event is spread throughout the Bible, with only the aftermath being addressed in Genesis, it is easily overlooked. In what must have been a fierce battle, God’s army of loyal angels, led by Michael, their commander,1 struggled against Satan (the great dragon2) and the many angels that rebelled with him. Revelation — the last book of the Bible — seems to indicate that a third of all angels fought against God’s authority and were cast down to earth.3 The prophet Ezekiel also refers to Satan being cast down.4 Defeated in heaven, Satan continued his rebellion on earth, where man had been given dominion.5 In the Garden of Eden, Satan spoke through a serpent in order to entice mankind to follow him rather than God.
Many assume that the heavenly battle of the angels occurred long before mans’ creation, but it is clear that the fall of Satan and his minions had to occur after God declared that everything He had created was “very good,” at the end of day 6. Otherwise creation would not have been seen by God as being without blemish.
Likewise, the fall of Satan and the angels we now call demons took place prior to when Satan — in pursuit of God’s glory — entered the serpent and used it to beguile Eve into eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
While the Bible does not focus on the timeframe, it seems logical to assume that the period between day 6 and the Fall of Adam and Eve was very short, possibly only days or weeks, since Eve had not yet conceived the couple’s first child.6 Their bodies were operating perfectly, so it is likely that the window of time prior to sin was a few months at most.
1 Jesus is not an angel. He created the angels, and He was given authority above all angels by God (Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:16; etc.). Note that Michael the archangel had to appeal to the Lord (Jesus) to oppose Satan in Jude 1:9.
2 Revelation 12:7
3 Revelation 12:4 and 12:7–10. See also Jesus’ reference to Satan falling like lightning, Luke 10:18.
4 Ezekiel 28:13–17 (see also “Lucifer and Sin” by Troy Lacey at www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/07/18/feedback-lucifer-and-sin).
5 Genesis 1:26–28; Psalm 8:6–8; Hebrews 2:8
6 Genesis 3:14–4:2 (Some researchers who agree that Satan’s rebellion occurred soon after day 6 feel that it is doubtful that it occurred the very next day, on day 7, since that day was sanctified and made holy by God.)
–3–
REBELLION AND THE CURSE
(after day 6, c. 4004 B.C. and following)
It wasn’t long before man’s sin ruined the perfection of creation.
The earth was breathtaking. Its perfection would stand in awe-inspiring contrast to the terribly fallen world of today. Peace, tranquility, and joy were all that Adam and Eve knew. Evil, disease, and death had not yet gripped the world.
The Bible doesn’t say exactly how long it was before Satan spoke through the serpent,1 but it may have been only days or weeks before Adam’s disobedience brought the horrible impact of his sin on all creation.2 It is clear, however, that God decreed the Curse prior to when Eve conceived the first child.3
Genesis chapter 3 documents that through the serpent Satan deceived Eve. She sinned by eating fruit from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God had placed at the center of the Garden. Then she gave some to her husband, Adam.4 He was not deceived,5 but chose to rebel against God.
Through Adam, sin entered the world.6 The man and his wife realized they were naked and quickly sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. Later that day, God came walking in the Garden and called to Adam. However, he and Eve were hiding among the plants, so God confronted them.
Adam first blamed his wife, who gave the fruit to him. Then he blamed God, who gave the woman to him. Eve blamed the serpent, who deceived her.
Satan’s strategy to get man to follow him rather than God was not completely successful, but enough that everything changed. Before Adam sinned, there was no death in the world. Now, perfection was shattered. Suffering and dying had begun. Yet God was not taken by surprise. In response to man’s rebellion, He launched His plan for the eventual restoration of the perfection that will one day come through Jesus.7 He cursed the serpent, promising that one day he would receive a fatal blow from the offspring of the woman.8
Soon after God killed animals and made coats of skin to clothe the couple.9 Adam was driven out of the Garden, and neither he nor Eve would ever return.10 Then, God placed cherubim and a moving, flaming sword at the entrance, guards to block the way to the Tree of Life and as a reminder that it was here that sin, suffering, and death began.11 How sad they must have been!
Now outside the Garden, Adam labored against weeds and thorns, and the ground no longer yielded food easily.12 Eve was blessed with pregnancy, but the fear and pain during childbirth were undoubtedly intense, especially due to all the unknowns of the first child’s birth. Surely, the delivery of Cain was both awesome and bittersweet.13
Later, Abel and other sons and daughters were born.14 They married and had families of their own. Marriage between siblings and close relatives was fine until about 2,500 years later at the time of Moses, when God forbade close intermarriage, perhaps because the gene pool had become too corrupted.15
One day both Cain and Abel presented offerings to God. Abel brought fat portions from the firstborn of his flock, and Cain brought some of the fruit of his fields. God was pleased with Abel and his offering, but He was not pleased with Cain and his offering.16
The grief of Adam and Eve was surely extreme when Cain — filled with jealousy that God accepted Abel’s offering but not his — struck and coldheartedly killed his brother Abel. The first couple’s first son committed the world’s first murder. It would be hard to overstate the crushing heartache that must have gripped Adam and Eve, especially since it was their own disobedience years before that brought sin and its many miseries into the once-perfect world.
It may be that no parents have longed more intensely than Adam and Eve for the restoration that Jesus the Redeemer would one day bring to our terribly broken world.17
PRIMARY PASSAGES
Genesis 3–4; Romans 5:18–20; Revelation 12:4–10; Isaiah 14:12–15
KEY VERSE
“. . . sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Genesis 4:7
WRAP UP
“Eve believed Satan’s lie, and then Adam decided to disobey You, Lord, by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But thank You for not allowing them to keep eating from the Tree of Life. If they had not been kicked out of the Garden, they would have lived forever in the broken world with all of its sin and suffering, with no hope of everything being restored one day! Please help me to understand the big picture as I read to discover
