Lessons In the Garden
Genesis 2:7-17 Amplified Bible (AMP)
7Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. 8And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted). 9And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired--good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity.10Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [river] heads.11The first is named Pishon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.12The gold of that land is of high quality; bdellium (pearl?) and onyx stone are there.13The second river is named Gihon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Cush. 14The third river is named Hiddekel [the Tigris]; it is the one flowing east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.15And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden. 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
1 Peter 1:18-19 Amplified Bible (AMP)
18You must know (recognize) that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless (fruitless) way of living inherited by tradition from [your] forefathers, not with corruptible things [such as] silver and gold,19But [you were purchased] with the precious blood of Christ (the Messiah), like that of a [sacrificial] lamb without blemish or spot.
I will never forget when I started going to College many years ago, I remember going into the counselors office and reviewing my degree requirements, and finding out that I needed to complete not just one but two history courses. I remember thinking to myself, Gosh, didn’t I take enough history when I was in high school, as I pursued other degrees I found that each field of study required me to learn of its historical base. I have since learned that there are lessons to be learned from the very foundation of each field of study, just as there is something to be learned by looking back into the Garden experience. Many people don’t like to look at the Garden because it angers them, that it was at this point, and juncture that all life and living changed, and some like to blame Adam, some take pleasure in blaming Eve, and all seem to blame the serpent, but as I have meditated and reviewed this period, God gave them, everything in the garden, He gave them freedom, but He also gave them something that few talk about, which is real freedom came with boundaries. The boundaries in turn spoke of the responsibility to be obedient; Adam was told run free, eat what you like, do what you like, when you like, BUT don’t touch this one tree; don’t eat of it.
God has given us freedom once again that was purchased through the blood of Jesus Christ, but He gave us boundaries, He told us not to touch certain things and not to behave and even hang out with certain types of people. You see with freedom comes responsibility. In the Garden it was the responsibility of obedience and today, it is the same for us. As we see in the case of Saul, Samuel told him to wait until he got there and he would perform the sacrifice; when Samuel delayed, Saul, took matters into his own hands and performed the sacrifice. He allowed fear, pride and disobedience to cost him not just the kingdom, but his peace and his life. The same lesson was first seen in the Garden, God told Adam, do not eat of this tree or you will surely die, but Adam allowed the enemy to get to his helpmeet and to beguile her and then because woman was created to help, aid and come along side of she came along side of Adam and said she had done it and nothing happened so it was okay for him too, and he allowed distractions, false evidence to lead him to a place of disobedience. Not only did he fall and he lost his freedom, perfection and eternal life. Adam didn’t just lose it for himself, he lost it for all of mankind and it was at that point we required a savior to reconcile us back to God and regain our connection, freedom and our life.
History is important it gives us lessons and clues as to what to do and what not to do. This lesson from the Garden was three fold, God gave us freedom, but with that freedom, came responsibility to be obedient. Just as today, we have free will to choose whom we will serve, what we will do with our lives and whether or not we will be obedient to God or not. But in our choosing we must understand that we are responsible for the end result, not God, not Adam not anyone else. You see God gave us a cheat sheet, it was the events of the Garden, He showed us that this is what will keep us separated from Him and cause us to lack the freedom He desires for us, and if we are disobedient that it can cause us to forfeit the abundance of life He planned for us and if we refuse to come back to Him that we can lose life eternal with Him. The lesson is clear, will we choose, to be responsible to abide by the boundaries and be obedient to what God is asking of us here in the earth, in order that we may gain life and have it more abundantly and eternally, the choice is always ours!
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