“And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” Genesis 3:4-5.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6.
“Our first parents, who knew so much, did not know this – that they knew enough.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.
“…a tree desirable to make one wise…” Genesis 3:6b.
Today this search for knowledge goes on; witchcraft and the occult promise arcane knowledge known only to an enlightened few.
False religions like Buddhism and Hinduism offer their followers through meditation and many reincarnations the chance to be one with god.
Spiritualism gives a person the illusion of communicating with the dead, giving them the opportunity of learning things which are in the great beyond. These and other cults do not impart knowledge, they teach doctrines of demons.
Learn of high intellectual pursuits such as, philosophy, and find that the more you learn of it, the less you understand, other than all philosophy is mired in the muck of despair.
Immerse yourself in humanism which is nothing more than the deification of man, drink in all the knowledge of mankind gained over the centuries and realize that at one time we were all an amoeba which finally crawled out of the slime, you have no purpose and will someday die like a dog.
“Man enters the water and he leaves no ripple” Zen proverb.
Find your origins, search through the bones, read all the books on paleontology, read Darwin’s “Origin of the Species”, immerse yourself in this pseudo-knowledge. Ignore the fact that matter which is not eternal, could not have come from nothing and exploded in a Big Bang becoming a cosmos which runs with greater precision than a Swiss watch.
Perhaps the answers will come from aliens on a UFO, everyone wants to meet these beings, yet they ignore the fact that every encounter that anyone has had with them has been traumatic. Abductees are routinely subjected to painful experiments, probed, and raped, male or female. Any knowledge they gain is usually antichrist, or they are told something like, “There is a great man coming soon who will rule the world and bring it to a higher plane.”
“Now the Spirit expressly [explicitly] says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…” 1 Timothy 4:1-2.
“Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3.
God-consciousness or god-likeness through a hidden knowledge however, is a lie from Satan’s own failed experiences from his own rebellion against God. Satan embraced five “I Wills”, the last of which was, “I will be like the Most High.”
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15.
Satan used this “tree desirable to make one wise” tactic, which is rendered as “the pride of life” in 1 John 2:16 when he tempted the Lord Jesus in the wilderness. The pride of life has also been described as vain glory or to put oneself on display.
“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”’” Matthew 4:8-10.
On the surface this appears to be one of the most idiotic things to try and tempt God with. Is it even possible to visualize God bowing down and groveling before His rebellious creature? If there is any vain glory to be experienced here it would be for Satan who would love to show the universe, God in subjection to him.
The words “fall down and worship me” have the idea of giving homage to someone who is of a superior rank to the one who falls before him, in this case Jesus would be admitting that He is inferior to Satan.
The prize is something men have coveted from the beginning, the whole world given over to them without a struggle, either from Satan, his demons, or from his puppets on earth.
Some have said that Satan was offering Jesus an opportunity to have it all without the cross, but I do not believe that the Devil had any clear idea of how Jesus was going to handle mankind’s sin problem.
While there is no question that Satan would use any occasion to crucify the Lord, it would only be the result of a madness caused by his hatred of God.
It is this hatred that may have been the real temptation for Jesus. All of His life He had been stalked by the Devil and his cohorts working through the scribes, the Pharisees, and scoffers, worthless individuals, he pounded on the Lord from the moment He arose in the morning to when He fell asleep.
Many of us have been harassed, or beleaguered by someone, either in a lawsuit, divorce, a neighbor, at home, or work. You can understand how emotionally draining such an experience can be, but Jesus endured this almost continually all His life.
Imagine the temptation to finally be able to walk down the street of any city in the world and have people say, “Oh, it’s the Master”, “Hail King Jesus”, “Please stay at my home Master”, kings offer Him their castles as residences, scribes and Pharisees fall all over themselves trying to curry favor. Talk about a dream come true, and Satan had the power to deliver.
But Jesus was here to do the will of the Father, not of the adversary, so He chose the hard road to the cross.
“He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:3.
“You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; my adversaries are all before You. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Psalm 69:19-21.
“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All those who see Me laugh Me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’” Psalm 22:6-8.
So then, we find that the lust of the flesh can be summed up as a desire to do. The lust of the eyes is a desire to have. And the desire for wisdom – the boastful pride of life, is a desire to be.
None of these things are sinful in and of themselves. There is nothing wrong with wanting a new car stereo as long as we save up for it and buy it legitimately, as long as this desire is not robbing our families of money they need for necessities.
There is nothing wrong with seeing and desiring a new home as long as legitimate means are used to buy it; saving up for a down and applying for a mortgage that does not leave you house poor.
There is nothing wrong with going to college for knowledge in the field you have chosen to make a living in.
There is everything wrong with stealing a stereo, lying, backstabbing, and cheating to get the house one lusts for.
It is wrong when we look for knowledge from the occult, witchcraft, or by consulting the dead to gain a following.
It is wrong for someone to use a PhD to have folks marvel over their great knowledge, having everyone call them doctor as they sit in rapt attention as he pontificates on some subject, even if it is out of his field.
Finally anything is wrong if it displaces God in our life and we become obsessed with it.
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful; all things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24.
Jesus actually gave us a short method with which to fight temptation in these three areas.
“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” Luke 9:23.
When the lust of the flesh comes upon us and we have the desire to do something to fulfill the sensual desires of the flesh, Jesus tells us to deny ourselves. We were after all bought with a price.
“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:20.
When the lust of the eyes brings out the desire to have, we are to take up our cross daily, meaning that we are servants of the Most High God and are pilgrims and sojourners on this earth.
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.” Hebrews 11:13-14.
Notice that the Lord tells us to take up our cross daily; in this journey through life it is necessary to remind ourselves continually that we seek a heavenly home wherein there is righteousness.
When we become filled with the pride of life, the desire to be, and we begin to look down on others, Christ says to follow Me. Those who fix their eyes on Jesus our humble and gentle Savior can only become humble themselves.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8.
Death of Innocence, Genesis 3:6b taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 7-31-14, updated on 10-9-21.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.