V. The Garden of Eden

Transcription

1 V. The Garden of Eden 30-Jun-02 Genesis 2:4-25 Schaeffer pp Theme: Man was put in the Garden of Eden to serve God and protect His holiness; we are called to do the same, with the future hope of returning one day to eternal Paradise to serve and worship God forever. Review Last week, we finished up our study of the days of Creation. We focused on the creation of Man in the image of God and the Sabbath rest of the seventh day. We saw that the image of God means that Man has the communicable attributes of God. We have the capability to have relationships and fellowship with other people and with God. We can communicate with each other and with God. God is a person, and so personality is part of being created imago dei. Even though we are fallen and sinful, much of the image of God remains in Mankind. We are separated from God, but we are still differentiated from the rest of creation. Man, even Fallen Man, has great value and worth. If we want to understand the value of Fallen Man, look to the Lord Jesus Christ who gave up his rightful position to redeem sinful men and women, boys and girls. Jesus Christ shows us what Adam was like before the Fall, and He shows us what we will be one day. Our salvation by faith alone in Christ alone means nothing less than the total recovery of who we were originally created to be. As we read more today about Adam and Even and the Paradise that God created for them, remember that although this happened in the dawn of Mankind s past this is describing our future eternity. To be in eternal, holy, and loving fellowship with our heavenly Father. The seventh day of Creation gives us a foretaste of that future state today. Because God works six days and rests one, we are called to imitate the heavenly pattern, for we have been created according to the heavenly pattern. Our work is part of who we are, and we are called to take dominion over creation as God s stewards. We are called to transform the raw materials of the world and make them more glorious to transform the original Garden of Genesis 2 into a holy City, pictured for us in the New Testament. As we do our work, which has value because it imitates God and is commanded by him, we do it in the context of family and society. For God has created us to be relational. Male and female have been created by God, with perfect complementarity. Both work and family or marriage are additional aspects of being created in the image of God. And perhaps the most important lesson we learn from the Creation account is that our imaging of God s work extends into our imaging of God s rest. We observe the Sabbath day, not because it s a good idea, although it is, but because God did so. He wasn t tired; he didn t need to stop working. But He did so for us, to give us the privilege of stopping from our work, as important as it is, to do something even more important to worship Him. For God also created us to be worshiping creatures. We are created to be in communion with the Creator. And that means we want to worship Him. We should desire to rest and worship God every week, because that is the pattern that He set, and we are also created in His pattern, in His image. If we have been re-created, reborn, made into a new person by the Spirit, then we should want to conform to the pattern that God has established. Our image-bearing finds its fullest expression when we are in fellowship with our Creator; when we worship Him. That is our chief end to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 45 DSB 9-Sep-05

2 Introduction (2:4) Today, we are going to go through Genesis chapter 2. This will give us a closer look at the Creation that God has just completed in Genesis 1, as well as a closer look at the Man and the Woman that God created. Furthermore, Genesis 2 serves as the connecting link between chapters 1 and 3, showing us how we move from the very good of 1:31 to the curse of Genesis 3. Read Genesis 2:4-25 Before we dig into Genesis 2 this morning, we first have to answer the question, What is the relationship between Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2? Genesis 1 and 2 Schaeffer: The first and second chapters of Genesis form a unit. The two passages are complementary, each containing unique material that is important for the understanding of man. Jesus ties the two chapters together as a unit in Matthew 19:4-5 (cp. also Mk. 10:6-8). More light is shed on the relationship between Genesis 1 and 2 by a consideration of a literary structure that occurs throughout the entire book of Genesis: First, less important things are dealt with rapidly, and then the things more important to the central theme of the Bible are returned to and developed more fully. This is so, for example, in the account of Isaac and his two sons Jacob and Esau. Esau s story comes first, but it is Jacob s which is most fully developed. Likewise, Genesis 1 first deals briefly with man in his cosmic setting, and then Genesis 2 turns to man and puts him at the center of the theme of the book. Jordan C6D: We do see in the Bible sometimes a more general summary of an event followed by a more detailed narrative. Traditionally (and correctly), Genesis 2 is seen as an expansion of the sixth day of Genesis 1. So, the correct answer to our question is, Genesis 2 is a supplemental account of creation, focusing particularly upon the sixth day, because the sixth day concern Man, the chief of creation. Just as Genesis 1:1 talks about the creation of the heavens and the earth, and then Genesis 1:2 focuses on the earth from that point on, so we have in Genesis 2 a narrowing of the scope from all of Creation to focus on the Man and his interaction with Creation. Mankind now replaces the earth as the center of God s activity. The Generations of Heaven and Earth We can see this shift in the first verse we read this morning, Genesis 2:4. Eveson: This is the history of in 2:4a alerts us to the first of the section headings. These headings are the original divisions of the book. The word translated history (or genealogy ) means that which has been fathered by, produced by. In this instance it is applied metaphorically to the heavens and the earth. Human beings are now the center of attention. They are of both heavenly and earthly origin. Their bodies are from the earth but they were created for communion with God. Atkinson: [Another way to understand the formula these are the generations is:] here is a fuller development of the story of So now we read of the fuller development of the story of the heavens and the earth. The story is told first in terms of Man s relationship to the natural environment (vv. 4b-17), then also moves to Man s relationships with animals, and finally with people (vv 18-25). Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 46 DSB 9-Sep-05

3 Atkinson: The phrase the heavens and the earth opens and closes Genesis 1 (1:1; 2:1; 2:4a). While it means everything, it also carries a distinction. Heaven is God s place and earth is our place. But notice how here in Genesis 2 the sequence is changed. From the heavens and earth of chapter 1 (1:1; 2:1; 2:4a), we are now concerned with the earth and the heavens (2:4b). Chapter 2 is the other side of chapter 1. From the grandeur of all creation, we are now invited to explore the Garden. The purpose of the Garden is to provide a context for human life. Name of God We have one last thing to take note of before we go through the chapter in more detail. And this has to do with the Name of God. When James Jordan was here for our March, 2002 theology conference, he discussed the names of God used in the first two section of Genesis: the creation account of 1:1-2:3 and the generation of heaven and earth in 2:4-4:26. 1:1-2:3 Elohim is used 35 times 2:4-3:24 Elohim is used 4 times; YHWH Elohim is used 20 times 4:1-26 Elohim is used once; YHWH is used 10 times. Why the changes in name? Well, Elohim introduces us to the Creator God, the All Powerful One. Thus, it is the appropriate name to use in Genesis 1, the creation account. YHWH is the intimate covenant name of God for His people (Ex. 3:14-15). It is His personal name. We see it used by itself only in chapter 4, after the Fall, after God promises the Seed to come, to bring salvation through His covenant. In between Genesis 1 and 4, we have the combination of YHWH Elohim. This is a very unusual combination in Scripture. Eveson writes, The combination LORD God is found only sixteen times elsewhere in the Old Testament but twenty times in Genesis 2 and 3. Thus, this combination serves as a transition to show that the all powerful Creator of Genesis 1 is a God with whom we can have a personal relationship and communion. As Jordan writes: We have God s covenantal relationship to the cosmos apart from man in Genesis 1, and His covenantal relationship to the cosmos through man in Genesis 2. Atkinson: Our focus of interest is no longer the cosmic perspective of the One who made the stars. It is the intimacy of fellowship with the One who calls Man by His name. Altogether the name of God in one of these three forms Elohim, YHWH Elohim, or YHWH is used a total of seventy times in these chapters. Seventy is an interesting number: it is seven times ten, or the number of perfect quality times the number of perfect quantity. Thus, not only the names of God, but even the number of times God s name is mentioned have significance. Before the Garden (2:5-6) Jordan C6D: Genesis 2:4 is parallel to Genesis 1:1. Then, in Genesis 2:5-6 we find that the earth is said to be empty of plants and shrubs of the field. That is, the earth is formless, because the distinction between garden and field has not yet been established, and void because of the absence of these plants. The earth is also covered with water, in the form of streams that water the entire surface of the ground. Remember from our study of the third day of creation, the plants created on the third day are specifically of two varieties: grass or herbs that have seeds; and fruit trees that bear fruit. So, on the third day, we have two categories of plants that are created: grains and fruit trees. When we come to Genesis 2, to this amplified account of the sixth day, we find that the earth is empty of plants or shrubs of the field. This is a new category of plant, one that is different from the two Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 47 DSB 9-Sep-05

4 categories established on day 3. Also, notice that there were herb plants in verse 5, but they had not yet grown. They were there, but they had not yet matured and given grain. Why is this so? Why were their now shrubs of the field, and why hadn t the grain grown? Well, God gives two answers. The first answer is that the LORD God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth. So the grain hadn t grown. The second answer is that there was no Man yet on the earth there was no one to cultivate or tend to the grain. Notice that the text then straightaway goes on to deal with these two problems. First, the problem of no rain: we see that God causes a mist to rise up and water the ground. And secondly, in verse 7, the LORD God creates man. So two problems given and two problems answered. Now why make a big deal about this? Well, think about the amount of plant-related imagery in Genesis chapters 2-4, as well as the related imagery of the ground or dust. What does the mist water? The whole face of the ground. Of what is Man made? Dust of the ground. Where does Man live? In a cultivated Garden, full of food-bearing plants and trees. What is at the center of the Garden? Two trees. What happens in chapter 3? The Fall occurs by eating the forbidden fruit. What does the curse on man entail? The ground is cursed. We return to dust. We toil and the ground brings forth thorns and thistles. Adam is made a tiller of the ground (and so is Cain). Where does Abel s spilt blood fall? His blood cries out from the ground. And so on. Notice all that plant and ground/dust imagery? It s no coincidence that the whole section starts off with it here. It alerts us to pay attention to plants and the ground. In fact, the Bible often uses plant imagery to symbolize people. Think about Psalm 1. The righteous man is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper (Ps. 1:3). So we have lots of plant associations here in Genesis 2-3 that we should be paying attention to. Now just a minute ago, I talked about the two problems (no rain and no Man) and how God worked to solve those. But don t forget, there were also two conditions: no shrubs of the field and the grain had not yet grown. I discussed how God s actions (mist and creation of Man) lead to the solution of cultivating grain. However, that still leaves us with this comment about the shrubs of the field. The water comment makes some sense, but why would the absence of Man be a barrier to the creation of shrubs of the field? James Jordan suggests that the ultimate destiny of these shrubs of the field depended upon Man s response to God. If Man had responded in obedience to God s commands, then God would have made the shrubs to be delightful, food giving plants. However, as we know, Man failed and sinned against God. As a result, in Genesis 3:17-18 we read that the dust of the ground will bring forth thorns and thistles. Could these thorns and thistles be the heretofore absent shrubs of the field? I don t know, but it is an interesting hypothesis. The First Man (2:7) So that brings us to the creation of Man again. Eveson: Emphasis is placed on the fact that man s body comes from the dust of the ground. Man and ground are similar-sounding words in Hebrew. It is as if we were to say, humans from humus. He is taken from the ground to look after the ground. All this prepares us for the judgment statement in chapter 3 where we are told that man s body will return to the ground (3:19). Only in the case of man is it stated that God breathed into his nostrils. This is something very special and intimate. God gave Adam the first kiss of life. The breath which Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 48 DSB 9-Sep-05

5 animated him was given to him personally by God. It was person-to-person contact. This direct, personal involvement of God in giving life to Adam raised him above the rest of creation. Atkinson: We sometimes get confused by the translation living soul (2:7), but soul here simply means living being. It is the word used elsewhere for living creatures (1:20-21). It refers to the principle of life in any living organism. Atkinson: Without wishing to read more into this than the text will carry, it does seem appropriate to infer that the man, when he was created, was not complete he is an Adam that still needs to learn, to develop, and to grow. Whatever age we picture the man to be, he is still not mature. His innocence is intended so we shall discover to be transformed into the maturity of holiness by the choices he makes, choices which affect his whole life. The immature dependency of his life on the gift of God s breath is intended to grow into mature dependency of obedience to God s life-giving Word. As I already said, God forms Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathes life into Him directly. Thus, man is created from both earthly substance and heavenly life. In this way, it is entirely consistent to consider Adam (and later Eve, who comes from Adam) to be the offspring or the generations of heaven and earth. God s Garden (2:8-17) Now we turn our attention to the special place God prepares for Adam to live. God plants a garden. Eveson: The garden was in Eden (2:8). The way in which verses 5-7 are written suggests a contrast between the land in general and the specially prepared garden. The garden of God was in a part of the world where there was plenty of water and where the first man was placed to look after it. What was lacking no rain and no man (2:5) was made good by a mist and by God forming man of the dust of the ground. The Garden of Eden was certainly a delightful place to live. This what the name Eden suggests pleasure, delight. Whenever Eden is mentioned in the Bible it stands for a very lovely environment (cp. Is. 51:3; Ez. 36:35; Joel 2:3). Is. 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Atkinson: Beauty is a part of God s good creation. In God s pattern for His world, human beings need an environment which is not merely functional but also pleasant to the sight. In God s Garden is a picture of vitality, freedom, and nourishment. Here is a place, too, where God talks to the man. The Two Trees (2:9, 16-17) Atkinson: At the center of the Garden are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:9). In order for the trees to be at the center, man himself cannot be at the center. So here, the freedom of human life is limited by one prohibition (2:17), which reminds the man that the freedom for his life, and therefore the conditions for his life, are given him by God. (In fact, life is guaranteed by this one prohibition. Life and liberty are only found within God s gracious law.) Eveson: When the phrase tree of life occurs in the Bible it conveys the thought of abundance of life, of God s life sustaining His people. It was literally a tree, but we do not need to assume Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 49 DSB 9-Sep-05

6 that it contained some substance which prevented aging or death. God appointed this tree to symbolize life. In the Bible trees often do symbolize life. Although Adam did not eat of this tree (3:22, 24), there was nothing in chapter 2 prohibiting them from eating. In fact, Adam is encouraged to eat of its fruit (2:16-17). The man and the woman enjoyed God and lived in communion with God. The eating of the tree of life was a physical expression of this spiritual reality. Eveson: Besides the tree of life, there was another tree closely associated with it. In view of the warning that those who ate from it would die, we might have expected the tree to be called the tree of death. What did the tree symbolize? In the only other passage in the books of Moses where the phrase knowledge of good and evil is found, it is used of children who cannot be held accountable for their actions. There are dependent on their parents (Dt. 1:39). Dt. 1:39 Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. Eveson: In like manner, Adam and Eve were to see themselves as children totally dependent on the creator God, their heavenly Father, for wisdom and understanding. The tree represented the ability to be morally autonomous. By refusing them the fight to eat of this tree God was indicating that He alone is autonomous. Human beings are not to live independently of Him. Because a warning is attached to the command, the tree became the focus of God s law. Water (2:10-14) Atkinson: God s gift of life in Eden is the source of all life beyond Eden. We can see this by looking at the significance of water. At the beginning of chapter 1, water had to be constrained. The water which can carry the destructive power of God, as the story of the Flood will soon show all too graphically, can also be reined in to become a source of life. And here in 2:10-14, water is a principle of life, of growth, of refreshment. Water is needed for life to develop. And in Eden there is plenty of water! There is enough to water the Garden, and to flow out into four huge rivers. The water of the rivers is but the overflow from Eden. The vitality of God s Garden is the source of nourishment for everything else. Jordan C6D: These rivers carried Edenic waters out of the Garden to four locations, signifying we may suppose the four corners of the earth. If we draw back the present lines of the Tigris and Euphrates to a common source, we wind up in the region of Ararat, whence Noah began the second world. This would seem to be the location of Eden as well, on high ground whence rivers arise and down from which they flow. There seems to be little doubt but that Havilah is somewhere in Arabia, likely in the Sinai Peninsula, due south of Canaan. Accordingly, the Pishon is the Jordan river before it was stopped up by the Dead Sea at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Since the Gihon went to Cush (Ethiopia), it ran parallel to the Jordan and east thereof. This river no longer seems to exist after the Flood. If we draw lines from the Jordan northward to where it would intersect the lines drawn from the Tigris and Euphrates, we come to Turkey, Armenia, or the region of Ararat. Work (2:15) Eveson: The man was put into the garden to work (2:15). God is a worker and human beings were created to work. God made us to work, and not to be idle. Adam was put in the garden to tend and keep it (2:15). The verb for tend is the word most often translated serve in the Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 50 DSB 9-Sep-05

7 Bible. In these early chapters of Genesis it is used for cultivating the soil (2:5; 3:23; 4:2, 12). It is also employed by Moses in a religious sense for worshiping God (Ex. 3:12; Dt. 4:19). In addition, it is often used of the Levites duties in the tabernacle (Num. 3:7-8). Gen. 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. Ex. 3:12 So He said, I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Num 3:7-8 7 And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. 8 Also they shall attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting, and to the needs of the children of Israel, to do the work of the tabernacle. So, the first task of man was to tend, to serve, to work. Jordan PS: Second, God entrusted Adam with the protection of His Garden. The word keep actually means guard or protect. Eveson: It was the duty of the Levites to keep or guard the tabernacle from intruders (Num. 1:53; 3:38). The same word is used of the cherubim who guarded the way to the tree of life (3:24). Num. 3:38 Moreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, keeping charge of the sanctuary, to meet the needs of the children of Israel; but the outsider who came near was to be put to death. Gen. 3:24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Eveson: Was the man to guard against invaders? That such unwelcome visitors existed is evident in chapter 3 when the worst of all gatecrashers appeared on the scene. Jordan PS: We need to consider that the Garden of Eden was not simply a patch of ground. It was also God s holy sanctuary, the place of His earthly throne. Like the Tabernacle and the Temple later on, the garden was the place where God would meet with men and hold court. It was nothing less than the throne of God that Adam was called to guard. When Adam failed to do so, the cherubim were brought in to carry out the task (3:24). Consider the greatness of the task entrusted to Adam as God gave the keys of the kingdom to Adam. So man is called to work or serve and to guard God s holiness. Let me amplify on this theme of guarding God s holiness by considering how the garden of Eden is a picture of the heavenly sanctuary. A Holy Place Eveson: This garden was heaven on earth. It was like a sanctuary. As we read on in the Law of Moses we cannot but be impressed by the similarities between the Garden of Eden and the tabernacle. It is almost as if the garden was a prototype of the later tabernacle and temple. [And remember that the tabernacle is built according to the blueprints of heaven to be an earthly representation of the true heavenly sanctuary Ex. 25:8-9; Heb. 9, especially v. 24.] Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 51 DSB 9-Sep-05

8 Eveson: 1) The two verbs to tend (serve) and to keep (2:15) are only found together elsewhere in the book of Moses in the context of the Levites who served and kept the tabernacle (Num 3:6-7). Num. 3:6-7 6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7 And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle. Pratt points out that in the role to work and take care of the Garden, Adam and Eve served as priests. The work of Adam and Eve parallels the work of the Levites in the Tabernacle. Eveson: 2) The tree of life is represented in the tabernacle by the golden lampstand [or menorah]. 3) God s revealed will, associated in the garden with the tree of knowledge, has a central place in the tabernacle by being stored in the ark of the covenant. 4) The gold and jewels of Eden (2:11-12) drawn attention to the later adornments of the high priest, the tabernacle decorations, and furniture. 5) The cherubim that were placed at the east of the garden (3:24) are reminiscent of the ones embroidered on the veil of the sanctuary and the ones of pure gold that were at each end of the mercy seat (ex. 25:18-22; 26:31). 6) In the garden, as later in the tabernacle, God deigned to commune with human beings (3:8; Lev. 26:11-12). 7) [Both the entrance to the garden and to the Tabernacle faced east (Gen. 3:24; Ex. 27:13).] Eveson: There was one big difference in the tabernacle, however: direct access to God was limited to the high priest once a year. In Eden, however, Adam and Eve were able to meet God face to face without fear or shame. The Lord s garden was God s earthly temple. All this was lost through disobedience. Adam and the Animals (2:18-20) Eveson: It comes as a surprise to hear the words It is not good (2:18). All through chapter 1 we have had the refrain: And God saw that it was good. We are told that the man was created first and that there was a significant gap before the creation of the woman. Until the woman is formed God cannot pronounce the creation of humans as good. The work is incomplete. Two principles arise out of the text. First, human beings are not meant to live in solitude (2:18). Though human beings are created for fellowship with God, they are also meant to have relationships with fellow human beings. God, in whose image we are made, is not a lonely God. Humans are like God in being created to have personal communion with other persons. Second, animals are no substitute for humans (2:19). However lovable or helpful an animal might be as a pet, it cannot replace human friendship. Atkinson: By giving names to the animals, Adam is doing two things. He is first recognizing the categories in which things come, bringing together what belongs together, discriminating between things that differ. He is thus beginning to order his world. Man the scientist is not too far away. But secondly, in the ancient world name-giving was an exercise in sovereignty. Adam is taking authority over the rest of the created order. The responsibility for stewardship in the natural order now extends to the animal world, and the man takes it on. Gradually the animals pair off and move off, and Adam is left by himself. Now he, too, knows what God has known all along, that in the goodness of His creation, there is still a not good to be remedied. Marriage (2:21-25) Eveson: The long introduction to the creation of the woman suggests how important her position is. She may be the last on the scene, but she is certainly not the least. There is a radical different Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 52 DSB 9-Sep-05

9 between humans and animals, but there is a fundamental similarity between the man and the woman. She is of the same stuff as the man (2:23). Woman is a special creation, just like the man. God is as personally involved in her creation as he was in the creation of man. He created her from man s side. She is not his master; she is not his slave. She is his equal, one corresponding to him, a companion suitable for him. Differences between man and woman as God originally created them are to be respected, without forgetting their common humanity. There is, nevertheless, an order in creation. The woman came after and from the man, and the man named her Woman (2:23). God teaches by the way He does things and the New Testament draws our attention to this order. The head of the woman is the man and he is to take the leadership position (1 Cor. 11:3, 8-9; 1 Tim. 2:13). Headship does not necessarily imply inequality. The God who created human beings, male and female, in His own image has an order within His own being. Eveson: Marriage is a good thing. God saw the need, fulfilled it and organized the first wedding. Like a father giving away his daughter to the bridegroom, so the LORD God brought her to the man (2:22). Marriage is more than an institution to propagate the human race; it is more than legalized mating. Marriage is a binding commitment, a covenant to live together. Love is not mentioned in this chapter, but something of the romance of love is evident in the poetic outburst from Adam s lips when he first sets eyes on his bride. It was love at first sight! His words present us with the very earliest love poem (2:23). God gave Adam one wife. Though many polygamous marriages were tolerated in the Old Testament, from the beginning it was not so. We are told that the man and women were naked and not ashamed (2:25). Their lack of shame was not a moral weakness, but an indication of their sinless perfection. Shame has to do with sin. The spiritual union between the Lord and His people is the model for human marriage (Eph. 5:31-32). The earthly type leads the believer to consider the heavenly antitype. Conclusion Eveson: Revelation ends where Genesis begins, with the garden of God in a new creation. In order to make the connection complete, John even introduces the unusual combination LORD God in Rev. 21:22 and 22:5,6. Canaan had the prospects of becoming the new Eden where God promised to live among His people (Dt. 23:14). But as Adam rebelled and experienced God s curse and removal from the garden, so Israel disobeyed and experienced the covenant curses which included removal from the land. The prophets bring together these two thoughts of God s paradise and promised land in their view of the future (Is. 51:3; Ez. 36:35). Ez. 36:35 So they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. Eveson: The New Testament picks up this theme. There is a future paradise. The final state of believers is not a disembodied spiritual condition. It has a physical and earthly aspect which involves living on a new earth with resurrected, glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-53; Phil. 3:21). In the final chapters of Revelation, John describes the garden city in more detail. Read Revelation 21:1-5; 21:22-22:5 Eveson: The river of Genesis 2:10 becomes a river of life-giving water flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and the tree of life becomes a line of threes on either side of the river (Rev. 22:1-2). All this expresses superabundance and life in its fullness that excels anything found in the original garden of God or the old land of Canaan. Outside are all the evildoers (Rev. 21:27; 22:1-5). There is no possibility of this paradise ever being invaded by deceivers or Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 53 DSB 9-Sep-05

10 spoiled by sin. God s people will still serve and live in obedience to Him (Rev. 22:3), but there will be no need to keep watch. Unlike the original Eden and Canaan, where the threat of curses hung ominously over people like dark storm clouds, there shall be no more curse (Rev. 22:3). The tree on which Jesus died has become for us the tree of life. Abundant life flows to us through that atoning death. And so we come full circle once again. We saw that reading Genesis 1 gives us a picture of our regeneration, our re-creation as the New Man in Christ. And now, we can see that reading Genesis 2 gives us a picture of our future destination the new creation of eternity in heaven with God. And what will we be doing there in heaven? The same things Adam was created to do in the earthly paradise of Eden. We will be serving God and worshiping Him (guarding His holiness) forever. I ve said it before and I ll say it again, let s start practicing now! Amen. Close in Prayer. Next week: Lesson 6 The Fall of Man (Gen. 3:1-13) Schaeffer pp Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 54 DSB 9-Sep-05