According to Genesis, a serpent in the Garden tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit by God.
Eve responded to the serpent's temptation, ate, and gave some to Adam. God had warned them not to eat of the fruit; He said that on the day that they ate of it, they would die. (Gen. 2:17)
Through their disobedience, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden. The serpent cannot be a literal animal because, as a lower creature, an animal cannot tempt human beings. Who, then, was the serpent? In Revelation, we find some clues to his identity:
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." (Rev. 12:9-10)
Here we see that the "ancient serpent" is equated with someone called Satan or the devil, that he is the deceiver of the whole world, an accuser, and that he and his angels were thrown down from heaven. There are further references to Satan or the devil. Jesus, rebuking those who criticized him, said:
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
(John 8:44)
To tempt Jesus in the wilderness, Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world.
This implies that Satan has supreme temporal power. The author of the fourth gospel refers to the judgment day when the "ruler of this world" would be cast out.
(John 12:31) 3 Paul refers to a "god of this world" who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. (2 Cor. 4:4) 4. How did Satan acquire such power?
Who is Satan, and how did he originate?
The author of 2 Peter states that certain angels sinned and were cast into hell (2 Peter 2:4), 3 and the Letter of Jude refers to angels in hell who had left their positions, acted immorally, and indulged in unnatural lust:
The angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 6-7)
It is clear that an angel who sinned and fell from heaven has acted as Satan, which is revealed even more in the following passage from Isaiah:
How you have fallen from heaven, 0 Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit. (Isa. 14:12-15)
Although "Day Star" is used in the Revised Standard Version, the King James Version has "Lucifer," the archangel.
Because he sought to be the highest, he fell from heaven, was cast down to hell, and became Satan. Let's examine Lucifer's attempt to exalt himself.
Sun Myung Moon