told the story of the rich man who exalted himself in this way: he had so much and continued to increase in wealth. Instead of giving to others he decided to build bigger barns to store his goods. The Lord called him a fool because his life was required of him that night. None of us controls the length of our lives (even though some foolishly shorten theirs). John 16:11 says the Holy Spirit would convict the world "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." Notice the word IS: Satan’s judgment is an accomplished fact. There is no salvation for him - he has nothing to look forward to but hell

Notice the order of Eve’s VISUAL observations in Gen. 3:6: It was a tree that was good for food - impacts the body; it was pleasant to the eyes - impacts the soul; and it was desired to make one wise - impacts the spirit. Compare this with how God deals with man which is through hearing the word of God. God deals with the Spirit of man first - he recreates it, then he moves on to the soul - the mind, the will and the emotions are renewed to the word of God Rom. 12:2; then he deals with the body. While we are to crucify the flesh (do not give it the satisfaction of doing those things which it wants to do) and cease from sin, there is still to come a moment when God will resurrect all the righteous dead (this is a bodily resurrection) and we will no longer be subject to sin. The point is this: God starts with the spirit of man, moves on to the soul then deals with the body. As we see demonstrated in Eve, Satan does exactly the opposite.

After Eve makes her observations Gen. 3:6 says "And did eat, and gave to her husband with her; and he did eat." What happened when Eve ate the fruit? Absolutely nothing. Where was Adam? Out plowing the garden? Off building a house? Fishing? No. Adam was WITH HER. We learn right here that, although he never says a word, he was present the whole time. He overheard the entire conversation between Eve and the serpent, but never says a word, never makes a correction, never makes an objection of any kind. I have no idea why he remained silent, but these are the facts

What would have happened if Adam did not eat the fruit? Absolutely nothing: there would have been no fall of man. I Tim 2:14 says, "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." This verse plainly says that Adam was fully aware of what was going on. Although Eve was deceived by the subtlety of the serpent, Adam was not. This verse is not telling us that Eve caused the fall, but that women are more easily deceived than men.

Rom 5:13-21 says, "(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

Notice that scripture places responsibility for the fall squarely on Adam: Eve is not mentioned at all. I hope we can see the humor in this: in the garden, Satan went to Eve the weaker vessel. Even though his seduction worked, he started out with the wrong person. The guy has no spiritual discernment at all. Notice God’s perfect righteousness: Because the fall was caused by the action of ONE man, so could salvation be effected by the action of ONE man. A woman, Eve, was involved in, but did not cause, the fall; another woman, Mary, would be involved in, but not cause, salvation.

So what were Adam’s options when Eve ate the fruit? He could have forgiven her, interceded to God on her behalf exactly the same as Jesus does for us, she could have been forgiven, the fall would not have occurred, or, he could have disobeyed God, eaten the fruit and caused the fall of man - which is exactly what he did. Since that point, God has been moving to get mankind back to the garden of Eden.

In the future there will be a garden existence for mankind that we call the millennium. During that one thousand years the entire earth will be under the rule of one man, Jesus Christ. Satan will be jailed: there will be no tempter. People will still sin, but it will not be because they are deceived, and they will be forgiven by confession and repentance just as we are now. During that time man will still have a sin nature: he will still be every bit as human and fallen as we are now, but the good news is the blood of Jesus will not lose its power - it will just effectively cleanse from sin then as it does now. People will still need to be saved by faith exactly the same as we are now.

There are two main differences between life now and life in the millennium: 1. Satan will be jailed; and 2. Jesus will be physically present - everyone will be able to see and know him. At the end of that one thousand years, all of mankind will eat from the tree of life. All will have been resurrected: the righteous to life eternal and the unsaved to eternal damnation. All will live forever.