EDEN
In the beginning God created heaven and earth
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden;
and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Gen. 1:1, 2:8
Little is known about Eden; just three chapters of the Bible to be exact.
Eden is the dwelling place of God upon earth, that includes all of heaven’s attributes placed upon then on earth. Eden is also the place God chooses to have fellowship with His children, Adam and Eve. According to it’s name, Eden is a place of rest and a place of delight.
In this garden, we find several special attributes that today we would consider out of the ordinary or “supernatural.” We find a river of pure water, a river of life with clean water that has the ability of cleansing sin. Every living creature that swims in this water swims in life itself. The trees planted in Eden find their life support out of this river; the stream of waters is consistent and it ensures a fresh provision of watering to the garden.
Trees gave off a sweet aroma in the days of Eden; under their shadow one can enjoy peace and security, as well as freshness and fortitude. Great varieties of trees exists and they flourish abundantly since they are irrigated by the waters that come from the river of God.
Also in Eden the whole place is surrounded by angels and cherubs; protectors of the light, the Kingdom and peace. They are personal escorts of the Creator. Day and night they sing without ceasing praises to the King. There is perfect harmony and protection in this place. This is also the place that man calls ‘home’.
Creation itself, animals and plants coexist in perfect harmony, beaming the life that sustains them. There is no sickness nor death.
And they heard the sound of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
Gen 1:26a
Eden is the place where God chooses to spend time with a human being, to teach him… as a Father would mentor a son.
Eden is also the place where man interacts with the rest of elements of the Kingdom. He interacts with angels. As a matter of fact, angels tremble before his presence because man is giving complete expression to the fullness of the likeness of God. Man interacts with the government of God and with His heavenly escort… The spiritual eyes of men are open to the reality of Spirit. In this capacity, man can behold the glory of God and perceive the splendor that rests upon His creation. There is light all around and everything is sustained by life itself.
Darkness is not present in this environment. Light covers men and ensures protection from all enemies. Immortality is another one of the attributes of Life in Eden. They were “like” angels, but in reality they were His children, therefore heirs of everything.
And God blessed them, and God said to them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it: and have dominion…
Gen. 1:28
There they are, Adam and Eve, the crown of the creation. The whole creation is a reflection of the Glory of God; however only Adam and Eve are called His children. The entire creation is submitted to their lordship and they, in turn, are submitted to their Creator, manifesting at every single moment His mind and heart.
The whole garden represents an unmatched place of balance based in the government of God. Where all the virtues and energies of Creator God are well distributed and in perfect harmony.
A Special Ingredient
If you pay close attention on Genesis 1:26 we find “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness”. This means that man was a “child” of God. He was like his Dad, having the ability to create, ordain, name, judge, rule over the world and change the course of history. Man carried his resemblance - all the characteristics that Satan coveted before his fall. Is 14:14 “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” This likeness that he coveted, is the same one that God freely places in mankind.
Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made.
Gen. 3:1a
satan, the arch enemy of God on earth. His name itself means “obstruct or oppose”. In the age before his fall, he was a light keeper. A guardian of truth, who used to command heavenly hosts. When he deceived himself because of his beauty and tried to usurp the place of God, he was cast out of the temple of God. Having been blinded by his greed, he was undressed of his glory. His future has already been written in the book of Revelation, victory was won over him at the cross. However one of his characteristics is that since he is detached from light, he seeks to detach from Light as many as he can.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the mist of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surly die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:1-5
They were already like God, by likeness….here we find the remaining hidden desire of the enemy craving deity. The word death or die in eternal Eden has a different value to what we normally know. They were eternally connected to life, to God; death was a rupture from the source of life resulting in a deterioration in the stream of energy that would flow through Adam and Eve and therefore in time bring death to their bodies.
The rest is history. Man eats the forbidden fruit causing an irreversible chain reaction of events at Eden. The delicate balance of the garden has been broken. Man finds himself hiding, for the first time he experiences a feeling called fear.
And Creator God faces them with Three Judgments:
1) Unto the serpent. Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
2) Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
3) And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground of thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Before exiting Eden, man’s nature was light. Now man is being stripped of it. With eyes of flesh, he can no longer see from afar or the angels.
Sin had expelled man from paradise and brought him out of the stream of glory. The enemy’s nature is characterized by a word in Greek called “hamaratano” (sin) which means “to miss the mark”. Now, Adam and Eve start taking this as part of their nature.
Deep in his memories, Adam remembers all that he had lived in those afternoons in Eden with full access to his Creator. Now he is separated from God, once an heir now he has become the prodigal son. It is not in our ability to achieve our redemption. Redemption alone belongs to Him.