006 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
And the LORD God commanded man saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die’ (Genesis 2:16,17).
Key Verse:
“The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground … Now the Lord God had planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed” (Genesis 2:7,8)
(Genesis 2)
We continue our study about what happened in the beginning. In this lesson we will meet Adam and Eve, and learn about
their first day on earth.
We already read in Genesis: “For in six days the LORD made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.” (Exod. 20:11) We also saw how God created the first man on
the sixth day.
God created man with a body and a soul and spirit. God formed the body of man from the dust of the earth, and then He placed in it an eternal soul.
God created the soul of man in His own image.
This means that God placed in man’s soul a special mind (spirit), so that man could know God. God also gave man a heart (emotions) with which he could love God. And He entrusted man with a will (free choice), so that he would have to choose for himself whether to
obey God or to disobey Him.
After God finished creating the first man, He had other things to do before He could rest from His work of creation. These works are what we want to learn about in this lesson. Let us continue in Genesis 2:7. The Scripture says: “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. Now the LORD God had planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” (Genesis 2:7,8)
The Scriptures tell us how God prepared a delightful garden for the man whom He had created. The garden was called Eden, meaning
delight
Some think that this garden in which God placed the first man was in heaven. However the Scriptures show us that it was located here on earth, in the east, in Eden, probably where the country of Iraq is today. The Scriptures never confuse the Garden of Paradise (Eden) which was on earth, and the heavenly Paradise which is above, in the presence of God.
In the verses that follow, the Scripture says:
“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 gardens; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads … And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:9,10,15).
So we see that God made for the first man, Adam, a lovely place where he could live in true happiness. God placed him in a lovely garden full of trees that produced fruit, beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. In this delightful place,
everything was perfect and wonderful.
Adam’s eyes gazed on the beauty, his ears heard the birds singing in the trees, and he smelled the beautiful fragrance of the flowers of the garden. God gave Adam everything for his enjoyment. We also read how God, in His goodness, gave him the responsibility to take care of the garden, so that he would be happily occupied.
The most wonderful thing that took place in Eden, was that God Himself
would come to the garden each day
in the cool of the evening so that He might talk with the man whom He had created in His own image. (See Genesis 3:8.) Why did God come to visit Adam? He visited Adam, because, as we have already learned,
God created man for fellowship.
God’s intention was that He and the people that He had made might fellowship together, talk together, rejoice together, and spend eternity together, with nothing to disturb their fellowship. God wanted man to grow in a deep and wonderful relationship with Him forever.
Now there is something else we need to know about the garden into which God placed the first man. In the middle of the garden,
God planted two very important trees.
One was called the tree of life, and the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God placed the tree of life in the garden to remind Adam that He intended man to share His eternal life. As for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God placed it in the middle of the garden with a command: “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 the day that thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16,17).
Why did God forbid Adam to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Is God stingy? No, He is not stingy! In fact, one of His names is “the Generous One!” {James 1:5} God told Adam, “You can eat of every tree . . . except one.” Was that a difficult command? No, it was not. God, in His grace, gave Adam everything he needed to be happy. He did not withhold any good thing from him. However,
God placed before Adam a simple command,
so that Adam might have the opportunity to show God that he loved Him enough to obey Him.
As God says in His Word:
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my words … He that loveth me not keeps not my word.” (John 14:23,24)
God wanted Adam’s love and loyalty.
That is why He gave him this simple command. God did not create a mechanical man (robot). God created a man with a mind, a heart, and a free will so that he could choose for himself
to love and obey God.
What did God tell Adam would happen to him if he ate of the forbidden tree? Read again the Scriptures. God said, You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for [in the day that] you eat of it
you will surely die!
Thus, God informed Adam that disobedience to His command would end in death. God loved the man He had created; so He warned him in clear words, saying: “Adam, if you disobey me,
you will die
because my holy law requires the death of “the soul that sins.” (Ezek. 18:4,20)
Perhaps someone is asking:
What is sin?
The Scriptures say:
“Sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)
“All wrongdoing is sin.” (1 John 5:17)
“Anyone … who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (Jam. 4:17)
Sin is going your “own way.” (Isa. 53:6) Sin is
anything that does not agree with God.
What will happen to those who sin against God? The Word of God says, “The soul that sins must die!” (Ezek. 18:20). And in another verse, it says, “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23)
What is death?
Some think that to die is to cease existing; everything is finished and you no longer know anything. But if we rely on the Scriptures, we will see that this is not what death is. Death means separation.
Death is separation from life.
When God said to Adam: “If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will surely die” this is what He was saying: Adam, if you eat of the tree which I have prohibited, in that day you will die, that is: you will be separated from Me. If you disobey me you can no longer have a close relationship with me.
I am holy and I cannot tolerate sin
or those who reject my way. I expelled Lucifer and his angels when they sinned, and I will expel you too if you sin.
Also, if you eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, your body will begin to grow old and, eventually, it will die, that is: your soul will leave your body. And that is not all. If you disobey me, not only will your body die, but your soul will go to the place created for Satan and his angels. And there you will be separated from me for ever and ever!”
So we see that
sin produces three horrible separations.
First, your soul is separated from God here on earth. That is, you have no relationship with God the Holy One because of sin in your heart.
Second, your soul will be separated from your body on the day you die and it will go to hell.
Third, your soul and body will be separated from God forever in the lake of fire.
Based on the authority of the Word of God, what is death? In short,
death is separation from the God of Life.
Sin separates man from God, the source of true life.
God is holy and cannot coexist with sin.
The soul that sins is like a branch of a tree that is cut off and cast away. What happens when a branch is no longer part of the tree? A branch that is cut off, is it alive? No, it is dead! The leaves do not become instantly dry, but they have begun to die. Similarly, if you have not received the way of forgiveness of sin which God has provided, you may think that you are alive, but the Scriptures say that, before God, you are “dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1) “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you.” (Isaiah 59:2) You are “like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” (John 15:6) The branch that is no longer connected to the tree
cannot produce fruit.
That is how a sinner is before God. He cannot produce anything pleasing to God, because he has no relationship with God, who is the “True Tree,”
the Source of true life.
Sinners can only expect God’s righteous judgement. However, in the Scriptures, God has declared how we can be made righteous before Him and know for sure that our sins are removed. It is this that we will be considering in coming lessons.
We finish this lesson by reading what is found in the remainder of this chapter. The Scriptures tell us how
God created the first woman.
“And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper … And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and
he took of his ribs,
and closed the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, he shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not shamed” (Genesis 2:18,21-25).
So, we discover
that marriage was designed by God.
God created one man and one woman so that they could love each other, share their lives together, and have a happy family that glorifies God. God, who loved Adam and wanted him to be perfectly happy, gave him a very wonderful gift:
a wife!
God wanted Adam to delight in his wife, provide for her, and love her as he loved himself.
Even more important, God wanted the man and the woman to enjoy a deep relationship with Himself–to know Him, love Him and obey Him forever. (see Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4)
Thus, God finished His work of creation. The Scripture says: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold
it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work that he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because in it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 1:31-2:3)
Why did God rest on the seventh day? Was it because He was tired? No, God is never tired! The Scriptures say that God rested because He had “finished the work!” Every-thing was
perfect.
That is why God rested from His work on the seventh day. That is also why there are seven days in a week.
God bless you as you consider these words from His Word:
“The wages of sin in death, but the gift of God is eternal life …!” (Rom. 6:23a)
We would invite you to answer the questions attached and send them together with any questions that you might have