Man in God’s Garden

Revelation 22 Genesis 2 verse 4
Chapter 2 amplifies the first chapter, it focuses on man’s place in God’s creation.

Here is the name given to the Creator – ‘Jehovah’
Verse 4 has the name Jehovah used for the first time in the Bible. It means the Creator, the one who interacts with the world.

Here is the world with no shrub or trees yet
Shrubs are dependent on cultivation. There was no rain. There was no rice, wheat etc. Man just picked fruit from trees – it was wonderful.

Here is a world with no rain yet
It was watered by streams – verse 6, it came from subterranean sources. It had to be that way, there was no system to make rain. The water came from a constant source. Rain in unreliable, it comes when we don’t want it and does not come when we need it very often. Rain was held back as we saw as part of God’s judgement on the Earth in Amos. We can see God holding back rain when he was displeased with men.

Here is a world with a man
The profundity of this verse is that it describes man as a combination of what is low and what is high. It is man’s unique role to combine both dust and glory.
a) He is in a body formed of common stuff
We are formed like a pot on a potter’s wheel. We are made of dust – this shows the lowness of man, not evil. We are in a lowly condition.
b) He is a spirit and a living being.
This shows that man is great and glorious – a spiritual being. We are made of basic elements which is why we decay to dust. Adam means ‘ground’ or ‘from the ground’. It is significant in that we came from humble origins. It shows our smallness – see Genesis 18 verse 27, Abraham realises that he is insignificant and unworthy, as did Hannah, she saw God raised us from dust. Job uses dust 22 times – see Job 42 verse 6, he talks of ‘dust and ashes. It also indicates how frustrating life is – see Genesis 3 verse 19. In Psalm 90 verse 3 the writer see men as dust.
It is very abysmal when people die, there spirit leaves and their returns to the ground from which they came – this could be pessimistic. God has a solution, it is a message of good news, although we are made of dust and our spirit returns to God, God cares for us. Psalm 103 tells us God has compassion on those who fear him, he knows our frailty, he knows how bad we feel. He is compassionate on those who wish to be his children. When we feel so vulnerable, remember we have a compassionate God.
Man is a living being – God breathed his life into us. We are more than dust, we can know God. The body of dust is not the true us, we have a spirit, God breathed out and breathed into man so we can communicate with God and know him. Our value is not our body but our spirit, the life he gave us. It is a life that has to be yielded up to God – James 4 verse 14 tells us God can take it whenever he wishes. Isaiah 2 verse 22 tells us we can only take one breath at a time. God gives us eternal life. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 45 contrasts Adam – who became a living being, with the last Adam – Jesus – who became a life giving being, he breathed and gives life, a new hope of eternal life.
This means we are not to over pamper our bodies but we should be concerned more about what our hearts are like – our spiritual state –see Ecclesiastes 2 verse 6 and 7, we should seek to make our peace with God before our mortal life ends. We need to make sure we know God. Adam was born of God, without the recreation that Jesus brings we cannot see Heaven.

Here is a world with a graden.
a) It was a place prepared for him – verse 8
It was just right for Adam. People in the East love gardens – they are difficult to prepare because of the heat. Eden means pleasant.
b) It was a real place with rivers – verse 10
The whole place teemed with richness and prosperity. It was a specific place with a specific name rooted in history and geography. Our faith is based on reality.
c) It was an exceptional place with mineral wealth – Ezekiel 28 verse 13
It head great wealth. It was a poetic picture of wealth and prosperity. There were fragrant resins put there by God as there were minerals to be crafted, they had lasting value and beauty. It demonstrated the value of faith in God – our faith is more precious than these.
d) It was a delightful place with wonderful trees – verse 9
What would we plant? Cedars? Evergreens? Flowering? Fruit – mangos? Peaches? Cherries? They were lovely to look at and share. It was a paradise on Earth. Today we can still see beauty in the world, it reflects the beauty and wisdom of God. It compares with the way man has destroyed God’s beauty and ruined God’s creation. Man was in a perfect place and he was able to walk with God.
e) It was a place with two special trees
The tree of life was bang in the middle. It was very distinctive – unlike any in the world today. Trees in the Bible signify life – they show there is water and life in the landscape. This tree signified life in all its fullness – it came from God. In God’s garden was God’s tree, Adam and we could eat from it, it symbolised God’s blessing. We live not by our own power but from God’s blessing, he is the source of life. The Tree’s centrality shows how important it was, Adam needed a visible reminder of God and we need one too.
When Adam rebelled and took from the forbidden tree, the punishment was to be forbidden from the tree of life. Adam ate from it when he was in harmony with God, when he rebelled his harmony with God was gone, his life was out of kilter with God, there was so much unhappiness and heart ache, depression and social problems – how sad it is. Is there any hope? In Revelations 22 the tree reappears, Paradise is regained, the nations are healed, everything is healthy and beautiful, the world is transformed through the Lord Jesus.
This was God’s garden and God’s tree and to eat of it’s fruit spoke of fellowship with God. Like eating bread and wine at the Lord’s table it symbolised receiving God’s blessing of life and salvation. Man was created by God to live without dying, but when he sinned he was barred from access to the tree, a sign of the perfection and happiness he had lost.
But this wonderful Tree of Life re-appears at the end of the Bible. There is an image of happiness and fellowship regained. It symbolised the Lord Jesus Christ from whom we have eternal life - Revelation 22 verse 14. Who has the right to enjoy it? Those who are made clean by being cleansed from sin. Are we looking forward to enjoying the satisfying fruit of the Tree of Life in Heaven some day?