I think it is much bigger than we can understand in this life, on the one hand we have the incredible love of God for His creation, on the other hand we have this incredible punishment for all humans who miss the will of God in this life. Since God does not want humans to end up in hell,then this has to be actual war between God and satan, however it is a war fought within legal limits. Maybe some of it is not so complex, God is a totally righteous Being, God created beings to share His love with, because God is righteous He created beings with the freedom to choose,because the freedom to choose demands a choice there had to be at least one tree that they were not to eat of,because God is righteous God took the punishment for eating from the wrong tree if man would only accept that He did wrong and ask for forgiveness.
Now satan was waging a war against God(by choice)and he was allowed to be the legal antagonist and as such he was allowed to speak on behalf of the idea of rejecting God. The war was between God and satan, however because man became part of that war, all men who reject God have to suffer the fate reserved for those at war with God.