If we understand Satan’s rebellion properly, we see that his great sin was pride. It was the motivating force for him to desire to take God’s place. We usually take the words of Isaiah 14:14 to be those spoken by Satan. In that passage, he says, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Thus, pride is often referred to as the source of all sin. Well, the wisest man in the world tells us that it always comes before a fall (see Proverbs 16:18). But, later on in Proverbs 11:2, he says something just a little different. The King James Version says, “When pride comes, then comes shame.”
Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was also motivated out of pride. Satan’s temptation was that we’d be like God, knowing good and evil. One aspect of this temptation was to fully break away from God’s instructions regarding good and evil and take upon ourselves: the right to decide what’s wrong and right. It’s choosing to take God’s place in our own lives. It led to the “Fall.” That’s what we call Genesis chapter three, where Eve speaks to Adam, and Adam chooses to eat the offered fruit from the tree. The fall of all mankind! Pride, indeed, led to a great fall. I believe Lewis Carol’s children’s poem, “Humpty Dumpty” was written to teach this lesson. You know it! All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.
In Genesis 2:25, the man and woman were naked, yet they were not ashamed. However, as soon as they partook of the fruit to become like God, they were suddenly aware of their nakedness, filled with fear and shame, and they hid themselves (Genesis 3:9-10). Both pride and shame can have a similar impact on our relationship with God. As Max Lucado writes in “He Chose the Nails,” “Pride says, ‘You’re too good for him.’ Shame says, ‘You’re too bad for him.’ Pride drives you away. Shame keeps you away. If pride is what goes before a fall, then shame is what keeps you from getting up after one.” Peter, however, offers a glimmer of hope, teaching us about something more powerful than all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men. We can be redeemed. In 1 Peter 2:6, he assures us, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”