“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” Genesis 3:8
Dear Ones:
The greatest love story of time and eternity began in the heart of God before the foundation of the world. It is in the Garden of Eden that we begin to see the masterful “Son of Love,” the Lord Jesus Christ, “trace upon our dial” the essence of this story, in its beauty and wisdom. Before Adam and Even sinned, they did not have the “knowledge of evil,” only the “knowledge of that which was good.” There was NO selfish bent of sinful hearts to disrupt the gaze upon this “Son of Love,” nor distract from absolute and perfect trust in Him. This One whom the Bible calls, “GOOD,” communicated freely the goodness of his heart and nature to His creation, which had been created in such a fashion as to receive the consistent revelation. We see the Lord Jesus, the Lord God, walking in the Garden, in the cool of the day. It is there, like unto the “green pastures” of which David spoke, and the still waters, that the Lord speaks and communes with Adam and Eve. There, His creation, knows His perfect, consistent, unwavering and unchanging love. Paradise is not just where Adam and Eve lived. It was primarily such by virtue of the fact that Jesus was there, and that they had a free exchange of Life, that which was perfectly good, at every moment.
When man sinned, his “foolish heart was darkened.” The Life that flowed no longer filled his heart. The gaze and the “open face” towards God had turned away, and downward. The “knowledge of evil” began to pervade, and dominate his heart. However, even when sin would raise its ugly head in the slaying of Able by his brother Cain, the Lord’s love would not diminish, or change. Out of the dust would be born a hope that would eventually lead all mankind to consider a cross, and one on it, declaring, “It is finished.” Why? When John the Apostle wrote that “God is love,” he did so seeking to convey to us what God IS perpetually, “I AM THAT I AM.” God did not change from the Garden of Eden to the day that Christ was crucified. What did change was the degree and the depths to which man sank in his fear and rejection of God. Perhaps the saddest commentary on the state of man is that he can live and die, rejecting perfect Love, and not realize what he is doing. What was Jesus’ prayer on the cross? “Father, forgive them, for they know NOT what they do.”
What then is the objective of Christ dying on the cross? Is it just to save us from the guilt and consequences of our sin? Even though this is true, is there a higher purpose, one that stretches back to the love of God before the creation, revealed in the Garden of Eden, and declared by the cross of Calvary? Yes, and it is revealed to us in Paul’s second prayer to the Ephesian church, “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, …to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (3:17,19) THIS is paradise found, to KNOW Christ. Even though we are in a fallen world, there rises out of the rubble of civilizations, the great and central reason and essence for our existence: God is love, and we are called to KNOW Him, and to be filled with Him by the Spirit.
Dear Father, teach us Thy ways. Give us a knowledge of what this love is. So capture us by this eternal, and blessed love, that we shall live believing, receiving, and giving this Love by the Spirit. Then others shall come to know Thee, and the Lord Jesus whom Thou hast sent. We thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad