The Serpent in the Garden

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This is Day 4 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

Earth was God's beautiful jewel floating in His perfect universe. Like everything else God created, Earth was good. All life here existed in harmony, and God's delight, the man he called Adam, whom God created from the dust in His own image and breathed life into, was without any sin or darkness at all.

The man Adam was different from all of God's other creatures. Humans, you see, are made in the image of God. And we are the only creatures that exist for our own sake. Even angels were created to serve and help man. Humans are also unique in that we are both spiritual and physical beings. Similar to Christ, who is both fully God and fully man, Adam was both flesh like all of the other animals on Earth, and was also spirit like the angels in Heaven. Because of his uniqueness, Adam needed a companion like himself. Thus God, in His generosity, deemed to make a creature for Adam like himself. God put Adam into a deep sleep and then removed a rib from the man, forming a woman from it. When Adam awoke, God gave him his new companion, the flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.

Adam's new companion, whom he named Eve, completed and complimented Adam. It is why man and woman are to marry and become one flesh. God made us for each other.

Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful garden called Eden and they would walk its paths with God, tending to the trees and the animals. No flesh was eaten in the garden as there was plenty of fruit to satisfy Adam and Eve and all of the animals. There was only one tree that Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which grew in the center of the garden. God commanded that they not eat of it and warned them that if they did, they would surely die. Unfortunately, Adam, Eve, and the animals were not the only beings that were on the Earth.

When Lucifer and his rebellious angels fell from Heaven they fell to the Earth. And they took out all of their wrath and hatred on our planet. But they could not rule here either, at least not yet. For God had given Earth to the care of humans. When the demons saw how much God loved the man and woman, they decided that since they could not harm the Almighty directly, they would harm His beloved children instead.

Lucifer was no longer the brilliant and beautiful bringer of light. When he fell he had twisted into the dark and horrific adversary known as Satan. But don't let him fool you, for he can still disguise himself in many different ways, including as an angel of light. And on this occasion, he slipped into the garden in the form of the shrewdest of all the creatures--a serpent.

The serpent found Adam and Eve walking in the garden. He crept up to the woman and befriended her with his cunning and flattery. He led her through the garden and Adam followed. When they were near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent said to Eve, "Is it true that God forbids you to eat from any of the trees in the garden?"

Eve shook her head innocently and corrected the serpent. "Oh, no," she told him. "We can eat of the fruit of any tree except the one in the center of the garden. We cannot even touch it or else we shall surely die."

The serpent smiled a cunning smile. "You will not surely die," he told her. "I eat of that fruit all of the time. God just does not want you to eat it, because if you do you will become like him."

The serpent knew exactly how to tempt the man and woman because man's greatest temptation was and still is the same as Lucifer's--the prideful yearning to be god. From their pride and greed Eve and Adam gave in to their temptation, disobeyed God, and ate of the forbidden fruit. And their eyes were indeed opened. And they saw good and evil and they also saw their own nakedness. But that is not all their disobedience did.

There is a reason God tells us not to do things. But we so seldom listen to Him. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit they chose their own pride and selfishness over the love and perfection of their creator, and it had devastating effects on all of creation. Our world, once a beautiful garden where man and nature existed in harmony, turned into one where man and nature became bitter rivals. Man's story became one of trying to survive a wild that was always trying to kill him--to conquer a world that God had already given him as a gift.

All of creation was cursed as sin and death came into the world. This was the beginning of the war between the serpent and the man. You see, when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and disobeyed God they surrendered their ownership of the Earth to the serpent. Our world, a world created for us, became the kingdom of the devil.

But God promised to not let the world be ruled by the serpent forever. While the man and woman and all creation were cursed for their disobedience, God also placed a curse on the serpent. He promised the serpent that one day, the offspring of the woman would crush his head.

But until that day when the Earth's true king destroys the serpent, the devil rules the Earth, and the war between the woman's offspring and the serpent rages on. It is a war that has lasted throughout the history of the Earth, a war that we are still fighting right now. The war is both a spiritual and physical one. And the Earth will continue in a state of chaos and death until the war is over and all of creation restored. Some choose to fight for the side of light, the side of the Lord God. Everyone who does not choose the Lord, by default chooses to serve the devil and fight for him. And the devil's legions appear to be winning. But no matter how bad it gets, the side of God shall prevail in the end.

Some might ask, why hasn't God simply gone ahead and restored creation, crushed the head of the serpent, destroyed sin and death and made the world perfect? Why would He let us suffer like this? I believe the answer is because without suffering we cannot appreciate perfection. Adam and Eve had a perfect existence in the Garden of Eden walking beside God, but that wasn't good enough for them because, like spoiled children, they had never known hardship.

One day God will wipe all pain and tears away and those who love Him will get to live in a perfect world with Him for all eternity. But we have to suffer first. We must suffer so we'll appreciate the gift He has given us. But do not think He is unfair, for He willingly suffered right along with us. God became flesh and lived among us, and suffered with us, and died a horrible death for our sake. And the serpent thought he had won. But he had not. For Christ shall crush the head of the serpent and restore all order to the world. But not before the devil gathered his forces and turned men against their creator, just as he had turned his fallen angels against Him.

Next: Cleansing the Earth

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!