In Genesis 1:26 and 28 we find God giving Adam and Eve total dominion (dominance) over the earth, everything that moved on the earth, in the water and in the air directly above the earth (the weather).  In 3:1 we are introduced to a created entity that, though it moved on the earth, was significantly different from the other creatures that God had made.  This creature was more intelligent than the cattle, fish, birds, etc.  It could also speak, which no other creature could do.  He is called “the serpent,” which is translated “snake” in both Hebrew and Greek.  We must not make the mistake of believing that the serpent was a long, armless, legless being that slithered over the ground.  This creature (created entity) sought out Eve and struck up a conversation with her.

Consider this scenario.  Adam and Eve were the apex, the very high point of God’s creations in that they looked like Him (in “likeness”) and had the potential to be like Him spiritually (in “image”).  They spoke God’s language.  And so did the serpent.  We do not know what this creature looked like.  To have lured Eve into a conversation, he must have been impressive.  God’s ultimate creations had not chatted with any of the other living creatures.  The serpent impressed Eve so much that she explained God’s Law to him, including what would happen if she broke that Law.  The serpent acknowledged that the One Whom she called “God” was indeed God, and that what He (God) had told her was indeed the Law.  He knew that God had told her and Adam about the trees of the garden, and that there was one tree that was off limits to them.  Then he called her Creator a liar and convinced her not only to believe it, but to persuade Adam to believe it also.  It is amazing how quickly Eve was deceived.  NEVER UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF SATAN.  That would not be the last time human beings would deal directly with “the Serpent.”

Obviously, this was an impressive creature.  So impressive that she and Adam obeyed him–THEY REJECTED WHAT THEIR CREATOR HAD TOLD THEM.  THE SERPENT HAD CONVINCED THE MOST IMPORTANT OF GOD’S CREATIONS TO LOVE, BELIEVE, WORSHIP AND SERVE HIM BY OBEYING HIS WORDS, AND TO HATE, REJECT, IGNORE AND DISMISS GOD BY REJECTING HIS WORDS (Deut. 7:9-11).  We know that the serpent Eve dealt with did not slither along the ground, because that would later become his punishment for deceiving her (3:14).  This magnificent creature had to be truly impressive.  He is the same “Serpent”/ “dragon” of Revelation 20:2 whom God identifies as Satan himself who would one day rule the earth.

My point in highlighting this event is to remind the reader that GOD GAVE ADAM AND EVE DOMINION OVER THE SERPENT–one of the creatures that “moved on the earth.”  THE SERPENT COULD NOT FORCE ADAM AND EVE TO DISOBEY GOD.  HE COULD ONLY TEMPT THEM TO DO SO.  THEY HAD DOMINION OVER HIM–IF THEY CHOSE TO REMAIN IN THEIR SINLESS CONDITION.  The same holds true today.  Jesus said to those who would believe and obey Him: “BEHOLD, I GIVE YOU POWER OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY (Lk. 10:19).  He also tells true, Spirit-led Christians: “Greater is He (the Holy Spirit) that is in you than he (Satan) that is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4).  A true, obedient saint has power over Satan himself as well as his antichrist spirits, of which there are “many” (1 Jn. 2:18).  Antichrists are Satan’s fallen angles who were cast out of heaven with him following the war in heaven which rendered the earth “tohu and bohu” (formless and void–Gen. 1:2).

The message of this segment is that man was given power over Satan, as well as all living, moving things on earth.  That power would be given (potentially) to all people because God “is no respecter of persons.”  By His own Words He must do for one what He does for another IF BOTH OBEY HIM (Acts 10:34).  In order to maintain his dominion over Satan’s temptations, Adam and Eve had to believe and obey the Lord.  Today, a holy person–one who obeys God’s Holy Spirit within him–has “power over all the power of the enemy” (devil, evil one–Satan) just as Jesus said in Luke 10:19.  But notice what He said in Luke 10:16.  One either loves and obeys the Father and the Son (and qualifies to receives Their promises) or one despises and Hates Them, thereby disqualifying themselves from those promises.  There is no gray area with God–THERE ARE NO SINNERS SAVED BY GRACE.

Man has no excuse for obeying Satan.  Even in His weakened, post-40 day fast condition, the man Jesus was able to resist Satan’s temptations.  He knew He had to do so in order to be the Savior of mankind.  And so must we in order to receive the salvation He died to make available to us.  God said through the Apostle James: “Resist the devil (his temptations) and he will flee from YOU” (Jam. 4:7).  SATAN WILL FLEE FROM A TRUE SAINT.  Recall that when Jesus–a man–resisted the devil’s temptations, the devil “left (fled from) Him for a season.”  If we resist him he will flee.  However, he will return to tempt us again, and again, and again.  We must continue to resist him with the power of the Holy Spirit.  We must stay in a state of holiness (obedience) so that we can win every battle.  And there will be battles.

The spiritual state Jesus maintained not only qualified Him for Messiahship, but also enabled Him to join His Father in heaven following His death and resurrection (Heb. 5:9).  If we are symbolically cleansed of all past sin (justified) through water baptism, then rise from the water a new creation–a converted soul filled with the Holy Spirit–then we can successfully “… OVERCOME (SATAN) AS I (JESUS) OVERCAME (HIM)” (Rev. 3:21).  This is a growing (maturing) process that takes place over time.  Then, having overcome him to the end (MAT. 10:22), WE WILL JOIN JESUS ON HIS THRONE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Rev. 3:21).  We are told that “Whosoever abides in Him does not sin (continue to sin after coming to maturity in Christ).  Read Hebrews 5:11-6:6.  Whosoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him” (1 Jn. 3:6).  If, as we are told repeatedly, we MUST sin, that sin is inevitable, that we cannot overcome Satan, that we cannot obey the Law (read 1 Jn. 3:4) then why does Jesus require us to do so in order to receive salvation? (Mat. 10:22; 24:13/ Rev. 2:26,27; 3:21).  To require something that one cannot possibly do would be the utmost act of cruelty for people like me who believe everything written in the Bible.  God is not cruel.

Adam and Eve could have resisted and overcome the Serpent (Satan).  They CHOSE NOT TO DO SO.  The power of choice is given to every human being ever born.  We have all made wrong choices in times past.  The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that “All HAVE SINNED (past tense) and come short of the glory of God.”  That does not mean that we must fail again, and again, and again.  Cain and Able had the same power of choice as their parents.  Abel used that power, Cain did not.  Noah and the people of his day all had the same choice.  Noah, “a preacher of righteousness,” preached God’s Truth, but people did not listen. The prophets, Jesus and the apostles all preached the Truth but few listened, just as Jesus prophesied would be the case in the end times (Mat. 7:13,14).

For this reason I do not expect anyone to believe anything I say or write.  When someone does believe I am pleasantly surprised.  Church people leave when God’s Truth is declared.  Few believe what is written in their own Bibles and get angry when shown what is there.  When they cannot spin their way out of their spiritual unbelief, they grow angry, not at themselves for having rejected God’s message, but at the messenger who brought it.  Let us plumb the depths of God’s Word.  Let us look past the “headlines.”  Let us search for, find, believe, embrace and obey His “fine print” which His Very Elect search for, find, believe and obey.  Let us join Him in His Word and learn that, if we walk in the pre-sin condition of Adam and Eve, we too will have the same POWER OVER SATAN that they were given.  L.J.