HOW SIN CAME INTO THE WORLD
When God created the world, He made everything beautiful and good. But now many things are not beautiful and not good. There is sickness and death. There is hatred and fighting. There are selfish and wicked people. Sin has spoiled God's wonderful world.
The Bible tells us how sin came into the world. First, some of the angels rebelled against God; then man rebelled against God. Let us consider these two rebellions.
1. The rebellion of the angels
When God created the angles, He placed one angel over all other angels. His name was Lucifer. He was the most beautiful, the most pwerful and the wisest of all the angels in Heaven.
It seems that for time after he was created, this mighty angel loved God and obeyed Him perfectly. But a time came when Lucifer chose to rebel against God. Because he was so beautiful and so powerful, Lucifer's heart was lifted up with pride. He decided that he should be God! He rebelled against God. He said in his 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...
I WILL ascent above the heights of the clouds;
I WILL be like the most High (GOD) " Isaiah 14:13,14
God saw what in Lucifer's heart and He cast him down from his exalted position. His name was changed from Lucifier which means " lightbearer to Satan,which means "adversary" or "enemy". Satan is the enemy of God and our enemy as well.
The angels who followed Satan are called " fallen angels",while those remained true to God are called" Holy angels". Satan and his fallen angles were cast out of Heaven. Satan, along with the angels that followed him, set up a kingdom opposed to God.
Ever since Satan's rebellion, there have been two spiritual kingdoms in the universe-the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God.
Satan's kingdom is the kingdom of darkness, God's kingdom is the kingdom of Light.
Satan's kingdom is the kingdom of rebellion. God's kingdom is the kingdom of obedience.Satan's kingdo is the kingdom of hate, lies and wickedness; God's kingdom is the kingdom of love, truth and righteousness. Between these two kingdoms there is constant warfare.
God is the Almighty God, and He will not permit this rebellion against Him to go on forever. One day satan and his fallen angles and all those people who have followed him will be cast into the lake of fire, where they will be punished forever and ever. But right now, God is giving people the opportunity to choose whom they will follow-God or satan.
2.The rebellion of man
When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, He told them that they could eat of every tree in the garden except one-"the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"
God commanded them not to eat the tree and warned them that , if they disobeyed Him, they would surely die.. God said,
".. in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die," Genesis 2:17
One day, satan in the form of serpent, came into the garden. His purpose was to deceive Eve. Satan told Eve that she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit. He told her that she and her husband could become as gods by eating this fruit. Eve believed Satan's lie. She took the forbidden fruit and ate it.
When Adam returned, Eve offered the fruit to him. No doubt, she told him what the serpent had said about how they would become as gods by eating the fruit. Adam had to make a choice. He knew what God had said. God had plainly told him that eating the forbidden fruit would result in death. Adam was not deceived by what Satan had told Eve. He knew better! Nevertheless.Adam took the fruit and ate it.
The sin of rebellion was followed by an act of disobedience. Adam took the forbidden fruit and ate it. Adam had followed Satan in his rebellion against God. Adam and Eve died spiritually the very day they disobeyed God.
They no longer would have fellowship with their Creator. Sin had come between them and God. No longer would they be able to eat from the beautiful trees in the garden. Hereafter, Adam would have to work hard to get food. Eve would be subject to her husband and would bear children in sorrow and pain. Even the ground would be cursed because of their sin.
Of all the things that happened to Adam and Eve as a result of their disobedience the worst was this :They were separated from God. But God still loved Adam and Eve and on that same day He made a wonderful promise to them. That one day He would send a Savior. That Savior would be God's own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He would die for the sins of the world.
Note: This article taken from the book entitled :" The New Life in Christ"
