Garden of Eden
The Fall of Man
The second chapter of Genesis describes how God created the first man, Adam, from dust in His own image and built a beautiful Garden of Eden for him: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 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.… And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 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.’” (Gen. 2:8-9;16-17)。
The Garden was nourished by four rivers, adorned with gold, pearls and carnelian (Gen. 2:10-14), and full of flowers and fruit trees. God created Eve for Adam as his wife (Gen. 2:18). The LORD God was with them and often walked in the garden (Gen. 3:8). The couple lived happily in the Garden of Eden, accompanied by various animals, enjoying God's beautiful creation, eternal life, and glorious presence.
The Garden of Eden is the intersection of heavens and earth. It is a microcosm of the unity of heavens, earth and man, and the dwelling place of God and man. In the Garden of Eden, heavens and earth are one. It is a paradise on earth. Man is the image of God on earth. He reaches up to the heavens and down to the earth, possessing the divine life, glory and authority given by God to steward God’s creation on earth, including birds in the sky, fish in the water and every living thing on earth (Gen. 1:27-28).
However, the devil, Satan, the rebel in heaven, was not willing to be wrestled down to earth (Rev. 12:9; Luke 10:18), and wanted to seize the fruit of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden through man and never die. The devil tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God's command and eat the forbidden fruit of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’, which allows ‘sin’ to invade and take control of human nature. From then on, the destiny of mankind fell into Satan's snare of sin and death!
The Garden of Eden in Genesis is the shadow of the New Heaven and New Earth in the Book of Revelation. At that time, the whole earth will become God's eternal, holy Kingdom. Man will return to the eternal Garden of Eden - the New Heaven and Earth - through the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, and live forever with God in His glory and presence in eternity.
Adam and Eve
The First Marriage of Mankind
In Genesis 2, the Bible records a vivid scene of the first marriage of mankind officiated by God in the beautiful Garden of Eden. God made Eve from Adam's rib, and brought her to Adam. When Adam saw Eve, he declared, "This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!" (Gen. 2:22-23).
This is the holy marriage given by God to Adam and Eve. It was the first human marriage, the first marriage vow, and the first marriage covenant made in front of God. Adam and Eve were married and became one flesh. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:28) Adam and Eve lived happily in the Garden of Eden, enjoying God's creation. God was with them, and gave them authority over all the earth (Ps. 115:16).
Marriage is a covenant of love and a union of life. It is a holy and honourable gift from God to mankind (Gen. 2:18; Heb. 13:4). The first marriage, witnessed by God, reveals the essence of marriage as a "cross-covenant" of divine love. The horizontal covenant between the bride and groom is based on the vertical covenant between them and their Creator God the Father. The two form a cross that is the foundation of human development, which sustains the entire universe. (See Fellowship of Love – Marriage Covenant)
Jesus Christ is the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). When God instituted the first marriage for mankind in the Garden of Eden, He was already preparing for the greatest and most glorious wedding feast in the universe: the "Marriage of the Lamb" between God’s beloved Son Jesus and the Bride of Christ! (See The Salvation Behind the First Wedding)
The Fall of Adam and Eve
Sin and death entered the humanity
Satan, the devil, the ancient serpent (Rev. 12:9), was brought down because of his pride (Isa. 14:12-15). He envied the happy life of Adam and Eve and the authority God had given them. So he tempted Eve (Gen. 3:1), and deceived her by saying that eating the forbidden fruit of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ would not necessarily lead to death, but would make her like God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:4-5). Eve was deceived into thinking that she would gain wisdom, so “she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Gen. 3:6).
When God saw that Adam and Eve had disobeyed His commands and had allowed the evil - sin and death - enter into their pure human nature and became corrupted (Rom. 5:12), He drove them out of the Garden of Eden and told them to till the ground from which they had been taken (Gen. 3:23). God placed cherubim and a flaming sword that turned in all directions at the east of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the Tree of Life, so as to prevent the devil from getting the fruit of the Tree of Life through man and living forever (Gen. 3:22-24). The intimate relationship between man and God was broken by sin.
Sin separated man from the holy God, deprived man of heavenly glory and God's presence, and brought man under the curse of sin. Sin gave power to the devil and took away the ‘dominion to rule over the whole earth’ that God had given to man, making man and the whole earth subject to the sinful power of Satan (Rom. 8:20-22). From then on the earth was cursed and no longer served Adam, and Adam had to work hard all his life to make a living (Gen. 3:17).
Therefore, man is under the control of sin from birth and becomes a slave to sin (John 8:34). The sinful nature, such as anger, greed, bitterness, lies, hatred, selfishness, envy, cursing, and rebellion, etc. is inborn and unlearned (Mark 7:21-23)! The ‘sinful nature’ drives man to submit to the power of the devil (Rom. 7:18-23), and mankind has lost its original divine and happy family life because of the reign of the sin.
