God's Word

The expulsion from the Garden of Eden may seem a harsh punishment, but it was really an act of love. Sin had entered the world. If Adam and Eve were to now eat of the tree of Life, they would live forever in their fallen state. So God denied them the ability to eat of the tree of life. Where is the Garden of Eden now? The flood of Noah's days has forever changed the topography of the Earth, and we will never know. The good news is that those who are born again will one day have access to the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2).

Eve means mother, so Adam named his wife Eve, because she is the mother of all people other than Adam and herself. And again,we see Christianity (God seeking man and covering mans sin. Adam tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but, without the shedding of blood (symbolizing Jesus' sacrifice) is no remission of sin, so God made then tunics of animal skins.

Now we see several interesting things. One of the first things we see is man's willingness the shirk his responsibility and shift the blame to others for his actions. When God confronted Adam, Adam tried to not only blame Eve, but also to blame God. Look at Adam's response (emphasis mine) "The WOMAN, whom YOU gave to be with me". So, it was Eve's fault,and by extension God's fault because He gave Eve to Adam. Pass the buck. Eve also tried to pass the buck, but she did tell the truth, "The serpent deceived me". She had been lied to and tricked. Verse 14 is really interesting, because it destroys a lot of theology. God cursed the serpent to crawl on it's belly. God is just, and therefore would not pass a curse on anything or anyone that was not responsible for it's actions. Satan is referred to as a serpent, but it is actual snakes that are cursed to crawl on the dirt. Satan possessed the snake, but the snake was willing to be possesse...

Here we see the result of sin. Sin makes us afraid of God and therefore separates us from God. We also see the difference between religion and Christianity. In verse 7, we have religion, man trying to cover his sin and make his way to heaven. But here, we have Christianity, God seeking man. We cannot save ourselves, we must be washed by the blood of Jesus.

Once Adam and Eve had rebelled against God, they were ashamed of the bodies that God had given to them. They had never been ashamed until sin had entered the world through their rebellion.

Notice that the serpent does not immediately state that God is a liar. That would have put the Eve on guard. Instead, he questions her about God's instructions. And her first response is a lie, but as there was no knowledge of good and evil, this was not a sin. God had told them not to eat of that specific tree, but Eve said they were not to touch it. But the serpent had placed doubt in Eve's heart already. Then he said that God had lied, and they would not die, but become as God (or a little god), knowing good and evil. So, by implication, Eve was told that God was withholding good things from them. Today, we have New Age, and 5% Muslims who claim to be little gods. In Ecclesiastes, we are told "There is nothing new under the sun. The same lie that the serpent told Eve is still going today. So Eve looked at the tree and the fruit looked good, and the tree was pleasant to look at, and (she was told) would make her wise, she ate of the fruit, and she gave some to A...

The serpent in the Garden of Eden was not like the snakes of today. They had intelligence (cunning), could speak so people could understand them, and since God had not yet cursed it to crawl on it's belly, probably stood upright. We'll cover more about this later). The serpent started asking the woman about God's instructions regarding the food that they were allowed to eat.

January 17, 2018 God only creates good and beautiful things. When He created Adam and when He created Eve, He created them naked. The human body is a good and beautiful (and miraculous) thing. And even today, babies are born naked. Society has placed taboos and unclean connotations about the human body, but God created it perfectly. Adam and Eve were not ashamed to be naked, because they were in the natural state that God created them in. There was nothing to be ashamed about.

God knew that man needed companionship, so He took a rib from Adam and made Eve. She is called woman because she was taken out of man. Verse 24 shows that the relationship with a wife is to be even stronger than the bond between a man and his parents.

God had given man dominion over the animals, including the responsibility of naming them. Imagine the intelligence that Adam possessed to be able to name every species of animal. That alone is evidence that man is created in God's image.

God gave food from all of the trees except 1 tree. Notice, at this time, the tree of life was available. This will come into play in Chapter 3. The 1 tree that God withheld was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At this time, there was no sin, and there was no evil. Without knowledge of good and evil, nothing would have been evil.

God placed the man in the garden to tend it. God knew that for man to feel fulfilled, he needed meaning labor, so God had provided the plants and the animals, and had given man the responsibility of taking care of the things that God had created.

Here we are given a description of the Garden of Eden. The problem is that no place matches this description. What? Does this mean that the Bible is wrong? Not at all! This description is of the location of Eden in the pre-flood world. Also, the places named are not necessarily the places we recognize by those names today. In both Australia and the United States there are places that are named after places in England. Similarly, Noah and his family would probably name areas around them with familiar names of their home area before the flood. The one thing that we do know, is that most of the locations mentioned in the Bible are located in the Middle East. The change in the topography of the Earth caused by the flood has forever hidden God's garden. The good news is that if we are born-again, we will have an even more beautiful and wonderful home in the future (See Rev 22:1-5).

God made a garden of trees that were pleasant to look at and good for food, and placed man there to live. Every creature and everything else that man needed for survival had been created and placed for man's pleasure. In the garden were 2 special trees. Both of these trees will soon have significance.

There are many false doctrines concerning the creation of man, but the scripture is clear. God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (His spirit).

Remember from chapter 1, that there was a protective canopy of water surrounding the earth just above the atmosphere. But there was no rain. Instead of rain, there was a mist (dew) that rose from the earth itself.

As discussed in Genesis 1, the Earth was created in 6 literal days, and God rested on the seventh day. God knew that man would need to rest and rejuvenate so He blessed and sanctified the seventh day (Saturday) as a day of rest. Whenever possible, Saturday should be recognized and respected as a day of rest, to rejuvenate yourself for the week ahead. The seventh day is the day of rest, but the first day is the day of the Lord, commemorating His resurrection and the day of corporate worship. We will see this as we progress through the scriptures.