[After God made man, He placed man in front of the tree of life, that man might contact the tree of life and receive His life which is the uncreated life. But before man could contact the tree of life and join with God in life, Satan took the opportunity to come first. He tempted man to contact the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and caused man to have an illegal union with him. This became the first step of man’s fall.
According to the record in Genesis 3 through 11, mankind had four steps of the fall. The first step is the fall of Adam, which is recorded in chapter three; the second is the fall of Cain, recorded in chapter four; the third is the fall of the crooked and perverse generation before the deluge, recorded in chapter six; and the fourth is the fall of the whole human race rising up collectively to rebel against God, which is recorded in chapter eleven. These four steps of the fall continued one after another. In these four steps, Satan’s subtlety was exposed to the uttermost.]
Satan came to tempt man in the form of a serpent. He was crafty; he came in stealthily. [God clearly commanded man, saying, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But Satan said to the woman, “Hath God said?” Again, he said, “Ye shall not surely die.”] Satan caused man to doubt God’s word and His heart. However, the Bible tells us that heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Lord’s words shall by no means pass away (Luke 21:33). The Bible also tells us that God loves man to the uttermost (John 13:1). We should never doubt God’s word and His heart toward us.
[Another cause of man’s fall was the woman’s assuming the headship (Gen. 3:2-3, 6). Originally, God created only one man. There was only one head, not two. Adam was the head; Eve was not. Eve was built out of the rib from Adam’s side (Gen. 2:22). Eve’s head was Adam. The reason Eve was tempted by the serpent was that she assumed the headship, made the decision on her own, and fell into Satan’s snare. Even before she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she was already ensnared by the evil one. She passed over the man and assumed the headship to deal with the situation. This resulted in her being deceived. Thus, the Bible says that Adam was not deceived, but the woman being quite deceived was in transgression (1 Tim. 2:14).
Here we see a great principle. In the universe the unique Head is God Himself. Whenever we assume the headship in dealing with any situation, denying the headship of God and of Christ, we will surely be deceived.]
The best way to resist temptation is to call on the Lord Jesus, who is our Head, and pray-read His word whenever temptation comes. The Lord will defeat Satan and drive him away from us. We need to turn to Him all the time.
[The first step in the process of the fall was man’s failure to use his spirit. After man was created, he ought to have always used his spirit to contact God and live before Him. When man lives according to the spirit, he is preserved by God. But whenever man does not use his spirit to contact God, he bypasses God and puts God aside; consequently, he falls into the hand of the evil one.
The second step was the exercising of the soul (Gen. 3:2, 3, 6). When Eve spoke to the serpent, she firstly reasoned in her mind. Then she was tempted in her emotion and desired the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Eventually, she decided in her will to take the fruit and eat it.
The third step was the action of the body. When the soul is exercised, the body will naturally follow. The soul directs the body. When she was tempted this way, surely she would take and eat. Her taking the fruit to eat was the action of the body. First, the eye sees. Second, the hand takes. Third, the mouth eats.
In our daily living, we should use our spirit first, and then let our spirit direct our soul, which, in turn, directs our body. If we do not use our spirit but use our soul instead, we assume the headship and our soul takes the lead. Once the soul takes the lead, it will direct the body to do things that offend God.]