The Gospel In The Garden

When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

And a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man that he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.

The name of the first is the Pishon.

It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

The gold of that land is good.

Bdellium and Onyxstone are there.

The name of the second river is the Gihon.

It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.

The name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.

Amen.

Well, I need to admit that when I began my time of study this week, I fully expected that I was going to find the primary purpose of this text,

this unique text here in chapter 2, to really just be telling us something about humanity as a whole.

And of course, there is certainly a lot for us to glean about what it means to be human here,

and certainly lots that we can take away for all of us here.

But what I came to determine as I studied through throughout the week

is that the central focus of these verses is not actually on humanity in general.

The central focus of these verses is on Adam in particular.

And I actually think that's very important if we're going to understand this text the right way

and understand why it's actually here and what its purpose and its function is in teaching us this morning.

We need to understand this focus.

Herein lies the key, I think, to grasping the significance.

The emphasis is on the one man through whom God's covenant blessings and stipulations will be mediated to the rest of humanity.

Okay, let me say that again.

Humanity is a part of it.

It's just not the focus of it, right?

The emphasis here is on one man, not the man and his wife, not the man and his family, but one man.

And it is through this one man that God is going to give his covenant blessings and his covenant stipulations

that will then be mediated by this one man to the rest of humanity.

Now, if we can get that picture, and we're going to spend a lot of time thinking about it this morning.

If we can get that picture, then we can really begin to understand why this text is so valuable to us.

Why it's so necessary for us.

Adam is presented here as a covenant head of the human race.

That's then affirmed throughout the scriptures.

When we see other authors throughout the scriptures referring to this scene, that's what they refer to.

God especially formed him.

He has given him life.

And then he places him in the bountiful garden temple in which he and his wife and his offspring will enjoy that life

in covenant communion with the Lord God.

So that we understand the blessings of these verses and the potential curses embedded in these verses.

They come to the rest of humanity through the one man, through Adam.

Now, why is this important?

Why should we look so closely at Adam before trying to quickly apply this text to ourselves?

And it's for this reason.

I want to suggest this morning that the text is here to prepare us for a greater Adam.

Jesus, who will come to restore and secure the covenant blessings of life for his people

by succeeding in every way that Adam failed.

That's why I think this text is so important for us.

We want to look especially at Adam, the first Adam, and the stipulations around Adam, and what God was doing with Adam

so that we can actually begin to understand the last Adam, the greater Adam.

In other words, we're going to sum it up this way.

I want to show you in this text, I want to show you the gospel in the garden.

The gospel in the garden.

And it begins here.

I want you to see the life-giving God of the garden.

The life-giving God of the garden.

Look again at verse 5.

When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up.

And then it gives an explanation for why it was in that condition.

The Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.

A mist was going up from the land, watering the face of the ground.

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

and the man became a living creature.

Like in chapter 1, God is the sole actor in all of these verses.

It is God who addresses the condition of the land.

It's God who forms the man.

It's God who plants the garden.

It's God who assigns the man his task.

It's God that stipulates the covenant on which his blessings will be based.

This whole text then, fundamentally, is about God and his work in the world.

The gospel in the garden begins with God.

And who is this God, according to Moses?

We've seen so much about him in the creation narrative in chapter 1,

but there's something different that Moses begins to do here in chapter 2.

In chapter 1, Elohim was the name used for God,

signifying God's creative power and transcendence and majesty.

Here, there's a slight shift.

Elohim is still present, but attached to it is another name for God.

It's a combination of names.

It's Yahweh Elohim now.

Lord God is what we see now.

And it's repeated throughout this section that takes us all the way through the end of chapter 4.

We see this uniquely even in this text from the rest of the Pentateuch that Moses provided for us.

Lord God.

There's one exception.

And it's at the beginning of chapter 3 in the exchange between the serpent and Eve.

Everything else, this is the name that's being used,

and I think it's significant for us.

Elohim is maintaining the reference to God's transcendent power and his majesty as the eternal creator and ruler of all that exists.

It's communicating that to us.

God's redemption and personal nature and love and covenant and compassion.

The combination brings together on one hand God's majesty and on the other hand God's intimacy,

both of which are critical to the unfolding narrative here in chapter 2.

We need the God Elohim who can create and rule.

We need to understand him in that sense to understand chapter 2.

We also need the covenant God, the redemptive God,

to understand the fullness of the gospel in chapter 2.

And what we find is that God's transcendence, amazingly, does not preclude his eminence.

His majesty and power and holiness do not make intimate communion with his creatures impossible.

Neither do his personal covenant nature and love for his creatures come at the expense of his glory.

He loses nothing of his power and transcendence and majesty by condescending to us in relationship and in communion.

He is at the same time the magnificent creator and personal covenant redeemer of his people.

And as both creator and redeemer, the Lord God is the all-sufficient source of life for his creation.

Even in the name that Moses gives us, we see here that the gospel begins with the life-giving God of the garden.

And we see it unfolding in at least two ways here.

We see it first in the pre-garden condition of the land in verses 5 and 6.

Now, there's no reason to stumble over this by trying to compare it to what was said about day 3 in chapter 1.

Moses isn't doing the same thing.

In the creation of the world, God has a special purpose for the place that he's going to put the man in this garden that he's about to plant.

It doesn't take away from what he did on day 3.

He's just designated a place.

And the description given to this place before God comes and plants the garden and forms the man is similar to what we saw at the beginning of chapter 1.

This formless and empty void that was the condition of the cosmos before God intervened.

That's the picture that we now have of the place where he will put his garden and his man.

It's somewhat formless and barren and empty.

And there's two reasons given for this condition.

Notice it in verse 5.

First, it's in this condition because the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land.

He has withheld the water cycle that he created back on day 2.

He has withheld it at least temporarily from this section of his creation.

It hasn't rained yet.

Secondly, we're told it is in this condition because God has not yet created a man to cultivate the ground.

Now, what's the point of all of that?

The pre-garden conditions of the land are remedied by God alone.

Only he can bring the rain.

Only he can create the cultivator who will work the ground and keep it and use it.

Moses is presenting the Lord God then as the source of all life and blessing by first acknowledging the condition of the land before the garden.

The garden needs God to have life and blessing and fruitfulness.

But there's more.

We see in verse 7.

That this life-giving feature of God is in the creation of Adam himself.

Notice the special attention God gives the creation of the man.

It's distinct from the rest of his creation.

God personally and intentionally forms the man out of the dust on the ground.

Human life then is both a special creation of God, unique as an image bearer as we saw in chapter 1.

And yet being made from the dirt is fragile.

Still less than God, this creature from the dirt.

And once God formed the man out of the dust, notice, he breathes into his nostrils the breath of life.

And man becomes a living creature.

God does this, at least in the description of creation, he does this with no other part of his creation.

It is the kiss of God imparting something of himself into this creature.

And man becomes a living creature because the God of all life has given him life to live.

Man's life, therefore, comes directly from the personal kindness of the Lord God.

Paul will say it this way when he preaches in Athens in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,

himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he is not far from us.

For in him, Paul says, we live and move and have our being.

The gospel of this text, the gospel of the garden begins with the life-giving God of the garden,

who alone is the source of all life and blessing.

But I want you to notice a second thing.

We see the life-giving God of the garden.

Now I want you to notice the bountiful garden of God.

The bountiful garden of God.

Look again at verse 8.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east.

And there he put the man whom he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden.

And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

After forming the man and giving him life, God plants a garden paradise in which he can place the man,

in which he can enjoy this life.

Everything about this description conveys the bounty of God's goodness to the man.

God calls the garden to bring forth trees that are both beautiful to look at and produce fruit that is delicious to eat.

But the significance of the garden is greater than beautiful landscapes and delicious fruit.

It is the special place of God's presence in the created world.

A garden temple in which the Lord God intends to commune with his special creation.

Ian Duggett calls it a sort of holy of holies.

A holy place and fruitful place in the midst of God's grand creation.

So that God puts man in the garden not only to enjoy the bounty of the garden itself,

but in order that he might worship and commune with his creator.

This is how it was meant to be.

Adam was there to worship.

Adam was there to commune with God.

Adam was there to bring the rest of humanity to this God for worship and communion.

And in the midst of this garden sanctuary,

notice highlighted for us these two trees.

First is the tree of life of which man was free to enjoy.

What is this tree?

It's mentioned sparingly throughout the scriptures.

In fact, even in the narrative itself,

we don't see it again until the end of chapter 3 when man is expelled from the garden

and it is emphasized that he is expelled from access to this tree of life.

We see it come up again in the book of Proverbs,

linking the tree of life to all that is good and fruitful and righteous.

And then we see it again at the end in the book of Revelation.

In the new heavens, in the new earth, there it is again, the tree of life.

Well, what is this tree?

How are we to understand it?

What was its purpose?

It's not that the fruit of the tree actually had the power to provide life to Adam.

That's not the purpose of the tree.

It's not like playing a video game where you get tired eventually

and you begin to lower your health

and now you've got to hurry up and run to the tree of life real quick

before something bad happens.

You eat the fruit and now you're regenerated, right?

No, that's not what the tree is there for.

There's no power in the fruit itself.

God is the one who provides life

and he's already blessed man with life.

He's breathed it into his nostrils.

He is living.

The tree was there as a symbol of the life he had received,

a symbol of the life that he enjoyed

because of the life-giving God of the garden.

It's there as a kind of catalyst for worship in God's garden temple.

Calvin understood it sacramentally for Adam.

I find this really helpful.

He understood it to be sacramental for Adam

in a way that we view baptism and communion.

It's not that partaking in the Lord's Supper

actually contributes to our justification.

There's no power in the cracker.

There's no power in the juice.

However, it does work to communicate to us

the source of our justification

in the death of Christ on the cross.

Says Calvin,

He gave the tree of life its name

not because it could confer on man that life,

but in order that it might be a symbol

and memorial of the life which he had received from God.

He intended, therefore,

that man,

as often as he tasted the fruit of that tree,

should remember whence he received his life

in order that he might acknowledge that he lives

not by his own power,

but by the kindness of the Lord God alone.

I find that wonderfully helpful.

It's not that Adam had to eat of the tree of life

to live.

It's that he was free to eat of it

so that he would understand with great thanksgiving

and worship this God who had given him life

that every time, as Calvin said,

he reached out and took of that tree,

he would be reminded

that the source of all of his life and blessing

is in the Lord God.

But there's a second tree

in the midst of the garden.

We'll see in just a few moments

this particular tree was prohibited.

Adam was not to eat of this one.

He's free to eat of the tree of life

so long as he is in the garden,

but he cannot eat of this one.

It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And again, the tree itself

wasn't given special power.

The fruit here was not poisonous.

It was just forbidden.

And like the tree of life,

God thus named the tree

as a symbol of what only belongs to God.

moral autonomy,

absolute knowledge and wisdom

belongs only to Yahweh Elohim.

It does not belong to the creature of the dust.

And it's there to remind the creature

that God alone has the ability

to truly know all that is good and evil.

The man must rely then on God

to rightly provide him

with that wisdom

and to take of the tree

would be man's attempt

at gaining on his own

that which he must rely upon God alone

to obtain.

Says Bruce Waltke,

good and evil is a merism

for all moral knowledge.

Only God in heaven

who transcends time and space

has the prerogative

to know truly

what is good and bad for life.

Thus the tree represents

knowledge and power

appropriate only to God.

So the life-giving God

placed the man

in a luscious garden temple

where he could enjoy

the blessings

bountifully

of communion with the Lord God

so that the gospel

in the garden

shows us that God's intention

was to give life to man

through his personal presence

in a blessed

covenantal relationship.

Are you with me?

There's the life-giving God

of the garden.

There's the bountiful garden of God.

And then we get to the third place.

We find here

the covenant guardian

of God's garden.

It's a lot of G's.

Don't try to say it too fast.

It's the covenant guardian

of God's garden.

Here we finally get

to the man himself.

Let's look first at verse 8

and then we're going to jump down again

to 15 to 17.

Verse 8,

The Lord God planted a garden

in Eden

in the east

and there he put the man

whom he had formed.

Verse 15,

The Lord God took the man

and put him in the garden

of Eden

to work it

and keep it.

And the Lord God

commanded the man

saying,

You may surely eat

of every tree of the garden

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.

As the first man,

Adam

is the guardian

of God's garden.

He's living there

in covenant

with his creator

and we see

I think in this

a three-fold function

that is going to become

prominent in the scriptures.

It first belongs to Adam.

He's first a king.

He's placed in the garden

to rule

as God's image bearer.

We see it in verse 8

and then at the start

of verse 15

God creates,

he plants

and then he places.

He places his vice

regent.

He places his king

to rule

in the garden.

Adam is also

a priest

tasked

in verse 15

with working

working

and keeping

this garden temple

as the place

of God's presence

in the world.

There are linguistic

links here

that is unique

to the work

of the priest

in the tabernacle

later in the Pentateuch.

Particularly the work

of guarding

the holy place

from that which is

profane.

God puts Adam

in his garden temple,

his holy place,

the place of his presence

in order that he might

guard it

from that which is profane.

As Ian Duggett said,

he's to keep an eye out

for serpents

that will contradict

his God

and attempt to deceive

his creatures.

That is Adam's job.

He is thus

the lead worshiper

who protects

the holy place

and who leads

his people

in true worship

and obedience

to God.

He is a king

who rules.

He is a priest

who brings us

to God

and cares

for God's temple.

Third,

Adam is a prophet.

We see it

in verses 16 and 17.

He is responsible

for receiving

and then

communicating

God's word.

And it's here

that the covenant

is stipulated

by a demand

for obedience.

look again

at verses 16 and 17.

The Lord God

commanded the man

saying,

you may surely eat

of every tree

of the garden,

but of the tree

of the knowledge

of good and evil

you shall not eat

for in the day

you eat of it

you shall surely

die.

What is God's word

to his man?

you are free

to enjoy

the life-giving

bounty

of everything

in the garden

with one exception.

Do not eat

of the tree

of the knowledge

of good and evil.

God's command

to him

is clear

and so are

the consequences

of his disobedience.

The blessing

of obedience

in this covenant

is life

and life

in abundance

in God's garden

and in his presence.

the consequence

of disobedience

is death.

On the day

he eats of it

he will surely die.

And what is the nature

of this death?

Well we need

to understand it first

in the context

of this passage.

What is life

in this passage?

Life comes

from God

and it is experienced

in his presence

and the fruitfulness

and the bounty

of his blessings

that come only

from being

in covenant

peace

with him.

That's life

here.

What then

is this death?

The death

that the man

will suffer

as a result

of his disobedience

is the removal

from God's presence.

An expulsion

from the garden

and all the life

giving blessings

that come

as a result

of it.

Certainly

physical death

is included

in this

but it's more

than that.

Adam will

continue to live

beyond his sin

but his would be

a living death

felt

by his soul

until the day

that his body

returns to dust.

it would be

catastrophic

for Adam.

And with such

a severe

consequence

of course

the natural

question

that we want

to ask

is

why was

the tree

necessary?

Why did

God put it

there?

In the context

of the passage

we may answer

it many ways

the context

of the passage

the answer

is

so that

he might

acknowledge

the clear

distinction

between

creator

and creature

Adam needs

to understand

who he is

in relationship

to God.

The temptation

for Adam

was not

as simple

as just

eating

that which

God had

forbidden.

Our

propensity

for doing

something

simply

because

someone

told us

not

to do

it

won't

take

hands

on

who

has

that

propensity.

It's in

us

isn't it?

The idea

of the

forbidden

someone

tells us

not to

do

something

and

something

in us

it

makes

us

want

to

do

it

all

the

more

you

parents

understand

this.

That

propensity

for doing

wrong

simply

because

it's

wrong

that's

a sign

of the

depth

of our

depravity

that's

a feature

of what

we experience

in our

nature

that Adam

did not

have.

This is

not as

base

as just

God

saying

not

do

it

and

that

just

made

Adam

really

want

to

do

it.

No

that's

not

what

this

is.

Adam

does

not

have

that

kind

of

depravity

at

this

moment.

His

temptation

is

actually

true

to all

of us

in a

significant

way.

The

temptation

is to

be

his

own

God.

It

was a

move

toward

moral

autonomy

living

independently

of the

Lord

God.

That

would

be

the

temptation

of

the

tree.

The

purpose

in

forbidding

it

was

fundamentally

to

remind

the

man

exalted

as

he

was

in

the

created

order

that

he

was

yet

under

subjection

to

God.

To

eat

of

a

tree

would

not

be

an

offense

against

an

impersonal

law.

It

would

be

an

offense

against

the

personal

Lord

God

who

had

formed

him

and

given

him

life

and

abundantly

blessed

him.

It

would

be

to

say

I

want

something

that

you

have

not

given.

I

want

something

of

my

own

apart

from

you.

It

would

be a

desecration

of the

covenant

between

God

and

this

man.

The

tree

was

essential

then

to

the

covenant

between

the

two.

Again

says

Calvin

abstinence

from

the

fruit

of

one

tree

was

a

kind

of

first

lesson

in

obedience

that

man

might

know

he

had

a

director

and

lord

of

his

life

on

whose

will

he

ought

to

depend

and

in

whose

commands

he

ought

to

acquiesce

and

this

truly

is

the

only

rule

of

living

well

and

rationally

That

men

should

exercise

themselves

in

obeying

God

Why

is

the

tree

there?

The

tree

has

to

be

there

It

has

to

be

there

The

covenant

between

God

and

man

demands

the

stipulation

of

man's

obedience

The

temptation

would

be

to

reject

God

to

be

his

own

God

to

have

apart

from

God

something

that

he

believes

God

has

not

provided

rightfully

to

him

The

gospel

in

the

garden

then

is

rooted

in

this

covenant

obedience

So

long

as

Adam

ruled

according

to

God's

law

So

long

as

he

guarded

the

garden

temple

against

the

profane

So

long

as

he

proclaimed

God's

word

to

others

who

would

obey

it

all

the

life

giving

blessings

of

God's

bounty

would

belong

to

him

and

to

humanity

As

the

covenantal

head

of the

human race

Adam's

job

was to

convey

these

blessings

to the

rest

of us

as

our

prophet

priest

and

king

but you

know where

the story

goes

he

fails to

do it

why

is it so

important

that we

look

closely

at the

one

man

in this

text

because

we

know

that

he

failed

he

failed

to

meet

the

demands

of

covenant

obedience

he

ate

of

the

tree

of

the

knowledge

of

good

and

evil

he

plunged

the

human

race

into

sin

and

death

because

he

sinned

we

have

this

nature

of

sin

says

Paul

in

Romans

5

therefore

just

as

sin

came

into

the

world

through

one

man

and

death

through

sin

so

death

spreads

to

all

men

because

all

have

sin

as

our

covenant

head

in

Adam

we

are

corrupt

we're

guilty

before

God

the

text

then

is

here

to

prepare

us

for

a

greater

Adam

we

need

one

who

will

perfectly

obey

we

need

one

who

will

restore

fallen

humanity

to

fellowship

and

life

with

God

and

he

can't

merely

be

one

of

us

but

he

must

at

least

be

one

of

us

there's

a

uniqueness

some

of you

men

are

understanding

this

in the

book

that

you're

reading

right

now

in

the

person

of

Christ

there

is

a

uniqueness

in

this

second

Adam

that

must

be

true

he

must

!

when the

New Testament

authors

address this

text

it is to

show

Jesus

as the

true

and better

Adam

our

perfect

prophet

priest

and king

as the

eternal

son of

God

in

flesh

Jesus

succeeded

in

every

way

that

Adam

fell

though

in

Adam

we

receive

death

those

of us

who are

in

Christ

the

greater

Adam

receive

life

the

life

of

God

for

eternity

writes

Paul

to

the

Corinthians

in

1

Corinthians

15

as

by

one

man

came

death

by

a

man

has

come

also

the

resurrection

of

the

dead

for

as

in

Adam

all

die

so

also

in

Christ

shall

all

be

made

alive

thus

it

is

written

he

says

and

he

quotes

Genesis

2

the

man

the

first

man

Adam

became

a

living

being

and

then

he

says

but

the

last

Adam

became

a

life

giving

spirit

the

first

man

was

from

the

earth

a

man

of

dust

the

second

man

is

from

heaven

as

was

the

man

of

dust

so

also

are

those

who

are

of

the

dust

as

is

the

man

of

heaven

so

also

are

those

who

are

of

heaven

just

as

we

have

borne

the

image

of

the

man

of

dust

Paul

says

we

shall

also

bear

the

image

of

the

son

of

heaven

the

man

of

heaven

Jesus

is

the

Lord

the

true

and

better

Adam

in

him

and

in

him

alone

we

have

life

for

he

succeeded

where

Adam

failed

only

in

him

could

we

have

this

life

we

need

to

see

Adam

so

that

we

can

see

Jesus

if

we

don't

see

Adam

in

Genesis

2

if

we

immediately

get

to

the

text

and

we

go

to

our

life

today

we're

going

to

miss

Jesus

we

need

to

see

Adam

so

that

we

can

see

him

we

need

to

see

Adam

fail

so

that

we

can

see

Jesus

succeed

the

gospel

of the

garden

is

not

found

through

Adam

it's

found

through

Jesus

and

yet

this

passage

is

so

important

to

our

understanding

of

the

gospel

of

Jesus

we

find

here

that

it

begins

with

the

Lord

God

that

God

alone

is

the

source

of

life

and

blessing

but

we

also

find

that

the

true

bounty

of

life

and

blessing

is

found

in

communion

with

the

Lord

God

your

greatest

enemy

is

not

the

death

that

will

put

your

body

in

the

ground

it

is

your

expulsion

from

the

garden

of

God

finally

we

see

the

covenant

stipulations

of

obedience

that

are

necessary

for

life

and

blessing

in

communion

with

God

all

of

that

is

here

in

Genesis

2

those

stipulations

are

given

first

to

Adam

who

failed

to

meet

them

as

each

and

every

one

of

us

has

failed

to

meet

them

but

they

are

fulfilled

finally

fully

in the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

and

here's

the

bottom

line

the

gospel

of

the

garden

is

that

though

you

are

guilty

and

condemned

in

Adam

and

in

your

own

sin

the

life

giving

God

of

the

garden

became

a

man

fulfilled

the

law

died

on the

cross

and

rose

from

the

dead

so

that

you

could

be

forgiven

and

he

could

once

again

give

you

life

the

one

who

fulfills

this

is

the

first

one

that

we

saw

in

the

text

the

God

of

life

condescends

to us

and

Philippians

too

he

empties

himself

and

becomes

obedient

unto

death

even

the

death

of

the

cross

why

so

that

he

can

give

you

life

and

life

abundantly

all

of us

by

nature

do

exactly

as

Adam

did

we

attempt

to

gain

and

follow

our

own

wisdom

we

want

to

judge

for

ourselves

what

we

believe

is

good

and

bad

and

that

is

at

the

heart

of

sin

in

this

scene

and

it's

why

death

reigns

in

us

now

but

if

you

will

repent

and

come

to

Jesus

trusting

in

his

righteousness

you

will

be

forgiven

and

you

will

receive

this

life

eternal

for

as

in

Adam

all

die

in

Christ

the

greater

Adam

shall

all

be

made

alive

let's

pray