(October 5, 2025) Berean’s staff shares on Genesis 3:4-7, 1Peter 5:10, Revelation 20:10,14-15…

‘“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.’

Satan’s Objective
In verse 4, Satan slyly convinces Eve that God has lied to them by withholding from them the ability to become ‘like God, knowing good and evil.’ God was being unfair, he argues, keeping them from their potential. The passage suggests that, after hearing this, Eve did not hesitate one bit in making her decision.

She took the bait without even flinching and ignorantly promoted the interests of Satan by giving the forbidden fruit to her husband. In effect, she signed on to advance Satan’s objective— to derail God’s plan to create humankind in His spiritual image.

Satan’s Losing
Satan’s tack has been the same ever since, even though he must realise that, due to Christ’s death and resurrection, he will ultimately lose (Revelation 20:10). While he still has time, he will try to make as many people as he can fail to reach their incredible human potential. He will do whatever is in his power— whatever God allows him to do— to convince them that his way is superior to God’s.

For those that have been called by God in this lifetime, we have far more at stake here. If Satan can succeed in deceiving us to advocate for him more and more, he greatly increases our chances of being subject to the second death, the eternal death in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14-15).

Peter warns us of the dangers that Satan poses to God’s people: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour’ (IPeter 5:8). According to the Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, ‘sober’(Greek nepho) is a verb found in the New Testament only in the figurative sense, implying ‘sober watchfulness.’ In addition, ‘vigilant’ (Greek gregoreuo) means ‘to keep awake, i.e. watch (literally or figuratively’).

Satan’s Targets
Combining ‘sober’ and ‘vigilant’ paints an interesting word-picture for us. When a person is heavily intoxicated, he or she wants nothing more than to sleep it off, so it is impossible for the sleeping drunkard to be vigilant about anything.

The message for us is that we must be attentive to our physical and spiritual condition so that we do not become spiritually intoxicated. This type of person is exactly the kind whom Satan seeks. If we enter this state, then we make ourselves a prime target to be devoured by the ‘roaring lion.’

Topics: Should a Christian Play Devil’s Advocate?/ Forbidden Fruit/Gregoreuo/Lake of Fire/Satan as Lion/Satan as Predator/Satan as the Deceiver of the Whole World/Sober (minded)/Sober Watchfulness/Vigilance/Watchfulness
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The Berean— berean@cgg.org is highly recommended for its clear teaching on selected daily verses as are other encouraging postings by Church of the Great God http://cgg.org. Note: See also Dr Robert McQuillan’s September Encouragement article— Dark Times- Dark Troublemaker/
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