Exit From Eden
3-29-2015
Genesis 3:21-24 (ESV)
21 And the Lord God made
for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.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—” 23 therefore
the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which
he was taken. 24 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.
In Gen 1:1-3:20 we see
the perfect world God made & the mess man made of it.
· From Gen 3:21 to the end: shows us how
God provides a way out of the mess for His glory & our good.
o
The
most tragic chapter in Scripture ends with an introduction to the glorious,
eternal truths of the Gospel.
Adam and Eve’s attempts at covering themselves were inadequate. Good works do not erase the guilt/sin.
· So God took matters into His own
hands. Gen 3:21, Rom 6:23
o
More
than covering their physical nakedness (God didn’t care) He was providing a covering
for the guilt/shame from their sin.
· Rather than carrying out a penalty
for sin immediately (which was justified here): God satisfied His justice &
wrath by the death of the substitute that He provided.
o
This
is a veiled prophecy of redemption through the shedding of blood.
§ It introduces the doctrine of substitutionary
atonement: death of an innocent substitute by which a sinner is covered.
This is the first
death in the Bible & in history: death & a sacrifice for sin.
· This is the foundation for the Old
Testament animal sacrifices which ultimately pointed to Jesus the Christ’s (our
substitute) death on cross. 2 Cor 5:21, Gal 3:27; Phil 3:9
o
This
is a beautiful illustration: A Christian is clothed with the garments of
salvation: the righteousness of Christ.
§ Though sinful & guilty we are covered
by grace, loved & accepted.
Attitude changed?...covered
guilt now banishes them from His presence. Gen
3:22-24
· This is one of a few unfinished
sentences in the Bible. As if the result was too terrible to describe.
o
God
promised salvation through the birth of the Messiah but perhaps Adam and Eve might
be tempted to neutralize the effects of death (which they probably witnessed)
by gaining eternal life through eating the fruit of tree of life.
§ There was nothing magical in the fruit,
but simply what God said would happen.
· But once sin entered, to live
forever as a wicked, depraved, and fallen sinner would have been hell on earth.
o
Adam
lived 930 years with the world getting more wicked: sin, trouble, murder, etc.
·
So
God in His kindness & mercy removed Adam and Eve from the presence of the Tree of Life to protect them from eternal bondage to sin
& provided a way to re-establish the relationship with Him through
His future provision.
o There is physical death & He
will raise you in a new kind of eternal life without sin.
· Trust in His loving protection
against unseen consequences from your sin.
o
Realize
God desires to love & protect us from what would destroy us.
§ Even when He withholds something
that seems good to us.
They never would have left
the Garden of Eden voluntarily (would you?) so God drove them out & put angels
to guard the way to the Tree of Life & God’s personal presence. Gen 3:24, Ex 26:1, Mt 27:51,
· In the Old Testament, Cherubim
surround God & symbolize His presence. Cherubim are sewn on the veil in the Holy of Holies.
o
The
way to eternal life in God’s presence is no longer a physical way (like the
Tree of Life) but a new & living way through the blood of Jesus Christ. Heb 10:19-23, Jn 14:6, Ps
16:11
· Someday there will be paradise
again: New heavens and earth with no sin, suffering, and death.
§ Rejoice forever with Adam and Eve in
the glorious, wonderful presence of our God.
