Beginning with Moses and
the Prophets
The Book of Grace
East of Eden - Paradise Lost
Part VIII(d) Judgment & Sin - Continued
Genesis 3:22 - 24
Exile & Grace
Verse 21, The Lord
God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. This
feeble attempt to cover themselves with fig-leaves for loincloths was replaced
with the Lord God Himself clothing them with skin from an animal.
The covering was from God
- God’s provision of robes of animal skin recognized their sin & was an act
of grace.
The Lord clothed them, It
doesn’t look as if He told them what to do, but He clothed them.
This act in primeval
history by God was a foreshadowing of His ultimate provision for sin - This
divine provision is a telling illustration of the method of grace in response
to sin & its consequences. GOD HIMSELF covers sin & its
degradation.
Then the Lord God said,
“Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he
might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and
live forever”
Here verse 22 records
divine deliberation, divine contemplation with Himself as in 1: 26.
We can see that what
Satan had promised Eve had partially come true. Man had become like God - The
only thing was that the couple’s likeness to God was not glorious as they
thought it would be, but humiliating, embarrassing, mortifying --
They sought moral
autonomy, this is what humanity has been doing since that fateful day - wanting
the power to decide what is tight & what is wrong apart from God & His
word.
This autonomy was
achieved only in a certain way in that the father of lies speaks truth by
perverting it.
It’s just an illusion,
all it is, is a mimicking, an aping of God. It’s monkey see, monkey do. This I
have the right to do whatever is a fantasy, no one can escape the Lordship of
the Lord God.
As Henri Blocher writes, The
crazy little god with his absurd pretensions is not God & never will be.
All he can do is die.
The fact of the matter
is, he is dead. He died when he sinned, becoming dead in trespass & sin -
To the Ephesians Paul writes, you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
(2:1); and to the Romans, utterly sinful - as it is written, There is
none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who
seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There
is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their
lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift
to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths And the path of peace
they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (3:
9-18).
The couple’s bodies were
alive, but they were dead. As residents living in the garden in Eden, they
could have eaten of the tree of life and perpetuated their lives, their bodily
existence indefinitely & they would have been fruitful & populated the garden
& it would literally have been hell on earth filled with undying dead -
forever living - forever dead - the walking dead.
The Exile
But God forestalled their
inevitable next step toward self-divination by His own pre-emptive strike - therefore
the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from
which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of
Eden, He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every
direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
The man sent out
to till the ground, the man was driven out, it’s a repetition of being sent,
(NIV says banished) but two words being used; God didn’t just send him forth
which could lend to the possibility of the man returning, but He drove
him out completely.
When you’re fired, one is
usually told to empty their desk or locker and leave but at the same time one
is escorted out of the building or premises.
Well, God sent the man
packing and drove him out, to the east of the garden of Eden to till the ground
& stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every
direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
When you think of
Cherubims you always see the picture of chubby little babies in diapers with
little wings playing harps and floating on clouds.
Well, far from that; the
Lord drove the couple out, and at the east of the garden the Lord placed
Cherubim with a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard to the tree of
life.
Cherubim were stationed
at the east side of the garden. A flaming sword representing the justice & the holiness of God at work in His judgments, flashing to & fro. Ah, the sword of the Lord,
How long will you not be
quiet?
(Jeremiah 47:6); I urge you to read Ezekiel 21, the instrument of God’s
judgment - in part - Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and
speak against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel; and say
to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am against you, and I
will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the
wicked.
Adam, the caretaker of
the garden has been exiled permanently never to return, to enter it again -
Eve found pain in the center
of her domestic existence & Adam in all his labors, all the rest of his
life. How old was he when exiled? Scripture doesn’t say, but Moses records that
he lived for 930 years then he died.
The exile had to be
terrible, but it was also a grace - The garden was the Holy of Holies of
God’s presence. Adam & Eve lived gazing on God’s face as He walked through
the garden; they breathed the air of His presence.
And now? Well,
impossible. It had to be like living without oxygen - Now they’re perpetually
short of spiritual breath -
Still, for however long
Eve lived & Adam’s 930 years, it all was graced. There was plenty of time
to seek God & proclaim His word. Thing is, did they? More than likely yes,
because their desire for God & His presence had to have become more dear
for them through the centuries. They once faced God and spoke with Him.
If they did, then for
them awaits the eternal city where the tree of life will continuously grant its
fruit to those who believe & they, Adam & Eve, will again see the face
of God -- On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing
twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations. . . Blessed are those who wash their
robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by
the gates into the city. . . if anyone takes away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which is written in this book. (Revelation 22: 2, 14, 19).
Ultimate Grace
From the garden of Eden
to the ultimate garden in the Holy City of God at the end, is a story of grace
--
There is a unity formed
with the garden as a holy space, together with the tabernacle & temple,
their Holy of Holies & the ultimate City of God.
There is a consistency
that should be apparent to the reader between the garden & Israel’s future
tabernacle/temple as follows: a)- The garden & the tabernacle/temple were
filled with the presence of God - b)- Both featured Cherubim; the garden had
them guarding it’s entrance; the tabernacle & temple features Cherubim
embroidered on the veil to the Holy of Holies, and also sculptured were two
Cherubim above the Mercy seat. (Ex. 15:18-22; 36:35; 37:7-9).
In the later temple we
see in 1 Kings 6:23=28 that two Cherubim sculptured form olive wood standing 10
cubits,
(15 ft.) with wings
having a span of 10 cubits (15 ft. r ft each wing).
God placing the Cherubim
on the east side of the garden is associated with God’s camping in the
tabernacle, (Ex. 25:8). Mentioning the east side of the garden is associated
with the entrance to the tabernacle/temple which were from the east. c)- God
providing garments for the couple, that covered them fully, parallel the
garments required of the priest who served in the tabernacle/temple -- Here
access to God’s presence came only by the shedding of blood & the mediation
of a priest, (see Leviticus 16).
This system,
tabernacle/temple, pointed to Jesus Christ. John 1:14 - the Word became
flesh, and dwelt [literally “tabernacled”] among us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth;
Jesus saw Himself as the
fulfillment of the tabernacle & the temple, (John 2:19) - Jesus
answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
- Jesus saw His own body as the temple & the resurrection as proof of His
authority. Revelation 21:22 tells us that God Himself is the temple.
When Jesus died on the
cross, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom: Matthew 27:5, the
veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and
the rocks were split. That the temple veil was torn from top to bottom,
not bottom to top is significant because if it were to be torn people would've
done it from the bottom up. The temple veil was not thin. It was several inches
thick and tightly woven together. It was made of fine twisted linen (Exodus
26:31-35).
So tearing it was not easy to do. So, the temple veil was torn by God. From
that moment and day access to God no longer required sacrifice or a priest, we
no longer need the temple, the blood sacrifices, or the intercession of earthly
priests because the blood of Christ has been shed and he is our high priest
& temple. Listen to Hebrews 6:19-20) - This hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the
veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high
priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
This is an amazing
reality; we, us, all believers have access to the presence of God. what was
experienced in the holy space of the garden, in the Holy of Holies of the
tabernacle & the temple - all this now comes through the work of Jesus
Christ for believers. Ephesians 2:5-7 tells us that even when we were
dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you
have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the
surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Now we have access!!
For Adam & Eve and
us, there is no going back to the garden. But through the work of our Lord
Jesus Christ, ahead of us lie these realities as we see in the book of
Revelation:
21:2-3, I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne,
saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among
them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them;
21:22-23, I saw no temple
in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city
has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has
illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
22: 1-5, Then he showed
me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of
God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river
was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every
month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There
will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in
it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name
will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they
will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the
Lord God will illuminate them, and they will reign forever and ever.
The Gospel has &
still is, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that
He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
“According to the
Scripture” means according to the Old Testament Scripture - that’s all they had
then & that takes us to Genesis 3:15-16, the initial prophecy that Jesus
would crush Satan’s head by His death & resurrection -
According to the
Scripture takes us to the flash of race in 3:21 where God Himself takes the
life of an animal to provide tunics to cover Adam Eve’s sin.
The exile was grace
because it was the only way that future generations could get access to God.
That access was lost in
the garden & then was only possible for the priest who entered the Holy of
Holies in the tabernacle & temple.
But now it is possible
for all, through the person of Jesus Christ - who is at once, priest, sacrifice
& temple.
If you want your sins,
whatever they may be, however grievous they may be, forgiven & receive the
robe of righteousness, the only way is through the blood of Jesus Christ - This
Great News, Good News, Amazing Gospel was announced at the very beginning &
is consummated at the end in Revelation.
All Scripture points to
the Gospel in Christ Jesus - If you are apart from God, you are lost! If
you are a believer, you have life!
If you are truly a
believer, Jesus Christ, priest, sacrifice & temple is in you.
Ultimately you’re going
to see the garden & the tree of life & the face of God & for
everlasting to everlasting, live in His presence!!
If you want the gift of
eternal life you only have to do one thing - Believe in your heart & say
with your mouth that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Everyone here & those
who watch this message I encourage you to encourage others who may not know to
hear that this is the Gospel, the Good News of salvation.
If you believe it, you
have received access to the presence of God!! In an instant you have been
seated in heaven & heavenly places with Him, Christ Jesus the Lord - He is
your priest, your temple, your savior!!!
And all the saints said
AMEN!!
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