45 Shrewd Words that Changed the Course of Humanity

On the sixth day God created man in His own image. It was the final day of creation, and the Lord had saved His greatest creation for last. Man was placed in a beautiful garden where God Himself walked with him. Adam and Eve were provided everything possible that they could ever want or need (Genesis 1:26-31). God’s instructions to Adam were to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it,” as well as giving him dominion over all creatures on earth (Genesis 1:28). So where did sin come from? Well, God gave Adam and Eve everything, but they gave it all up after hearing 45 shrewd words. With their choice, the course of humanity was changed forever.

Only One Command

God gave Adam only ONE command regarding what he could NOT do. In the middle of the garden stood the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Genesis 2:17, God tells Adam that “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.”

It is important to note that when the Lord told Adam that he “would surely die,” He was referring to sin entering his heart. If Adam and Eve ate the fruit from that ONE tree, their eyes would be opened and therefore, they would know not only the good, but the evil, as well. The Apostle Paul explained this in Romans 5:12 where he wrote: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Adam could do as he pleased except for eating the fruit from ONE particular tree. It’s important to emphasize this fact because as humans we have carried this trait since that time. We always want the ONE thing that we cannot have and to do the ONE thing we should not do or that we are forbidden to do. The Apostle Paul addresses this struggle in Romans chapter seven where he says: “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (verse 15) and “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (verse 19). Indeed, the struggle is real for all of us.

The Day it All Went Wrong

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil will forever represent the day when everything went wrong. With 45 shrewd words, the course of humanity was changed forever. Humanity would face a constant struggle because God’s plan for mankind went awry with just one conversation and one poor choice. Again, it only took 45 words!

The 45 Shrewd Words that Changed Humanity

“Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? You will not surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1, 4-5) And there you have it. The 45 shrewd words that changed the course of humanity.

With these 45 words, the serpent, or Satan (see Revelation 12:9 and 20:2) twisted God’s only command, misrepresented God and sparked doubt in Eve’s heart in order to get her to eat the fruit. (By the way, this is what Satan does – it’s one of his best tactics.)

It wasn’t just what the serpent said, however; it’s how he said it that sealed the deal. He wanted Eve to believe that God was lying to them and keeping them from something good. We all know what this is like. As mentioned previously, we are, often times, attracted to the things we cannot have or to do the things that we should not do. Many times we have a fear of “missing out.”

Result of Eating the Fruit – The Beginning of Sin

When Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit, she offered it to Adam who also ate (Genesis 3:6). It’s interesting to note here that it was not Adam who was deceived by the serpent, it was Eve. Adam sinned by choosing Eve’s words (and the serpent’s), over the words of Almighty God. Adam chose creation over the Creator. Sin entered the world through Adam’s choice to put the Lord second.

At the point of their disobedience, their eyes were opened and they knew immediately that were naked (Genesis 3:7). Satan had succeeded. Sin was born in the hearts of mankind. Rather then spend their lives in close, personal fellowship with the Lord, Adam and Eve chose to defy Him.

Today we are faced with the same dilemma. We are all born sinners. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The devil hasn’t changed – he is still out there trying to turn people away from the Lord.

Questions to Ask Ourselves

• Are we going to allow the devil to influence our lives?
• Are we going to ignore God’s commands and do what we think is right?
• Are we going to ignore God’s will and pursue our own will?
• Are we going to listen to and believe the lies without consulting our Creator through His Word [The Bible]?
• Are we going to choose to serve the creature rather than the Creator?

These are all questions that we have to ask ourselves. If we are not prepared for Satan’s attacks, how can we fight him? What chance do we have against this powerful enemy?

Never forget, the devil knows what he is doing. He is cunning, crafty and deceptive. One of Satan’s goals is to blind mankind from the truth of God’s Word. In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 we read: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe”  (emphasis mine). With misconstrued words, carefully constructed lies and instilling doubt in our hearts, Satan can and will make every attempt to turn us away from our Loving Creator. Don’t let him win. 

How to Beat Satan

The only way to beat Satan is to follow Jesus Christ and receive the gift of life that He offers to everyone. Jesus defeated the devil through His death and resurrection, and took all of our sins upon Himself and died in our place. It is the greatest love story of all time.

If you’d like to know more about what Jesus did for you, click here.

If you’d like to know more about the crucifixion of Jesus and how He suffered and died to save us all, click here.

Blessings,

Amy