A Garden Prepared for Eternity

When God spoke into existence His creation, death of humanity was not a part of the design. Plant life and animal life was fashioned to live, reproduce and pass away but not the crown of God’s creation. It was God’s intended purpose for Adam and Eve to have access to life eternal as long as they remained in His garden that was prepared for them.

The Seduction of Eve by Satan 

As invited guests in God’s Garden, Adam and Eve lived there and had access to the Tree of Life that allowed the natural course of all living things to be interrupted. The natural had been replaced with the supernatural; physical aging and death were suspended and physical life without end was achievable. The seduction of Eve by Satan and the willful disobedience of Adam would interrupt and prohibit the couple from accessing the Tree of Life.

As promised by God, death was the result of the failure of Adam:

“…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17)

Dead to Fellowship

The death of the relationship that Adam and Eve were designed to fulfill with God was over. Death had invaded the ranks of mankind. All of mankind was, and would be, dead to God’s favor and privilege which He granted by His imputed righteousness.

They were dead to fellowship with God. They were dead to the understanding of who God was and who they were in a sin-free condition. Their understanding and all of the humanity that would come as a result of their existence would be limited in understanding their nature and God’s nature.

Their fellowship with God was replaced with fear. The fear that came as the outcome of sin would limit humanity's knowledge of God to knowing they are an offense to Him and now were aware of not only God’ righteousness but now acutely aware of their sin. Adam and Eve, along with all of the humanity, now set out to hide the evidence of their sin from God and each other.

Natural Consequences of Life 

In God’s great mercy He did not end the physical life of Adam and Eve when they failed. God simply removed His favor from their lives and allowed the natural consequences of life to run its course. God removed the couple from the Garden ending their access to the Tree of Life that had protected them from the natural course of life.

The exile from the Garden was the beginning of a spiritual battle between man and God:

“So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”(Gen 3:24)

God created mankind as He was; a spiritual being:

“In his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Gen 1:27)

The physical bodies were created from the base elements of the earth: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground.” But what separated mankind’s physical life from all of the other animal life was God’s personal attention to the physical body. God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” (Gen 2:7)

Nothing else in God’s creation has a “living soul.” Centuries would pass before the natural effects of sin would slowly bring about the death of Adam and Eve but they, like all flesh, passed from life into death. We, just like our fathers, will also face the death of the flesh but, like Adam and Eve, we are not just flesh and blood but a “living soul.”

Our soul, or the essence of who we are, will continue to live after the nature of all flesh:

  “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.” (1 Pe 1:24)

What then? If you are created with an eternal soul; what happens after death? “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Heb 9:27) You will stand before God in a judgment that will determine your eternal abode.

What is the Answer?

God in His mercy has given you a way to undo not only the effects of your sin but the sin nature you are born with:

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom 5:12)

God has made a way for you to be in His favor again -- a way to restore you back to His righteousness which He will impute to you.

Jesus, who was God in the flesh, became one of His own creation and died for your sin and the sin of the world to become your “tree of life.” You can enjoy not only the favor of God but can have fellowship with Him if you will trust in the Gospel of Jesus.

It is this simple; if you will turn from your sin and confess, accept and proclaim Jesus as your  Saviour, you will be restored to the righteousness that sin has robbed from you. Call on Jesus today and He will receive you and restore you to fellowship and favor with God and you will live through your death with God.