Arguing With the Devil

Common wisdom says to never argue about politics or religion. Those are two of the most polarizing subjects known to man. There’s a long history of trouble and anger surrounding both. Politics didn’t enter the scene until much later in the history of man, but the first religious argument happened in the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t between Adam and Eve – it was between Eve and the serpent – the devil in disguise.

In Genesis 3, Satan comes slithering along and asks a misleading question: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (v. 1). Look back to 2:16 where God said “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . . .” Do you see the subtle twist? Eve responds with a partially true but still misleading answer: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.” (v. 2-3). Do you see where she veered from God’s exact command?

The serpent started with a deceptive question and she followed with a partially true answer. Scholars have considered that she may have told the serpent what Adam told her. The original prohibition was given to Adam with the expectation that he, as her head, would relay God’s words to her. Adam may have added the “no touching” to keep her away from the tree altogether. But her altered answer gave the serpent just enough of an opening to reach through and pull her into sin. Had she responded with the exact words of God, he would not have had the advantage. And it would have changed everything. Consider instead how Jesus answered the devil – “As it is written . . .” The old liar couldn’t gain the slightest toe-hold on Jesus because He spoke nothing more or less than God’s anointed Word.

Satan can and will argue against man’s words all day long, but he cannot stand against the Word of the Lord. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible has all the power and authority of God Himself. And satan knows it. You need to know it too. Beloved, keep the Scriptures always in your heart and on your lips. It’s the only argument you need.

Hebrews: Do You Believe God?

Buckle your seatbelts, because today we’re going to cover five verses: Hebrews 3:15-19 (woohoo!). But we’re going to focus on just one word. Verses 15-19 serve as a commentary 7-11, which recalled Israel’s rebellion and subsequent forty years of desert wandering. The writer of Hebrews, in describing this band of wanderers said that they “rebelled” (v. 16), they “sinned” (v. 17), and they “disobeyed” (v. 18). All of these verbs culminate in one word, see if you can figure it out: “So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief” (v. 19). Rebellion, sin, and disobedience are all symptoms – the deadly disease that killed an entire generation of Israelites was unbelief. Here’s the key: those who believed and those who did not believe heard the same promise from God: “See, I have given you this land” (Deuteronomy 1:8). An entire generation of “bodies fell in the desert” (v. 17).

But they weren’t the first to doubt God. A long, long time ago God told a couple in a garden, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Then along came the serpent who asked, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1). The serpent wasn’t trying to clarify what God had told them. His question went to Adam and Eve’s heart: “Did God really mean what He said?” We see that in verse 8 when he completely and exactly contradicts what they had heard: “You will not surely die.” They took the bait because, in their hearts, they didn’t believe His word was true.

The essence of unbelief is not rejecting God but rather doubting if God is trustworthy. Like Adam and Eve and the Israelites, we act on our unbelief with rebellion, sin, and disobedience. To believe God is to take Him at His Word – that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do* – and then act on what we heard. That’s what we’ll find in the “Hall of Faith” a few chapters ahead. So the question then is, Beloved, do you believe God?

*From Beth Moore’s study: “Believing God.”