Adam and Eve had complete authority in the earth and everything was in order.

Things were apparently different then because a serpent speaking to them did not raise any red flags.

Talking animals today are only found on Saturday morning cartoons and books written by famous authors.

The authority to rule the earth belonged to Adam and the serpent was keenly aware of this.

He knew Adam had the backing of God the Father and he could not overthrow him – he had already tried that in heaven and it didn’t work out so well for him.

But he did understand ownership and if he could get Adam to willingly give up his authority, he could end up with the authority of the earth.

So the serpent set out to get Adam to yield to him and once that happened, all that belonged to Adam would now belong to the serpent.

And not only would there be a transfer of authority, but there would also be a transfer of lordship.

But the key then as it is now is that Adam had to do it of his own free will – that part of man that has been and will always be sovereign.

Instead of a direct assault on Adam, the serpent went through Eve. The Bible says in 1 Tim 2:14 “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

Adam saw the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and desired that knowledge.

He was willing to let Eve taste of it to see if what the Lord had said was so – that if you eat of the tree you would die. If she didn’t die, then he could partake of it as well.

This is not saying much for Adam’s character… sorry Adam.

Being the highest authority in the earth, Adam should have put a stop to what the serpent was doing.

Instead, he sold out mankind for the price of a little knowledge. Paul tells us in Rom 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”

Mankind was sold to the serpent for the price of a single piece of fruit. In history, we’ve seen great deals like the price of the island of Manhattan, or the Louisiana Purchase, or even Alaska, but they all pale in comparison to the price of all mankind.

So Adam transferred his authority to the serpent by stepping out beyond his authority.

Notice in Genesis chapter 3, that the Lord did not undo this transfer.

The ground was cursed, the serpent was cursed, and Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden but because Adam did it of his own free will, the Lord could not change it.

He was going to have to get man to come back on his own – but that’s another part of the story.

Fast forward now to when Jesus is on the earth in His great 40 days of temptation. Luke 4:5-6 is a key exchange between the devil and Jesus.

Luke 4:5-6 “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him,

All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me: and to whomever I will I give it.”

The word “power” in verse 6 is better translated “authority”. The devil had authority over the whole earth.

This had to be true, otherwise it would not be a real temptation to the Lord Jesus.

In the next part of this series, we’ll look at the next transfer of authority.