Genesis 3:22-24 Heaven on Earth
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Prayer
Catechism Question: How many persons are there in the Godhead?
Answer: There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory.
—————————
Heaven is a place on Earth,
One of my favorite songs growing up was this song by Belinda Carlisle.
I never really memorized all the lyrics, never analyzed what was really being said, it was just a song that I really enjoyed.
I loved the big sound at the beginning, the powering anthem from the start, the “Listen, I’m talking to you and you will hear me” rise from the onset.
If you grew up in that time frame, you too may have shouted at the top of your lungs, “We’ll make heaven a place on earth.”
While the song is about a relationship that brings fulfillment,
Let’s be real, who wouldn’t want this for relationships, for locations, for work, for family, for everything?
All we have to do is look around, feel the weight and the tension,
We succumb to the anxiety around us, and deal with the consequences of the fall in us, and when we stop to think about this we are like,
Yeah, I’ll take heaven right now! Let’s make this happen!
Yet, every one of us at different points or even constantly, can be captivated by daydreaming about what it would actually look like,
What it would actually be like.
What if we can create heaven on earth?
What if we can take our little piece of the earth and make it heavenly?
What if we can work in such a way, live in such a manner, and be in such an action that we can truly make this happen?
What if we can all unite together with one mission, and one purpose, and one goal, to bring forth a utopia of joy and justice!
This very concept has been dreamed about and lamented over since the rejection of God in the Garden of Eden.
It was in the Garden, that truly was, heaven on earth.
It was in the Garden that God displayed everything to be good and beautiful and perfect.
It was in the Garden that God dwelt with and communed alongside of His creation.
It was there that there was no sickness, no pain,
It was there that full meaning, purpose, and pleasure was found.
It was there that we can look, if we want to see what heaven will one day be like.
But, the question that arises is this.
How do we get back there?
How do we reclaim this era of beauty and perfection?
How do we get full access to God who will physically speak to us and walk with us? (Pause)
The problem we discovered a few weeks ago was that, we….meaning you and I…..will not be able to accomplish this.
We…..meaning our community, will not be able to accomplish this.
We…..meaning our country, will not be able to accomplish this.
We…..meaning our generation in this world, will not be able to accomplish this.
No generation has and no generation will be able to accomplish this insurmountable task.
Original Sin, our Sinful Nature, the fact that we are sinners who sin, will always, completely, and fully, prevent us from reaching this goal.
At least, in and of ourselves.
This goal will not be reached without the help of another, one far greater, far wiser, far more powerful than you and I.
This One, whom I am speaking of, has already accomplished the plan, the mission, the goal.
He has then given us our plan, mission, and goal.
This One, has promised to those that are His, will return to the Garden.
There will be a return to Heaven on Earth.
However, it will not be like the song suggests, it will not be like the movies interpret, it will not be like many strive for today.
Because first, God will have to do away with this Earth, and this sin nature, and this death, and this rebellion, and this world. (Pause)
I must pause, because I am getting ahead of myself,
First, before we can get to the solution, we must remind ourselves of the problem.
This is what brings us back to the book of beginnings as we finish up our next chapter.
Let us continue our journey through Genesis Chapter 3, beginning in verse 22.
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
Here God then stops talking, as if pausing mid sentence.
Which would seem strange, but we will get to that in a moment, first let’s see the first part of our verse.
What may be shocking is that part of what the serpent said, in verse 5 of this chapter, is true and affirmed by God.
The enemy of God declared to Eve, that by eating of the fruit, “she would be like God.”
Now, it would seem that God has affirmed this by saying man has become “like” one of us.
But, did Adam and Eve because “like” God?
Satan is the Father of lies and loves dealing with half truths.
Being like God was the deceptive tactic.
God affirms that Yes, Adam and Eve are now, “like” God in the way that God knows good and evil.
Adam and Eve only knew good, they only knew truth, they only knew what was right.
They had not experienced evil, and did not know of evil.
Let’s take a moment to ponder this:
Can you even imagine what that would have been like?
To only know righteousness, to only know God, to only know His commands?
To have a perfect unity and relationship with our God.
To have a perfect unity and relationship with our spouse?
Yet, Adam and Eve, after hearing from the serpent, wanted more:
This was not the win that Adam and Eve expected.
This did not bring the almighty, all powerful, all wise aspects of God.
They were not ushered onto their very own throne,
They were not crowned and celebrated.
They did not receive a multitude of angelic beings to worship them.
They received the opposite,
Instead of gaining, they loss.
Instead of receiving, what they had was taken away.
Instead of Triumph, they received shame.
This brought sorrow, guilt, and sadness.
What was promised by the serpent was only a half truth.
God declares they did join God and the angels in knowing evil.
This part and only this part became true.
The rest of what it is to be “like God” was a lie.
What is very unfortunate is that this lie continues to be peddled today by the likes of the Word of Faith movement.
The likes of Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, Jesse Duplantis, and Benny Hinn.
These false teachers teach “little gods” theology.
They will declare that if God can do it, so can we.
This is a variation of the same lie that was said in the garden and appeals to our carnal flesh that wants to be greater than we are.
We desire to be invincible, unstoppable, victorious in every moment.
Today, like the garden, we want to be “like God.”
Thus, we must be aware of this lie and we must not fall for it, we must embrace who we are,
and more importantly, who we are in Christ, but more on that part in a moment.
Let’s go Back to the Garden:
What we can only dream of now, was once a reality, a utopia of no evil or sin.
Our first parents had a time where they knew of no evil.
This cannot be fathomed in our state and in our world, but was a reality of theirs.
We must not lose all hope though, this will also one day be a reality of ours again.
Where we will no longer see, taste, touch, smell, or hear of evil.
But, this will not arrive while on earth in its current state.
This will not arrive because we put our collective minds and resources together to make it happen.
As we continue looking at our verse we may be tripped up by a two letter word that is used in the english.
In our text it says, “us.”
This Hebrew word in other places is translated as “we” or “ours”.
Is this speaking of the Trinity?
Remember in Genesis 1:26?
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
We discussed this understanding in greater detail in a previous sermon, but we see the same thing again today.
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
So, does this us refer to the Trinity?
Well, Yes but mostly no.
It specifically declares a majesty, a fullness, of God more than the specific Trinity.
So, yes, upon the revelation of the Trinity, we can look back and see this and make sense of it,
However, that really is not the point being made or being displayed.
It is not specifically declaring the trinity, nor does it refer to the “heavenly council” of God and angels as some have put forth.
It is best to be understood that this is declaring the fullness of God as deity to speak in this way.
To remind us of the greatness, fullness, majesty of our God to speak in this fashion.
Now let’s move on to the second half of our verse.
The later part now declares a powerful statement:
“Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
Here it would seem like God stops in mid sentence.
As if He just reminded Himself of the consequences of eating the Tree of Life while being in sin.
As if he remembered that there would be a tragic consequence if Adam continued to be in the garden with the tree of life.
Did God, in this moment, remember that the tree of life was still in the Garden?
Did God have a, “Did I turn the Iron off before I left, moment?”
Of course not.
God knows all and sees all and has planned all things.
So, this would not have caught Him by surprise, but God is using this language in such a way to bring our attention to this reality, not His.
God uses this moment to remind us, the consequences of a rebellious creature infected with sin, would have if they eat of the Tree of Life.
What would happen if Adam and Eve, being in sin, would have eaten from the Tree of Life?
Some may think it would have instantly killed them.
Others, and what my thoughts are, believe it would preserve them forever in a state of sin.
If Adam and Eve were to eat from the tree of life they would live forever be in the curse, the sin, the brokenness.
They would literally spend an eternity of “hell on earth.”
However, what God does is an actually act of grace.
Let’s see what happens next.
therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
God stops speech mid-sentence and immediately sends Adam and Eve out of the Garden.
If we think about it, this is actually a grace in the midst of justice being served.
I have been thinking a lot more about death recently and it is certainly understandable when we lose loved ones.
The prospects of death is all around us and is a fate that each and every one of us will face.
The more I ponder this reality the more I long to be rid of this broken body, cruel world, and difficult life.
What is fascinating is that it isn’t just me.
Deep down everyone longs to be done with the pain and heartache that this world brings, and even strangely enough, it comes out in our art.
Now, you may or may not consider the cinema a form of art, and if I mention super hero movies, you’ll probably role your eyes and question definition of art.
But, let’s set this aside for a moment, and look at what I am speaking of.
Even our super heroes that are immortal, or live for several generations, at some point, long to die.
They grow weary, they grow tired, not because they are weak, but because of the constant overwhelming evil and heartache that is experienced in this world.
The Christian-Worldview makes sense of this evil and pain, but does not make its experience any easier.
Which is why there is a longing to be rid of this world.
And why, even in our super hero movies, we have heroes that long for the very same.
God thus, in an act of grace along with judgement, sends them out of the Garden and in turn keeps his Garden pure and Holy.
Next, in this verse, we see that Adam was sent to work the ground in which He was made from.
Matthew Henry writes in the 18th century of a beautiful grace: He says,
“Adam was sent to a place of toil, not to a place of torment. He was sent to the ground, not to the grave,—to the work-house, not to the dungeon, not to the prison-house,—to hold the plough, not to drag the chain.
What Henry is saying is that, even in this punishment there was mercy, even while justice was being served there was grace extended.
How encouraging is it that God still extends this kind of grace and mercy as he deals with us post-Garden.
Even in His correcting of us, even in his discipline of us, there is still grace and mercy extended to us.
Henry continues:
“Observe, then, that though our first parents were excluded from the privileges of their state of innocency, yet they were not abandoned to despair, God’s thoughts of love designing them for a second state of probation upon new terms.
Meaning that even in the separation from God’s presence and God’s garden, does not mean the end for our first parents.
God had a new plan, a plan that we saw as the First Gospel, the anticipation of the Promised Messiah, that was still yet to come.
Let’s see how Chapter 3 now concludes.
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
This verse begins with an even harsher phrase.
Here we get more clarity as to how they were sent out.
They were drove out.
God would have been just to remove Adam and Eve from existence, to wipe humanity off of the face of the earth.
But instead God removed them from the Garden.
It may have felt like they were removed from life itself, as they were cut off from the Tree of Life.
They were cut off from the presence of God, They were cut off of all of the blessings and provisions of the garden.
But, Adam and Eve were not abandoned even in their exile.
The next part is that it was declared that this exit and entrance area was at the east of the Garden.
This may seem strange to mention, but it would be the reason why the tabernacle and the temple would both have their entrances facing east.
Which is a fun fact you can tuck away in your brain and see if it is useful one day.
Then we see something that would seem very strange and has puzzled people for generations.
Cherubim were placed to guard the entrance and a flaming sword that turned every which way would prevent anyone from ever entering again.
Cherubim are heavenly beings that we see elsewhere in Scripture as well.
They are the multiform and magnificient throne bearers that are found in Ezekiel’s visions.
Elsewhere we see them as guardians of the holy of holies, their forms embroidered on the veil that prevented access to it.
We also see them fashioned on the ark of the covenant.
These creatures play a very important role in the worship and grasping the true holiness of God.
The flaming swords have been much debated over the years as well, with many believing it was lighting bolts that flashed every which way.
The goal isn’t to determine the nature of this sword, but to understand that it was impenetrable.
What we discover in this scene is that a return to how things were, by mankind’s power, would not be difficult, would not be challenging,
But, it would be impossible.
There would be zero opportunity to for Adam and Eve, or any after them, to come back to this place.
The only future would now be to toil and strife and continue with the thorns and thistles for the rest of their life.
The only way to remove the Cherubim would be to remove sin.
Which brings us back to this idea at the beginning, this idea of heaven on earth.
As much as society and culture try to create heaven on earth, we will never be able to recreate the Garden of Eden.
As cliche as it sounds, that ship has sailed.
Our hope is not found in unique and ground breaking ways to bring peace on earth and a garden utopia.
No, our hope is not in the Garden, our hope is in the Gospel. (pause)
The only hope that we have is the prophecy first given in this chapter.
The only surety we have is the first Gospel that was shared in verse 15.
The only way we escape planet death is through the one who would destroy the serpent.
Adam and Eve were looking forward to the promised seed, you and I, are looking back at the revealed Messiah.
What was first declared and displayed in Genesis 3 has come to pass in Jesus.
Jesus fulfilled the prophecy found in verse 15 and is the only cure for the fall in Chapter 3.
Jesus will restore access to the tree of life.
By His resurrection and our future resurrection, we will be united back to the Tree of Life.
By the blood of Jesus we will be free of sin once and for all.
By the accomplished work of Jesus, we will be brought back to a new heaven and new earth.
Where the entire earth will be recreated and there will truly be heaven on earth.
Jesus tore the Cherubim veil in the temple that brought us back to relationship with God.
Jesus opens the gate that the cherubim guard and invites us back to the tree of life.
Jesus declares that He himself is the Tree of life.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Yes, there will be an actual Tree of life.
But, Jesus is the resurrection that brings life and is bringing us back to the garden.
The garden offered eternal life, Jesus will bring us to eternal life.
The garden offered communion with God, Jesus will bring us communion with God.
While we toil in strife and sweat and pain and suffering, our hope is not in our ability to make this world right and to re-create the Garden.
Our hope is now found in the one who can make it right and who will bring us back to a new garden.
How often do we see people want to create Heaven on Earth?
How often do we see people trying to create a utopia in a new city, a new state, a new country.
We have found that this does not work.
Yet, this silly humanity, so bent on finding everything but God, is now we are trying to see if we can create a utopia in a virtual world.
Yet, there is always one problem when anyone tries to create heaven on earth.
There is one issue that nobody has been able to solve yet.
There is one difficulty that has yet to be overcome. (Pause)
There are people.
As long as there are people, there will be sin, as long as there will be sin, there is no heaven on earth.
All we can do is mask the depression.
All we can do is escape reality.
All we can do is pretend in make believe, even if it for just a few moments or a day.
My point is that the problem we face at the end of chapter 3 will never be fixed with the latest technology, the grandest of imaginations,
The most immersed experiences, all these will do will seek the mask the reality.
All this will do is distract us from what is actually happening around us.
For many of us, that is how we live our lives, from one distraction to the next.
Trying to find the next high, the next hobby, the next hope that will make us forget what is unescapable.
But, may I recommend something radical instead.
May I suggest that instead of us trying to run from the curse, we face the curse.
We recognize the curse, we study the curse, we learn about the curse.
We understand that this curse is here to let us know that this is not our home.
This is not our future.
This is not all there is.
Let the sin in yourself, the sin of your neighbor, the sin of this world, point us to the only one that has overcome sin.
The one who has not only overcome sin but has defeated death.
The one who can and will conquer what we have destroyed and recreate what we can only dream about.
Jesus is our answer to our toil and strife.
Jesus is our answer to sin and death.
Jesus is our answer to heaven and one day a new heaven and new earth.
Quit trying to escape what we cannot, to mask what is really there, and decide today that you will embrace the mess.
Realize the sin, and look to its only solution.
Jesus came to rescue, to redeem, ransom and restore.
Jesus does this by fulfilling what Adam and Eve were supposed to do in the garden but failed.
Jesus did not fail but obeyed God perfectly.
Jesus then went to the cross, freely giving his life for our life.
Jesus sent forth the Spirit to apply the accomplished work to His children.
We receive faith through the proclamation of this Gospel that was first declared in verse 15 of chapter 3.
We then place this gift of faith upon the only one worthy of this faith and that is Jesus.
Then we trust in Jesus to accomplish what we cannot.
We trust that Jesus will cleanse us where we cannot.
We trust Jesus will bring us to Himself where we cannot.
We repent, confess our sins, change our mind about the lies of this world, and fully embrace the Son of God.
This is the only hope we have in this fallen and broken world.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
This is the conclusion of Chapter 3, what began with heartache continues with hope.
The rest of the Bible, from this point, looks to this very hope.
Let us do the same, let us continue to look to the hope of Jesus, today, tomorrow, and forever, Amen?
Let’s pray.