Eve

The Mother of All

(Genesis chapters 2 and 3)

 

Eve was the most beautiful woman that ever lived.  Now I know that there is no physical description of Eve given in the Bible.  Yet the Bible does say that like Adam, Eve was created in the image of God.  (Genesis 1:27)  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  (Genesis 2:21-22)  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.  When God creates something He makes it perfect.  David knew this.  In Psalm 139:14 he said “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

 

Why was Eve created?  First of all without love man cannot survive.  Adam had communion with the Lord and all of His creation.  I believe that Adam could communicate with the animals in the garden of Eden.  But they weren’t able to fulfill his need for companionship.  (Genesis 2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.)  Why?  Because they were not his kind.  The Bible says that each should seek after his own kind. 

 

(Genesis 1:21-25 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.  And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.  And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.  And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.)  God gave each type of “created being” a mate.  Each one had its own kind to live with, associate with and reproduce with.  Except for man.  Adam was lonely for human love and human companionship so God gave him a woman to fulfill that need. 

 

 

The second reason that Eve was created was to help populate the earth.  (Genesis 1:28)  And God blessed them, (Adam and Eve) and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.   

 

Now I know that this is not a very popular thing to say these days.  Society and the “Woman’s Lib” movement do not like to hear things like this.  They would tell women to “do your own thing,”  “you don’t need men,”  “have a career,”  “get out of the bedroom and into the boardroom.”  Society places value on women being independent.  “Don’t get married, live together,”  “don’t have children, get an abortion,”  “put yourself first,”  “be your own person.”  The days of women having children and staying home to take care of them are the exception and not the rule.  Greed, divorce, the daycare system and new age lies have turned women into workaholics.     

 

But that is not what God intended for women.  God intended for women to have children.  Look at 1 Timothy 5:14 “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”  There is nothing in here about living in sin, aborting your babies, or having a career.  Those are worldly philosophies, not Biblical principles.  In Colossians 2:8 Paul warns us to “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

       

 

Eve is only mentioned in four verses of the Bible but we would be wise to learn some lessons from her.  The first mistake that Eve made in the Garden of Eden is the same one that we are still making today, six thousand years later. 

 

Look at 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”  Now look at Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (the lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (the lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” 

 

Let’s take a closer look at each of these. 

q       The lust of the flesh. 

(Matthew 26:41)  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 

(John 6:63)  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

 

The flesh is weak and it profiteth nothing.  There is nothing good about the flesh.  It gets us into a lot of trouble.   

 

q       The lust of the eyes.

(Ecclesiastes 4:8)  There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

(Matthew 18:9)  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

(Matthew 6:22-23)  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

 

The eyes are the windows to the soul.  What you allow yourself to look at will affect your spiritual life.  If you look at garbage (pornography, romance novels, television, fashion magazines, Hollywood rag sheets, etc.) your flesh will crave that junk and your spiritual life will be taken over by it and will die out if you don’t get victory over it.  

 

q       The pride of life.

(Mark 7:21-23)  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

(Job 41:34)  He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride. 

 

The word “pride” occurs 49 times in the Bible and the word “proud” occurs 48 times.  Not one of these verses has anything good or positive to say where pride is concerned.   

 

Remember what the Bible says about the world.  (James 4:4)  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  I know what you are thinking, “I am not an adulteress.  This verse doesn’t apply to me”.  Maybe you are not an adulteress literally (you are faithful to your husband) but what about spiritually?  Are you faithful to God? 

 

How can you be faithful to God?  Attend church regularly, read your Bible faithfully, pray unceasingly and witness frequently.    

 

Let’s look at what the Bible says. 

(Matthew 22:37-38)  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.

(Mark 12:30)  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

(Luke 10:27)  And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

 

As Christians, God commands us to love Him.  If we love anyone or anything else more than Him then we are adulterers and adulteresses.  AMEN??

 

 

Eve lived in a perfect world yet she thought that she was missing out on something better.  How many times have we thought the same thing?  The Lord tells us in Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.”

 

God promised to take care of us.  (Philippians 4:19)  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Before you get too excited you must notice two very important things.

 

First, this verse does not say all your wants.  This is where people can get discouraged in their walk with the Lord.  They want certain things and when God does not supply them they get mad at Him.  What we have to realize is that this is not God’s fault it is ours.  This brings me to the second point.

 

We have to do something first.  Look at verse 18, “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.”  God is not going to do anything for us, nor should we expect Him to, unless we are worthy of it by doing something for Him first.  

 

God may not always give us what we want but He does give us what He thinks we need.  Look at Psalm 37:4-5 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit  thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

 

Let’s look at it again.

Delight thyself also  (present tense - our responsibility)

in the LORD;  (in what?  Our wants?  No!  In the Lord.  He is to come first.)   

and he   (GOD)

shall give  thee  (future tense - God’s promise)

the desires of thine heart.  (only after we put God first will He bless us)

Commit thy way  (present tense - our responsibility)

unto the LORD;   (unto who?  Ourselves?  No!  Again, unto the Lord.)   

trust also in him;  (present tense - our responsibility)

and he (God) shall  (future tense)

bring it to pass.  (God’s promise)

 

There you have it.  The responsibility rests squarely upon our shoulders.  Before God will do anything for us we must do something for Him.  AMEN?? 

 

David said in Psalm 144:3 “LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!”  Get a hold of that truth.  We have to take the first step.  We have to make the sacrifice, not God.  God owes us nothing. 

        

 

The second mistake that Eve made was not in obeying her husband.  Genesis 2:16 says, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:”  God gave Adam the rules for living in the Garden and I’ve no doubt that Adam told his wife what those rules were.  Yet when the serpent came along Eve listened to him and not to what Adam had said.  The Bible admonishes women to submit to their husbands.  Period.  (Ephesians 5:22-23)  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.  Obeying your husband is the same as obeying God because your husband represents God in the family unit.

 

 

The third mistake Eve made was in listening to rumors.  Whenever you have a third party involved telling you what someone else said it is gossip.  And one of the worst sins that women commit is the sin of gossip.  Now that may sound harsh but it is true.  The Bible has a lot to say about the tongue and most of it is not good.  Here are some good verses to memorize.

 

(Proverbs 6:16-19)  These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

     

The serpent lied to Eve but Eve also lied to the serpent.  In Genesis 3:2-3 we read, “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.” 

 

Let’s see what God really said in Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.”  Eve omitted the word “freely” and added the phrase “neither shall ye touch it”.   

 

Do you understand the problem with gossip?  Whenever information is repeated words tend to be omitted and/or added and the original meaning is lost, especially if that information is passed from person to person.  Go back and read Proverbs 6:16-19 again.  A false witness is a liar and a liar is an abomination to the Lord. 

 

 

What can we learn from the life of Eve? 

 

First, if you want real victory in your life you have to choose between the things of God and the things of the world.  The Bible tells us Matthew 6:24 ”No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

 

(Colossians 3:2)  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

 

(1 John 2:15)  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 

Second, listen to your spiritual head, be he your father, your husband, or your pastor.  (Hebrews 13:17)  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

 

Third, gossiping is a sin and the Lord hates it.  (Proverbs 18:21)  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

 

(1 Timothy 4:7)  But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

 

(James 3:6-8)  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  Guard your tongue, ladies!!

 

Remember what Paul said in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”