Did you know that Eve had a child long before Cain? This child is a child that is born and reborn over and over again all throughout history. It is a child I have born and a child you have born. Men and women throughout history have all born this child and the pattern will continue until Jesus returns and defeats this child once and for all.
In Genesis Chapter 3 we read: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Genesis 3:1-7 ESV)”
Did you see the child being born? Perhaps this passage in James will clarify things a bit better. James Chapter 1 and verse 15 reads: “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:15 ESV)” Let’s break down the word picture used here to reveal the meaning of this great verse. Desire, sometimes lust is used here, means a passionate longing. Conceived is just as we would expect this word to mean; it means to become pregnant. So the first part of this verse simply means, when passionate longing has become pregnant, it gives birth to sin. Now let’s look at the second part of this verse. The phrase “fully grown” means to be completed or to come to an end and “brings forth” means to give birth to. Finally, the word death here is the death that separates the soul from the body with an implied future misery in Hell also known as Spiritual Death.
So let’s paraphrase this verse now that we have a vivid picture. Desire gets pregnant and births a child named sin. Sin grows up and gives birth to a child named spiritual death. With that in mind, let’s look again at Eve’s “first” child. Eve saw that the tree was good for food and it was pleasing to the eye. Then Scripture says that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. Let’s stop right there for a minute. In keeping with the analogy, I know that it takes two parties or two people to become pregnant. So desire and what come together impregnating desire to birth a child named sin? When you look at the words used in Genesis 3:6, the phrase “delight to the eyes” involves words like covets, thinks and thought. Desire and the thought life come together and the result is a little child named sin. This is even further illustrated in the fact that Eve thought the fruit would make her wise. So then, what comes together with sin impregnating sin to birth death? This is revealed to us in the fact that Eve took the fruit and ate. Not only that, she was comfortable enough with what the fruit could do that she gave it to her husband so he could eat of it. Sin and your actions come together and the result is a little child named spiritual death. So in reality, spiritual death is a second generation child of desire. Do you see that?
Why is this significant? Have you ever heard the saying, “Treat the cause, not the symptoms”? In business, we call this “finding the root cause”. It is amazing to me how we focus on sin and pay no attention to desire. Desire is the patriarch, if you will, of our sin. Yet we are not concerned with it. We actually allow desire to run rampant in our minds birthing an infinite amount of sin children. This is huge. When the mind is intimate with the desire of our true nature, the only result is an out of control child named sin. This is why we must be born again. God places in us a new desire; one that wants to please Him rather than ourselves and so the war begins (Romans 7). The Redeemed are a new creature; they are washed clean and given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:25-27). The heart always includes the mind. If they give in to fleshly desire, they must “kill” that child by way of true confession and true repentance. Rarely, they find themselves in the situation where sin and action have come together. In this case, they must “kill” that child with true confession and true repentance. But The Redeemed does not stop there. They go on to seek out the desire that conceived sin and they work, by the grace of God, to destroy that desire. In other words, they treat the cause. What we allow our minds to be exposed to is so important in the Christian walk. True Christians will fight against their desire and their minds. This is where the battle is won. The weapons they use are the Word of God and the sword of the Spirit. This is how thee know that they are redeemed. I’ll leave you with three verses; Romans 8:5-7 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 ESV)
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