A common theme among many comments posted by Bible sceptics on several hubs is pervasive and persistent: ‘Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?’ After all, even a blind man can see that disaster, disease, disorder and moral decline are endemic in a world Christians claim was made by a good God. A hurricane hits; an earthquake strikes; a flood devastates, and millions of innocent men, women and children are wiped out: And do not even some Christians refer to many such calamities as Acts of God? Some believers react with fatalistic resignation: ‘Well, the ways of the Lord are a mystery too deep for us to understand’. Others counter by reasoning that it is not our good God who visits such suffering on humanity but ‘…the great dragon…the old serpent called Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world’. (Revelation 12:9)

That last one sounds good and is certainly a mantra of common resort, popular with many believers but, as any astute atheist soon realises, it plays right into the sceptic’s hands by still begging the inevitable question: ‘Why did God create the devil and why on earth did he put him in the Garden of Eden?’ Ouch! That’s a sharp observation. And a very hard question to answer if you’re not fully conversant with what the Bible actually teaches as opposed to much of the tradition that has masqueraded as wisdom for centuries. I want to change all that. In this hub I will show you what the Bible actually says, then explain what that means and open your eyes to some profoundly deep truths that have been hidden in plain sight for millennia.

But first, let’s start In-the-Beginning which is the literal rendering of the single word that opens the first book of the Bible and is its name in Hebrew – Bereshith. Many years later, as the Jewish people wandered far from Jerusalem, a group of seventy scholars were commissioned to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into a Greek version that even Jesus would later quote from. Called the Septuagint after the Greek for seventy, in it Bereshith was translated as Genesis – meaning Creation, verse one of which famously says:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Just seven words in the original Hebrew, I could write an entire hub just dissecting the richness of this first verse, but right now I’d like to focus on what God created: ‘the heavens and the earth’, about which the second verse tells us a little bit more:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…

Theologians have argued about this verse for centuries. Precisely how could the earth exist, yet be ‘without form and void’? It seems to describe a counterintuitive phenomenon, or at least it did until science explained it for us. You see, if you wanted to create a universe beginning with absolutely nothing you'd need to make three things: Space, time and energy. They are so fundamental in fact as to be physically inseparable. You have to create space for energy to exist in, and you cannot create space without time, which is why Einstein gave us the concept of the four-dimensional space-time continuum. This property of the triune interdependence of energy, space and time mirrors its Creator because in such a relationship the constituents are described by a word the Bible uses of God: hupostasis, which we usually write as hypostasis. This is a fundamental basis of being that undergirds the entity of which it is part and is quite a difficult concept to get our heads around which when applied to God, the early theologians preferred to describe as Persons of a triunity. In other words, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not optional components of God’s being but his very essence – they define him.

And likewise, our universe is composed of energy, space and time. But what about matter? Well, Einstein explained that for us as well, in his famous equation E = mc². What this states is the incredible equivalence of matter and energy. In other words, matter is simply energy in a consolidated form and the equation is reversible – you make matter from energy or energy from matter; the latter process providing the power source of the stars and of nuclear weapons. So, Boom! In an instant, God created the physical universe out of nothing: energy, space and time. And from the enormous energy released formed all matter. But matter in its most fundamental state has no form. It is simply a swirling miasma of energetic vibration which quantum physicists call strings. Together, they can combine to form quarks and electrons, protons, neutrons, leptons, mesons and a dazzling host of other subatomic particles before combining further into atoms, molecules and life.

Strings are amazing; without them the physical universe could not exist, yet at the outset they have no form and the space they occupy would appear empty and void. Now, if you’re having a bit of a problem in grasping all of these convoluted, esoteric scientific concepts, imagine the difficulty Moses would have had. So God wrapped the whole lot up for him in a few simple verses. So, by the end of the first verse God had created the heavens and the earth – not just our planet and outer space but the whole universe and the heavenly realms beyond. According to Genesis the process of furnishing the earth and finally installing mankind took God six days, but when were the angels created? – On Day One. And how do we know that? Because God mentions in Job 38:5-7,

Who has determined the measures [of the earth’s foundations], if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it? On what are its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

‘Morning stars’ and ‘sons of God’ are terms describing the angels who God tells us sang and shouted for joy as they witnessed the Earth’s creation, and since that was on Day One we know the angels had already been created.

But weren’t the angels created squillions of years earlier? Not in my Bible they weren’t, because Exodus 20:11 asserts:

For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Same sequence and same terms as in Genesis 1:1 because the original Hebrew still says: ‘the heavens and the earth’. The heavens first, then the earth.

But aren’t the heavens just the sky and outer space? Again, no, they’re more than that because Colossians 1:16 adds:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him…

Uh huh! – So that’ll be the Klingon thrones and Vulcan dominions, eh? And the invisible principalities were probably hidden behind a Romulan cloaking device. Good news for Trekkies, but hard cheese for theological hoop-jumpers and their squillion-year-old angelic host. As for me, I take ‘all things’ to mean everything – and everyone.

Or how about John 1:3 where 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' famously claims:

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

So why did God create the angels? At the risk of boring you – the Bible tells us in Hebrews 1:14.

Are [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Both noun and verb, minister can mean 'serve' or refer to the one serving, so angels are ‘all serving spirits, sent forth to serve them who shall be heirs of salvation'. Whoa! Hang on a minute and just run that by me again: Angels are all serving spirits, sent to serve God’s children. You mean all of them? Well, in my Bible that’s what the Greek pantes means. ‘Heirs of salvation’ are now those saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ but before the Fall every human being was God’s heir. Angels were created not just to serve God, but to serve us. Almighty God is infinitely capable, and managed to create an entire universe without breaking into a sweat, so he hardly needs angels to carry his bags for him. By the time Adam appeared on the scene the angels had been around for six days, which is not to presume that the six days of God’s presence as they experienced them in the eternal realm of the third heaven mirrored what we might experience as six days here on earth. After all, God’s word reveals ‘that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ (2 Peter 3:8b) So the angels may well have enjoyed what would seem to us like six thousand or even six million years in God’s presence, which is something worth thinking about.

So, now that we’ve established when the angels were created and what they were created for, let me introduce you to one of the few among them whose name we know: Helyel ben Shachar. It may not be a name that is immediately familiar because it was changed by the Bible translator Jerome who wrote the Latin Vulgate in which he rendered the Hebrew Helyel as Lucifer (Light Bearer) since Helyel ben Shachar means ‘Light Bringer, Son of the Dawn’, which should ring a bell if you remember Job 38:5-7 which we read earlier, where God calls the angelic host ‘Morning stars’.

Helyel was a cherub: one of the mighty angelic class called the Chrubim whose name derives from a Hebrew root that means draw together or bring close, with a connotation possibly influenced by the Akkadian for blessing, praise and worship. Cherubim (plural) ministered directly before God’s throne and in Ezekiel 28:12-14, the prophet adds to our understanding:

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, "Thus says the Lord Yahweh; ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your timbrels and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. You are the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set you so: you were upon the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.’" (Emphasis mine)

‘The anointed cherub that covers’ and ‘present in Eden; who walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire’ are hardly terms that describe a mere mortal. Helyel was of supreme angelic rank and phenomenally gifted. His anointing speaks of ordained and exalted holy office, just as any king, prophet or priest would be anointed. But Ezekiel goes on to tell us that something went terribly wrong which ultimately led to Helyel’s catastrophic downfall and disgrace:

You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the multitude of your trade they have filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour: I will cast you to the ground, I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you. (Ezekiel 28:15-17)

How tragic that this covering cherub was expelled from heaven by God. But what has any of that to do with us? We part of the answer in Isaiah 14:12-15 where the prophet names the cherub and reveals some more of the jigsaw.

How are you fallen from heaven, O Helel ben Shachar! How are you cut down to the ground, who did weaken 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 sit also upon the mount of the congregation,

in 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 sides of the pit… (emphasis mine)

Some have placed a great deal of store in the unwarranted assumption that Helyel (who we will now call Lucifer) led an angelic rebellion that saw him exiled to earth where he eventually tempted mankind. It is further surmised that these events occurred eons before man’s creation but, as we have seen, that contradicts Scripture which reveals a very different scenario. As we’ve already seen, Scripture inescapably points to God’s six-day creation accounting for absolutely everything that exists, including every creature in heaven and earth, among them every angel and every cherub, right up to Lucifer himself, whom Ezekiel tells us was ’perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you…’

But just when did that happen? Was it before or after Lucifer entered Eden? Again, the Bible provides the answer, in Genesis 1:31.

And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

‘Very good’ is ‘tov maod’ and is how you would politely respond to the Hebrew greeting: ‘Ma shlomcha? (‘Ma shlomech?’ if addressing a lady) - ‘How’s your peace?’

So, the world was hunky dory for six days, then God rested on the seventh. And in the Beginning, humanity consisted of just two people – Adam and his wife, Mr and Mrs Person to use modern parlance, because Adam means Mankind, and the two sexes were simply distinguished as Ish (Man) and Ishshah (Woman). The name Eve (Chavvah) was not given to Adam’s wife until after the Fall. As God’s appointed heirs and the very pinnacle of his Creation, the Adam family merited the very highest angelic attention. Certainly, it would have been unthinkable for God to have stinted in his lavish provision for his own royal children and indeed God commissioned his most exalted and able servant to guide and mentor the couple made in his own image and after his likeness – which explains Lucifer’s presence in Eden. Why he chose to appeared as a serpent is not explained. Perhaps, as spirit Lucifer lacked Adam’s physical form, or perhaps his serpentine form reflected his spiritual appearance, because serpents in the Bible are sometimes synonymous with dragons (Revelation 12:9) – those creatures whom later generations would call dinosaurs. Perhaps Lucifer appeared to them as a beautiful raptor or clad as a chameleon. Certainly the Woman was not fazed when spoken by a reptile, so we might surmise that she and her husband were already familiar with such conversations.

The temptation account is very familiar so I’ll just pinpoint a few important highlights that clarify what happened. The serpentine cherub tempted Ishshah to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then give some to her husband who was right there beside her because, as Genesis 3:6 says:

…the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Take special note of that verse because I’ll be coming back to it later, as it explains almost everything that subsequently transpired. This was the instant, according to Paul, in Romans 5:12, that sin and death entered the world. Hitherto, God had deemed all Creation Very Good. Henceforth the whole universe would be accursed. So, the answer to the question of why a good God put a bad devil in Eden is, he didn’t. Lucifer had not sinned up to this point and had therefore not fallen when God originally commissioned him to minister to his children in the Garden.

Ok, some may concede; your scenario seems to fit the facts outlined in Scripture. But that doesn’t explain why Lucifer tempted mankind. Wasn’t it all rather sudden? When did the idea occur to him and why didn’t God intervene sooner to stop what he must have known Lucifer was contemplating? Does the Bible give us any clue? Indeed it does.

Remember Lucifer’s ambitious boasts of Isaiah 14?

‘I will ascend into heaven…exalt my throne above the stars of God… etcetera, [and] will be like the most High.’

Many suppose from this that Lucifer was declaring his intention to usurp God’s throne but that flies in the face of Ezekiel’s own admission that Lucifer was ‘the seal of perfection, full of wisdom…’ Listen, Lucifer might not have been wise, but he wasn’t stupid. You don’t take on God and win, and he knew it. So what was he thinking of? The answer is found in the New Testament where Paul reveals God’s promises in Ephesians 1:19-22.

And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us, the ones believing according to the working of his mighty strength which he worked in Christ in raising him from the dead, and he seated him at his right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name being named, not only in this world, but also in the coming age. And he has put all things under his feet and gave him to be Head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Moreover, Ephesians 2:4-7 reveals that God intended to make these promises to Jesus available to all believers. They were always his desire for those he had created in his own image.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us (even when we were dead in sins) has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), and has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

And what did Lucifer claim for himself?

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning…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.'

Do you see the parallel between God’s promises to mankind, revealed in Ephesians 1 and 2, and Lucifer’s claims in Isaiah 14:13-14?

God's promises to mankind, through Jesus are that he will be...

1...seated...at God’s right hand in the heavenly places,

2...far above all principality and power and might and dominion,

and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

3...all things under [our] feet,

4...head over all things...

Lucifer claimed that he would...

1...ascend into heaven,

2a...exalt my throne above the stars of God;

2b...also sit on the mount of the congregation, On the farthest sides of the north;

3...ascend above the heights of the clouds,

4...be like the Most High.

If you compare God’s promises to man with Lucifer’s claims for himself they are essentially the same, from which we see that Lucifer did not covet God’s throne as has often been taught, but man’s position at the right hand of the God on that throne. Because the right hand is the hand of God’s favour and power, and that’s where Lucifer wanted to be. For whatever reason Lucifer appears to have considered the man God formed from the dust unworthy of God’s special favour when compared to a glorious spirit being like himself. Maybe he resented what he perceived as the demotion of being sent to serve man on earth, banished from God’s throne in heaven. Or was it the loss of the splendour he enjoyed in heaven? Or did the truth acknowledged by the psalmist slowly dawn on a Lucifer blinded to man’s God-given potential. No matter, whatever Lucifer's innermost desires, they twisted him.

For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honour. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.

(Psalm 8:5-6)

I should briefly mention here that some argue that the word translated angels (elohim) in this passage should be translated God but both in the Septuagint and in Hebrews 2:7 which quote it, the Greek word employed is aggeloi or angels.

But irrespective of Lucifer’s precise motives, his heart was darkened, and contrived to tempt man to disobey God for two reasons:

Firstly, in sinning Adam would expose his unworthiness to receive God’s favour, which the Lord would then rightfully confer upon Lucifer.

Secondly, Lucifer understood two immutable universal principles that govern the exercise of legitimate authority, which are that true authority is inseparable from responsibility. In other words, whatever we are responsible for we have authority over and vice versa, so if Lucifer could provoke man into renouncing his responsibility, he would cause him to relinquish his authority. Also, true authority is given, not taken. So it was essential that Adam would give his authority to Lucifer: Lucifer could not seize it unilaterally. And that was the subtle sophistication with which Lucifer wove his web of deceit. Moreover, Lucifer was so wrapped up in his own self-righteous self-importance that it never occurred to him that he was doing anything wrong. Nor could God yet condemn him in a creation still subject to God’s kingdom law of grace.

Tragically, all of that changed the moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit his wife picked from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Instantly, they became aware of guilt and shame for the first time because the tree represented what Romans 8:2 calls, ‘the law of sin and death’. In the same instant the Tree of Life, representing God’s grace in the person of Jesus the Logos, was cut off from mankind and the world was transformed from Paradise to Hell on Earth. Grace is God’s undeserved favour. It cannot be earned, bought, or merited. The law however, is a hard taskmaster: lethally rigid and unwaveringly condemning, it demands blood for every transgression (Hebrews 9:22), whereas any favour offered under it must be hard-earned and fully deserved in return for perfect conduct. Thus mankind fell from grace in what should have been Lucifer’s greatest coup. Adam’s sin made it patently obvious that mankind was unworthy of God’s special favour. Surely now, God would recognise Lucifer as his new Viceroy of the earth and hand him the seal of dominion, because was not man’s inheritance now rightfully his?

What actually happened was a whole lot worse than Lucifer could ever have imagined, because he had failed to factor in the infinite wisdom of God.

It was not God who deposed Adam, but Adam’s own surrender to the deceiver’s blandishments which freely yielded Lucifer his dominion.

We see this whole process unfold in Genesis 3:9-13.

And Yahweh Elohim called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"

And he said, "I have heard your sound in the garden, and I was afraid, for I am naked, and I hid myself."

And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

And the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she has given to me of the tree, and I ate."

And Yahweh Elohim said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

We see hear God’s view of appointed authority, because he went to the man first, as his senior representative on Earth. When Adam blamed his wife, he passed not only the blame onto her but his authority along with it. For a brief moment in history a wife held full and legitimate authority over her husband. But how would she use it? We quickly find out when God turns and asks her to take responsibility. But she too gave it away, this time to the serpent and, by blaming him, gave him all he that he wanted.

It must have been music to Lucifer’s ears, because out of their own mouths each human being had denied their responsibility for their own actions and thereby relinquished their authority, which now belonged to Lucifer. The problem for Lucifer was that in so doing, the woman had given him more than he had bargained for because although God had demanded an account of the man and his wife, he made no such demand of Lucifer but merely pronounced judgement: beginning with the serpent, who by now was the rightful authority, then the woman who had lately given that authority to the serpent and lastly to the man who had given his authority to his wife.

Too late, a horrified Lucifer realised the truth he had been fatally blinded to; although God had seen it all along. Yes, man’s inheritance was now his and he had become ‘god of this world’ (2 Corinthians 4:4) but in acquiring Adam’s legacy of dominion Lucifer had inherited a poisoned chalice which was now tainted by the very sin he had incited Adam to commit. By eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Adam had rejected by default the Tree of Life and instead of grace was now subject to law and condemnation. The problem for Lucifer was that that was now his inheritance, too.

It had always perplexed me why a good God, who must have seen into Lucifer’s heart, had not stopped him from tempting Adam, but I now saw that God had no legal grounds to do so because, as Paul says in Romans 5:12-13,

Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned: for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

This is a crucial text which refutes the falsehood that God permitted an evil devil to enter Eden because had God done so sin would not have entered the world by Adam but by Satan and Paul’s assertion would have been a lie. From it we are able to deduce that Lucifer had not fallen prior to Adam and it also explains why God could not prevent him from tempting mankind. To have done so would have been unjust because there was no law in effect to prohibit it, only grace.

Nevertheless, as God foresaw, Lucifer was hoist by his own petard. Because what Lucifer failed to foresee were the moral consequences that would befall him for his actions. It must have seemed like the perfect crime, so to speak, because in tempting Adam Lucifer was breaking no law, but if successful would ensure Adam’s downfall. Indeed, so self-deluded was Lucifer that he even imagined he was doing God a favour by exposing man’s fallibility. There was only one law in the universe, prohibiting mankind from eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, so Lucifer must have thought himself untouchable as a spirit who he was neither tempted to eat the fruit nor even liable had he done so. It was, ‘Heads I win, tails Adam loses’.

What he had overlooked were two vital principles triggered by Adam’s sin. The first, as we have already seen, was ‘the law of sin and death’. No longer under grace, man was now liable to judgement and, as Adam’s successor, Lucifer now inherited that liability. The second, contingent on the law that now pertained, was the legal principle of accession which works as follows. Any person who aids, abets, counsels, procures or incites another to commit any offence is considered an accessory to the act and may be indicted as a principal even though they do not personally participate in it. In law, the principal is the person who actually does the deed, as opposed to the accessory who merely colludes in it. In Scotland, for instance women have been convicted of rape because acting as accessories they facilitated the perpetrator, even though they could not commit the act itself. And so it was that after God had confronted Adam and his wife following their part in sinning against him, we read in Genesis 3:14-15,

And Yahweh Elohim said to the serpent, "Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

Lucifer was aghast the instant he heard the words, "Because you have done this…" because until that moment he had considered himself in the clear. There was only one law in the universe and he hadn’t broken it…or so he thought. But he never reckoned on the woman’s incriminating statement in verse 13:

And Yahweh Elohim said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

There you are – he was guilty of deceiving the woman. Actually no. Legally, he was guilty as an accessory to eating the fruit. God had him, and a horrified Lucifer realised for the first time that Adam’s downfall meant his own doom: In the very instant Adam fell, so did he. Too late Lucifer found himself accursed, cast down and the bearer of a new name: Adversary or Satan. It was the most famous sacking in history. Or, as Jesus said in Luke 10:18, "…I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."

And that's why Satan hates men and resents God. Ever self-righteous, Satan blames mankind for his own predicament. Called ‘the accuser of our brethren’ in Revelation 12:10, he delights in spitefully instilling guilt in those God has forgiven and calls saints. Epitomising the fallen nature, he feels justified and vindicated by our condemnation. Surprisingly prudish, and even puritanical; he is by nature spiteful, censorious and judgemental, which is why Jesus said this to the Pharisees in John 8:44,

"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

That’s why Jesus was always on the Pharisees’ case. As human beings, he loved every one of them, but as sanctimonious self-righteous prigs they were every inch their father’s children – sons of Satan. And sadly, too many Christians have walked in their footsteps to this day. You know the ones I mean – who comb the tabloids and yellow press, or hang on every word of church gossip in search of something they can be disgusted by. It was a shocking revelation when God first showed me this aspect of Satan’s true nature because I had always imagined him laughing gleefully whenever we sin. In fact, his reaction is one of scorn and derision as his innate self-righteousness vents its distain at our conduct. Which is not to say that Satan derives no pleasure whatsoever from our vices, but that his gratification manifests in the incorrigible smugness and tutting schadenfreude of the consummate agent provocateur. Nor can Satan can never repent or be forgiven because Jesus did not die for his sins. As an immortal spirit, he can never satisfy the law’s demand for blood atonement, nor could Jesus satisfy it for him.

But I promised we would revisit Genesis 3:6 to unearth a few more truths.

And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

The crucial clause here is she ‘saw that the tree was…desirable to make one wise’, which is often overlooked, but explains God’s judgements subsequently proclaimed over the couple because, sadly, there’s a cost in wrongdoing, even when we are deceived, but God is merciful and ever inclined to grace, so after disposing of Satan, he did what he could to bless the couple who had sinned.

He said to the woman, "I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception; you shall bear sons in sorrow, and your desire shall be toward your husband; and he shall rule over you."

And He said to the man, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’, the ground shall be cursed because of you; you shall eat of it in sorrow all the days of your life. And it shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the plant of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until your return to the ground. For you have been taken out of it; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:16-19)

To many people those sound like curses but for the most part are merely pronouncing the consequences of the couple’s own behaviour.

For instance, God did not say he would make the woman’s labour more painful but that, just as the man would now have to painfully toil to produce the fruit of the earth, so would she in producing fruit from her womb. What God would multiply was her fertility but this too, in a fallen world, would be a source of anxiety and pain, as she would discover with the birth of her twins Cain and Abel. Likewise, God did not curse the ground but merely warned Adam that the path he had chosen would be a hard one, toiling in an environment which Adam himself had cursed.

But God also promised that a Redeemer would one day arise from womankind to crush the head of Satan, thereby prophesying the coming Messiah and the virgin birth.

Yet, even in expelling him God extended mercy to Satan. Eternal banishment from God’s presence is a punishment so insufferable that there was no need for God to rub it in. Instead, God chose to doom the one who once ‘walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire’ in a familiar environment described by Jesus as ‘everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’ (Matthew 25:41b) That place is called Gehenna and the day of Satan’s final banishment has not yet come, but it’s not an environment amenable to humanity, nor was it ever meant to be. You don’t want to go there. And I don’t recommend the company.