Victor Hamilton’s introduction to the final words of Genesis 3 are quite insightful and quoted in full below.
“The serpent held out to the couple the prospect that being like God would bring with it unlimited privileges, unheard of acquisition, and gifts. Rather than sitting on a throne, they are expelled from the garden.
“The couple not only fail to gain something they do not presently have, the irony is that they lose what they currently possess: unsullied fellowship with God. They found nothing and lost everything.”
Losers
The first act of disobedience described in Genesis teaches us an essential truth about sin: it separates us from God. Instead of intimacy with God, sin brings about alienation from Him.
Then the Lord God said, “See, the humans have become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now they might reach out their hands and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”—
Therefore the Lord God sent them forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which they were taken.
He drove out the humans, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24).
In today’s YouTube video, Rudy Ross offers a thoughtful explanation of why God prevented humans from accessing the Tree of Life. He explains that living forever in a sinful state would be an unbearable and heavy burden to carry, making it a form of severe punishment.
Adam and Eve continue their work as gardeners, but they are no longer in the blessed existence of Eden. Now, outside of Eden, they must contend with thorns, thistles, hard soil, and unreliable water sources.
A Picture of the Cross
Years ago, I heard a preacher draw a connection from the cherubim with their flaming swords guarding the Tree of Life in Genesis to the cross of Christ.
The preacher explained that Jesus hung on the true Tree of Life—the cross—not to preserve His own life, but to willingly give it up so that those who place their faith in Him may receive life both now and for eternity in heaven.
I cannot say for certain whether his analysis is entirely accurate, but one thing I do know is this: Jesus endured the most unimaginable agony ever experienced by a person on earth so that we could come to the Tree of Life and truly live.
His words in John 10:10 are absolutely true: “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” Praise God for His incredible sacrifice! Because of it, we experience God’s goodness now and the promise of heaven to come.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today. You can find it on the Bob Spradling YouTube channel.
Real Voices 