Evil’s Prince

In my book, The Message of Pain I discuss the Bible’s account of how evil got its start, why it had to be that way and what got the devil his kingdom. In the book I don’t discuss the following aspect of the beginning so I would like to here.

The Message of Pain explains that in the beginning God created man to have a living, vibrant, fulfilling relationship with Him. He created the perfect environment for this relationship to germinate and grow, the Garden of Eden. Because we were created for this relationship, it has become my conviction that man’s natural habitat is in the presence of God.

Every real and meaningful relationship has one essential quality, it is based on the choice of two individuals to accept and pursue it. If one of the two individual does not have a choice to care for the other person (or to abandon them), it is not a meaningful, fulfilling relationship. It is bondage in one form or another. There has to be an option to leave a relationship in order for it to be real.

In the center of this paradise God planted two trees; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I believe the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the option God gave man to leave the relationship. There were no hostages in the paradise He created.

Since every phase of creation was pronounced good by God, Adam and Eve already knew what good was. Certainly walking daily with their Creator was good. The only thing new the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could be offering is the experience of evil.

These trees being in the center of the garden is no coincidence. Every time Adam and Eve walked by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil without eating from it they demonstrated their love for God. The constant supply of the fruit on the tree of life was God’s demonstration of love for Adam and Eve.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is interesting in this light. God said in the day that they ate of it they would surely die (Gen. 2:17.)

I imagine in the mind of Lucifer, the arch angel, he must have said, hmmm… die? The devil was originally created as an angel to serve God. He knew God’s heart and character. He knew no harm could come to anyone in God’s presence. Therefore, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must be a door or exit from God’s presence (the choice for man to leave the relationship we discussed earlier.) In his pride I think he saw the potential for a kingdom of his own, out of God’s presence.

God had to allow for a place out of His presence and sovereignty for man to have a choice to love Him or not. That place, out of His presence is evil as inferred from the name of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This matches the theological definition of evil being the absence of God.  

In the beginning (and in the end for those who choose a relationship with Him now) no harm could come to man because he was (or will be) in God’s presence.

Ps 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. ESV

Rev 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ESV

 I think the person who now rules over the kingdom of evil figured out that since no one could be harmed (or die) in God’s presence there must be a place out of His presence. That place out of God’s presence or sovereignty (by God’s design) was a place without a sovereign, a vacuum of power that Lucifer set his designs on and recruited the first two candidates in Genesis 3.

A world of evil opened up to the experience of man as a result. Pain was first mentioned shortly afterward in Genesis 3:16; the promise of pain in child-birth. Can you think of a reason God would make child-birth a painful experience?

(You can read more on this subject in The Message of Pain chapter 4.)