What Happened to Us in Eden? - Psychology of the FallSample

ALERT TO THE ATTACKS

The voice of Satan—dark like himself and sly like the serpent—was stronger for the woman than her submission to The Voice, the voice of God Himself. And as a result, the enemy won that battle.

But the war was won by Another: Christ Jesus, the man who will rule with an iron scepter, and who was also born of a woman. What we see in Revelation 12 are the desperate attempts of that ancient serpent to use what little power he still has—not having been able to devour that Son—to cause as much harm as possible while he still has time. First against the woman, and then against her offspring, those who “keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” (Revelation 12:12).

For the man in Eden, the voice that drowned out God’s was his wife’s—the one he placed first.

• So the issue here was not leadership between him and her, but where their senses and wills turned when they listened, for the first time, to that different voice—the one that would stop at nothing.
• The Bible describes Satan as a “roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” That’s simply another, more solemn way of saying what I said earlier: when an enemy truly intends harm (and Satan does!), he doesn’t aim at anything less than the jugular or some other vital point of his victims. And that is exactly what happened in Eden.

What also strikes me is how quickly Satan shows up with his own voice whenever God speaks loud and clear about something—always trying to twist it and to claim the power for himself, which has been his goal from the very beginning:

• He did it in Eden: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
• And he repeated the move, like the strategist he is, right after the heavens declared at Jesus’ baptism some of the most sublime words ever heard: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

A few chapters later, we find the very same words again—with this crucial addition: “Listen to him!”