This week we've been thinking a little about the description of the fall in Genesis chapter 3.

It's surely one of the most important chapters in the Bible and it's foundational to everything that follows.

But here's a question, why did Satan do this?

Why did he entrap Adam and Eve?

Earlier on the week I suggested the reason he enticed Eve first was because she was the very best gift the Lord had given to Adam.

It was a really hateful way of dragging Adam from his love and loyalty to God.

But what the serpent was doing as an instrument of Satan didn't stop at Adam or for that matter Adam and Eve's family.

Why this destructive hatred for them and therefore for the whole human race?

Well, it wasn't just about them or about us, was it?

No, ultimately Satan's hatred was hatred directed against God.

The Apostle Paul speaks about a mystery in connection with Satan's work, the mystery of iniquity.

And it's true we have questions about Satan that Scripture doesn't directly answer.

But there are some important things that we do know.

First we know that he was created by God because he's the creator of all things in the heavens and also on the earth.

God created a heavenly family of creatures, angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim, as well as an earthly family of human beings.

Actually the angels are sometimes referred to as God's sons, his family.

And clearly they're wonderful, glorious, varied creatures, with a nature and powers that seem to be different from ours.

But then secondly we also know that Satan rebelled against God.

He was not always Satan, the adversary or a polyon, the destroyer.

The Apostle John tells us that he did not remain in the truth and that his lies in the Garden of Eden were an expression of a perversion that had taken place in his character.

The third thing we know is that as a rebel against God, Satan never wants to be alone.

No rebel against God ever does.

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