The Subtil Serpent

"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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." (Genesis 3:1-5)

Now we arrive at the point where the first woman is tempted to disobey God. And we find that the tempter is a serpent…and a talking serpent at that. Before we get into what he said and why (another posting), let's consider why it was that an animal was talking at all. Did all of the animals in the Garden of Eden talk?

Actually that's quite possible.

A simple reading of Revelation 4:6-11 reveals that there will be animals as well as men praising God (once more) in heaven:

"And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

 Other translations replace the word "beast" with "living creature." The Greek word for "beast" is zoon, meaning beast or brute or living creature. Because these "beasts" have wings, we often read quickly over what we do not understand and assign them to be angels, but in fact the same word zoon used here is the same word zoon used in Hebrews 13:11 which speaks of the animals that were sacrificed on the altar for our sins before Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Thus, we see that whether they have wings now or not, these are actually animals that are speaking and praising the Lord God Almighty.

The reason the animals are not talking today is because of the strong link that exists between man and creation: when man disobeyed God and sinned for the first time (an event that is often referred to as "the Fall"), so also fell creation: the earth and the animals. All three (man, animals and the earth) have been on a downward spiral towards death and destruction ever since; when sin entered in, violence and death entered in as well. But all of God's creation is forever linked. That is why creation mourns now but will rejoice in that day that Jesus Christ returns to judge evil [See earlier posting titled "Earth Song."]

Because animals might be restored to a former better condition of being able to speak, does not, however, elevate them, or the earth, above the creation that God called man.  In all of this, these things must be kept in proper perspective.  While Jesus came to restore all things, His death on the cross was to redeem fallen man; it is only because man is so linked to creation that creation itself will also be blessed by the blessing of redeemed man, just as all creation was doomed when man sinned.