Bible Study With Douglas Revelation 6:12-17 (Formerly 7) Dec 20th

Dave & Robyn December 30, 2012 at 11:06 pm

We enjoyed your study and the lively discussion it produced. For whatever it’s worth, regarding the
question of why Satan went to Eve first, and not to Adam, the following is what we as a couple have studied. When you were discussing Adam and Eve at the fall, you correctly said that Adam was not deceived. We believe Scripture teaches that he could not have been deceived (mislead to believe what is untrue) regarding what God had said, as he knew
firsthand what God had ‘indeed said’. In verse 7 of Genesis 2, we read that, “God formed man of the dust of the ground.” In verse 8 God made the Garden of Eden, and in verse 15 God placed Adam into the garden. All of this before Eve was taken out Adam’s
side. In verse 18, also before Eve was created, “the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree you may freely eat; verse 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'” Adam knew exactly what God had said, so the serpent did not go to Adam with his temptation to question God’s word to Adam, he went to Eve.

After giving His Word to Adam, God then created Eve in verses 21 and 22. While Adam knew what God had said firsthand, Eve had to have faith in God’s word
passed down to her through Adam. Eve wasto be the mother of all who would have the choice to believe by faith the word of God passed down through people, or to reject God’s word and to choose to have faith in some other word contrary to God’s word. Just as Jesus knows God’s word (He is God’s Word), Adam knew God’s word. Here in Genesis chapter 3, Eve faced a different word that slandered God’s word,
questioning the word of God given to her by her husband. We read in chapter 3 verse 1 Satan’s
slanderous question to Eve, ‘Has God indeed said . . . ?’ Eve was deceived, duped, tricked, swindled, beguiled, misled; the first Adam could have been that knight in shining armor, protecting his bride with the word God had given to him, but he failed in protecting his bride with God’s word (not to eat of the tree.) I Corinthians 15:45 refers to Adam as “The first man Adam,” and to Jesus as, “The last Adam . . . a life-giving spirit.” But as I Cor. 15:47-48 tells us, “The first
man was of the earth, made of dust.” The first Adam failed at protecting his God-given bride with the word of God. Because of Adam’s direct disobedience to God’s word, the soil was cursed, representing the increased difficulty Adam and all others after him would have in planting the seed of God’s word into the hearts of mankind (Gen. 3:17-19; Luke 8:4-15). On the other hand, Jesus, the last Adam is, “the Lord from heaven.” Jesus used God’s Word to defeat the enemy and his devious lies, ultimately providing salvation for His bride.

We read in John 1:29-34 that just before Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He was
recognized by John the Baptist as, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” “a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me,” (even
though John was conceived and born before Jesus), the One “Upon whom . . . the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, . . . is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit,” and also of whom John said, “I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” In addition to John’s word from God that Jesus was “the Son of God,” when Jesus was baptized by John, “the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Just as God gave Adam His Word to protect both Adam and the bride God would create for him, here we see God giving His Word directly to Jesus that would protect both Jesus and His bride.

After being baptized by John, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit where He fasted for forty
days. In this state of physical weakness, Satan, the tempter, came to Him (Matthew 4:3). In the same three ways that Satan questioned God’s Word to Eve, here we see Jesus being tempted to question God’s Word He had received at His baptism that He was the Son of God and to choose to follow Satan’s word (and plan) rather than God’s. Each time He was tempted, Jesus responded to the enemy with, “It is
written.” Jesus took on God’s Word as a soldier does his armor and showed Himself strong on our behalf, cutting short the enemy’s scheme.

When the serpent tempted Eve, Adam was with her, as we read that when she surrendered to the word of the serpent, she “took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6) We don’t know exactly why the word God gave
to Adam was different from the word Eve used to answer the serpent, as her response added “nor shall you touch it,” to the command God had given to Adam. Did Adam add that idea as he shared God’s Word with Eve, telling her something like, “Don’t eat
it; don’t even touch it!”? If perhaps the serpent touched it and maybe even handed it to Eve and upon touching it, nothing happened; this could have seemed like evidence to Eve to question God’s
Word passed down to her through her husband. If on the other hand, she for some reason added this word, then why didn’t Adam upon hearing it, correct her? What Adam did not do to protect his bride, Jesus accomplished for His bride, knowing and applying God’s Word effectively, cutting down the enemy’s temptation to trick the bride into exchanging God’s Word for a lie (Romans 1:25).

Marriage between one man (Adam) and one woman (Eve) was the first human relationship God created. Marriage is like a living parable which either can present to the world the heights of love and romance and joy to be found within marriage, or it can portray the depths of betrayal and drudgery and grief a bad marriage can paint. Either way, people understand what a good marriage should be and this is a picture of the relationship God desires to enjoy with His people. In portraying the picture of Christ and His
bride, the church, spoken of in Ephesians 5:26-29, husbands are exhorted to “love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be
holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his
wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the
Lord does the church.” Shortly before being betrayed by Judas, Jesus, in His prayer to the Father said in John 17:6-8 & 20, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word’.” Unlike Adam, Jesus was and still is faithful to protect His bride, the church, with the word of God.
May God continue to bless your work,
Dave & Robyn