The Truth about Angels by Ellen G. White (best reads .txt) 📖

as their songs pealed forth from blissful Eden, Satan heard the sound of their strains of joyful adoration to the Father and Son. And as Satan heard it, his envy, hatred, and malignity, increased, and he expressed his anxiety to his followers to incite them (Adam and Eve) to disobedience.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:34, 35. {TA 52.2}

Satan Speaks to Eve Through a Serpent

In order to accomplish his work unperceived, Satan chose to employ as his medium the serpent—a disguise well adapted for his purpose of deception. The serpent was then one of the wisest and most beautiful creatures on the earth. It had wings, and while flying through the air presented an appearance of dazzling brightness, having the color and brilliancy of burnished gold.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 53. {TA 52.3}

Eve went from the side of her husband, viewing the beautiful things of nature in God’s creation, delighting her senses with the colors and fragrance of the flowers and the beauty of the trees and shrubs. She was thinking of the restriction God had laid upon them in regard to the tree of knowledge. She was pleased with the beauties and bounties which the Lord had furnished for the gratification of every want. All these, said she, God has given us to enjoy. They are all ours; for God has said, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.” {TA 53.1}

Eve had wandered near the forbidden tree, and her curiosity was aroused to know how death could be concealed in the fruit of this fair tree. She was surprised to hear her queries taken up and repeated by a strange voice. “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Eve was not aware that she had revealed her thoughts by conversing to herself aloud, therefore she was greatly astonished to hear her queries repeated by a serpent.—The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874. {TA 53.2}

With soft and pleasant words, and with musical voice, he [Satan] addressed the wondering Eve. She was startled to hear a serpent speak. He extolled her beauty and exceeding loveliness, which was not displeasing to Eve. {TA 53.3}

Eve was beguiled, flattered, infatuated.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:35, 36. {TA 54.1}

She [Eve] really thought the serpent had a knowledge of her thoughts, and that he must be very wise. She answered him, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:2-5.] {TA 54.2}

Here the father of lies made his assertion in direct contradiction to the expressed word of God. Satan assured Eve that she was created immortal, and that there was no possibility of her dying. He told her that God knew that if they ate of the tree of knowledge their understanding would be enlightened, expanded, and ennobled, making them equal with Himself.... Eve thought the discourse of the serpent very wise.... She looked with longing desire upon the tree laden with fruit which appeared very delicious. The serpent was eating it with apparent delight. {TA 54.3}

Eve had overstated the words of God’s command. He had said to Adam and Eve, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” In Eve’s controversy with the serpent, she added the clause, “Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Here the subtlety of the serpent was seen. This statement of Eve gave him advantage.—The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874. {TA 54.4}

By partaking of this tree, he [Satan] declared they would attain to a more exalted sphere of existence, and enter a broader field of knowledge. He himself had eaten of the forbidden fruit, and as a result had acquired the power of speech. And he insinuated that the Lord jealously desired to withhold it from them, lest they should be exalted to equality with Himself.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 54. {TA 55.1}

Eve’s curiosity was aroused. Instead of fleeing from the spot, she listened to hear a serpent talk. It did not occur to her mind that it might be that fallen foe, using the serpent as a medium.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:36. {TA 55.2}

With what intense interest the whole universe watched the conflict that was to decide the position of Adam and Eve. How attentively the angels listened to the words of Satan, the originator of sin, as he placed his own ideas above the commands of God, and sought to make of none effect the law of God through his deceptive reasoning! How anxiously they waited to see if the holy pair would be deluded by the tempter, and yield to his arts.... {TA 55.3}

Satan represented God as a deceiver, as one who would debar His creatures from the benefit of His highest gift. The angels heard with sorrow and amazement this statement in regard to the character of God, as Satan represented Him as possessing his own miserable attributes; but Eve was not horror-stricken to hear the holy and supreme God thus falsely accused. If she had ... remembered all the tokens of His love, if she had fled to her husband, she might have been saved from the subtle temptation of the evil one.—The Signs of the Times, May 12, 1890. {TA 55.4}

The tempter plucked the fruit and passed it to Eve. She took it in her hand. Now, said the tempter, you were prohibited from even touching it lest you die. He told her that she would realize no more sense of evil and death in eating than in touching or handling the fruit. Eve was emboldened because she felt not the immediate signs of God’s displeasure. She thought the words of the tempter all wise and correct. She ate, and was delighted with the fruit. It seemed delicious to her taste, and she imagined that she realized in herself the wonderful effects of the fruit.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:38. {TA 56.1}

There was nothing poisonous in the fruit of the tree of knowledge itself, nothing that would cause death in partaking of it. The tree had been placed in the garden to test their loyalty to God.—The Signs of the Times, February 13, 1896. {TA 56.2}

Eve Eats the Fruit and Tempts Adam

Eve ate and imagined that she felt the sensations of a new and more exalted life.... She felt no ill effects from the fruit, nothing which could be interpreted to mean death, but, just as the serpent had said, a pleasurable sensation which she imagined was as the angels felt.—Testimonies for the Church 3:72. {TA 56.3}

She then plucked for herself of the fruit and ate, and imagined she felt the quickening power of a new and elevated existence as the result of the exhilarating influence of the forbidden fruit. She was in a strange and unnatural excitement as she sought her husband, with her hands filled with the forbidden fruit. She related to him the wise discourse of the serpent, and wished to conduct him at once to the tree of knowledge. She told him she had eaten of the fruit, and instead of her feeling any sense of death, she realized a pleasing, exhilarating influence. As soon as Eve had disobeyed, she became a powerful medium through which to occasion the fall of her husband.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:38, 39. {TA 56.4}

An expression of sadness came over the face of Adam. He appeared astonished and alarmed. To the words of Eve he replied that this must be the foe against whom they had been warned; and by the divine sentence she must die. In answer she urged him to eat, repeating the words of the serpent, that they should not surely die. She reasoned that this must be true, for she felt no evidence of God’s displeasure.... {TA 57.1}

Adam understood that his companion had transgressed the command of God, disregarded the only prohibition laid upon them as a test of their fidelity and love. There was a terrible struggle in his mind. He mourned that he had permitted Eve to wander from his side. But now the deed was done; he must be separated from her whose society had been his joy. How could he have it thus? He resolved to share her fate; if she must die, he would die with her. After all, he reasoned, might not the words of the wise serpent be true? Eve was before him, as beautiful, and apparently as innocent, as before this act of disobedience. She expressed greater love for him than before. No sign of death appeared in her, and he decided to brave the consequences. He seized the fruit, and quickly ate. {TA 57.2}

After his transgression, Adam at first imagined himself entering upon a higher state of existence. But soon the thought of his sin filled him with terror. The air, which had hitherto been of a mild and uniform temperature, seemed to chill the guilty pair. The love and peace which had been theirs was gone, and in its place they felt a sense of sin, a dread of the future, a nakedness of soul.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 56, 57. {TA 58.1}

Satan exulted in his success. He had now tempted the woman to distrust God, to question His wisdom, and to seek to penetrate His all-wise plans. And through her he had also caused the overthrow of Adam, who, in consequence of his love for Eve, disobeyed the command of God, and fell with her.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:42. {TA 58.2}

Satan, the fallen angel, had declared that no man could keep God’s law, and he pointed to the disobedience of Adam as proving the declaration true.—The Signs of the Times, April 10, 1893. {TA 58.3}

Satan ... proudly boasted that the world which God had made was his dominion. Having conquered Adam, the monarch of the world, he had gained the race as his subjects, and he should now possess Eden, and make that his headquarters. And he would there establish his throne, and be monarch of the world.—The Review and Herald, February 24, 1874. {TA 58.4}

The Council of Peace

The news of man’s fall spread through heaven—every harp was hushed. The angels cast their crowns from their heads in sorrow. All heaven was in agitation.—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:42. {TA 59.1}

A council was held to decide what must be done with the guilty pair.—Spiritual Gifts 3:44. {TA 59.2}

The anxiety of the angels seemed to be intense while Jesus was communing with His Father. Three times He was shut in by the glorious light about the Father, and the third time He came from the Father, His person could be seen.... He then made known to the angelic host that a way of escape had been made for lost man. He told them that He had been pleading with His Father, and had offered to give His life a ransom, to take the sentence of death upon Himself, that through Him man might find pardon.... {TA 59.3}

At first the angels could not rejoice; for their Commander concealed nothing from them, but opened before them the plan of salvation. Jesus told them that He would ... leave all His glory in heaven, appear upon earth as a man, humble Himself as a man, ... and that finally, after His mission as a teacher would be accomplished, He would be delivered into the hands of men, and endure almost every cruelty and suffering that Satan and his angels could inspire men to inflict; that He would die the cruelest of deaths, hung up between the heavens and the earth as a guilty sinner; that He should suffer dreadful hours of agony, which even angels could not look upon, but would veil their