The Garden...Gen 2 pt 3

And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads… And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 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: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.(Genesis 2:8-15)

Genesis two recounts the special care,that the LORD God took in man’s creation; personally fashioning the body of the man with his own hands, and breathing mouth to nostrils into the man the ‘breath of life’, thus animating the first man, into a ‘living soul’. In the same way, we see the personal Divine attention in the preparation of the appointed home of the first man, for God himself planted for him a garden to dwell in.

The Garden was situated in a place named Eden, “Delight” or “Loveliness”. As Erich Sauer said,”Paradise was the beginning of the ways of God with man here on earth”. The garden itself, was filled with handpicked trees, chosen for beauty and food, and was perfectly situated at the source for four rivers. (Was it on a mountaintop ?) Truly the first home for humanity, was a ‘garden of delights’, a place for the man to work, rest, eat and drink, in satisfaction. It was a spot selected by God for communion with the man, for we will learn that God would take walks with the man and his wife, in the cool of the evening.

Man had a task, he was assigned by the Creator, to “dress and keep” the garden. Never has any man since, ever been so perfectly equipped to do so. The job of dressing and guarding the garden would involve all of man’s God-given faculties; spirit,soul and body.

Adam lived in a simple, threefold reality. His entire world consisted of God, himself and his surroundings, the garden. For the physical part of his task, Adam had been granted perfect senses; sight, smell, hearing,touch,and taste. Adam, a living soul, aware of himself as a thinking, volitional person, possessing an unclouded intellect, and perfectly tuned emotions to deal with all that was abstract, and intellectual. But ultimately Adam was spiritual, that He might fully know, love, and enjoy God.

Thus the first human, was so invested to fulfill the call on his life, to be the head of the race, to “be fruitful” and even to “subdue the earth”, taking the dominion over all creatures, as the representative of God, bearing the image of God. Man is to be ‘ruler of the earth’, his is a royal calling.

But first he must be given a smaller, preparatory task. He must simply dress and keep the garden. For the garden of delights was also a place of probation, that the man might be qualified by testing, for greater responsibilities, and callings to come in God’s purpose.

In the truest sense, and from the start, Adam was given freedom, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat…”. Freedom really is man’s natural and original state, for from the beginning, God gave Adam broad latitude; to eat anything he wanted, to have a family, career, children, to rule, to live, laugh, and to worship.No wonder the sons of Adam yearn to live in liberty.

There was set forth one commandment for Adam and his wife. They were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil, on pain of death.

But of course the tree of the knowledge of good and evil wasn’t walled off, or set somewhere remote and difficult to access, it stood in the garden for them to see.

If Adam would just love God and believe His word, He would honor Him by not eating of the tree. The way to show love, reverence and appreciation to God was to refrain from that one tree. Luther said of the tree,

“This tree of the knowledge of good and of evil was become Adam’s altar and pulpit, from which he was to render due obedience to God, recognize God’s word and will, and give him thanks. Had Adam not fallen the tree would have been like a temple and cathedral!”

The tree was the one sign of God’s absolute authority, and Adam’s loving, believing subjection to it. Every time he said ‘no’ to any thought of eating of it, his inner life would be strengthened and deepened, his spiritual senses would have been trained to know from a position of ‘good’, the ultimate Good, and to live by it, never knowing evil by experience.

When I study the elements of the Tabernacle in context of human history, I consider the promise,

Gen 2:17
(17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

What is death?
Death is a state of existence involving separation.

What is the anthropology of man?
Body, Soul, and Spirit.

Did man die in his body, in the day he ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
No, because we further read Adam and Eve departed Eden and were made to toil the soil for their subsistence. They died in their bodies later, hundreds of years later, so yes their also is a physical consequence to sin, but the didn’t die the same day, physically.

Did man die in his soul, in the day he ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
No. Immediately after the consumption of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they exercised reason in their mind and recall in their memory of God’s direction, and they further covered themselves and hid from God, recognizing they deserved punishment for their disobedience.

Did man die in his spirit, in the day he ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
Yes, as is manifest by their perspective of God. Instead of perceiving God in fellowship, in righteousness with Him, they perceived Him from a perspective of unrighteousness and guilt.

Now consider the Tabernacle.
In the Holy of Holies we have the Arc of the Covenant. On top of the Arc is the Mercy Seat, upon which two Cherubim face one another. One represents Perfect Justice and the other, Perfect Righteousness (these 2 elements compose the Perfect Holiness of God). Whatever is placed between them is required to meet both Perfect Justice and Perfect Righteousness. If something is unrighteous in their midst, His Perfect Justice demands Perfect Righteousness, and His Perfect Righteousness demands Perfect Justice.

Humans, ever since the fall in the Garden, now become the Natural Man, having a Body and Soul, but having human spirit
which is dead to God. When we have faith in Christ and what He provided on the Cross, He is now free to give us a regenerated human spirit, changing us into the “New Man”, reborn in the spirit, from a baptism from God the Holy Spirit.

Here is the crux.
Every human has the ability to discern good and evil after Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

That same day we spiritually died wrt God because of that knowledge.

Christ has redeemed us from that slave market, and by propitiating the wrath of the Father, reconciled us to Him, thereby allowing Him to regenerate our human spirit, while He always remains Perfectly Righteous and Just in His Perfect Holiness. He is not required to give us anything, but provides it by His grace and according to His Plan.

Our objective in life is not to return to the knowledge of good and evil, but instead focus on fellowship with Him, performing what He has Planned for us since eternity past so that we might be rewarded at the bema seat for all eternity future to further perform His Plan.

Just as Christ denied human good, but remained in obedience to the will of God the Father in His Plan, by becoming the Perfect Sacrifice for all sin, we also are to obey Him, follow His Plan, and remain in fellowship with Him in all things, performing as He has planned for us,...bearing our Cross for Him.

Each of us has a different set of works to perform and He has gifted us in body, soul, and spirit, so that when we are at the right place, at the right time, we are able to perform the right thing, in the right way, in obedience to Him, always in fellowship with Him.

When we focus on anything other than Him, we miss the mark, i.e., we sin and fall out of fellowship. So we are to repent and confess to Him, so we return back away from the knowledge of good and evil, and instead refocus upon His Plan.

Looks like the first sin was to defy God and it's been downhill ever since.

Adam was told to Love God and serve Him. He instead chose to do it his way and turned away from God to pursue his own thing. Fatal mistake. Coulda had it all, too. And look at the mess you left us with! Thanks a lot.

I see our nation as a garden that could have been Eden and we, the people, collectively as a sort of Adam who defied God by turning away to go it alone. "You just don't get me, Dad. I'm outta here!"

Great. That's us. Rebel without a clue. The way things are, that's good enough for death row time in Hades before the last meal. Can't say we haven't been warned, right?

But...fortunately, Thankfully!, we were given a second option, a second chance...if we take it. All we gotta do is phone home. Apparently, He misses us as much or more than we miss Him. How did we get that so wrong?

When He's ready, I bet God will give us everything that Adam missed out on and this will be the Garden He wanted Adam's family to have from the beginning.

But, look at what we've done to the place. What a mess! There's a major pest problem that has to be dealt with. The whole place needs to be cleaned and disinfected.

Not that we're much better. I don't know what He sees in a wretched, fragile mess like us. We need some quality rehab time and the ultimate makeover in the Heart of God spa of His Love. We're not worthy. We're not worthy.

Oh well...it is what it is. And, what it is, is a long way back home, with a long stretch of rough road, "Valley of Death" dangerous neighborhoods and hostile natives, you name it, but that's the road we chose, prodigal children such as we, the people, are.

And I'm okay with that now. It was all a misunderstanding, can you believe it?? And then we just got on the wrong road, heading in the wrong direction. Once we get more of our crew awake and turn ourselves around, everything's gonna be alright. Road trip!

Thanks Jesus! Thank you for coming for us, we, the lost sheep!

And, by the way? Thank you so much for the wake up call! Jesus, speaking for myself, I'm sorry to make You call so many times before I picked up the phone. Guess I was really out of it; thanks for not giving up on me. You're the best friend I've ever had.

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