Since the beginning, we saw Satan’s unwillingness to serve God even in Heaven. God put him in charge of worship in Heaven and Satan was the highest angel created. Satan wanted to overthrow God, but God was not going to allow that to happen (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:11-15).  Satan was thrown down to the earth and earth became his new home.  After Satan was thrown to earth, God created man.  We don’t know how long it was between Satan being thrown down to the earth by God and the time God created man.  One thing we know is that Satan was present when God put Adam in the garden and told Adam to have dominion over everything in the garden.

We know the story of how Adam willingly chose to listen to the devil and to ignore God’s command.  Genesis 2:7, and 3:24 describes this event.  Let’s focus on what happens next.  Genesis 4:1-13 describes how Cain murdered his brother Abel.  This event happened after the time Adam had been expelled from the Garden of Eden.  How did Cain murder his brother?  What made him commit such a heinous crime?  We see that sin started to become an every day act in humanity.  The bible is clear about the consequences that happened to Cain as a result of his act.  Sin ALWAYS has consequences.

The list of committed sins grew from one bad seed that Adam committed.  Satan started to take advantage of these situations.  To better understand him, let’s take a look at Satan’s first given name and what it means.  Lucifer (Satan’s first God given name) means morning star, light bringing, equivalant to Lūci (stem of lūx) light+fer-fer (light bearer).  The bible is very clear that this angelical being who refused to serve God was thrown to the earth.  Since the Garden of Eden, he has started his propaganda of deceiving humanity and getting them to turn away from God by committing acts of sin.

Later on in Numbers 12:1 we see how God reacts to sin committed by people.  In 1 Samuel 3:10-21, God intervened because of the transgressions of the people.  In Jeremiah 5:20-21, the people did the opposite of what God told them to do.  In Ezekiel’s time (Ezekiel 7:1-9), people refused to listen to God and there were consequences.  In the times Hosea (Hosea 1:4, 2:13, 4:9), people faced consequences because of rebellion.

In the book of Joel, punishment was done not only to the nation but to the unfaithful Israelites as well.  Joel urged everyone to repent and turn to God.  That voice still resounds today- God calling people to turn and repent to Him.  In the time of Amos (Amos 3:1-2), God says to the children of Israel that He was going to punish them for their transgressions.  In the book of Zechariah (Zechariah 10:1-3), we can see God’s anger for not following His directions and not serving Him.

We can see that sin in the heart of man will equal some kind of discipline or chastisement because of the act of sin.  In the old testament, God instituted a way to forgive sins through an animal sacrifice also called a sin offering.  We find this in Exodus 29:14, 29:36, 30:10 and in Leviticus 4:3, 4:8, 4:14, 4:20 and Numbers 6:11 and 6:14.   At that time, God accepted these animal sacrifices every time a sin occurred, He did not feel that they were enough for the remission of sin. God had bigger plans for the forgiveness of sins.

God foretold in Isaiah 53:1-12 that one day in the future someone was going to pay for every sin that had ever been committed by man.  Isaiah 9:6-7 tells us about this savior’s birth.  In Luke 23 we see that Jesus was the man willing to die for all of humanity’s sins even though He personally committed no sins of His own.  Hebrews 9:26-28 says:  for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

It doesn’t matter which way you look at it.  Knowing the scriptures is important so we can understand the plan of salvation because of the effects of sin.  Romans 1:28-32 tells us that man deserved to die for committing acts of sin.  That is why Jesus needed to come and be our savior so we can stand righteous before God like we had never sinned through the blood of Jesus.  Anyone who receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior has been forgiven for his or her sins so there is no longer a need for God’s punishment of sin (Romans 4:7-8).

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