THE GARDEN
Genesis 2:8-9, 15-18

Unlocking the Mystery Series
September 20, 2009
Pastor Nathan J. Thompson

Perhaps some of you have done some research and are very interested in your family history.  This can be quite a process of trying to find old records and dates, as well as trying to connect all the pieces together.  Sometimes it may even mean going to a country of your origin and looking up baptism and marriage records in old churches.

I know that when my father was alive he did lots of research and work in putting together our family tree and trying to discover as many stories and history he could find.  He then put it in a booklet of copied documents, which us children and our families now have.

In studying this history, it is apparent that the earliest history pretty much covers some basic information, with often some gaps in time where we do not know many details of what went on and what their lives and relationships were like. 

We basically have some marriage and birth records and possibly some information on what farm they lived on in Norway.  Yet we do not know whether they moved off the farm for a while, who their friends were, what they thought about issues, etc.

The same thing is true when we study Genesis in the Old Testament.  The first 11 chapters of Genesis are like that early family history—we have some major and important events without lots of chronological details.  And the amount of time between events in mostly unclear.

It has often been said that these initial chapters really highlight the first events—the creation; the creation of man and woman and animals; the fall into sin; the first fight and murder between two brothers, Cain and Abel; God’s judgment on this wicked world in the flood; God’s covenant promise depicted in a rainbow for Noah and his ancestors.

It is important to note that the most significant part of these first 11 chapters is not on the details of how creation and civilization came to be, as much as it is on who is the creator, who is the Lord over evil, who is the giver of life and the Lord of history.

I know there are many debates concerning creation and whether it happened in six 24-hour days or over many years.  Yet it is important to remember that the focus is not on how God did it, but that He is the creator of the universe and all things; all he needed to do was speak the word and it happened.

I remember discussing this with someone one time.  I asked him, “Do you believe that God is almighty and powerful enough to create the world in six days?” 

“Of course,” he said. 

Then I asked, “Do you believe that God is powerful and almighty enough to possibly create the world over thousands or even millions of years?”  Creation is centered in God’s power.

The message of Genesis is not how God created, but that He is the creator of everything.  No one was writing or taking notes at that time and CNN certainly did not have a news crew on the scene.  Generations later God’s people were putting together their family history and proclaiming that no matter how it happened, God was the creator of every part of this planet.

So, that brings us to this picture of the Garden.  This Garden of Eden, as it is called, is a place of perfection.  It shows that God’s plan from the beginning for creation was centered in peace and love with no problems, sins or tears of hurt.

As God created man and woman—Adam and Eve, the animals and living creatures, and all the beauties of nature, they all lived in perfect harmony together.  It was God’s perfect creation and vision for our world without any stain or blemish.

Ah, but God told Adam and Eve that they could eat and share in the bounty of everything in this garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If they did, God told them that they would surely die.

So we hear how the serpent, the tempter, lured them to eat this fruit, how they hid from God and how they were put out of the garden to face the struggles and consequences of life outside of perfection. This fall into sin fractured God’s perfect garden; it fractured humankind’s relationship with God and with the created world.  It is the story of humanity’s brokenness.

Yet even in this story of the fall into sin, we see God’s nature as our loving and gracious God.  For when God found Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes, the Bible reads, “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

The Hebrew word used here for being clothed means to cover their sins, or in other words, God covers them with his forgiveness.  Where God could have killed them for their disobedience, He chooses to show grace and mercy.  God’s nature from the beginning is centered in grace.

The importance of the Garden does not end in Genesis.  Rather, God’s plan and vision is set forth from the beginning. His goal is to redeem this sinful and broken world and to return us to a kingdom of love and care, and in eternal life.

God’s vision comes forth in Isaiah 11:6 where Isaiah shares the prophecy, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child shall lead them.”

God’s vision then comes forth in the birth of Jesus, His very own son.  Jesus is the prince of peace, the Savior who took all our sins upon Himself on the cross, the giver of forgiveness and new life.  Jesus came to bring God’s new and restored kingdom on this earth.

And in the Book of Revelation 21:1, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…”  It continues in verse 3ff, “Look, God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.  They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away…I am making everything new.”

From the very beginning of time, my friends, God’s will and plan is that He wants His world, His creation, He wants us His people to share in the joy of His perfect creation.  He wants each person to experience His love, His peace, His forgiveness, and His new life.  And He wants each one, by faith, to share in the eternal joy and wonder of heaven.  That is God’s will, God’s plan for your life, my friend.  May you receive and trust His love by faith.

As I mentioned last week, our Bible is not random; it is not two different Gods revealed in the Old and New Testaments.  No, the truth is that God’s plan and vision is established in the account of the Garden. The rest tells the story of how God is working to restore His creation.

Read the Bible with God’s purpose in mind.  Yes, there are many failings, rejections and terrible choices made by God’s people.  Notice God’s patience.  The amazing truth is that no matter what happens God never wavers from His plan of redeeming this broken and sinful world.

John Ortberg in his book, “God is Closer Than You Think,” shares how Dallas Willard tells the story about a 2 ½-year-old girl in her backyard who one day discovered the secret to making mud, which she called “warm chocolate.”  Her grandmother was reading something and facing away from the action.

After cleaning up what was to her a mess, the grandmother told little Larissa not to make any more chocolate and she turned her chair around so she was facing her granddaughter.  The little girl soon resumed her making “warm chocolate,” but she said, “Don’t look at me, Nana.  Okay?”

Nana, of course, being a little co-dependent agreed.  Larissa continued to make mud, this warm chocolate, and yet three times she said, “Don’t look at me, Nana.  Okay?”  Then Willard writes, “Thus the tender soul of a little child shows us how necessary it is to be unobserved in our dirt, our sin, our wrong.”

Ortberg says, Any time we choose to do wrong or to withhold doing right we choose hiddeness as well.  It may be that out of all the prayers that are ever spoken, the most common one—the quietest one; the one that we least acknowledge making is simply this, “Don’t look at me God.”

It was the very first prayer spoken after the Fall.  God came to walk in the garden, to be with the man and woman, and called, “Where are you?” 

“I heard you in the garden and I was afraid,”  Adam answered, “so I hid.”  Don’t look at me God.

My friends, the story of the garden is really our story.  The truth is that as part of the fall we too sin; we too want to be our own gods; we too often try to hide away from God and try to hide the truth about ourselves from God and from others.

Yet the good news is that God always comes looking for us.  He wants us to admit our sin and to confess our need for His saving love.  The good news is that God is gracious; He covers our sins with forgiveness if we simply ask Him. The good news is that God wants you to experience His joy, His peace, His forgiving love, and the wonder and beauty of His marvelous creation.  This is God’s purpose, His plan, from the very beginning of creation.