Gen. 2:9
The description of this incredible gift – a home in Eden – begins here. We learn that it had all variety of trees. The sights and tastes were so incredible, and incredibly diverse! Plants covered the earth from the third day of Creation. But, this region – where it was we’ll get to with the next verse – had special significance. Two special trees were preset. They were the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
These were specific trees. People often make the mistake of trying to make this an allegory. That is the very problem other creation accounts have. They are so fanciful, whereas this is simple and straightforward. It is a true account of our beginning. However, one can see a special purpose in the mention of these trees, which God inspired Moses to write so we could learn something about God’s love.
See, as noted, God had already offered grace to man. That free gift was life in Eden, perhaps with man conscious of where he had been formed, perhaps not. That part isn’t important. What is important is that Adam and Eve were untested. They had not yet brought sin into the world. They had a choice, though.
Had they obeyed God, and only eaten of the tree of life, they would have had no problem. They could have lived forever. However, instead, they chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This shows several things.
First, we see that there was a choice between systems. God’s system was entirely by grace. Had man stayed with that system, he could have remained in Eden.
However, man chose to do it his own way. The wonderful mercy of God then allowed the man to be restored, but there was an awful price that would be paid.
This is what happened in the beginning, but it is also a picture of our status. When we are born, we have a choice – whether or not to accept God’s grace. We must accept it to be reconciled to Him, because of our sin nature. It is that sin nature that makes us sin. When we accept that grace, He places us in a wonderful place. No, He doesn’t take us to Heaven right away. But, He does place us in a position of being able to fellowship with Him while we are alive here – He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) This is also called positional sanctification.
Because of our sin nature, we mess up even after we’re saved. However, God’s grace and mercy continues, even then. We are never kicked out of His family. In the same way, God didn’t forget Adam and Eve and start over. They were still His children. They were simply the first example of what Jesus told of in the parable of the Prodigal Son.
However, we do lose blessings and rewards. Our fellowship with God isn’t as close, until the wrong is made right. And yet, the wrong is made right only through God’s grace. It is only when we repent and accept His forgiveness that fellowship can be restored. We can’t do it on our own. This will be discussed more when chapter 3 is explored.
