The Greatest Lies of the Enemy Were First Spoken in the Garden

The greatest lie ever told…that God isn’t good.

Think about this. Let’s go back in time. Let’s step foot into the Garden of Eden. Beautiful, spectacular, without a flaw Eden. This was a place where the breathtaking majesty of His creative abilities was on full display (I imagine God with a large easel and paintbrush). Consider the giraffe, the baboon, a lion fish, a jelly fish.  Each day beheld brilliant displays of creation; something from nothing; everything glistening with hope and promise; the vastness of the ocean, the farthest reach in the sky, the delicate wings of a bee, the majestic roar of the lion, the intricacies of wild, vast canyons, every breathtaking star flung into the heavens with purpose and precision… He called each one of these good. And yet, not one of these bore the image of the almighty God. This Master of the Universe still saw a creation in lack. And so, this holy God stooped down into the dirt, and said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on earth.” (Genesis 1:26).

Can you imagine His excitement, sitting breathlessly on the edge of His seat, awaiting the imaginations of His mind to fully unfold?

“So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female” (Genesis 1:27). “Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Male and female, you and I, His greatest masterpiece. He created for Himself a people to love, enjoy, and walk with. WE uniquely carry His glory as sons and daughters. The culmination of His creation was uniquely designed not only to bear His image, but to know Him, to walk with Him, to talk with Him.

He saw that it was good.

And then He rested. This wasn’t lounge on a picnic blanket all day kind rest, this was the kind of rest that breathed LIFE. I imagine God walking in the Garden, taking in every detail, smiling with delight, laughing at the wild and unexpected, crying tears of joy to watch the man and woman He created move and breath.

But the Lord, with great intention, created man and woman with free will. Since you cannot demand or command love, He knew only by giving us a choice could we truly love Him. In that same space of freedom, we were also given the choice of how to respond to His commands. 

“The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.’” (Genesis 2:15-17) [In this chapter, God then creates Eve.]

Here lies the climax of the story. We are introduced to the serpent. He slinks into the Garden where Adam and Eve are spending their day. The serpent goes after God’s masterpiece.

First, he raises the question of whether man truly heard God’s voice. Then he speaks doubt/confusion to what those words actually meant. “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden?’…You will not die…In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God” (Genesis 3:1, 4-5) Not only did this stirring rouse poke at man’s pride, it was a blatant attack on God’s character! If the enemy could get them to doubt God’s goodness, he could easily maneuver into a place of access (an open door) and unsuspectingly shift their allegiance.

One of the greatest lie the enemy dangled in the Garden is one he also taunts us with, “Is God really good? Is He really for you?”

We know how this story ends, the open door, the invitation to the enemy, the moment where Adam and Eve came into agreement with the enemy’s lies. This led to a CHOICE where they believed they knew better than God; and in a rapid turn of events, sin entered the perfect world. 

Life as we were created for ceased to exist in that one act of disobedience.

And yet, our God, the perfect author and creator, our perfect Father, called out to the ones He made and loved. Because no matter the sin, no matter the disobedience, no matter the doubt and confusion, God pursued the creation He so desperately loved. “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). They confessed or rather, shall I say, they cast blame on someone other than themselves. And even then, while in sin, God did not turn away from them. He clothed them and provided for their needs.

Yes, their sin demanded a payment. In fact, it resulted in devastating consequences. They were evicted from the Garden designed for Adam and Eve to live in, work, and thrive.

Here’s the crazy part, they did become like God; the enemy’s taunt was truthful, while at the same time a plot to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever. So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24).

What was the plan? Where was the shift? WHO made a way, a way planned for even before that tragic incident in the Garden of Eden.

Now we know that the first man and woman who lived in perfection, who lived in a place where they walked with God…still chose sin, still chose disobedience. If the enemy was able to get to them to come into agreement with lies, can we choose a little more grace with ourselves? This is not to say that we stay in this place, but that we understand it was a battle since day one on this earth. But then…Jesus.