The Power of a Question: Conversations With Satan – Eve
I’m excited about this series and it will be going for three weeks, so let’s dive right in. I want to point out how, through the power of questions, Satan seeks to get us off track by thwarting our thinking that God isn’t Who He says He is.
Jesus asks 307 questions in the Gospels, He is asked 183 questions and He only answers 3 questions. Jesus asked questions, it was rare for Him to make declarative statements. For anyone who has taken a logic, reasoning, or apologetics class, we all know that asking questions instead of making statements is more effective. Questions get people thinking and they get to the heart of the matter.
But in looking at conversations that Satan had with people, he also asked questions because he too knows the power of questions. I want to give you a little background of who he was before he fell. This evil spirit was once an angel, having spent a lot of time around God the Father, so it’s no wonder that he knows the power of questions.
Lucifer
Ezekiel 28 tells us that Lucifer, which means “morning star”- before he fell from heaven was the “anointed cherub.” Lucifer had a very high position in heaven. Cherubim, are a type of angel and it is their responsibility to attend to God. This was his role, to attend to God. What a privilege! He got total access to God, observing HIM, getting to know HIS character and personality. Ezekiel also tells us that Lucifer was perfect, the wisest of all God’s creatures, beautiful beyond description, and, he was the chief worship leader in heaven (see Ez. 28: 12-13). His beauty was compared to gemstones (Ez. 28:13). But all of that came to a head when he decided being a cherub wasn’t so cool, and he wanted to be God. He wasn’t content being a singer and leading the music, he wasn’t content being extremely beautiful, and he wasn’t content tending to the throne of God.
Conversation with Satan – Eve
We all know the story where Satan tempted Eve, and Adam, who was standing there the whole time watching, said nothing when she touched and ate the fruit. I’d encourage you to read Genesis 3: 1-6. So why should you care? These are 6 important verses in the Bible because in them, the world got off balance and sin entered the world. God had told Adam in Genesis 2:15 to guard and keep the Garden. God had told Adam and Eve to not eat of a certain tree. But the serpent [Satan] came along one day and casually asked Eve, “Has God indeed said ‘You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?’” In his cunning way, he asked her a question?
The power of this question may have caught Eve off guard. Maybe she never thought to question the directive that God had given her, to never eat of the tree nor to even touch it (Genesis 3:3). I’m sure in the midst of temptation you have heard the same question, “did God really say I can’t cheat on my husband? Besides he’s not doing right by me anyways and this other guy in my life is?” Or, “did God really say I can’t take this box of post-its from the supply office at work? I mean, they have so many boxes anyways and I don’t have the budget to buy them for my own house?”
“Did God really say?” has echoed in our minds.
And Eve begins to think…. Maybe God isn’t as serious as he said. What’s a little taste? Even if Adam was hesitant, he didn’t stop what was going on before his eyes? His cowardice of not obeying what God told him to do: “to guard and keep the garden” had fallen on deaf ears.
Ok, I’m going to give you a little meat here- You see, Adam was a priest, a king, a covenant mediator, another type of Christ, the imperfection of the real One. Eve represents the people of God. And the garden represents the tabernacle, the temple.
The Israelites would have understood Adam’s role as covenant mediator because covenant mediators like Moses or Aaron stood between the people and God. And the garden represents tabernacle or the temple. God entrusted Adam with the role of mediation to God’s rule, like a king would to the rest of creation. Adam was supposed to channel God’s blessing to the human race as he granted access to the tree of life.
Satan the serpent knew all this. And by asking a powerful question that affected Eve’s trust in God, in how God had instructed her and her man, Satan was able to throw a monkey wrench in creation, and wreak all kinds of havoc which we see on this fallen earth. But he [Satan] doesn’t get the last laugh, Jesus does, because in death, He [Jesus] the real Adam took back the keys of the Garden, of the tabernacle of life so that you and me may have hope and everlasting life.
When the question: “did God really say?” looms in our minds in the midst of temptation, we better speak the Word of God and say “yes, God said in Exodus 20:14 I shouldn’t cheat on my spouse – no matter what the situation is; yes, the Bible is clear about sexual immorality being wrong in Ephesians 5:3.” We have to be intentional and stand up to Satan. When we do he will flee from us. He will come again with another cunning trick, but, he will flee. Don’t allow him to get into your head but hold every thought captive and go in the opposite direction of sin.