After the ending of Creation, God said it was very good, there was no disease, no pain, no death, all was perfect. There was also a perfect relationship between God and Man, a fellowship, a friendship, Eden was a perfect place to be.
However, today we have the exact opposite, pain, disease and death. The world is full of different disagreements, and sometimes war, the big man picking on the little man, in Government and family relationships. The world is a very poor place to live, so what happened.

The Garden of Eden

When God was creating the angelic beings, He gave them all a free will and set them up in different positions of power and abilities. Lucifer, was the most powerful spirit or angelic being which God created, he belonged to the angelic order of cherubim and was chosen by God to have special responsibilities that took him into the presence of God.

Ezekiel 28:13-

"13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy 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 thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

We do not know when the next event occurred, the Bible tells us that Lucifer became very proud, his beauty and his power took over his life, remember God gave him a free will, so he was able to do this. Though there is no evidence that he controlled any of the other angelic beings

"12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine 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 sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

Lucifer has the meaning of "Morning Star". In the above passage, he said "I Will" five times as he started to arrange a celestial action.

I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars (Angels) of God:

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will be like the most High.(God himself)

Lucifer wanted to take over heaven and be equal to God himself, he would then be in charge of the perfect creation and all the angelic beings.

However, there was a problem, an all knowing God could read Lucifers mind and knew what was happening in the mind of Lucifer. God hates "pride", this is a sin which puts a person to be the center of all things, their own self sin.

"16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:"

So who is Satan?

We must remember that God created all angels with free wills, they were not robots, they served God by their own willing submission to God. But unfortunately, not Lucifer, he became very dissatisfied with being an angelic being. As a result, and the fact that God is perfect and cannot tolerate any sin therefore, God just cannot have anything to do with sin, in His presence.

"14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."

God gave him a new name, Satan, an adversary or enemy. He was still a created being, just like Mankind, but he was given great power as part of his creation. God also cast him out of heaven, apparently down to earth, Satan was also followed by one third of the other angelic beings, they became demonic or evil spirits here on the earth.

In the modern world today the existence of Satan is often doubted, even treated as a joke, being played down by the world of men and women. However, his existence and power is definitely declared by the Bible and revealed by the evil behaviour and actions of Mankind.

We first meet Satan in Genesis 3:1ff,

"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

Satan appears to have taken on the form or shape of a serpent(snake). After the event God actually cursed the serpent,
Genesis 3:14,15

"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

Satan approached Eve and began by questioning the actual Words of God. "Has God said?" then he puts doubt in what was said, "You shall not surely die: " Why your God’s perfect creation, He will not kill you. Satan puts doubt in the goodness of God. As Eve thinks about this, Satan points out that if she takes the fruit she will become like God, he is misquoting the Word’s of God, and immediately appealing to the sin of Eve’s pride. The same sin that caused the fall of Satan and disobedience of God and the entry of evil into the kingdom of God. The woman was deceived by Satan but Adam also sinned, he knew what he was doing when he took the fruit from Eve. They thought that they knew better than God. Was God telling the truth?
1 Timothy 2:13-15.

"For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."

It is interesting to note that God said that you will die if you eat the tree in the middle of the garden, well they did eventually die, but not for many years, but they did die towards God, they had disobeyed Him and so sin had entered the world, God cannot have anything associated with sin, they were dead to God.

"3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

Adam and Eve, eat the fruit, against the instructions of God, they had a free will and could have rejected the temptations to disobey God.

So it is possible that the serpent which approached Eve could have been very different to the snake of today and could have been a beautiful animal following from God’s perfect creation.

The Lake of Fire

God created the angelic beings that they would not die, so it has to be an eternal punishment. This action by God was only the first step of the action against the rebellious angels, God also prepared a final place of punishment, The Lake of fire. This has still to happen, eternal punishment.
Matthew 25:41.

"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"

Revelation 20:10.

"10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

Satan the Liar.

John 8:44,45

"44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not."

Satan is shown as a red person with horns but in fact he is the complete opposite, he can mimic God to be like Him all his splendour, a shining angel, and every word he speaks is an imitation of the truth, he is a counterfeit.

The Names of Satan:

The title "Satan" is used 24 times in the Old Testament, though often used in the form of adversary. In the New Testament we find over thirty uses of the title. The initial use of the word Satan was therefore a description, but later became the proper name. So "Satan" and "Devil" are the two proper names used in the Bible. All the other names of Satan are used to describe Satan’s behaviour.

Names used for Satan

Satan the Tempter. The Devil.

Beelzebub.

Enemy.

Evil One.

Belial.

Adversary.

Deceiver.

Dragon, (Great).

The old serpent.

The god of this world.

Prince of this world.

Prince of the power of the air.

Father of Lies - Murderer.

Sinner.

References to the acts or events associated with Satan

Slavery to Satan.

Because Mankind turned away from God, there is now a barrier between Man and God, Mankind has become the slave of Satan, see John 8:43,44. Jesus told the religious leaders that they could not accept His words because they were "of your father the devil."

How did Satan obtain this power over the earth?

God created and put Man on earth with the power to control all the things and animals on earth, Genesis 1:28. There was one restriction, they were not to touch or eat of the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." Unfortunately, Lucifer, later to be called Satan, was out to take over the position of God.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God and so handed the authority and their freedom to Satan, 1 John 5:19; Luke 4:6,7.

Satan has the "power of death," not as lord, but simply as the executioner.
That power was destroyed by the death of Jesus, the God-Man, on the cross, by taking the punishment in the place of Mankind.

Sin can never be ignored.

God cannot ignore our sin and pretend that it does not exist, that would be against His actual nature, his holy character. We all must die, without exception 2 Samuel 14:14.

"14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him."

This verse show that though God allows us to die, he has lovingly also provided an escape for our spirits.

Atonement

After they had eaten the fruit, Adam and Eve, realized that they were naked and made clothes out of fig leaves. When they met God he immediately looked upon their hearts and not their bodies, The bible tells us that the feeble attempts to cover themselves was not good enough, God took an animal and created clothes for them. God showed that blood had to be shed to cover their sinful nature now. Their sin had brought death. They had probably not seen an animal die before, God made the terrible result of their sinful life.