From the very beginning when He spoke the world into existence it had been about a relationship. Throughout all of eternity past within the Godhead the three had and still exist as one. They are perfect in unity, in thought and in purpose. No greater relationship has or ever will be as whole as the triune God that created us. Now this God wants us to experience what it is like for us to have a relationship with Him.
I love the Genesis account of creation when it just says these simple three words, “And God said.” Just by His mere voice He spoke everything into place. Colossians 1:16 tells us how the Son had part in the creation.
Colossians 1:16 ( ESV )
16For by£ him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Note what Colossians 1:16 states not only were all things created through Him but it also gives the reason for Him creating the world which is, it was created FOR HIM. This world and all that is in it including mankind was created as the possessions of God. We were made for Him. He wants us to be one with Him and to experience that relationship that He has within the trinity. He wants us as His creation to be intimate with Him and Him alone. I believe that this is the basis for why He wants no other gods before Him because as He says in Exodus 20, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” God does not want to share us with others. This may sound selfish but we have to remember that in Him alone do we find perfect love. In Him alone is our life made whole.
From the very start God wants us to understand that He wants what is best for us in our relationship with Him. He wants to lavish us with His love. Our God wants what is best for us as His children. Note in Genesis 1:29 what He says to Adam.
Genesis 1:29-31 ( ESV )
29And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
30And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Constantly throughout Genesis One we read these words. And God saw that it was good. 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:24 and 1:31. The creation that He had made for Himself was a good thing. In the same way as Adam and Eve walked upon this earth they could see that their God did not want to withhold anything good from them. He wanted what was best for them.
When you read Genesis, it reads like a flashback from a movie scene. You know what I mean like when we see the story of a character being played out and then in the middle of the movie you are shown something about him that happened earlier in his life. He now plays back to what happened on the day that He created Adam and Eve. In chapter 2:7 we see how that, “The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Note also that we are now introduced to several trees that are growing in the garden in verse 9. These trees were pleasant to look at and also good for food. He also states two trees by name, one tree is called the Tree of Life, (I believe that it was to remind Adam that God wanted Him to have a relationship with Him for that of eternity. As we will see in verse 23 God will take Him away from the garden and this tree which apparently could cause him to live forever. We will not see this tree again until Revelation 2:7 and Revelation 22:2.) The second tree would be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which would be the downfall of His creation.
As a side note one may ask, “Why, did He even put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden? The only answer I have for that is that God in His great love for us did not want us to love Him without a choice. He, just like us, wanted a relationship with us not out of, I Must, but rather because I choose Him.
Now we come to the part of the story that I want to spend the majority of our time thinking about. Please take a look with me at what God said about His creation in 2:18.
Genesis 2:18 ( ESV )
18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for£ him.”
This is the first time that we hear these words, “It is not good.” What was not good? It was not good for man to be alone. Remember throughout all of eternity past, God had experienced the relationship that He has within the Godhead. He now wanted His creation to experience what a relationship was like. He did not want Adam to be the only one of His kind. I believe that He wanted man to understand his need for a relationship by allowing Adam in verses 19-20 to see how God’s creation was marked by the need of having others of their kind to be with. Adam looked around and saw that there was not a “helper fit for him.” This is not a demeaning word but rather has the idea of completion. Adam was not whole. This becomes part of the beauty of Genesis 2:21-23.
Genesis 2:21-23 ( ESV )
21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made£ into a woman and brought her to the man.
23Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”£
He took Eve from the very rib of Adam while he was in this deep sleep from God. Adam knew that this woman was a part of Him. She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. He now had living before Him one whom he could have a relationship with. One he could talk to, listen to and be one. The God who had created him for an intimate relationship now allowed Adam to be able to see how a relationship worked. God wanted them in verse 24 to be one. Everything was perfect. Paradise now lived on earth. When they looked upon each other they knew that they were meant to be together. They had a relationship with the God who hung the stars in place and He would walk in the Garden with them.
Remember brothers and sisters in Ephesians 5:32 we read these words.
Ephesians 5:32 ( ESV )
32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
One of the great mysteries of the Bible is that of how our marriages are a picture of the relationship of how Christ loves the Church. When God created Eve for Adam and brought them together as one He did this so that we could see through a marriage relationship how Christ loves us. As believers our marriages should be such that when the world looks at our relationship they can see how Christ loved the church and how the church is to love Christ.
Wives are to submit themselves to their husbands as their gift to the Lord. That word submit has fallen into hard times. Yet, Ladies when you are willing to do this you show to the world how that the church is willing to follow the lead of Christ. How the church is willing to give their all and trust in Him alone.
Men, you must understand though that the heavier burden falls upon you. The book of Ephesians says that you are to love your wife. Well that sounds ok, as a matter of fact that sounds better than submission. Let us not forget all of what Ephesians 5:25 states:
Ephesians 5:25 ( ESV )
We are not to just love our wives but to love them as Christ loved the church. What kind of love is that? Total sacrifice. Even if they do not respond, we are to give of our lives for them. You see I believe when this takes place a woman will be more willing to submit. We as men should want to help her live a cleansed life and set her apart from all others. When we do this we show to the world how Christ loved the church.
This was the beauty of Eden. This was the beauty of the place called Paradise. Man and woman had a relationship with each other that pleased their God and He said it was good. Man and woman also had a relationship with their God and it was good. That is until sin entered into the relationship and then Paradise would be lost.
We know the story of the temptation of Adam and Eve and how Satan tempted them both to take of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man had now chosen to go his own way and forsake the love that God had so lavished upon him. They had became prideful and chose to go against what God had given them in their relationship. They became ashamed and tried to hide themselves from God. Then we hear of these words which once brought them pleasure but now brought them dread.
Genesis 3:8 ( ESV )
8And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
The relationship would forever now be changed. The man would turn against the woman in verse 12 and even blame God for giving her to him. The woman would try to turn and put the blame on the serpent in verse 13. Shifting of blame would now become a part of life and instead of lovingly confessing our sins one to another we would now blame the very ones we profess to love.
Punishment would now be handed out. The serpent would crawl upon his belly and there would be enmity between Satan and man as well as God. The woman would have a desire to go against her husband and find pain in childbirth. The man would now work in a way which would cause sweat upon his brow. Both man and woman would also experience death.
They died in the garden just like God said that they would in Genesis 2:17. Yes, they would eventually die physically but more importantly they died spiritually that day in the garden. The creator/creation relationship would now be different. This to me is the greatest of all of the punishments that was dealt upon man that day. We would not be able to experience physically walking in the cool of the day in the physical presence of God. They would be cast out of Paradise. They could not be in Paradise because this was the place where the Tree of Life had been place and God did not want them to reach out their hand and live forever. How cruel this must sound. Yet, I believe that God was being merciful because if you remember we see this tree next time in Heaven in Rev. 2:7 and 22:2. How was this being merciful? God did not want man to have eternal life and still be sinners bound for Hell. Yes, we lost it all. Most importantly of all though we lost the greatest relationship ever known, that is the relationship between God and man.
The Bible teaches us that not only do we not have a relationship with God but we are because of our sin at enmity with God or at war. We follow after other gods constantly. We make ourselves cheap like Ezekiel states and fall into the arms of lovers who care not for our souls but only want to use us. What can be done to restore paradise? What can be done so that we can be one with Him?
Maybe one of the most beloved chapters of the Bible can reveal that answer to us. The conversation was held between Jesus and a man by Nicodemus who had come to Jesus at night. Jesus would strip him away of all his preconceived ideas about God and how he could come back to the garden’s relationship. When Jesus told him these words.
John 3:3 ( ESV )
3Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again£ he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus you want this relationship back with God. You have to be born again or you will not see the kingdom of God. Nick, you need to be born from above or born of God. You can’t do it on your own, you need me. I alone gave you life and I alone can give you spiritual life again. You are dead and you need me, to make you whole again. How would He do this?
John 3:16-17 ( ESV )
16“For God so loved the world,£ that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Nick, God loves you, but not only you. He loves the world. He loved it so much that He gave His only son to die for your sins so that you would not have to perish. He does not want to condemn this world but He wants to save this world through what I will do on the cross and by rising again from the dead.
Think about this, this is how much the Father wants to have a relationship with you. He was willing to allow His Son to take your place so that you and I could be at peace with Him once again. So that you and I could walk with Him in the cool of the Garden. This is the greatest love of all and He gives it to everyone who is willing to put their faith in Him.
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