What do you think of The Garden of Eden?

God’s People

       So if everything has an intention, and a pattern that should be followed, what is the pattern that God’s people followed before the fall? In this entry I will try and outline this pattern as is seen in Genesis chapters 1 & 2.

            Right from the beginning people have been focal, humans were the only thing created in the image of God (Gen1:26). Just that in it’s self gives you a good idea of how God’s people were to act. If we were created in His image, then we should reflect Him. God is ruler over all (Dan 5:21) and man is to rule over creation (Gen 1:26). There is unity within the trinity, and so there is to be unity among men (john 17:21). God has the ability to create (Gen 1), and so do men (Ex 36:4). There are many many more examples of parallels between man and God, but this is enough to show you that the life God designed us to live, is a life that mirrors God Himself.

There are several other interesting facts about early humanity as they lived out God’s pattern. There was no death (Rom 5:12), God’s people were blessed(Gen 1:28), they were naked without shame (Gen 2:25), which would make it easy to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28), and there must have been a mistake on this point, but it seems God’s pattern was for people to be vegetarian.

Humanity before the fall is often thought of as being perfect, but to my knowledge, that’s not in the bible. At its best it only achieves “very good” (Gen 1:31). Not to say that Jesus was incapable of creating a perfect world. It simply seems as if greater story and a greater glory were in mind.

God's Place

Where was God after he had created the earth?

We know of a Place that was more beautiful than anything we can imagine. God lived there together with the people he had created. It was a place where God and men lived in a personnal and intimate relationship, where they could meet each other, talk and spend time together. Also known as 'The Paradise' God's Place in the beginning was The Garden of Eden.

We don't know much about the Garden of Eden, the Bible tells us the following:

 "Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.

The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin4 and onyx are also there.)

The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.5

The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. 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 take care of it."
 

 - Genesis 2:8-15

And that was God's Place.

A Place of harmony and perfect relationships.




The Bible describes the Location of the Garden of Eden and when we read it we could conclude that it was a place that existed on our earth.

 So could we find the garden of Eden today?
Scientists and historians tried to find it and there are a lot of theories and assumptions concerning its Location, but we really don't know if any of them are true.

The video below shows us one possiblility:

 

God - The Creator of the earth

"By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;

he puts the deep into storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD;

let all the people of the world revere him.

For he spoke, and it came to be;

he commanded, and it stood firm."

- Psalm 33:6-9 -
 

The first chapters of the Bible tell us how God created our world and all life on it.

The Bible doesn't tell us where God came from or why he exists, God simply 'IS' and when he spoke he created all we know of and more. Even with today's Technology we can't measure the universe or grasp all the wonders the earth has to offer.

When God had finished his work it was perfect and he couldn't improve on that.

He was pleased with everything he had created, especially with the 'man'.

And then he rested.

God's Blessing in 'The Pattern of the Kingdom'

God doesn't only gave rules. He blessed his creation too.

After 6 days of hard work and creating our beautiful world, God rested. He enjoyed what He had made, and He wanted to share His rest with us, so that He could have a relationship with us. 

" ²By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." (Genesis 2: 2-3)

God's Blessing in three points:

1.     God's relationship with us, humans, was meant to be perfect. Different from other religions, humans don’t have to try to please their god’s to gain there blessing. In Christianity God is the one who tries to get in contact with us. He wants to have a relationship with us.

2.    The relationship between man and woman was meant to be perfect. First God created the man and then he created the woman. She is the helper of the man. Genesis 2: 20-23:

“But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. ²²Then the Lord God mad a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said; 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man’.”

The man and the woman were both naked, but they didn’t realize. They were innocent, honest and pure. That’s how an relationship between man and woman should be. Sincere intimacy, no disappointment, no fights. A relationship without lies, shame, pain, fear and previous experiences that stop you from giving yourself completely.

As Matthew Henry said:

“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

3.   Humans and creation were in perfect harmony. Man had authority over all creation. (Genesis 1:26)

“ Then God said:, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over de livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 

God's blessing in the pattern of the kingdom is a perfect relationship. With Him, with each other and with nature.

picture1: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7TJWLPtol_F1qHEQuIO17PDglQxaRVt6qXxbwiMXCVlbRhhhzebC2FpUZ5zzVBWKCHs3CpSGF0JgxVdr_z-_kBLOOKvOYHIGaNpDI-VDWrOHMSCmM_s8PLKw107Mx7_FDjLDaknojGgF5/s1600/Lady+Praising.jpg

picture 2: http://data.whicdn.com/images/9358932/tumblr_ljydjqSatC1qi8dabo1_500_large.jpg?1304272106

quote Matthew Henry: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Henry

picture 3: http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxi49x77Xg1qg2xooo1_500.jpg

picture 4: http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2012/02/boy-hugging-tree.jpg

God's Rule(s) in 'The pattern of the Kingdom'

The first thing that pops into my mind when I think about ‘God’s Rule(s) in the Pattern of the Kingdom is the most explicit rule God gave men in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:15-17 it says:

“¹⁵The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man,“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

I guess that God couldn’t be more clear. But then I start asking myself questions: “Why did God give men this rule in the Garden of Eden, since everything was perfect? God is omniscient, He knows everything. He knew from the beginning that Eve would eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Why then did God put that tree in the garden of Eden?”

To be honest, I have no real answers. But I do know that God designed us, humans, with a free will. We can choose to obey God. And if we do so, we show God that we trust Him; we show Him that we desire to have a deeper relationship with Him. 

Imagine yourself together with a really good friend. You know him really well and he is very important to you. You want him to have all the things he longs for, and even more. You have so many great ideas and things you want to experience with him. You love this friend. But then it turns out that this friend didn’t want to be friends with you; it just happened. Wouldn’t that be a real disappointment? You want your friend to choose you. You hope that he will realize that you are a true friend. Somebody who is worth their time. Knowing that he chose to be your friend, and that he wants to be with you would mean so much to you. It would change your relationship.

Maybe that was what God wanted to do, by giving that rule, he wanted to give us a chance to choose Him. So that not only He would be a true friend to us, but that we could be a true friend to Him. He loves us so much, that He is willing to take the risk of being rejected by his own creation.

The song ‘Good’ performed by Matthew West and Leigh Nash is about God’s love for us.

Genesis 2:15-17, isn’t the only rule in the beginning of the story. In the first two chapters of Genesis there are a lot of other (less explicit) rules. It’s not even a real rule, they are more like tasks. It’s something God tells his creatures to do.

• The land has to produce vegetation. (Genesis 1:11)

• The lights in the sky are made to be signs to mark seasons and days and years, they have to be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. (Genesis 1:14-15)

• The living creatures in the sea and the birds in the sky have to be fruitful and increase in number.(Genesis 1: 22)

• Men are made in Gods likeness and they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. (Genesis 1:26)

• Men are to be fruitful and increase in number. (Genesis 1:28)

• God gave men every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be food for mankind. (Genesis 1:29)

• God gave all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the air and all the creatures that move on the ground –everything that has the breath of life in it- every green plant for food. (Genesis 1:30)

• “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame’. Humans are made male or female and they are supposed to be innocent. (Genesis 2:25)

God's words is the foundation of creation. The things He said are the rules on which the entire world is based. God's rule in the pattern of the kingdom is His Word.

picture 1: http://www.wisemindbody.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/oak-tree.jpg
picture 2: http://www.theholidayspot.com/friendship/images/true-friends.jpg
picture 3: http://www.hdwallpaperstop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Sky-Moon-Stars-HD-Wallpaper.jpg

Everything has an intention. Ice is intended to be cold; legs are intended to walk; tables are intended to be flat; a pen is intended to write. When something walks out its given purpose, what could be more beautiful? The birds are most beautiful in flight- and the fish are at their best in the sea.The same principle applies to the Children of God in that we were given a way to posture ourselves in relation to our Creator that would makes us His people, in His place, under His rule, and ultimately the object of His blessing. What could be more beautiful! 

This blog is an attempt, not to articulate the way things are, but how they were intended to be and as they one day shall be.

           He has made everything beautiful in its time 

(Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)