, if this original
earth was ruined and passed through a judgment, why did this ruin and
judgment take place? This question must remain unanswered unless we
bring that first judgment in connection with the revolt and fall of
Satan, who had his dwelling place on this earth. This explains not
only the ruined condition of the earth in Gen. i:2, but throws a great
deal of light on Satan's successful attempt to get back his lost
dominion through man and his tenacious hold on the earth, as the prince
of the world and god of this age.[1]

Man Upon The Earth

In God's own time this earth was put into the condition to become the
habitation for the human race. Of this we read in Genesis i:3-31. God
then created man in His own image, and said, "Let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. i:26). "And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth." Thus
the earth, which was originally Satan's habitation, was given to man.

The Fall of Man

When all this took place this great fallen being was no doubt an
eyewitness. He beheld God working in rearranging the chaos of the
original earth produced by his revolt. He saw how God created man. He
heard how God spoke to man and gave him to possess his former estate
which he had lost by his rebellion. He beheld God putting man and
woman into the garden of Eden. He listened when God said "Of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. ii:17). Then he
must have been moved with envy and jealousy. He sees another in
possession of his past domain. Something like this must have come into
his mind--if I only can get man ruined and turn him against God, if I
can make of man a rebel and lay hold on him, I shall get back the place
which once was mine and then defy God.

The third chapter in Genesis shows how he succeeded in carrying out
this plan. Through the serpent he approached the woman and said, "Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" God had
spoken; the first word to man had come from His lips. Satan's first
work was to make God's cre