In The Beginning
In the beginning God Almighty, the spirit with no beginning or end, spoke and the universe leapt into existence. He added to the newly formed earth an intelligent creation he called “man” who was created as a being “a little below the angles.”(1) His sole purpose for creating man was so that man in turn would glorify God. His created beings both man and woman (Adam and Eve), along with a Guardian Cherub angel, were placed in a garden that the Lord had planted eastward in Eden. (2) God instructed his human creation to have dominion over all other species and to “rule over all the earth.”(3)
It was God’s original plan that man would roam this earth free of both sin and death. He had in both Adam and Eve a pure heart and a sinless nature that would eternally glorify God. The Almighty created a paradise for them to dwell, and he himself walked with them through the “garden of God.”(4) The only thing he asked was they not eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”(5)
It was at this point the Guardian Cherub, Lucifer, began to rebel against God. Ezekiel 28:12-15 tells us, "You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the Holy Mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.” The angelic being who was the “model of perfection” developed selfish pride and began to challenge the throne of God.
Arguable it was God’s love for his human creation and his plan to have humans, not angles in charge of the earth, which sparked Lucifer’s pride. Once a guardian of the humans, Lucifer began to despise God’s creation. In an act of outright revenge against God, Lucifer told Eve if she ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil she would “be like God, knowing good and evil.” (6)
So began the fall of humanity and paradise lost, as Eve and later Adam, disobeyed God and shared in the forbidden fruit. Now knowing good and evil, they lost their innocence, which in turn placed the curse of sin upon them and all generations to follow. Because of sin, God could not longer allow man to look upon his holy presence. Because of sin, man became isolated from God. Because of their sin, Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden.
It was Lucifer’s rejection of God’s authority that incited a revolt in heaven, in which he was ultimately cast out along with a third of the angles: "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like The Most High.” (7)
God did not give up on his creation, but set in motion his redemptive plan for the world. God’s first creation had willingly failed, but a time would come when God would bring into the world the “final Adam.”
References:
1. Psalm 8:4
2. Genesis 2:8 & Ezekiel 28:13
3. Genesis 1:26
4. Genesis 1:13
5. Genesis 2:9
6. Genesis 3:6
7. Isaiah 14:12-14
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