The first book of the Bible tells us that God was pleased with the way he had made his creation, including man: “Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way” (Genesis 1:31).
The apostle Paul explains further: “From one man (i.e. Adam) he created all the nations throughout the whole earth” (Acts 17:26).
Genesis continues to recount the story of the start of man’s rebellion against God. It begins with the way Satan - in the appearance of a serpent - questions God’s trustworthiness: “Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. ‘Really?’ he asked the woman (i.e. Eve, Adam's wife). ‘Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1).
From Eve’s answer it is clear that she knew what God had said: “‘Of course we may eat it,’ the woman told him. ‘It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die’” (Genesis 3:2).
Next Satan starts to denounce God as a liar and adversary in an attempt to destroy the personal and loving relationship between man and God: “‘You won't die!’ the serpent hissed. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it...’” (Genesis 3:4-5).
Then Satan tries to set man up against God. He seduces man with the enticement to become a ‘god’ himself: “You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
We continue to read that man yielded to Satan’s temptation to become an autonomous being, a ‘god’ in his own right. In doing so man, changed his allegiance: he put himself under Satan’s dominance and became a rebel, resisting God’s authority.
Consequently, man could not remain in God’s pure and holy presence anymore. The personal and intimate relationship between God and man was dead. His pure and true love for God (“with all his heart, all his soul, and all his mind”) was gone.
The apostle Paul elucidates this story when he says: “When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned" (Romans 5:12).
Yet, Genesis tells us also that God continues to love us in spite of our rebellion; he had already promised Adam and Eve a future mediator who would rescue man from the dominion of Satan, darkness and death.
The apostle John explains: “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work” (1 John 3:8).
The apostle Paul points to the salvation of our rebellious heart and to the liberation from Satan’s domination, when he jubilates: “He (i.e. God) has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). That is a transformation which all true followers of Jesus have experienced.
So, who is Satan or the devil? Does he really exist? Next time we will see what the Bible tells us about him.
All Bible verses are quoted from the ‘New Living Translation’, except 1 John 3:8 (‘New International Version’).
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