Chapter 3—The Temptation and Fall
This chapter is based on
Genesis 3
.
No longer free to stir up rebellion in heaven, Satan’s enmity against
God found a new field in plotting the ruin of the human race. In the
happiness and peace of the holy pair in Eden he beheld a vision of the
bliss that to him was forever lost. Moved by envy, he determined to
incite them to disobedience, and bring upon them the guilt and penalty
of sin. He would change their love to distrust and their songs of praise
to reproaches against their Maker. Thus he would not only plunge these
innocent beings into the same misery which he was himself enduring,
but would cast dishonor upon God, and cause grief in heaven.
Our first parents were not left without a warning of the danger that
threatened them. Heavenly messengers opened to them the history of
Satan’s fall and his plots for their destruction, unfolding more fully the
nature of the divine government, which the prince of evil was trying to
overthrow. It was by disobedience to the just commands of God that
Satan and his host had fallen. How important, then, that Adam and
Eve should honor that law by which alone it was possible for order
and equity to be maintained.
The law of God is as sacred as God Himself. It is a revelation
of His will, a transcript of His character, the expression of divine
love and wisdom. The harmony of creation depends upon the perfect
conformity of all beings, of everything, animate and inanimate, to the
law of the Creator. God has ordained laws for the government, not
only of living beings, but of all the operations of nature. Everything is
under fixed laws, which cannot be disregarded. But while everything
in nature is governed by natural laws, man alone, of all that inhabits
the earth, is amenable to moral law. To man, the crowning work of
creation, God has given power to understand His requirements, to
comprehend the justice and beneficence of His law, and its sacred
claims upon him; and of man unswerving obedience is required.
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