Man was created perfect, in peaceful submission to God. God created human beings as the best part of his creation. God said everything was “good,”and there was no sin. Prophet Adam and his wife, Eve, lived in peace and they were not ashamed of anything:
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Genesis 2.25
However, this beautiful world of love and peace was broken through the work of Satan. It was this evil spirit who decided to destroy the perfect work of God. Almighty God had given Adam and Eve one simple thing to stay away from, a rule to follow. Following this command would show Adam and Eve’s desire to live at peace with their creator:
And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2.16-17
Satan, in the form of a serpent (a snake) saw this rule as an chance to tempt the man and the woman. Read the following verses as given to Prophet Moses and weep over the fall of our father and mother:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3.1-7
It is true that God had commanded Adam and his wife to keep the beautiful garden and to eat freely from the trees. But he also gave them a limit, one tree they should not even touch. God had created man with a sense of right and wrong. We call this moral judgment. They could choose to do good or evil. This gave human beings the ability to obey God and honor their friendship with Almighty God. However, Satan wanted to take glory away from God and destroy the beauty and goodness of creation. Satan used lies to tempt man into breaking God’s command. Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lie, and rebelled against God’s command.
We read descriptions of Satan, the evil one, in other books in the Bible. For example, look at the very last part of the New Testament, called Revelation, recorded by the Apostle John:
The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him… Therefore rejoice you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child… Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 12.9, 12-13, 17
Through our failure to follow God’s commands, Satan continues his war against our Father and God.