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What God Was Doing In Eden

 


The story of the first man and woman to many may seem puzzling. Adam and Eve are both placed in a paradiso, a garden with Trees of Life to eat from, and they walk and talk with the Lord God. There however, is a test, another tree, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Lord tells his children, if they eat of it, they shall die. Entering into this scene is the devil who with lies tells Eve she will not die but become like God if she eats from forbidden tree. Eve partakes of the fruit and gives some to Adam, immediately they feel a change and become afraid. What happens next is God comes to look for them, and finds they are hiding because of the shame of being naked. The Lord asks them if they partook of that forbidden tree and a round of blame shifting ensues, Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the Serpent. 


The questions that come to people’s minds is why did God leave a tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil there in Eden? Why was the devil allowed to tempt the first man and woman? Was it all apart of some lab experiment of Elohim? Is he akin to the Engineers in the Ridley Scott’s Alien prequels? Some people even become mad at God over this story, that he is as responsible for the mess by allowing Adam and Eve to be tested. Pastors tend to salvage this story by pointing to free will, that without a choice like they had in Eden and like we have to today, we’d be slaves, and God wants us to willfully choose The Right. This is a good apologetic talking point, but I feel it doesn’t sufficiently help people feel God is just and loving. 


So I have by the Grace of the Holy Spirit found what I believe God was doing in Eden. The answer is found in the Second Epistle of St. Peter, Chapter 3,  verse 8 “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The fact is before Adam and Eve was created, while they were being created, and when they were being tempted, God saw they’d make the wrong choice, choosing death. What is marvelous is He choose to create them anyway when he knew what they would do! I doubt we would in his place. But the Lord already had Salvation planned, redemption, that Jesus Christ would come to save mankind from this mistake in Eden. God not being in time (2 Peter 3:8) was able to see Adam and Eve’s choice, and at same time could see His own salvic act He would do on the cross! So it wasn’t lab rats in a Garden, it was that no matter what God had a plan, if Adam and Eve obeyed or if they disobeyed, he had a safety net like those at circus, to catch us all in Christ!  


If we understand this, that God wasn’t be cruel in Eden, but had a plan  to save us from the get go, we then see He is indeed is love (1 John 4:8-18). That he was not doing some indifferent science experiment, but   made it so that no matter what decision Adam and Eve made, He’d ensure they and their offspring could be with Him! For like Adam and Eve, “we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) but thanks be to Jesus Christ The Lord and Son of God, He reconciled us when we were enemies of God!, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8-10). 


Don’t let the devil accuse God to your mind, saying he is cold and indifferent. No! He choose to come save all who will believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of David, even before the first man and first woman existed! And just as sin and death entered through Adam and Eve by partaking of that forbidden tree, Jesus Christ was nailed to a tree (cross) and died to break the power of death over us: 

“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son of God, Jesus Christ, also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Jesus has removed the sting of death that Adam and Eve with the devil marred all humans with, “Death has been swallowed up in Victory! Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin,and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ..” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). Christ has removed the stringer and replaced it with His saving grace and eternal life! If you put your faith in the Lord Jesus, death’s power over you is no more. Amen. 

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