Satan is smoldering in patience, slowly stoking the power of evil that he believes is stronger than God. He devises a scheme and becomes one with a snake. And there he waits. He will wait as long it takes to entrap and ensnare. And so he waits. He waits for Eve to walk past the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Satan imagines that he can undo the goodness that God created in this world. He heard God tell Adam that if he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die. He heard Adam tell Eve about the tree.
That’s what Satan wants–he wants life to waste away, and death to become strong. And so he waits. And his smoldering patience pays off. Under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he beguiles Eve, and he casts us onto the highway of hell.
But our Lord doesn’t want us to live in the ruins of sin. Our Lord didn’t want us to die. He warned Adam, and through him, Eve, not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But Eve, and in turn, Adam was deceived. That’s why in this Lenten season, God reminds us that He has provided a second tree, the Tree of the Cross, the tree Jesus used to restore what Satan had brought to ruin.
As a Christian, which tree do you live under? Is it the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or the Tree of the Cross, the tree of death or the tree of life? It’s a trick question. In truth, it’s both: we Christians live under both trees.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil disguises itself as good, although tempting, forbidden fruit is hanging from its branches. But don’t be deceived. What the devil did to Eve–and later to Jesus–he also does to you. He attacked them when they were most vulnerable, at their weakest. Satan still does that today. He tempts you when you’re at your weakest, when you’re down, and when you’re doubting God.
Satan tells you what he told Eve: that God’s commandments are His way of controlling your life and keeping you in bondage. Can you hear Satan’s voice echoing inside your head? “Did God actually say you can’t put anything else above Him? Did God actually say you have to love you neighbor as much as you love yourself? Is God so unrelenting that He won’t let you bend the rules–even a little–when He knows so much is at stake?”
Yes, we’re still under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For Satan still tempts us. And we still fall, bedazzled by the devil’s lies.
And when we get caught, we still do what Adam and Eve did. “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” God asked. “The woman you gave me–she gave me the fruit,” Adam cried. In other words, “It’s your fault God. If you hadn’t put that woman here, everything would be fine.” “It’s not my fault,” Eve protests. “The serpent tricked me.” That’s our way, isn’t it? You blame someone else. You blame someone else for your problems and woes.
Depending on where we are, we can all say we gave in to temptation with some excuse. I was running with the wrong crowd. I have a boss who is too demanding. My parents abused me. But even if all that’s true, that doesn’t excuse our sin.
Do you realize what you’re saying to God? You’re telling Him, “It’s your fault, God. These people you put here in this world with me, tempted me, and I sinned.” Well, of course, they tempted me and you. They’re sinners. Should we always expect fallen sinners to encourage us to do what is right and listen to our Lord? That is what life is like under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
We can’t keep from being tempted. But as Christians, we don’t have to give in to temptation. We are in communion with Christ’s divine nature–the Christ who resisted all temptation, the Christ who defied Satan, the Christ who becomes one with His own just as surely as Satan became one with the snake. With Christ for us strengthening us by Word and Sacrament, even Himself in His Supper, we are strengthened. With Christ within us, we can withstand the withering assault of Satan. We can say no to temptation.
And when we fall into temptation, we don’t have to lie and say, “It’s his fault,” “It’s her fault,” or even “It’s your fault, God.” Instead, we can speak the truth to the One who is Truth: “God, I am a poor, miserable sinner. I have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed.” That’s what God wanted from Adam and Eve. That’s what He wants from us. God wants repentance: sorrow over our sin, a yearning to change our sinful lives, and trust in our Lord Jesus.
Life under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil makes a mess of our lives. But that’s not the end of the story. Your Lord places you under another tree, a tree that restores your life.
After Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days, Satan licked his wounds in defeat. But he waited. He waited for a more strategic time to attack and tempt Jesus.
And then, when Jesus was suffering the assault of death, Jesus withstood the deceptions of the devil. There, Jesus defeated the devil on the Tree of the Cross–the Tree He places you under through the Spirit whom He has sent.
Of course, the Tree of the Cross isn’t attractive and alluring. In truth, it’s downright ugly–scarred, splintered, and bloodied–compared to Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The cross looks ugly: two limbs lashed together, holding an emaciated man who gasps for His last breath. But that tree is the power of God to overcome Satan who has overcome us.
God told the serpent that one of Eve’s offspring would crush his head. Yes, Satan’s conqueror would be a human like Eve, a human like us. As the Apostle Paul wrote: “For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Adam disobeyed God, which puts us under the tree of death. But Jesus obeyed God, which put us under the tree of Life!
If one day, you decided to take a long walk in the Ozark woods, you’d have to worry about more than chigger, tick, or spider bites. You’d also have to worry about snake bites. So on your trek though the think underbrush in the Ozark woods, you’d want to wear a think pair of leather boots, a pair thick enough to stop a snake’s fangs.
Now, let’s suppose a snake struck the heel of your boot. What would you do then? You’d crush the snake’s head with your other heel. So you’d better make sure your boots also have a thick, hard heel.
But Jesus does His killing differently. If he went walking through the woods, He’d only wear His sandals. He wouldn’t put on a think pair of boots. For Jesus would kill a venomous viper differently. Jesus would first let the snake, Satan, strike His heel. Our Savior crushes Satan, the snake, by letting him sink all his deadly venom into Him on the cross.
So how then can the devil destroy me and you? Of course, he stands before God and points out all the wrongs we’ve ever done, all those deeds he deceived us into doing. But the moment that Jesus let Satan strike His heel–the moment the devil sank his venom into Jesus, instead of us–Satan had no more venom left to harm us.
Yes, Satan can still accuse. Satan can still demand that God give us what we’ve earned by giving in to temptation. But his accusations ring empty. For God has given to Jesus what we deserve. Now, there’s no hell left for us to suffer. Jesus suffered it for us. Yes, the One who had no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God!
Today’s Old Testament reading even points forward and testifies to the Messiah, the Christ, to come. The last verse of our text prophesies that only the shedding of blood can cover someone’s sins (Hebrews 9:22). It reads, “The LORD God made garments from animal skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (vs. 21). God covered Adam and Eve’s naked sinfulness with clothes made of animal skins, skins gathered by the shedding of blood.
Even back then, another being had to die to cover sin. That was the first death after the Fall, the death of animals to cover sin. That death did more than point forward to the animal sacrifices to come in the Old Covenant. That death ultimately pointed forward to the death of God’s Son–the death of all deaths–which would usher in the New Covenant. That was the first prophecy to show that it would take death to make right what sin had made wrong.
And so when the time was right, to cover up our naked sinfulness, our Lord sacrificed–not just some animal–but His own dear Son. For sin is such a separating chasm from God that only a sinless death can bridge the vast expanse. And so God sent His own Son to go to the cross of death.
Today, God doesn’t clothe us in animal skins. He clothes us, instead, in the sinless life of Jesus. The sinless life that Jesus lived now clothes us. For only Jesus stood up to all of Satan’s temptations, in the wilderness and even on the cross of death without faltering or failing.
God wraps the sinless life of Jesus around you in your Baptism. He wraps that sinless life around you again when your Lord says, “I forgive you all your sins.” God is wrapping that sinless life around you right now as Jesus Christ is preached into your ears. That sinless life is wrapped around you–and put into you–when your Lord gives you the body and blood of Jesus at His altar.
Now, God looks at you and sees–not sinful you–but His holy and righteous Son. Now, God looks at you and sees the One who has never failed to resist temptation.
This season of Lent reminds us that we live under two trees. The first tree was the one by which Satan conquered us. But the second tree was one by which Jesus conquered Satan for us. And because of that we live. Amen.
