As far as God’s eternal will is concerned, His goal is centered on Christ, but as far as His permissive will is concerned, His goal is centered on man. According to God’s eternal will, all of His plans are centered upon Christ. Because of Satan’s rebellion, however, God has to use man to deal with His enemy. God has His eyes on man and He gains man so that He can deal with His enemy through man. This is God’s permissive will.
After finishing His work on each of the six days of creation, with exception of the second day, God saw that “it was good.” After He created the firmament on the second day, He did not say that it was good. This is because Satan is in the air (Eph. 6:12). Genesis 3 is filled with Satan’s work; however, it does not mention him by name. It only mentions the serpent. (The word serpent in the original language means “the shining one,” which indicates that it was beautiful and attractive.) The Bible uses the cursed serpent to symbolize Satan. This shows that Satan is always working behind the scene.
Let us read chapter three of Genesis. Verse 1 says, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” The serpent looked first for the woman, the weaker one, and tempted her when she was separated from the man. Eve did not stand on the position that she should have stood on and became susceptible to temptation. The serpent pretended to be dumb and asked questions in order to stir her up to reason.
Verses 2 and 3 say, “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Eve opened the door first; she brought up the tree of knowledge first.
Verses 4 and 5 say, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” The serpent did two things. First, he lied about God, saying that God did not love them. Second, he told Eve that they would be like God if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the beginning God forbade them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because He wanted man to remain a man. Although they could become like God, they were not allowed to do it. But Satan told them that they could do it. This seemed to give Eve a new light and new revelation. Satan’s goal is to induce man to leave his proper position.
Verse 6 says, “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.” Both Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Verse 7 says, “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Two things happened at this point: (1) They acquired God’s knowledge, and (2) they knew that they were sinners. Man acquired knowledge, yet at the same time he became a sinner. From this point on, there was no other destiny for man except death.
In verses 8 through 13, God only questioned man; He did not ask the serpent anything. On the surface man was beguiled by the serpent. In fact, however, God won the victory, and Satan was defeated, because Satan’s fate became tied to man through this act. In Genesis 2:15 man could only guard the garden from attack, but he could not destroy Satan. After Satan gained man, Satan was bound and could no longer move freely. We can illustrate this by an example from a legal court. A culprit and his accomplice cannot be separated. Satan is the culprit, while man is the accomplice. Legally speaking the culprit and the accomplice must be together. Whatever punishment the culprit receives the accomplice will receive as well, and vice versa. Hence, Satan’s fate was tied to man.
Genesis 3:14 says, “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” This was a punishment for the serpent. The serpent became closer to the earth, and man became his food (because Adam was made of dust). He could only eat man and be joined to man. Hence, if God can deal with man, He will deal with the serpent as well, because the two have become one. Consequently, when Christ judged Adam on the cross, He judged Satan as well. Satan’s victory has indeed become his loss. There is a difference between walking upon feet and walking upon the belly. The serpent walks upon his belly; he touches the earth and is bound by the earth. But man walks upon his feet, which is only a very small part of his body. Satan was bound to the earth and could only have man as his food. If God redeems man and the earth, Satan will be left with nothing.
Here we must remember three important things: (1) God’s eternal will is for Christ to be the Head. (2) Satan rebelled against God, and God appointed man to stand against Satan. (3) Man fell. God wants to accomplish His eternal will, but He needs to solve two problems—Satan’s rebellion and man’s fall. First, He has to deal with the rebellious Satan. Second, He has to take care of man’s fall. In the next chapter we will see how God dealt with these two problems.