THE GARDEN- ISOLATION? OR OPPORTUNITY?

By Edward O'HARA

When God placed Adam in the garden did He tell him he was to live only in the garden? Were there boundaries for the garden that he was not to pass? Is there any place in the Bible that says Adam had to stay in the garden when God placed him there?

Or was Adam able to go anywhere in the earth he chose? Is there in the Genesis account, or anywhere else in the Bible, anything that tells us that Adam had access to the whole earth?

The answer is yes. Because in Gen.1:29 God told Adam and Eve they were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

How were they supposed to be able to do fill the earth if they were only allowed to live within boundaries that designated what was the garden? And what was not? They could not. Therefore, it is my contention that they always had access to the whole earth.

But, since he was to work in the garden to dress and keep it. And if you have any experience with doing this kind of work, we know it takes a lot of work to dress and keep a garden. Even one much smaller like our backyard gardens today. And even one without the thorns and thistles they would encounter after they no longer had access to it. And given the kind of time this kind of work takes. I’m sure that he spent a lot of time there. Maybe even most of his time there.

And while in the garden God said he could eat from every tree that God put there. Also making it clear that there was one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that God had put there that would give Adam certain abilities that were not given to him when he was made. Abilities that would bring his death. Or to put a finer point on it, would cause him to realize his mortality. God said “In the day that ye eat thereof ye shall surely die”.

Now, since he was tasked with the job of dressing and keeping the garden. And these trees of life and knowledge of good and evil were in the garden. It is a near certainty that he also worked to dress and keep them.

And as he ate from the tree of life, and did not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his mortality was kept unknown to him. Because his eyes were not yet opened to know good and evil.

Between now and when I post my next message inn this series please ponder these things. To see for yourself that then accepted norm that is accepted by most people about Genesis is not all it’s cracked up to be. But, instead leaves much to be desired in the way of understanding exactly what it was God was doing with man there.

I will pick up here in my next message about what happened in the garden. But, for now I want to ask of you who it is that has this knowledge? Does everyone have it by inheritance? Or is it something we all must learn?

Well, Deut.1:39 tells us the children that sinned with their parents in the wilderness did not possess this knowledge saying, “Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.”

And in Mt.19:14 Jesus said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” And in Psalm139 David said, “13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

So it is clear from the scriptures that the knowledge of good and evil are not inherent in us. But, must at some time in our lives be learned. And only when it is learned will our “eyes be opened” as Adam and Eve’s were when they ate the fruit.

And with our eyes opened and after hearing the gospel preached we will then be accountable for what we do with Jesus. Will we trust in Him to deliver us from natural to spiritual? From mortality to immortality? From death to life? Or will we reject it to remain natural and mortal and without the life of Jesus?

This is the choice that has been set before all men. Trust in Jesus for eternal life. Or trust Him not and enter into eternity without Him.

We need Him because He is the only one who has conquered death. Making the way for4 man to come from mortality to immortality. He alone has made the way to eternal life and immortality. By joining with mankind in our mortality. So He could break its hold on us when He conquered death by the resurrection.

Trust in Him now and you will have eternal life. By the birth of a spirit in you that men have never had before. A spirit that makes us children of God. And therefore heirs to His kingdom. A spirit that is able to communicate with God as men before Jesus came never could. On the inside of us by that spirit.

This is why Paul said “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Do this and you will have eternal life. Do this and you will no longer fear death. Do this and you will receive immortality in the resurrection unto life. Do this… and I will see you there or in the air!

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