 |  |
"Lest ye die" however is a serious understatement; the words "thou shalt surely die"
allowing no room for doubt. It is looked upon as a form of spiritual bondage by some to
keep to the letter of the Word, but it would have meant salvation to Eve had she kept
rigidly to what God had said. Satan is a master at double dealing, and Shakespeare has
put into the mouth of Macbeth some sentiments that we would all do well to heed:
"I pull in resolution and begin
To doubt the equivocation of the fiend,
THAT LIES LIKE TRUTH . . . . . And be these
juggling fiends no more believed
That palter with us in a DOUBLE SENSE;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope."
One has but to observe the like sounding names in the line of Cain and in the line of
Seth, to be conscious of an attempt to deceive. In both is a son named Enoch, and Jude is
careful when he makes his reference to define Enoch as "the seventh from Adam". Both
lines have a Lamech, the one boasting of his 70*7, the other living until 777 years, and
illustrations could be multiplied. Paul complained of those who preached another
"Jesus", and another "Gospel" in immediate sequence to the references to the beguiling
by the Serpent of Eve (II Cor. 11: 3, 4). We are therefore well advised to note the reply of
Eve to this initial temptation, and to resolve by grace to treat the very words of Scripture
with reverence and care. However slight the change of wording, the Serpent apparently
realized the success of his opening in the way in which the woman replied, for his next
words are clear, emphatic and without equivocation or paltering in a double sense, "ye
shall not surely die".
Here the issues are plain, the Serpent's words are a complete denial of the Word of
God. Whether the words of the Devil were intended to lay the foundation of a doctrine or
not, there has certainly arisen a system of teaching which denies the fact and the reality of
death. Spiritism definitely affirms that there is no death, and alas many Protestant and
Evangelical systems of Theology, by the introduction of the Philosophy of the natural
immortality of the soul, deny both the realities of death and the essential necessity of the
resurrection. This is not all however. The denial of the reality of death was but a bridge
to a bolder assertion:
"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Again we have in these words "the equivocation of the fiend, that lies like truth". It is
written before this chapter closes:
"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become AS ONE OF US, to know good
and evil."
But at what a price. "And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of
life and eat, and LIVE FOR EVER; therefore the Lord God sent him forth . . . . ."
(Gen. 3: 22, 23). The words "ye shall be as gods" are given in the R.V. "ye shall be as