The Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden Story is a story that must be understood in order to understand the big questions. such as “Why is there pain in the world, cancer, divorce, abuse, poverty and wickedness?” “Why doesn’t God do anything?”

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it. He then made man to inhabit the earth and subdue it or take control of it and enjoy His beautiful creation.

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.””(Genesis 1:26)

He then created man (Adam) and told Him that he could eat from any tree in the Garden except from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. After this conversation, God said that it wasn’t good for man to be alone, so he made Eve. Adam got the instructions from the Lord, Eve on the other hand, didn’t hear those instructions first hand. We know she was indeed told of the instructions later but then for whatever reason she didn’t get them entirely right.

“And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”(Gen 2:16-17)

Enter Satan.

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”(Gen 3:1)

“The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”(Gen 3:2-3)

Satan said: “you shall surely not die! For when you eat of it, you will be like God knowing everything.”(Gen 3:4-5)

The Fall Of Mankind

The fall of mankind is the time at which Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan rather than to God. By agreeing with Satan, the first couple turned their back on God. This act brought sin into the world and the world was no long pure. Think of a glass of water with a dropperful of pond water placed in it. The water is mostly pure except most people wouldn’t drink it because it is tainted. This was the same with God’s creation at this time.

This impure environment made God ascend to heaven and leave humans, Satan and other fallen angels to dwell together on the earth. Satan then began his lifelong work of enticing others to sin. This is what brought inferior products, chemicals, inventions, ungodly behavior and fake food into the world that cause a host of problems.

Every human idea has a flaw. If the idea wasn’t initiated by God and intended for God’s glory, it may solve one problem but it will cause many others. This is why we have all encountered relational, health and spiritual problems that we may not have caused. (I must add that our own sin also causes a host of problems as well.) Therefore all problems in the world are from sin.

If we want to live life as pain free as possible, it is best to listen to our heavenly Father, the One who created the world and life itself. Deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong is pride in a nutshell. And pride always comes before destruction.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”(Prov 16:18)

God desired that human beings would live within the boundaries He has set because those boundaries lead to complete peace, joy and abundance without painful toil. God’s heart was to live on earth with human beings. When they ignored Him and listened to Satan, God left the earth. A holy and perfect Creator cannot coexist with sin. Now Adam and Eve were left to do life their way, with Satan around to influence them and trick them into doing things his way. And we know from Scripture that Satan’s motive is always to kill, steal and destroy anything God created.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”(John 10:10)

A Kingdom Is A Territory Ruled By A King

The Garden was a territory ruled by God and God gave the authority of the kingdom of earth to Adam and Eve. He told them to control it and subdue it. When they decided to use their free will to choose not to listen to the Lord, it was as if they gave the keys of the earth to Satan.

Think of it this way. Let’s say you were given your father’s business to run after he retired, and you took on his nemesis as a partner. This partner had only evil wishes for your father’s company- to run the company into the ground. This new partner had the keys to the company, in other words, access to harm the company. This is exactly what Adam and Eve inadvertently did when they disobeyed God and listened to Satan. They allowed Satan- who was never meant to influence us- access to live on the earth to influence us in a negative way.

Adam and Eve’s choice made everything worse for themselves and future generations. They were instructed to leave the garden and fend for themselves. They now needed to work the soil themselves through painful toil. Unlike the enjoyment of cultivating the good soil the Lord gave them while living in close relationship with Him they now made more work for themselves. Painful toil entered the world- physical, mental and emotional toil in order to make a living.

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”(Gen 3:17)

God’s Rescue Plan

God had a rescue plan to redeem humanity because He knew what choice Adam and Eve would make. He knew the world would grow more wicked with each passing year and a rescue plan would eventually need to be carried out. Otherwise, everyone born after Adam and Eve would be left to suffer consequences that we didn’t initiate. It would seem awfully unfair for all people born after Adam and Eve if God didn’t have a plan.

God planned to send His only son to earth to live a sinless life. This sinless life meant he was like a spotless lamb perfect to be used for sacrifice for all the sin committed in the world.

After His death on the cross Jesus resurrected. This allowed those who believe in Him and follow His way- access to the “Garden of Eden” per say. This means we have access to God’s help, provision and protection.

The New Garden Of Eden Is Living “In Christ”

Living “in Christ” means having Christ be the final authority on our lives. All of our entertainment, relationships, free time activities and even our career will get filtered through God’s Word. This allows us access to the Kingdom of heaven. Our prayers can bring down supernatural help and provision from heaven. It’s as if we are picking from the tree of life while here on earth. And the way to obtain it is by loosing that which we desire and binding that which we hate.

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”(Matt 16:19)

By loosing or praying God’s Word out loud rather than speaking about our negative circumstances, we are doing as Scripture outlines. Also, when we bind, or start to agree with Scripture and speak “life” over our situations such as: “I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord” we are in fact binding Satan from causing more harm in our lives. As we learn more and more about using Scripture to use our prayers to pull down blessings from heaven, our lives become a display of God’s power. Our lives become a witness of the power of Jesus Christ.

Yes Adam and Eve opened the door for evil to enter the world, but Jesus gave us an escape route if we choose to take it. By reading Scripture, aligning our life with the teachings, speaking only what God says about our situations, we will eventually bear the fruit of these actions.

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”(Rom 5:12,17)

We cannot underestimate the power of reading Scripture. We must read it, teach our children and memorize it. This act deposits faith in God’s Word and anchors us. The Holy Spirit then brings a Scripture to memory when we encounter negative situations that try to take us down in life. Children need this weapon of Spiritual warfare now more than ever before. Teach them, make a memory game of verses that empower them and begin to rise above the fear, depression, physical illness and lack. Jesus did this for us- let’s use what He gave us!

Food For thought,

Lisa

Click this link to my favorite teaching Bible by pastor Charles Stanley here

Food For Thought.