The Way We Were: Provision & Purpose for Paradise

I was mightily tempted to do another sermon, but you all want to hear about Genesis, so we'll stay there. Let's pray. O Lord God, as we come now to this text of Scripture, this text which speaks to us so mightily, we ask that you would guide our thinking and by that work in us a greater worship of you, a greater appreciation of the Son of God, and that your Spirit would work in us a desire to be what you always intended us to be.

Father, now as we look into your Word, we just ask that you would teach us. We are ignorant and we will remain so unless your Spirit opens the text of Scripture and makes it alive for us. and so we depend on that we expect that this day in Jesus name amen does it ever seem to you that the world should be better do you sense as you look at this world and its beauty its diversity the diversity of of all the plants, the diversity of the people, all the beauty that we're surrounded, even with all of that, do you not sense that something is missing? Why does everyone long for a better world?

Because a better world once existed. And all of humanity has a consciousness of that, that there once was a paradise, but we lost it, and everybody knows it. You find that paradise described in Genesis chapter 2. So let's take the scriptures this morning, and let's look at Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse 4, and reading through verse 25. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground and a mist was running was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground that the Lord God formed the man, formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah where there is gold.

And the gold of that land is good. Bedalium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.

I will make him a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. so 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 and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man the man said this is that 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 therefore man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Here then is paradise described for us. Notice the opening of the scene in verse 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created You remember that this is the first Toledot section Toledot, it's the Hebrew word for generations, and refers to what the person or the thing has generated.

Or it gives the history of a person's generations. now remember as we looked a few weeks ago this is the first of 10 Toledot sections Toledot is that Hebrew word and this is the first of those 10 books that make up the book of Genesis so this account tells you what the cosmos has generated all right it's the first book and it goes from chapter 2 verse 4 through chapter 4 verse 26. So here we have the first book of the 10 that make up the book of Genesis. Now this description of paradise is the first act of three that are in this book.

All right. Act one, paradise created. Act two, the curse imposed. Act three, corruption spreads. And so in the next few weeks, we'll be looking at each one of these acts in this first book that makes up Genesis. Now, this first Toledot of Genesis, 10 Toledots, were written to tell us what happened to God's creation.

So chapter 2, verse 4, through chapter 4, 26, is the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created. And it tells us, then, what happened to that creation. And the first act, this description of paradise, is here to tell us exactly what man lost. Now, coming to this narrative, this story, you see that man occupies center stage in this narrative.

In chapter 1, you see God creating the world for the man. That is, man is the apex of creation. The whole narrative in those first parts that first chapter the whole narrative is driving towards the creation of man as the apex as if he the top of the pyramid of all creation And this is different. Now we see the story of creation in which man is the pivot.

That is, man is at the center of the story. So as before, it looks like he's the top of the pyramid. Now in the retelling of the creation story, he now becomes the center of the circle. And as we watch this narrative unfold, it moves from the center out. As we see this narrative unfold, chapter 2, verse 4, through chapter 4, verse 26, we start with this original man and we move out.

He's in the middle of the circle, as it were. with that in mind moses retells the creation story only with man in this pivotal role now i want you to look at verse four okay verses four through seven are a little bit dicey when it comes to translation there are a number of different ways to translate that and and that's just the nature of of trying to translate in other language. At times, it could mean this, it could mean that. And I believe, given what I've seen in this book, that he starts over again.

He starts over again and retells the creation story, only this time he doesn't give all the details. He starts at the beginning and moves directly to man. I believe it should be heard this way. Listen to it this way. These are the records of the heavens and the earth concerning their creation at the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

No shrub of the field had yet grown on the land and no plant of the field had yet sprouted for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground. But water would come up out of the ground and water or inundate the entire surface of the land or earth. The Hebrew word Eretz can mean ground, land, earth. And if he's retelling the creation story, right away he's doing this.

Okay, let's go back to the beginning. In this book, we start with, here's the world in its formless and unfilled stage, before there's any plants, before there's anything on the ground, before any of that happens. Now, having said that, What happens when man comes on the scene? So this recounts the earth at the beginning before man was created, then Moses moves to the creation of the man, since he's the central character in this story of paradise.

So, if we're going to understand why the world is the way it is now, we have to understand the way we were. Verses 7 through 14 then. Understand the provision for paradise. As I read this passage over and over, it seems like verses 7 through 14 is like the list of materials, right? When you're going to build something, you have a list of materials. And you say, okay, I've got to gather all the stuff on this list.

And so that's what seems to be going on in verses 7 through 14. It's the list of materials that are going to make up paradise, all right? So understand the provision for paradise here in verses 7 through 14. God first of all creates, well, at least he mentions first, the creation of the occupant of paradise. God created man for the express purpose of enjoying creation for the glory of God.

Have you ever thought about that? You know what we think of too often? We think about glorifying God as some duty we have to do. And boy, boy, that's hard to glorify God. Well, it is now, of course, because sin has entered. But we need to think that man was originally created for the purpose of enjoying creation to the glory of God.

To actually enjoy it, to spend his time in this paradise. Now notice that he is connected to the creation for he's made of the same material as the world around him. He's made of dust. God takes a handful of dust. And the word that's used here is like he purposely fashions him. Like you take a piece of clay and you fashion something out of it.

God takes this dust, this clay, if you will, and fashions a man. He's connected to the creation, the creation in which he lives, the creation that he's going to work in. He is connected to it. Boy, don't ever forget that, folks. we are connected to the earth there a kinship there God always intended that and yet at the same time he transcends creation because of his special relationship with the Creator God takes the dust and he breathes into the man the breath of life and the man becomes a living creature Now let me say something here.

We make the mistake if we think that God breathing into man's nostrils gives him a soul. That's not what he's saying here. That's not what he's saying. Too often we've been told that, and it's not the case. He breathed life into him, and he became a living creature. Let me show you why I believe that.

Notice in verse 7, Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Now turn back to chapter 1. Chapter 1, verse 24. We saw this last week, and God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures. The exact same term that's used for man. A living creature.

Notice as well, verse 30. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has what? The breath of life. I have given every green plant for food. Both of those terms are used of man. When God breathed the breath of life into man, he animated him.

He became a what? Living creature. Are you saying, Pastor, does that mean we're no different than the animals? No, that's not what I'm saying. Because different from the animals is when God brings this creature into being, and it gives him life, he does it in a face-to-face way, in a totally different way than the animals. It's as if this is almost the intimacy of a kiss.

All right? It's the intimacy of a kiss. It is warmly personal. It's not just an act of making. It's an act of giving. By the way, that should ring bells for us.

This is God giving. This is intimacy. This is what distinguishes him from the animals He has an intimate relationship with the creator that no animal does All right So he not only is connected to them and to the earth but he transcends them because he has a special relationship with the Creator that none other has. All right? It's this face-to-face bringing to life.

It's this act of giving, not just of making. We're talking intimacy here that no one else has. So here is man, a creature related to his surroundings, yet intimately related to his maker, created to enjoy creation with his whole being. That's the next building material. Well, God creates a paradise for man. He places this creature, this man, in the midst of a garden.

Now, I never noticed this before. Again, this is what happens. You know, we get familiar with our Bible, but when you have to really dig down and study, you see things you didn't see before. And here's one thing I never noticed before. You may not notice this, but paradise is a garden within a larger entity called Eden, which is placed on the earth. So paradise is within Eden.

It's not it doesn't exhaust Eden. it's it's a it's the garden is placed in the larger reality of another place called Eden which is also in a place called the earth so there's this garden paradise in the middle of Eden and Eden is on the earth somewhere in the east is how Moses wrote it and then he says God made the trees to start sprouting now in this creation account he's emphasizing the vegetation above everything else why well because you already know the story because that vegetation is going to play a crucial role in the next act that's why he emphasizes it but he he's also trying to emphasize for us this creation. I don't know about you, but to me, trees are one of the most beautiful evidences of the handiwork of God. I absolutely love trees.

Now, I have to admit, I love the trees in Wisconsin more than I love the trees in Ohio, because I think they're better there. Okay? A number of years ago, in fact I can remember the year it was It was 2001 We were traveling through Wisconsin We been up there in a special service for a friend of mine and and Beck and I were traveling through the countryside and she said to me she said you are right the trees here are amazing.

That's right. Trees are amazing creatures of God. They're great. I used to spend hours in trees when I was a kid, you know, loved them. Well, anyway, God surrounds man with trees and notice he says they are pleasant to the sight man lives in an art gallery okay he lives in an art gallery right man what he sees is incredible not only that but he surrounds man with trees that are good for food not only is he living in an art gallery he lives in a gourmet's delight now can he Now he can even look at the art.

He can eat it. It's good. Now, you know, some of you, you probably are sitting here thinking, well, it's vegetation. You know, I prefer meat. He's not eaten meat yet, okay? That doesn't come for a long time yet.

But, you know, I remember one time, this is what struck me as I read this. He's living in this art gallery with this incredible food around him. On our 25th wedding anniversary, Becca and I went to the island of Pelee. It's a Canadian island in Lake Erie. And we went to a restaurant, one of these restaurants where you have to make reservations, right? We'd never done that before.

It's the first time we've ever done this. We make reservations. We said we want to be there at 6. They said, oh, 6 is filled up. Can you come at 7? Okay.

So we go to this place. They have chefs and everything. and I won't tell you how much but I spent more on that meal than I have ever spent on a meal in my entire life and I figured that's the only time I'm ever going to spend that much money on food cost as much for a week of groceries as it did for that meal okay but do you know I remember about that meal I remember that in the salad everything in that salad was perfect I mean it was it should have been at that price but it was I I remember how it tasted it was really really good and that's like what he's in he's in this place where everything you know you pick an apple and it's not quite ripe everything he picks would be absolutely ripe right at the perfection for eating, all right? That's the kind of life he's living.

He's surrounded by all this sensual delights of the eye and the taste. But God also brings into existence two rather unique trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And don't forget this, paradise is the very presence of God. man enjoys the presence of his creator in the splendor of his creation now as i was writing them just starting i start to think about that enjoying the creator enjoying the presence of the creator in the splendor of his creation nothing hindering anything wouldn't that be amazing can you imagine meeting with god in the wonders of a perfect creation wow so we're talking about physical delights spiritual delights everything perfect finally God creates the potential to develop with God's blessings verses 10 through 14 strange strange verses and I say they're strange because why would Moses mentioned countries that don't even exist yet at the time of Adam.

These are countries that aren't going to exist for who knows how long after the creation of Adam. They don't even exist. What is that all about? I think two things are going on here. Moses breaks out of the narrative concerning Eden or paradise, the garden for a moment, to open up a vista into a world of diverse geography and countries and resources. And he's indicating to us that if man would continue in paradise, he would not, and this is what we normally think, we think that if Adam had not sinned, everybody would be running around snipping leaves in a garden with no clothes on.

That's about what we think, isn't it? We're just going to be, you know, trimming the trees and all, But I think he's opening up the world here to say this. Man is going to develop cultures. He going to develop if you will nations although without the differences of languages at this point he going to develop cultures He going to develop all the things that we associate with human progress, but without sin.

There's going to be resources to explore. There's going to be things to invent, art to create. There's going to be culture, I think is what Moses says, and it's going to be culture that has the blessing of God. Do you see this image here? There's a river flowing out of the dwelling place of God. Does that ring any bells with you?

Yeah, it does. Here's a picture of a river flowing from the dwelling place of God. God blessing the endeavors of man. Look at Psalm 46. You see this image all through the scriptures. Psalm 46. psalm 46 we'll just drop in in verse four and five there is a river whose streams make glad the city of god the holy habitation of the most high god is in the midst of her she shall not be moved god will help her when morning draws there's this here's the dwelling place of god with a river flowing from it look at ezekiel 47 this is one of those apocalyptic images where where ezekiel god's given ezekiel an image of of what life is really going to be like someday ezekiel 47 verses 1 and 2 then he brought me back to the door of the temple and behold water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east for the temple faced east the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple south of the altar then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east and behold the water was trickling out on the south side he goes on and describes how they move down and the river keeps getting deeper and deeper and deeper okay then we go to verse 6 the paragraph break then he led me back to the bank of the river as i went back i saw the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other and he said to me this water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the araban and enters the sea when the water flows into the sea the water will become fresh And wherever the river goes every living creature that swarms will live and there will be very many fish.

For the water goes there that the waters of the sea may become fresh. So everything will live where the river goes. And he goes on and on, describes this where do you see this image lastly revelation chapter 22 paradise again revelation 22 verse 1 then the angel showed me the river of the water of life brightest crystal flowing from the throne of god and of the lamb through the middle of the street of the city also on either side of the river the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month the leaves on the tree were for the healing of the nations no longer will there be anything accursed but the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and night will be no more they will need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever do you see you have this image of the blessings of God flowing from his temple and here Here's the temple of the first temple of God, this garden within Eden on the earth, which is now issuing in this great river.

And so here you find the blessings of God flowing to the nation and blessing man's abilities to explore and discover and build and create all to the glory of God. I don't know about you, but that that that kind of paradise has a whole lot more attraction to me than walking around clipping leaves. OK, it just that's what he's trying to say here. Man is going to have God's blessing in all the things in which he explores and discovers and builds and creates.

So here then is paradise. And let me say this to you. It is God's intention to bring his people once again to the place where we will discover and build, where we will enjoy the presence of our creator in the splendor of his creation, all because of the last Adam who bought paradise for us. This is not just the past. This is a view to the future. This is what God intended for us and he will surely accomplish it This will be ours again Well now having created paradise and placing man into this marvelous dwelling place of God he must learn his purpose there.

All right? Now again, what's your view of paradise? Just romping around in a garden? There's much more to it than that. the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to work it and keep it and the lord god commanded the man saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die understand the purpose in paradise here's the first man must live a life of work.

Man must live a life of work. Notice that God reveals to man that he must work in this garden. Work did not appear with the curse. You don't work because of the curse. You work because you were created to work. You bear the image of God.

And what did God do? He worked and he created and that's what God expects us to do. This has always been God's intention for man. Too often we think of work as part of the curse, but the curse turned work from delightful occupation into toil and labor. The issue is not that we're not supposed to work. The issue is that the nature of work changed with the curse.

And so God intends us to work. He intended us, always intended us to work. He put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. All right? So it is that we are created to live in paradise working. Here's also his purpose.

Man must live a life of faith. Do you know that? God intended man to live a life of faith. An act of faith must grow in his home called paradise. God gives this man a command. Right? and so he must not doubt God's character or his word.

If he would enjoy paradise, he must believe that God is good and his word is trustworthy. So in this paradise, man has to live by faith. He has to say God's good. don't eat of those trees. That's a good thing. And if he says, I'm surely going to die if I do, I better trust his word. You see, that's faith.

But then that leads us to the third thing. Man must live a life of obedience. If you believe God is good, if you believe his word is trustworthy, then you're going to obey him. You realize, of course, that all of our sin, all of it springs from the root of unbelief in some to some extent from the work from the root of unbelief now notice the double-edged sword here the double-edged word given to man you are free to eat of every tree in the garden except for one man does not live in some oppressive regime You have the wrong picture if you think that God put man in this garden and said, you better not even touch that tree.

It's not what he does. What does he do? Hey, listen. Eat of all the trees. All of them. They are all yours.

Just leave that one alone. All right? He gives them that freedom. Now, you're wondering what the knowledge of good and evil is. I'm not going to tell you this week. For one thing, it's really hard to figure out what exactly that means.

But the emphasis falls on the prohibition, not on the nature of the tree. And this is what we must remember. That tree is good, but it belongs exclusively to God. And man was not to have anything to do with it. So God places before man decision and the serious question of obedience. Here's the last thing.

In terms of his purpose in paradise, man must live in dependence. Man must live a life of dependence. Now I want you to listen carefully because I think this is key. Man is entirely dependent on God's revelation to understand his world, his place, and his purpose in the world, even before sin entered. Do you hear me? God did not place man in this perfect paradise and say, all right, now figure it all out.

Figure out what you're supposed to do. He doesn't. Man is dependent upon the revelation of God if he going to understand his world And that has not changed In fact that become even more important since sin entered and the corruption that sin brings He would not have known what those two trees were all about unless God had revealed that. They didn't look any different, probably.

And if they did look different, he'd look at it and go, well, what's with these two? All right? You see, man is completely dependent upon revelation from God in order to understand his world. Listen, you cannot do, I don't like using this terminology, but I'll just use it. You cannot do science. You cannot do history.

You can't do English. You can't do anything without the revelation of God. Without the revelation of God, you will misunderstand everything. If this is a God-created world, then we are dependent on revelation from God to understand that world. We do not have the capacity within ourselves to make all those ultimate connections. You see?

You are dependent on revelation from God in order to understand anything in this universe. Now, does the revelation of God tell me everything? No. you know the God's revelation did not tell us how to make internal combustion engines but how everything fits and how you need to understand everything is ultimately dependent on revelation from God for example let me just give you a quick example all of you are going to work tomorrow right what is work what is work it's what I do to the glory of God It's more than just sustenance.

Is your view of work different than your unbelieving co-workers? If it isn't, then you haven't understood revelation from God. You will not even understand your work apart from revelation from God. Now, this story is going to resonate with people who are headed to a land of rest. All right? This is talking to a people, right, who now are making their way to the land of rest that God has prepared for them.

And where they would find that this rest depended upon their obedience to God Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 15 through 20 Think about this. This should resonate. Here God says to man, here is paradise. Here is the place of work. Here is the place of faith. Here is the place even of rest.

And you will lose it if you disobey this command. Now listen to this. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 15 through 20. Moses speaking. See, I've set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering and take possession of it.

But if your heart turns away and you will not hear but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you're going over, the Jordan, to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

It's exactly what God did with Adam. Therefore, choose life that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him for he is your life and length of days that you may dwell on the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them. See? This is going to resonate with them.

This is the same God. And he says if we want the land of rest, we have to obey. Now listen. We too are on the way to the land of rest. Are we not? Yes, we are.

But guess what? Our rest depends on the obedience of another. That's good news. Wouldn't you agree? The rest, the paradise that awaits us, is not dependent on us gaining or keeping by our obedience. that rest, that land of paradise for us is dependent on the obedience of another, the last Adam who came and fulfilled all the conditions that God had We going to stop there this morning We'll have to look at next week the partner in paradise.

All right? The provision of paradise we saw. All right? The purpose in paradise next week, we'll look at the partner in paradise. Now look, the paradise, this is the paradise that once was. But it is the standard by which we live now.

Why? Because it was that paradise that tells us what God always intended for us. this is what God intended that we have this purpose within paradise and even with the entrance of sin we still have the same purpose and that is to enjoy our God and to enjoy His creation and to live lives that are characterized by faith and obedience and work and dependence. We are headed to the paradise now for us that was won by the last Adam, where we will do all these things unhindered and in a way that God always intended.

We serve a great and a wonderful God, and paradise is ours. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for your word. We are so thankful that you have not left us in the dark, but you have shown us that paradise has always been your intention and our living for your glory in the midst of the majesty of creation is why you created us. Father, we look with great anticipation to the day when paradise, we will experience the paradise that was regained for us by Jesus.

Give us a longing not for the paradise lost, but give us a longing for the Paradise gained by the last Adam who obeyed you perfectly and will give us a new earth which we will live forever building and creating and loving you. God help us to live in light of your revelation this day. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.