GENESIS 3:1-6 - PARADISE LOST

The Origin & Consequence of Sin

Part 1

INTRODUCTION

In Genesis three we are confronted with the origin of sin & evil with its consequences of chaos, conflict, guilt, shame, separation and death. It also shows us why we need a Savior and how that would happen.

THE TEMPTER 3:1  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

The term for “serpent” in the Hebrew (nachash), is a common word used of snakes in general. However, this was not just any ordinary snake because this snake could talk.

This serpent was a being opposed to God. He was deceptive, hostile, and bent on destroying the moral innocence of the first couple.

Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 refers to the “Old Serpent” as none other than Satan himself, who has led an age-long angelic rebellion against God and His plan for mankind.

In the New Testament we read of evil spirits (fallen angels) possessing not only people but pigs (Mark 5). Satan on this occasion chose the serpent as the one most suitable for his purposes.

There has been among scholars much speculation as to whether the serpent was originally able to stand upright. The Hebrew word “nachash”, some maintain, originally meant “shining, upright creature”.

God did not make Satan evil. Everything God made (including Satan) was good, and evil did not exist in His creation. That means that something happened to Satan between the end of creation and the fall of man.

Genesis is silent about the creation of angels, only describing them as “the host of heaven” (2:1). They were most likely brought into existence on the first day of creation.

When the Bible speaks of angels, it speaks of them as “messengers” created by God for a variety of ministries around God’s throne. They had various ranks and positions of authority: “principalities and powers” (Romans 8:38).

The greatest of these created spirit-beings or angels was one called Lucifer (“son of the morning”) found in Isaiah 14:12-15.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

The sin for which Lucifer is condemned is a sin that arose from his own heart. It is the sin of pride. He wanted to exalt his throne above all others and “be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14). He literally intended to usurp the throne of God.

This fallen angelic creature Lucifer is in fact Satan. Jesus seems to confirm this when He said in Luke 10:18 I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. Satan did not fall alone. According to Revelation 12:4, a third of the angels in heaven went with him.

Another Old Testament passage that speaks of Satan is Ezekiel 28:11-19. This passage is addressed to the king of Tyre but was a prophetic message from God to Satan.

Satan was “perfect in all his ways”, and he continued that way for some time after man’s creation until “iniquity was found in him” (Ezek. 28:15). The evil did not come from his Maker nor was he tempted from without.

No doubt God had assured Satan that He had created him but he somehow began to doubt God’s word. In doubting God’s word, Satan deceived himself into thinking he himself could usurp God’s throne.

Thinking he could challenge God for His throne, Satan led a third of the angels in an unsuccessful rebellion to overthrow Him.

Instead of being sent immediately to the lake of fire, Satan and the fallen angels were cast down to the earth.  There Satan sought out man whom God had created in His image, in hopes usurping his dominion over the earth by getting him to disobey God.

Lucifer, the “morning star”, became Satan, the “adversary,” or “accuser,” opposing and undermining God and all His purposes.

The fall of the angels (Satan included) and man, shows that any creature not made immutably holy (unable to sin) will in due time rise up in rebellion against God and sin.

The difference between the fallen angels (Satan included) and fallen man is that there was no Savior sent to redeem any of the fallen angels.