What we can learn from the first paradise lost.
Posted on June 9, 2011 by Pastor Tom
So what might we take away from Genesis 2?
We join everyone in longing for paradise lost. But Christians get to look forward to paradise version 2.0 The garden of Eden reminds us of what we have lost (Joel 2:3) but also of what will yet be renewed in the world to come (Isa. 51:3, Rev. 22:3)
We need to see again a Sovereign God who has authority over us and sets boundaries for our benefits. God did not put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden to be mean but to test the hearts of man and woman. He continues to do that today to reveal to us our need for Him. If only we can grow in seeing His boundaries as a loving limitation not some cruel restriction.
We need to see a loving compassionate God who sees our real needs and provides for them. God saw the man’s aloneness and provided the perfect helper for him. God saw our need for salvation and provided His own Son. God continues to see our deepest needs and offers His provision. We need to keep coming to Him to receive it.
We can rejoice in the beauty of marriage and all the best parts of it and the way it was meant to be. We sorrow in how tragically it has been distorted.
Husbands celebrate the wives He has brought to you. Share your delight about them with them and with others.
Children, celebrate the mothers God brought you or the people He provided to fill that role in your life. Mom’s see your high place in creation. You are the one’s specially created by the Lord God to nurture and care. You have been given one of the highest commissions on earth. There is no other for your husband.
All – we can find our way back to paradise. But only by submitting to the One who created it. He will restore paradise One Day. Though we could not get there on our own, He provided the way. He sent His Son into the fractured world that resulted from Adam and Eve’s fall. The Son lived a sinless life. He then suffered and died on the cross for our sins. He rose from the dead with His resurrection body. He is the firstfruits of the resurrected. Those who place their life trust in Jesus are on their way back. That means to stop thinking that you can get to paradise on your own. We have to stop thinking that our own autonomy and freedom are the most important thing. To admit that we need God to change and transform us. To submit to God’s ongoing work of change in us by praying, inviting, reflecting on His Word and responding to what God reveals. Continually opening ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Yes the first paradise was lost. But the second one will be better and it’s possible to get there through Jesus.
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