Imagine what it would be like for you right now to be
whisked away to The Garden of Eden.
For you and me living where we live, in this age, having
experienced all that we have experienced, seeing all that we have seen, the
thought of Eden is mind blowing.
If we found ourselves there, we would so very much
appreciate it. We’d be giddy with delight and singing songs of praise! Since we
would be able to contrast it with where we are, right now, we would understand
and appreciate Eden as a paradise.
On the other hand, if you’ve ever read the first few
chapters of Genesis you have probably noticed that not even once do we see Adam
expressing any appreciation, thankfulness, or praise to God.
Adam was surrounded by absolute goodness, but had no
knowledge of that good. He didn’t know that perfect health was good, He didn’t
know that having wonderful tasty fruit readily available was good. He didn’t
know that having Eve by his side in all of her beauty was good. Because he had nothing to compare it to he
could not comprehend the goodness of Eden. So in that Garden, God planted a
tree.
It was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Although
that’s what it’s called, typically we don’t see it or understand it as being
what GOD calls it. We tend to see it as being the tree of the knowledge of
evil, But that’s not what it was called. It was the tree of the knowledge of
GOOD and evil.
The name of that tree helps us to see that Adam although he
was surrounded by goodness, had no clue, no understanding, no appreciation, and
no knowledge of it. Because Adam had nothing to contrast good with, he could
not comprehend it and therefore had zero thankfulness.
We tend to imagine Adam and Eve being in perfect bliss, totally
giddy with joy over their living conditions, but that’s because in our
imaginations we have a point of reference. We
have experienced hardship, pain, sorrow, and grief. But Adam and Eve had
no clue. So God planted the Tree to serve a purpose.
When you begin to understand the purpose, you will begin to see
the greatness of God’s ultimate plan, and where all things ultimately lead at
the end of the ages… the end of the eons. You begin to see that in every
respect God’s plan was good, and works for the good of all His creation.
The Apostle Paul tells us that God works all things
according to the council of His will, which means that what happened in Eden,
including what the Adversary would do was part of God’s plan from before the
beginning. Satan, in his attempts at making a mess of things, which he did from
the temporal human perspective, would actually be accomplishing the ultimate
will of God. In the same way that later when the Adversary would work so hard
behind the scenes to take Christ to the cross, which from the human perspective
seemed to be a victory, was actually God accomplishing His redemptive will.
Was God’s will thwarted when Christ was crucified? Nope.
God’s will was accomplished.
Christ Himself prayed in the Garden, “Father if there is any
other way, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but yours be
done.”
God’s will was done. Christ was crucified. The adversary and
his scheming actually fulfilled God’s purpose and I’m convinced it was the same
in the Garden.
Adam having his eyes opened, knowing good and evil, and
death entering in was not God’s plan gone awry. It was not God’s will being
thwarted. It was not creation slipping through Father’s fingers. It was all
part of His grand design which would will eventually take all of His creation
in the heavenlies and on earth to a place of appreciation, joy, happiness, and
praise that could not otherwise have been experienced.
How could Adam appreciate perfect health when he had no
understanding of disease? He couldn’t!He had an abundance of food but it meant
nothing to him because he had never felt deep hunger, much less a famine.
What we looking back at and imagine as pure pleasure between
Adam and Eve who were the perfect physical specimens of manhood and womanhood,
apparently it didn’t mean much to them. They could not truly appreciate
pleasure because they had never known the pain which you and I have known.
In Scripture we don’t read anything about them expressing
thankfulness or having an appreciation for the amazing blessings that they were
surrounded with. The goodness of GOD was not even acknowledged by them. Even
though they were immersed in it, it was meaningless.
Adam was incapable of love, adoration, and worship because
of what he did not know. So, in the wisdom of God, He planted the tree. The
tree didn’t just spring up and take God by surprise. The adversary didn’t plant
it. God planted the tree.
True, the serpent came and tempted them and they ate of the
tree, but who created the serpent? If his very existence was not part of God’s
plan, then who or what thwarted the will of God All-mighty? Would not God’s
will being thwarted make God less than All-mighty?
My friend, what is commonly referred to as the “fall of man”
actually set in motion the very forces that would remedy the defect which
caused them to eat from the tree in the first place.
The goodness, love, mercy, and grace of GOD could be known through
the events that took place.
God is light. However, light can never be known or
appreciated without the existence of darkness.
Think about the stars. They are constantly shining. Yet, we
can only see them when darkness comes. If it weren’t for the darkness we would
never see their beauty.
How does this work? It’s simple. All things are known
through contrast. Contrast is a necessary part of knowing. Without contrast
there is no knowing.
Something else, it’s obvious, but I have to say it. God did
not plant two trees. There was not a tree of the knowledge of good and separate
which was for the knowledge of evil. It was one tree because the one cannot be
known without the other. We only know good when it is contrasted with evil and
vice versa.
How can a God who is good, who is called love, reveal
Himself without contrast? Apparently He can’t, so He did things as He did,
created what he created for the good of all His creation with the ultimate goal
of fully engaging the affection of all His creation.
That’s what Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians
chapter 15, although He words it a bit differently than that. See if you can
find it.
Imagine how much of a drudgery might it have been to forever
experience perfect goodness but to never know it. God wants us to know it.
That’s why He planted that tree knowing exactly what the result would be.
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