10.25.9 – In the Garden

Genesis 3

Have you ever wondered what life would have been like if Adam and Eve hadn’t disobeyed God? What if, when Satan tempted Eve, she had just said “No”? What if Adam had obeyed God, and stood up for his wife saying, “No, we’re not going to listen to you”?

One of the questions here has always been, “Where was Adam when all this happened?” In popular fiction and tradition and even cartoons, we often see Eve standing there by herself, talking to the snake. And think about the pictures we have often seen—both cartoonish and arty: the serpent is often pictured as a snake wound around a tree branch. But the serpent isn’t cursed to crawl on his belly until after the temptation.

And was it an apple? Again, popular art and tradition may say it was an apple, but the Bible tells us only that it was fruit that was pleasing to the eye (which eliminates kiwi, as they look like rats). And why wasn’t Eve surprised when the serpent talked to her? Was it because she was still so new to this experience that she didn’t know that it wasn’t normal for animals to talk? Or did they talk up until now? The Bible doesn’t give us any clue … except that, in the only other instance in the Bible where an animal talks to a man (Balaam), the man reacts to what was said rather than the things that is saying it.

I bring this up because this is a story we all know well—most everyone in western society knows it—but do we know it as well as we think?

So let’s go back to an earlier question that I think it really important:

Where was Adam?

Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (ESV)

Adam was with her! Adam was standing there, listening to this, and he let his wife handle it.

1 Timothy 2:13-14
For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. (ESV)

Adam was not deceived. Eve may have been tricked, but Adam knew what he was doing. He willingly listened to the lies without objecting; then he took the fruit and ate it even though he knew the penalty.

Why didn’t any of this surprise God? And why was the tree there in the first place? Haven’t you ever wondered that? If God didn’t want them to eat from the tree, why did he put it there?

For our first possible clue, let’s look at

Luke 19:40

He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." (ESV)

What does that have to do with Eden, you’re wondering. Here’s the answer: God has a plan. He has a plan for us individuals and he has a plan for the world. He also has good works that he has planned for us to do, according to Paul.

God’s plan(s) will not be thwarted. Back in Genesis 1 (26-27) he proposed to create beings like himself and his son and the Holy Spirit. Beings with personality, with the ability to think and to reason and to love.

You see now why the tree was there? Or, I might say, “trees” for the Tree of Life was there, too.

No?

Running Away From God

Let me recall another story for you. There was a man named Jonah who God called to go and preach to the people in Ninevah. But Jonah didn’t want to go, so he hopped a freighter heading the other direction. God, though, wanted Jonah in Ninevah. There was no one else God wanted to send. So he created a storm. Then he sent a great fish. And Jonah has the worst ride of his life but winds up getting spit out on the sand, knowing he better follow God’s orders or something worse than being after-kelp mint is going to happen.

God had a plan. And the plan was that these beings that he had created would be like him. So, maybe the trees were in the Garden of Eden because they were to be eaten from. No, not as some cruel joke played on Adam and Eve, but as a reward when they were ready!!! I believe there would have come a time when God would have led them over to the tree and given them the fruit himself.

But what about that curse thing? You know, the thing about dying when they ate it.

Tolkien had an interesting way of dealing with this concept in his book The Silmarillion. In it, the Creator creates the elves first. They are immortal. But then, he creates men, who are mortal. The elves don’t want anything to do with the men because—from their perspective—it’d be like us making friends with one of those fruit flies that only lives 9 hours. The centuries go by, though, and the elves begin to realize that man has been given an incredible gift: the ability to die. Finally, the elves come to realize that the greatest gift isn’t this life, it’s the life one can have with the creator. When that happens, they are allowed to leave this life—this Middle Earth—and go where they were meant to be.

We could ask any farmer or gardener in here what has to happen to a seed before it can grow. It has to be buried (either in the soil, or in a solution of nutrients). The seed itself has to die, so it can become the glorious plant it was meant to be. Jesus tells us this, too. (John 12:24)

Maybe death was not intended to be a curse. God is spirit (John 4:24). He gave us spirits, too, but he encased them in this hard shell. Men and women were created to live forever (and we will, one way or another), but we cannot become what we were intended to be until we have died to this body. I think those trees were there because they were part of God’s plan. One day, when man was mature enough to accept it, God was going to give him the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And the man would die. And then God was going to give him the fruit from the Tree of life and the man would be shed of this hard, outer shell—this chrysalis—and be invited to live forever as he was intended to live!

This is exciting stuff! But maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah, some excitement, Sam. We blew it!”

Great Good News!!
Let me tell you some great news: God has a plan and we’re not big enough to thwart it!

1 Corinthians 15:45
Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (ESV)

Just as God was standing ready with singing rocks at the Triumphal Entry, he was standing ready with an alternate plan to produce the companions he wanted should Adam and Eve fail. They failed, but God was not thwarted.

Genesis 3:14-15
The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (ESV)

In a moment, the first sacrifice was made. God killed an animal (or two) and made garments for Adam and Eve. Blood was shed so that their sin might be covered up. But even before that first sacrifice, God promised another sacrifice—one that wouldn’t just cover up sin, but would pay the complete price!!

What do I DO with this?

We worry a lot about death. Our death and the deaths of those around us. But when was the last time you thanked God for death?

Romans 6:4
So through immersion we were buried with him into death. Christ was saved from death to the glory of the Father. In the same way, we will live a new life. (IEB)