Story of Hope

Temptation and Fall

Satan took the form of a serpent and entered Eden. He positioned himself in the tree of knowledge and began leisurely eating of the fruit. SH 16.3

Unconsciously at first, Eve separated from her husband as she tended the garden. When she became aware of what had happened, she felt that there might be danger, but again she thought that she was safe, even if she did not remain close by the side of her husband. She had wisdom and strength to know if evil came, and to meet it. The angels had cautioned her not to do this. Eve found herself gazing at the fruit of the forbidden tree with a mixture of curiosity and admiration. SH 16.4

She saw that it was very lovely, and reasoned with herself about why God had so strictly prohibited them from eating it. Now was Satan’s opportunity. He spoke to her as though he were able to read her thoughts: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” With soft and pleasant words, and with a musical voice, he addressed the amazed Eve. She was startled to hear a serpent speak, for she knew that God had not given the power of speech to the serpent. SH 16.5

Eve’s curiosity was aroused. Instead of quickly leaving the spot, she listened to hear a serpent talk. It did not occur to her mind that this might be that fallen enemy, using the serpent as a medium. It was Satan who spoke, not the serpent. Eve was charmed, flattered, infatuated. If she had met a commanding personage, with a form like the angels and resembling them, she would have been on her guard. SH 16.6

That strange voice should have driven her to her husband s side to ask him why someone else should speak to her so freely. But she entered into a controversy with the serpent. She answered his question: “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die/ ” The serpent answered, “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.” SH 17.1

Satan wanted them to think that by eating from the forbidden tree they would receive a new and more noble kind of knowledge than they already had. This has been his special work, with great success, ever since his fall—to lead people to pry into the secrets of the Almighty and not to be satisfied with what God has revealed, and not to be careful to obey what He has commanded. He wants to lead them to disobey Gods commands and then make them believe that they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge. This is purely supposition, and it is a miserable deception. SH 17.2

They fail to understand what God has revealed, and they disregard His explicit commandments and aspire after wisdom independent of God, seeking to understand what He has chosen to withhold from mortals. They are elated with their ideas of progress and charmed with their own empty philosophy, but they grope in midnight darkness when it comes to true knowledge. SH 17.3

It was not Gods will that this sinless pair should have any knowledge of evil. He had freely given them the good but withheld the evil. Eve thought the words of the serpent were wise, and she accepted his broad assertion, “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.” This was making God a liar. Satan boldly implied that God had deceived them to keep them from achieving knowledge that would make them equal with Himself God said, If you eat you will surely die. The serpent said, If you eat, “you will not surely die.” SH 17.4

The tempter assured Eve that as soon as she ate the fruit she would receive a new and superior knowledge that would make her equal with God. He called her attention to himself. He said that the reason he had gained the power of speech was that he had eaten the fruit of the tree forbidden to them. He hinted that God would not carry out His word. It was merely a threat to intimidate them and keep them from great good. He also told them that they could not die. Hadn’t they eaten from the tree of life which perpetuates immortality? He said that God was deceiving them to keep them from a higher state of being and a more exalted happiness. SH 18.1

The tempter plucked the fruit and passed it to Eve. She took it in her hand. Now, said the tempter, you were prohibited from even touching it lest you die. He told her that she would realize no more sense of evil and death in eating than she had in touching or handling the fruit. Eve was emboldened because she had not felt the immediate signs of God’s displeasure. She thought the words of the tempter must be all wise and correct. She ate, and she was delighted with the fruit. It seemed delicious to her taste, and she imagined that she felt in herself the wonderful effects of the fruit. SH 18.2

Eve Becomes a Tempter—She then plucked some of the fruit for herself and ate it, imagining that she felt the invigorating power of a new and higher existence from the exhilarating influence of the forbidden fruit. She was in a strange and unnatural excitement as she went to find her husband with her hands filled with the forbidden fruit. She told him the wise things the serpent had said, and she wanted to take him immediately to the tree of knowledge. She told him she had eaten some of its fruit, and instead of feeling any sense of death, she experienced a pleasing, exhilarating influence. As soon as Eve had disobeyed, she became a powerful medium through which Satan could bring about the fall of her husband. SH 18.3

Adam understood very well that his companion had disobeyed the only prohibition that God had given them to test their faithfulness and love. Eve reasoned that the serpent said they would not surely die, and his words must be true, for she felt no signs of Gods displeasure, but a pleasant influence, as she imagined the angels felt. SH 19.1

Adam regretted that Eve had left his side, but now the deed was done. He must be separated from the one whose companionship he had loved so well. How could he let that happen? His love for Eve was strong. And in utter discouragement he decided to share her fate. He reasoned that Eve was a part of himself, and if she must die, he would die with her, for he could not bear the thought of separation from her. SH 19.2

He lacked faith in his merciful and kind Creator. He did not think that God, who had formed him out of the dust of the ground into a living, beautiful being, and had created Eve to be his companion, could fill her place. After all, might not the words of this wise serpent be correct? Eve was standing before him, just as lovely and beautiful and apparently as innocent as before she had disobeyed. She expressed greater, higher love for him than before her disobedience, claiming that this resulted from her eating the fruit. He saw no signs of death in her. SH 19.3

He decided to take his chances. He grabbed the fruit and quickly ate it, and like Eve, he did not feel its ill effects immediately. SH 19.4

Man’s Freedom of Choice—God instructed our first parents regarding the tree of knowledge, and they were fully informed about the fall of Satan and the danger of listening to his suggestions. God did not deprive them of the power to eat the forbidden fruit. He left them as free moral agents to believe His word, obey His commandments, and live, or to believe the tempter, disobey, and perish. SH 19.5

The sweet love and peace and happy contented bliss seemed removed from them, and in its place a lack of something came over them that they had never experienced before. Then for the first time they turned their attention to the external. They had not been clothed but were draped in light as the heavenly angels were. This light that had enshrouded them was now gone. To relieve their sense of lack and the nakedness they felt, they looked for some kind of covering for their bodies, for how could they meet the eye of God and angels unclothed? SH 19.6

Satan was overjoyed with his success. He had now tempted the woman to distrust God, to question His wisdom, and to try to penetrate His all-wise plans. And through her he had also overthrown Adam, who, because of his love for Eve, disobeyed the command of God and fell with her. SH 20.1

The Lord visited Adam and Eve and told them the result of their disobedience. As they heard Gods majestic approach, they tried to hide themselves from the gaze of Him whom they had delighted to meet while they were in their innocence and holiness. “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?’ ” SH 20.2

The Lord asked this question, not because He needed information, but for the conviction of the guilty pair. How did you become ashamed and fearful? Adam admitted his transgression, not because he repented for his great disobedience, but to blame his sin on God. “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” God then addressed the woman: “What is this you have done?” Eve answered, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” SH 20.3

The Curse—The Lord then spoke to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.” As the serpent had been exalted above the beasts of the field, he would be degraded beneath them all and be detested by people, because he was the medium through which Satan acted. “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.’ ” SH 20.4

God cursed the ground because of their sin in eating from the tree of knowledge, and declared, “In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” He had allotted them the good and withheld the evil. Now He declares that they shall eat of it, that is, they would be acquainted with evil all the days of their life. SH 21.1

From that time forward, the human race would be afflicted by Satan’s temptations. Adam was assigned a life of perpetual toil and anxiety instead of the happy, cheerful labor he had enjoyed up to then. They would experience disappointment, grief, and pain, and finally come to dissolution. They were made of the dust of the earth, and unto dust they would return. SH 21.2

They were informed that they would have to lose their Eden home. They had yielded to Satan’s deception and believed the word of Satan, that God would lie. By their disobedience they had opened a way for Satan to gain access to them more easily, and it was not safe for them to remain in the Garden of Eden, in their state of sin to gain access to the tree of life and perpetuate a life of sin. They begged to be allowed to remain, although they admitted that they had lost all right to blissful Eden. They promised that in the future they would give God implicit obedience. They were told that in their fall from innocence to guilt they gained no strength, but great weakness. They had not kept their integrity while they were in a state of holy, happy innocence, and they would have far less strength to remain true and loyal in a state of conscious guilt. They were filled with the deepest anguish and remorse. They now realized that the penalty of sin was death. SH 21.3

Angels were commissioned immediately to guard the way to the tree of life. It was Satan’s studied plan that Adam and Eve should disobey God, receive His frown, and then eat from the tree of life, so that they would perpetuate a life of sin. But holy angels were sent to block their way to the tree of life. Around these angels flashed beams of light on every side, which looked like glittering swords. SH 22.1