So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:6
As I look out my window in my suburban cul-de-sac everything seems peaceful and quiet as the shadows of the trees fall on the green grass and the breeze is gently blowing. Life and the life around me are very delightful…at least for the moment.
At the beginning of time as man knows it, all was peaceful. Man didn’t wonder, “When am I going to die?” or “I hope my wife makes it home safely.” or even, “What will life be like for my grandchildren 50 years from now?” There weren’t any limitations placed on life. Life was eternal. There was no striving to stay healthy or resetting broken bones. Strife and sadness didn’t exist either. There was peace and delight and eternal life until man stepped outside the clearly defined boundaries that God had established.
I think we’ve all traveled to one place or another or remember experiences from our childhood that cause us to think how things seemed more peaceful there. Life wasn’t about getting and staying in the rat race. Things were more simple. Less distractions. Less chaos. More tranquil…but lest we become numb to reality, still not perfect.
Life was perfect for Adam and Eve. If we could trade places with them and traverse time to live in the beginning before traffic and tornadoes and ingrown toenails and especially that 5 letter word…shhh…death, I think many would say, “Beam me up Scotty!”
We crave to escape from harmful and difficult and just plain outright inconvenient circumstances. That’s usually why mankind is never content. “Give me something different, something better, something more satisfying.” But let’s be honest. Haven’t we all tried that before, like IDK, 10,000 times? It’s never worked for us and it never will. It didn’t even work when all seemed pleasant and delightful without pain and death and mortgage payments in the world, but for some reason…let’s just say what it is…because of sin we continue to pursue utopia through ephemeral means that lead to disappointment and eventually death.
If a man were crowned with all the delights of the world, nay, if God should build him a house among the stars, the eye of his mind would be looking still higher.
Thomas Watson
Adam and Eve lived in that utopia and although all was perfect and seemed everlasting, one thing revealed what was hidden from man…the desire for more. Isn’t that where all of humanity is today? More peace, more wealth, more life, more toys, more likes, more, more more. Thomas Watson once said, “If a man were crowned with all the delights of the world, nay, if God should build him a house among the stars, the eye of his mind would be looking still higher.”
Adam and Eve dwelt among the very presence of God. All that surrounded them was good. Perfectly good. No wilting flowers. No drought or termites. No hunger or colds. Just Perfection. The Bible tells us that she saw the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The very tree that man was forbidden to eat from. The tree itself was not bad, no, it was good, but God had forbidden Adam and Eve to eat from it, but what happened? She saw that it was a delight to the eyes. Good things are usually a delight to our eyes, but that doesn’t mean they are given to us to have or even for us to look at.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 5:27–28.
Take the human body for example. God created male and female. They are His beautiful creation. They are created for a monogamous relationship with one another within the covenant of marriage. Looking at the nakedness of another person or lusting after another who is completed dressed is a dastardly desire. Jesus Christ said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Just because something is created as good doesn’t mean that it is to be desired.
Eve’s desire came because she fixated on what was forbidden. The Apostle James puts it this way, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” Instead of turning her gaze away or turning around to remove herself from seeing the tree she continued looking at, sinned by taking and eating its fruit and died.
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 1:15.
Eve desired the forbidden fruit because she desired to be wise like God, knowing more than what she already knew. Adam desired the same thing, because he took of the fruit she gave him and ate it as well. It wasn’t ok for Adam to eat of the fruit because Eve gave it to him any more than it’s ok for a man or woman to view pornography or have sex outside of the covenant of marriage because someone else is offering up their body to them. What was delightful to the eyes and desired to make Adam and Eve wise brought them death. All sin leads to death. It deceives you by presenting what God designed as good while at the same time making it a dastardly delight and devilish desire by offering it to you outside of the parameters that God has defined.
If you delight in what is good. If you desire to have peace of heart and mind, don’t be deceived to believe that something other than the life that God gives through Jesus Christ will fulfill your longing. Only in Jesus Christ can you receive Life and have peace through the forgiveness of your sins.
Providence Reformed Baptist Church 