God wanted people who made real choices that really mattered: this one couldn’t have mattered more.
Da-da-da-da! I think we could use some spooky music about now as our story, from Genesis 3, begins: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?’” Trouble in Paradise! We find elsewhere in the Bible that this serpent is the Devil in disguise! In Revelation 12, we read, “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (vv 7-9). How did this civil war happen? When God gave the angels selfhood, some, led by the one who became Satan, put themselves in the place of God. Hear him say, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” (Isa 14:13). And this was the same sin he taught the human race. If you seek independence from God, he said, “you will be like God” (Gen 3:5). What a sad tale it has been ever since. The story continues: “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” (v 6). The serpent had told them, “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” (vv 4-5). What happened? Ever since, we have known good without being able to do it, and have known evil without being able to resist it. Thank God for a Savior!