Since the ruleship of this earth was a true gift from God to man, man had the legal right to do with it as he chose. Because it was given to man the earth was no longer in direct control of God. When Adam sinned he gave control of the earth to Satan. “The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.” (John 12:31) Satan became the legal and actual ruler of this world.
“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1)
Satan is real. He is not just a man in a red suit with horns. He is real and he wants to defeat you as a Christian. We live in a world that is currently under the control of Satan. “You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.” (Ephesians 2:2) Satan is our enemy and he is out to destroy us. The church approaches this reality in two ways. They ignore the problem and hope that it will go away. They spend too much time talking about Satan and seeing him under every bush and causing the world’s entire problems. We need to balance our approach to dealing with Satan, James tells us how. “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” (James 4:7-8)
Dr. Scott Peck a psychiatrist wrote his book, “Glimpes of the Devil,” to prove that there was no Satan. Then he met a patient that changed his mind. He tells the story of this patient and others that he had no doubt that they were under the control of Satan. After writing the book, he returned to his Christian roots because he was convinced that Satan was real. Yes, Satan is real and he will fight you all the way, but we have the victory over Satan because Jesus defeated Satan with His blood on the Cross.
“Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:8-9
This was God’s plan for His creation. He wanted someone that He could have fellowship with and in the garden He would walk with Adam and talk with Adam. He loved His creation and wanted the best for His creation. Just as today, God wants the best for us. He wants to give us good gifts. Just as He planted the trees in the garden so that man would have all the food that he needed. God wants to meet our needs today. He wants us to trust Him with all of our heart.
“Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.” Genesis 3:22-23
Genesis 3 tells the story of paradise lost by the willfulness of human sin. Humanity was originally given every perfect thing they could need or want, and virtually no restrictions. Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey their good Creator. Immediately overcome by shame and quickly cursed by God, the painful story of human history begins with their exit from the Garden of Eden. This was paradise lost. Humans have been looking for the Garden of Eden ever since Adam and Eve were banished from this paradise. They did not want to leave the Garden because this is where they had fellowship with God. They did not want to lose this fellowship, because God did put in there spirit a longing for this fellowship. Today humans are still looking for the Garden of Eden. They use sex, drugs and anything else that will allow them to think that they are in paradise. This is one of the tricks of Satan. He wants to give us a false Garden so that we will not look for God and that relationship that is built through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This longing for the Garden can only be filled by Jesus Christ. More coming in part 3.