The Covenant of Eden: Man's Purpose.

Opening Comments:

Please meet me in your copy of God’s Word in Genesis 2: 8-17. As we continue in our series we’ve titled “Prologue: Genesis 1-11. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I need to once again reiterate the purpose in our studying the first eleven chapters of Genesis together. Genesis lays a foundation for the rest of the Bible. It is not possible to rightly understand the thrust of scripture properly without first having a foundation upon which to build. It is the lens through which we as Bible believing christians have to view the world in which we live. I think I’ve said it every week, because I really want you to see the importance of Genesis, that every single major point of doctrine we have as christians is mentioned either directly or indirectly in the book of Genesis and today’s text will bear that out for us yet again.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Genesis 2:8–17 NKJV

8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Introduction:

The verses that we have just read record for us the first covenant that God made with mankind. The word covenant appears approximately 300 times in your English Bible depending on what translation you have. A simple definition for a covenant is a specific agreement between two or more persons.

In the Bible, there are basically three types of covenant that we find:

An agreement between two or more persons who freely agree to the terms of the contract or covenant.

An agreement imposed by a superior party demanding obedience from the weaker party.

An unconditional agreement or promise whereby God obligates Himself to help or to reconcile sinful man. (A covenant of grace or mercy.)

The verses that we have just read give the background and form for what has been called “The Covenant of Eden.” Which is the kind of covent where God issues commands and demands obedience from mankind. This Edenic Covenant gives to us what God’s purpose was for the creation of mankind beyond just the physical expectations of subjection, dominion and reproduction and get at the heart why God created mankind in the first place.

There are three elements to this covenant that we will observe today which form the spiritual purpose for which the creation of mankind took place.

1.) To know the goodness and grace of God. (v.15)

God seems to have had a desire, from the very beginning, to share the overflowing riches of His goodness and grace with man. This can be seen by God creating the Garden of Eden for man to dwell in.

The Word translated as Eden comes from a Hebrew word meaning delight.

God literally created a “garden of delight” for mankind to dwell in. The most perfect paradise imaginable. The whole earth was perfect at this point, but Eden was special and far exceeded the outside world around it.

God placed mankind within the boundaries of the Garden so that mankind could experience all of the splendor, beauty, provision, fellowship and perfection of God’s goodness and grace.

Application: You may be sitting there thinking that if God’s purpose for man’s creation was so that mankind could live in the splendor of a perfect garden, then he failed, because that’s not the world we live in.

We must remember that we do not live in the world today as God created it to be at the beginning. This world has been tainted by sin and the curse that followed with it. But, nothing can stop the plans and purposes of God. Everything that was lost by Adam’s sin and the fall was regained by Christ and his death and resurrection.

If God’s purpose in creating man was to lavish on His creation all of the goodness and grace of God, no where can that be more clearly seen than for God to give His Son to die for the sins of fallen mankind. That is the summit of all of God’s goodness and grace.

That God in Christ bore our condemnation, punishment, and judgement for sin. That when a person places their faith in Christ death, burial and resection for the atonement of our sin, God takes our faith and counts it as the death of Christ. He counts that person as having died with Christ. The punishment for sin has been paid, he has died with Christ. Consequently, that man is freed from his sin and stands perfectly acceptable to God. It is by and through Christ that mankind can be freed from the burden of sin and be restored to live in the riches of the goodness and grace of God.

Ephesians 2:4–7 NKJV

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

2.) To serve God. (v.15)

God had given Adam the garden as a gift but God expected Adam to work and keep up the garden.

He was to care for the garden.

Tend- work, till, cultivate, dress, and serve.

Keep- watch over, guard, keep, look after, take care of.

Man was made personally responsible for caring for the garden of Eden. That would have entailed things like cultivating the land, dressing the orchards, shrubs and flowers, feeding and providing for himself, keeping the growth under control, and looking after and caring for the animals.

In other words, man was given the job of keeping paradise a paradise.

This tells us that mankind was created to be responsible , active and working. Adam did not just sit around doing nothing all day, he was given the responsibility to work.

Mankind needs work in order to help him have a strong sense of purpose and self work. This is why God made Adam with a job to do.

God created man to think, plan, discover, work, and to do worth while things.

Yes, this world has been corrupted by sin, but God still expects his children to look after and care for the things of God. Work is a God given assignment not a cursed condition. It was sin that made work a toil and a chore.

This is a command that was carried over to the New Testament and still stands today.

Romans 12:11 NKJV

11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV

10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

Colossians 3:23–24 NKJV

23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

The earth has been corrupted by sin, but has not yet been destroyed. The charge of God still stands. We as believers have the same job as Adam when it comes to preserving and protecting the world in which God has given us to live.

3.) To choose to love, worship and fellowship with God. (v.16-17)

God created man with the ability to choose. In fact, v.16-17 show us that God wants a being who freely chooses to live with Him. God designed a creature, in man, with freedom of choice. With the ability to choose to love, worship and fellowship with Him supremely or to reject Him entirely.

God does not coerce man. He did not create a robot that was preprogrammed to serve and worship Him. He created man with freedom of choice.

Mankind was given a lot incentive to choose a life with God for eternity. HE was given every tree of the garden to freely eat, except one.

Mankind was literally given everything.

A home in paradise.

Sinless perfection.

All the trees and food that paradise could offer.

The tree of life which offered immortality. (Genesis 2:9)

The love, presence and fellowship of God.

There was only one prohibition. Only one tree he was told he couldn't eat from, for if he did, their would be the negative consequence of death. Yet, even in this, God gave mankind a choice.

Adam was given the choice of obeying God’s Word, and living forever in fellowship with God. Or, choose to disobey God’s Word and face death.

The choice was Addams to make, God did not force Him one way or the other.

If Adam would have left the forbidden fruit alone and chosen to obey God he would have lived forever in splendor. If he ate the fruit, he would be disobeying God’s Word and choosing to walk away from a life lived with God in splendor.

Application: The same is true with us today. We have to choose. Jesus, God robed in flesh has come to earth and payed our sin debt. Life with God for all eternity is there for the choosing. If we ignore, the gospel and choose to live without Christ we will reap the consequences of that decision forever in Hell. But, if we choose Christ as our savior, we reap the consequences of life eternal in the presence of God.

John 1:12 NKJV

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Conclusion:

We will see in just a few weeks that Adam made the wrong choice and the result of his disobedience was death. Just as God said it would be in the Edenic Covenant.

The Hebrew literally says “Dying, you shall die.”

Biblically, death means separation- in this case, not just a separation from this world but a separation from God.

If a person chooses to live without God, he is cut off from God. Separated forever. This is exactly what Adam chose. He turned away from God’s Word and turned instead to his own will wand way for his life. Adam decided to do his own thing, and the result was death.

Death is something to be feared for those who have chosen to reject the gospel of Christ.

Hebrews 9:27 NKJV

27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

Matthew 8:12 NKJV

12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25:46 NKJV

46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

John 3:36 NKJV

36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Revelation 21:8 NKJV

8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Which will you choose today?

To take God at his word, repent of your sin and trust Christ. In doing so you’ll experinece the fullness of God’s goodness and grace, have the privilege of serving you creator and living with him for all eternity in love, worship and fellowship.

or,

Will you choose to reject God and his word and be seperated for all eternity.