Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden of Eden
( Sermon preached in the Brecon Presbyterian Church in 2005)
Introduction
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”.
These are possibly the most important words in the whole Bible. They tell us that the world did not just come about by chance – that there is an intelligent and creative mind behind it all. These first chapters of Genesis are at the centre of controversy between the Fundamentalists who would insist it must all be taken absolutely literally and those who would want to see how these chapters relate to the findings of science. For example, geologists studing rock strata have deduced that fossils are the remains of creatures that flourished millions of years ago – how does that fit in with the seven days of Creation?
I’m not going into that controversy now except to say that personally I tend towards the scientific approach. We could spend hours discussing the interpretation of these chapters and still miss the point. The message is the important thing here. What does Genesis teach us about God, about the world, about human nature? It conveys profound truths in a few words. The first chapters of Gen. undergird the whole Judeo-Christian outlook, which is so different from that of other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
God alone
(v1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
– it teaches that there is one God, that he existed before the world and that he created all that is. Also, in the way that it speaks of him, it implies that he is a rational being who thinks and speaks. Indeed it is through his words that he creates the world.
(v3-4) And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
God first made the light. This is more than just a reference to that electromagnetic radiation that stimulate our optic nerves. Perhaps it means energy in general but surely it also refers to light in a spiritual sense. For God always shines his light into the darkness of our souls -
“For God , who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ”. (2 Cor. 4:6)
The next few verses of Genesis tell us how God spoke and things came into being. “Stuff happened!” He didn’t have to make it out of anything – he created it out of nothing.
He made a world with all things in order – Sun, Moon, Earth, land, sea, plants and animals. God made all things and gave them all the means of existence and sustenance. God: the giver of all. To him we owe our very existence. We are required to worship him.
Caedmon’s Hymn
Now let me praise the keeper of Heaven’s kingdom,
the might of the Creator, and his thought,
the work of the Father of glory, how each of wonders
the Eternal Lord established in the beginning.
He first created for the sons of men
Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator,
then Middle-earth the keeper of mankind,
the Eternal Lord, afterwards made,
the earth for men, the Almighty Lord.
(C7th. Old English poem)
Mankind
God said, “let’s make human beings”.
(Gen. 2:7) the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
We are indeed made from the dust – from the materials of the earth. Take a handful of soil and analyse its elements chemically. You will find carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium and numerous other elements. Take the same amount of human tissue and analyse it and you will find the same elements. We are made up of the same materials as the earth. And when we die and decay those elements are released back to the earth to be recycled by nature.
“For dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3: 19).
Breath of God
The animals and plants are also made of the same elements but God breathed life into man. Not just the life that all animals have but a divine breath. So there is that divine spark in every human being.
(Gen 1: 26) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
-this is is another way of saying the same thing.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
- male and female – both in God’s image. They were created equal. It is only the fall and the coming of sin that has introduced inequality.
Stewardship
(Gen.1: 28) God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
God put them in charge of creation. With their intelligence they have the power to dominate all other species. But what use will they make of this power? Will they rule kindly and justly? Or will they exploit and ravage the world of its resources? Will they mistreat the lower species and abuse them? Will they ruin the environment in which they have been placed by God? I don’t think that I need to answer that question!
In the beginning, though, all was right – man and woman were in harmony with their environment and God gave them work to do.
(Gen. 2: 15.) The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Human beings were made to to work – not to be idle. But the work that they were given in the beginning was not irksome toil, it was profitable and creative. It was the task of nurturing, tending, caring, improving the Garden of Eden. Work was never intended to be drudgery in the beginning – that is a consequence of man’s sin and fall.
The Fall
Gen 3 tells how this Fall came about. It was the results of listening to the Evil One. It was the results of doubting the goodness of God.
Gen. 3: 4 – 5 - “You will not surely die”, the Serpent said to the woman, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” In other words, “God’s just a spoilsport!”
So they listened to the evil One, they took the fruit, and suddenly they realised they were naked. They hid from God in the bushes. Now what was there to be ashamed of? It wasn’t the nakedness itself – it was the disobedience that they were ashamed of. There’s nothing sinful in a naked human body in itself but there is something deeply sinful in disobeying and distrusting God .
Banned from the Garden
So they were cast out of the Garden and had to make their way in the hard world with toil and suffering. Immediately everything is messed up. Work is now irksome drudgery.
· Humans are out of joint with the universe now. No longer are they in harmony with their environment. They start to spoil it and to exploit it.
· They are out of joint with one another too. Even when they are still in the garden the first thing we see after the Fall is a domestic quarrel. God says to Adam, “What have you done?” Adam says, “She did it, it was her fault!” The woman says, “It was the serpent’s fault!” So this fatal tendency to blame others for our own faults began in the Garden of Eden.
· Man is now also out of joint with himself – he becomes a restless being who can find no inner peace. That can only come if he can get God back at the centre of his life.
· He is completely out of harmony with God – and this is the worst effect of his sin, for God is the source of life. Adam and Eve have shut themselves off from God – they will die.
Conclusion
But I can’t end this sermon on a negative note. For, after all, we know the Good News: how one of Eve’s descendants, Jesus Christ, has defeated that old Serpent Satan. He has overcome death.
· He has dealt with the problem of sin and guilt. He has opened the way to put as right with God.
· And he has made it possible to know inner peace.
· He has made it possible for there to be reconciliation and forgiveness among the warring tribes of earth.
· He has shown as the way of unselfishness so that we can be better stewards of the world’s resources and creatures. By his Cross and Resurrection Jesus has undone the work of the Evil One and reversed the effects of the Fall. Glory be to his name!
But to understand and appreciate what Jesus has done for us we first need to realise the depths to which we have sunk. And the first chapters of Genesis tell us. They tell us who God is, who we are, and what we are really like, and they point us forward to Jesus the Saviour.
