The woman lay on the ground gazing up at the pale blue of the sky, watching the wild swooping of birds and listening to the sounds of birds and other creatures all around her. Life was good! Life was easy! Life was full of joy, laughter, the excitement of new discoveries and, above all, full of the fulfilment and comfort of two relationships.

She could still remember her first conscious moments of noise, colour, sensation and her first discovery of the creature lying next to her - like her but different. They had gazed at each other with inquiring eyes and minds. It had dawned on the man first that here was the answer to his search to fill a gap in his otherwise perfect existence-the search, for a partner, a companion, as all the other creatures he knew had.

Similarly it had dawned on the woman that she and the man had - literally - been made for each other. This was soon reinforced by the second big relationship in her life, with the One they both knew as their Creator. Even from those first conscious moments she had sensed His presence, His love and His gentle guiding and reassuring voice.

In those first days and weeks, the man introduced his new partner to all the other creatures around them and to all the fruits and seeds he had tasted as food. As their familiarity with each other grew, so did mutual respect and love. Each of them had an individual personality and they complemented and completed each other's lives in a way that fascinated and delighted them. There was an innocence between them as they explored their world, their relationship and their bodies.

As they grew closer, they became in every way 'one flesh'. They found a simple joy in one another, from the discovery of new creatures or foods to the wonder of their sexual union that served to join them ever closer to one another. Together they began to take up the role they had been placed there for. They began to plan and invent and innovate with the intellect the creator had given them. The other creatures accepted their authority and harmony reigned. The man and woman found how to consolidate certain plants into areas of their own, from which they could gather food for themselves more efficiently. The woman learned how to plait leaves to make baskets and containers. They made sleeping platforms to lift them above the damp ground and simple canopies to keep each night's dew off them.

Certain animals seemed better suited than others for companionship and they were often accompanied by playful wolves that would one day diversify through breeding into the first dogs. There was even rudimentary communication with the more intelligent creatures and the man and woman leaned the body languages of many of their fellow-inhabitants of this paradise. 

Theirs was a life untainted by jealousy, competition, shame or guilt. Their innocence was childlike for, like children, they had no worries or cares that could not be met easily and immediately in their perfect world. There was no sin, therefore no guilt from the transgression of laws. Sin draws its power from Law and here there was no need for law. 

Law expresses itself in commandments that are given so the hearer will take heed and be protected from the penalties of sinning. For this first man and woman, joyfully submitting to every guidance from their Creator and gracefully united in loving submission to one another, there was no sin or guilt, for there were no commandments to disobey...

...except for one!

Interlude - in the courts of heaven...

There came a disturbance in the praise-filled courts of heaven - a breeze of disharmony and disruption that interrupted the music of peace and love.

Arrogantly, marching alone through ranks of lesser angels, the being who once had led them all in praise to the creator dared to return to the halls from which he had once been expelled. Once his music had been so inspiring and his light so bright that he had been known as Lucifer: Light-Bearer  and Morning Star. But, exercising the free will he had been endowed with and along with up to a third of the hosts of heaven, this fallen angel had aspired to equality with the creator, to be enthroned beside, not below, the One who had called him into being. (Isaiah 14:12-14)

And now, features and body disfigured by the pride and sin within him, he dared to return; a dark stain moving through halls of ever-brighter light the closer he came to the Creator's throne.

But his progress towards the throne he had craved equality with was not unimpeded. He found himself unable to stand proud before the One Enthroned and was forced to cast his eyes down, for rebellion cannot stand before the gaze of heaven's holiness. Slowly, begrudgingly, he was forced lower and lower as he drew closer to the throne of heaven; as he felt the wing-beats of mighty Cheruvim and Seraphim, whose equal he had once been; as the heat and light of untainted purity and beauty became almost unbearable; as he felt the penetration into his innermost being of the eyes that see all...

But what brought this fallen one, this epitome of evil, back to confront his nemesis and face such painful reminders of the heights he had once known? Such is communication in the spirit realm that the questions were known before they were asked and the answers already known, but for our sake, the conversation might have gone something like this...

Creator: What brings you here, fallen one? What new mischief have you been up to?

Satan: I have watched your new creation and the creatures you have placed there. You have fenced them about so I cannot get close to them. It is perfect in every way, as I knew it would be. But it is all fresh and young and... innocent! And the creature you have granted dominion over this perfect creation (he almost spat out the words) is a perfect servant to you - compliant and obedient to your every word. 

Creator: Man is different to the other creatures, for I have made them for fellowship with me as well as for service and obedience. They reciprocate my love and commune with me in a way that delights us.

Through the evil and proud thoughts, the Creator detected a glimmer of cunning triumph in the fallen one's next words...

Satan: Yes, but your perfect servants have something that will be their downfall. You have given them the same free will you gave us angels. One day their guard will drop and in their innocence they will follow me and rebel against you. They will fall into my clutches and your so perfect creation will be ruined forever!

Creator: I see what is in your heart. You have my permission to test them but not to harm or destroy them. But know this: any victory you think in your heart to gain WILL NOT LAST. My will for this creation WILL be accomplished. 

You can NEVER achieve your ultimate goal of deity, for your rebellion and pride have deformed and stunted you beyond redemption.

You will have a dominion for a time but only for a time, that you might be exposed in your sin - and your destiny and punishment WILL BE ETERNAL!

So ended the dialogue...

Hissing and spitting his rage and frustration, the fallen angel withdrew from the light and returned to his dark and distorted copy of the courts he would never be restored to.

<< Previous in series

The next post in this series, "The Test", is still in preparation