No Doubt

DEVOTION

GENESIS

NO DOUBT

Gen 3:1-5

3:1 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'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 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."

NIV

Much discussion has been written about the identity of the serpent. Some scholar types have gone into enormous detail in an effort to determine what form this serpent appeared to the woman. It is interesting that we are not told of her concern or surprise this creature spoke in her known language. The other interesting issue is centered on the form of this serpent. Here is where the various scholars have spent their words. The main reason is due to the curse God put upon it, to crawl on its belly and eat dust. This would indicate the serpent walked upright as he approached the woman and spoke to her. None of this discussion is germane to the point of this narrative. But for the record as we are in the beginning we find the answer to who the serpent is in the end, the revelation.

Rev 12:7-9

7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

NIV

We also have one more reference to the identity of this serpent.

Rev 20:1-3

20:1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent , who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

NIV

We know Satan is the great deceiver, he has been identified as such in scripture. He is the serpent, he appeared to the woman in some form that she did not recognize him for who he was. His form has no bearing on the truth revealed to us in this narrative. The curse regarding crawling on his belly and eating dust does not refer to the snakes we know today as they were already created by God as snakes. This curse is toward Satan, the ancient serpent.

So how does he tempt the woman? He questions the intents of God. He caused the woman to doubt what God said was true as well as the reason God commanded the man he was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is another interesting point. When we were seeing God command this man he put in the garden he had not yet caused him to fall into a deep sleep to create the woman from his rib. The woman may not have actually heard the command from God, but was told what God had said by the man. This would agree with the scriptures that indicate the man is to be the head of the household. Why didn’t he tempt the man? Why the woman? Is it because she only heard the command of God from the man?  But that is not the issue here and we need to see how deceptive that ancient serpent, the devil is. Temptation is very appealing as she noticed the fruit of that tree was nice, as we will see later. Satan will attempt to deceive us in the same way. He will try to bring questions about the authenticity of the scriptures. He may not come right out and say it is not the word of God, but he might well attempt to make us believe it has been changed by man through translating for their own purposes thus it is not valid. He might attempt to convince us it is not complete, that there is more texts which have not yet been found and thus the real truth has not been revealed to us yet. He might attempt to influence us to believe untruths, or false truths. Over the years there has been many who questioned the dating of the various writings, especially the letters of the New Testament. Some would suggest, as influenced by that ancient serpent, the letters were not actually written by the Apostles as a firsthand account, but by others writing in their name to give authority to their letters, but this would mean the truth may not be the truth, but just the words of men trying to influence others to believe the way they do. All of this is the work of that ancient serpent, the devil, just as he did in that garden. “Surely God did not say that” “Are you sure God said that? “Do you really think you will die?” Always causing doubt. We cannot allow that kind of temptation into our lives, if we resist the devil he will flee from us. That is the truth.

James 4:7-9

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

NIV

We cannot be of two minds, we either believe it all or none of it. We cannot pick and choose which is true and which is not. We cannot allow Satan to bring any of the truths of God into question. We believe in God, we believe God. We have no doubts.