God’s Devil - Part 4: There is a Serpent in our Garden

Satan ignored all the warning signs. His doom in hell was sealed from the moment he sinned. Here we have evil exposed for what it is which is the desire to oppose God even with the assurance that the Almighty will be victorious.

Satan chose to escalate the conflict. Admitting defeat was too humbling so he went onward with sustained rebellion. Other angels were recruited. The idea of creating a rival kingdom patterned after the eternal realm was tempting. His hidden desire was to continue to exercise authority over those whom he had original responsibility. Other angels followed him into the growing rebellion. Whether they realized it or not, the moment they joined the sinful effort, they also were moving to destruction.

Satan's next targets were human beings. When he watched Adam and Eve being created, he surely thought they were the strangest beings he had ever seen. They were made in God's image and they had a capacity to fellowship with God that not even the angels possessed. Satan knew he would do everything possible to get them to side with him in his attack on God.

Adam and Eve were different in another way. They could reproduce themselves. When the angels sinned they acted individually. The decision of one angel did not necessarily directly affect another angel. This was not true of humans. If Adam and Eve were to sin, they would thereby contaminate all humans to follow. Satan therefore took a special interest in these new strange creatures. He was on hand to hear the instructions God gave the original parents. They could eat of every tree in the garden except one. There was one “No” among thousands of “YESES”.

Now we begin to gain a glimpse into the satanic mind. Jesus commented later on this very moment in John 8:44 “... he is a liar and the father of lies...”. He does not come forward as the devil but rather disguised as one of the beautiful creatures, changing himself into something he is not to deceive those he intends to convert. He does not come to frighten but to encourage and to instruct.

The serpent was likely a beautiful creature originally and far from being afraid of this creature, Eve seemed somewhat attracted or at least fascinated, not knowing she was being captivated by a being who sought her destruction.  Satan has not changed his tactic  throughout history. He did not appear to King David as a demon being but rather showed David the naked beauty of a woman and like Eve, David did not say no. We cannot misunderstand how Satan works. He gives us what we think we want. Sometimes he brings blatant lies, but sometimes mixes lies and truth. When we are intrigued by the truth part we are then open to the deception part.

Satan's first lie to Eve and Adam was to pervert their opinion of God. He begins with a small thought, “... did God say?...”. He creeps doubt into the mind, He makes it appear that God said no because he does not want you to be like Him, knowing much more than you do. God is deceiving you. Instead of the many sources of good fruit, Satan was able to bring focus on the one source forbidden. David had many women in his palace, but Satan showed him the one he had not yet possessed.

We are lured by temptation because we come to think that God does not know best for us, we do. The serpent substitutes confusion for understanding. Satan tells Eve they will be like God, which was Satan's pure desire for himself. So they ate, and Satan was proven wrong. Just as God had promised, they died. Their bodies, before perfect, began that day to age and decay toward death physically. But that moment they died spiritually as they were then separated from God.  Unless God intervened, they would also die eternally.

Eve sinned:

• She saw and became curious.

• She took and became a thief.

• She ate and became a rebel.

• She gave and became a temptress.

Adam made no objection. He ate when she gave to him. The tree was not a bad tree. All that God had created He Himself termed good. The tree was simply a test to see  if man would obey the voice of God or the voice of a serpent who claimed to speak for God and clearly had beguiled his wife. Adam's first great sin was not eating of the forbidden tree. It was harkening to the voice of his wife instead of to the voice of God 

(Genesis 3:17). Eve was deceived but Adam ate knowingly. Adam and Eve discovered what Satan already knew. Disobedience brings unpredictable results. In Eden the crown of creation slipped from Adam's head. Satan picked it up and crowned himself. Satan would now treat the world as if it belonged to him but this was only his first step. Now he wanted worship from man as man came to continue to yield to his temptations.

Adam and Eve were judged by the removal of the close fellowship God had put into place, even walking and talking with them each day in the garden. Satan was judged by the promise that his serpent would crawl in dust and more importantly, would be defeated by the redeemer to come. (Genesis 3:15).

Now we are allowed to see for ourselves the original plan of God for His creation.

We must accept that all that happened was under His control. Our scriptural truth of that fact is found in Hebrews 1:3: “... controls all things through the word of his power...”.

Paul was allowed to know how God's plan was unfolding and when it began. He shared it with us in his letter to Titus, chapter 1, verses 2-3:

“In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour... “. 

God made a promise before the ages began and this does not mean  the ages of creation, but in eternity past. Hebrews 13:20 is even more specific:

“... our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant”.

Clearly this covenant made before the world and being everlasting, was made not with either angels or men. It was made among the members of the Trinity. God, the Father, who loves the Son perfectly, promised Him a gift of redeemed humanity and a special expression of that love. The fall of man and his coming redemption was not only foreknown but was a part of the plan from the beginning of all things. This is why Jesus continued to refer to His people as “those that the Father gives me” (John 6:37 & 10:29 & 17:9). Those who would be redeemed were already written in the Book of Life long before Eve touched the forbidden fruit.

The grace of God and His justice and love would be put on display as His plan unfolds. As for Lucifer, now Satan, he would continue to exist for the glory of God, just as he had done in ages past.