What Did God Say?

Genesis Chapter 2… verses 8-14...

8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. (Seraphin said so many trees in Tennessee… He asked what fruit do our trees produce ???… We looked at each other… ) The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden (The garden of Eden was Eastern Eden), and from there it (The river) parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel (The Tigris); it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

… We know today… Where the modern Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are... But we don’t know the location of the other two rivers mentioned here... (And geography has changed so much)…

...We are pretty certain that they all are not locatable as it describes here...

… But we are certain... That “Eden”... means “delight”...

…. So… This garden… Of Eden… Where the Lord placed man was INCREDIBLY DELIGHTFUL… (The fruit of EDEN itself)...

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

“… No SWEAT… No PROBLEMS… No SURRENDER NEEDED… NO SACRIFICE NECESSARY… And Work was AWESOME, it was completely satisfying”...

… Before the Fall... Before thorns and thistles... Before the DELUGE of RAIN and A GREAT FLOOD???... The earth was perfect… Gardening was not hard work... AND IT WAS AMAZING...

… And so… Adam was a gardener… (Not just as a JOB… But he also did it for RECREATION)…

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,

(Wait a minute ???)… Why would God place in the Garden a tree from which Adam and Eve were not to eat???...

… Because God desires a loving relationship with man…

... And true love is built on choice / FREE WILL to love the Creator… (Made in His image after all, not a robot ???)...

...Therefore... By placing the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden... God said to mankind, “If you want to kill our relationship, if you want to turn your back on Me, I must provide this opportunity TO CHOOSE”...

… “All you have to do (Adam)... to end our relationship ???... Is to eat from that tree”...

… for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (“You shall choose to live apart from relationship with Me”, God said)...

… The Lord is so good... Because He made it as scary as possible… (He said)... “If you eat from that tree, it’s going to kill you.”... (Kill me???... Dying was unimaginable… No one’s ever done that before !!!)…

… (Look how scary it still is for us ???)… And Billions have gone before us...

God said… “Don’t do that” ???...

… Notice God does not say, “If you eat of that tree, I’m going to kill you.” He says, “If you eat of the tree, it will kill you.”...

... We sometimes think that if we mess up... God will track us down… (Nope)... The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out”... (Numbers 32:23)...

… It is sin that tracks us down...

… In the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil… there was something eternally carcinogenic... Something that would cause men to begin to die… (Like cancer… leprocy)

… As well as... A guaranteed cure!!!… (Also in it)... Something that will cause us TO LIVE… (Jesus Christ was in it)…

… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

… Things were still VERY GOOD for Adam… But not quite complete yet...