Light and Life for Today

9. Paradise Lost

Have you ever been on a really wonderful holiday where everything seemed perfect....life was effortless.....there was no stress and the location was incredibly beautiful? Do you recall the feeling of having to leave...looking back and wishing you could stay there forever? Then there comes the time when all that is left are the memories as you head off to work.

Imagine what it was like for Adam and Eve when God had explained the consequences for their disobedience after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps they thought He was finished but there was more!

"Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. Then the Lord God said, "Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!" So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3:20-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It's very significant that God made clothing for Adam and Eve from animal skins. They were clothed with a garment that was purchased with the life of another. In a similar way, we are clothed with the garment of righteousness, purchased with the life of another —Jesus Christ!

God stopped Adam and Eve from having to live forever by preventing them from eating from the tree of life. He knew that living forever in a sinful body would not be good! God banished them from the garden of Eden, so all they had were memories of how perfect it had been.

I guess they had no idea what this new kind of life would be like. Adam had previously tended the garden in Eden but now he would have to deal with thorns (a symbol of mankind's sin which would one day be fashioned into a crown for Jesus our Saviour to wear on the cross!) and thistles. He would have to labour to produce food to eat and struggle with the thought that his disobedience had caused God to curse the ground. This is far from the holiday like atmosphere in Eden!

Very soon Eve would know the extent of her consequences when she became pregnant and experienced the sharp, agonising pains of childbirth. Such a different outcome to the one God intended for his children. They would face pain, hardship and finally death. Paradise was indeed lost but the the story of redemption was only beginning as God would make a way for Adam, Eve and all of their descendants, to one day have access to the tree of life.

""Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God." Revelation‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
Reading this chapter of Genesis has been very sad but I thank You that although I am a sinner because I am descended from Adam, You have not left me alone in the mess of living in a fallen world. Thank You for seeking me and rescuing me as I turned in faith to Jesus.

"For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins."
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1:13-14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Thank You that because I am in Christ, I have His righteousness. I am no longer a child of Adam but I am adopted into Your family!

"But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God." John‬ ‭1:12-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In His Name,
Amen.

"For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see."
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭36:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬