Transition to the Garden
Genesis 2:8-10; 15-24

Preached Feb. 28, 2010

8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 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. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 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.” 18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  (All text from the NKJV)

Introduction:
Transition is part of life. Everyone here is at some stage of physical transition. The stages of physical transition are baby, toddler, child, teenager, and adult. Even these stages have stages. The adult is in one of three stages, young adult, middle age adult or senior adult. As I looked back on these transitions, and I am looking back as I am now in the senior adult stage, I began to think about Biblical transitions. Last October while planning my preaching topics for 2010, I developed a 12 part series on Biblical transition. I have titled this series “Transition: God moving His creation into His Kingdom”. We will start this morning with creation and end with eternity.

1. God planted a garden (8-10)
     a. Trees for food
     b. Tree of life
     c. Tree of the knowledge of good and evil

8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 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. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.

God provided His creation a home. Our text shows us four things provided in this home. These four items can be used as an outline of God’s plan.

First, God provided trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food. As the Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd; He gives me what I need”. God provides what we need to survive physically and spiritually. Throughout the Word of God we find that God always provided not what was wanted, but what was needed.

Second, God provided the tree of life in the midst of the garden. None of us know where in the garden this tree was located, but, to me, it was located in the middle of the garden. That is how I view God. God is the center of everything. His solution has always been in the middle of whatever we faced. The tree of life tells us that God is good and He wants his creation to know and do well. God’s plan is for Jesus to be our life and be at the center of everything.

Third, God provided the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave His creation free will. You cannot find true love unless there are other options. Notice, God gave His creation the understanding of good, but His creation had to choose to learn about evil. The tree introduced choice.

Fourth, God provided a river to sustain life. Not only does God give life, He provides what is needed to sustain that life. When we come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit sustains us.

2. God commanded the man (15-17)
    a. Tend the garden
    b. Instruction about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 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.”

God’s commandment is twofold. First, man is to tend and keep the garden. He provides us a spiritual place that has what we need and the source to sustain it. We are commanded to take that which He has provided and apply it. We are to tend it. We are to keep it in working order. I had my car in for an oil change and overheard one of the mechanic’s talking about a guy that brought his car in with over 20,000 miles on it saying that the engine was making strange noises. He was asked when he last had his car serviced. His answer was never. I am not a mechanic but I know that a car will not continue to run correctly unless you tend to it. We are to tend to that which God gives us.

Not only are we to tend to it we are to keep it. He said you may freely eat. We are to use that which God has given us. It reminds me of the parable of the talents. Three servants were given talents. Two took their talents and used it to make more talents. They were blessed. The third buried his talent. He did not use it and as a result he lost his talent.

When the nation of Israel first came to the Promised Land they had all that they needed to take the land, but they refused. The result was that generation lost their right to the Promised Land. How much have we lost because we did not tend and keep that which our loving God provided?

Second, our free will is tested. Just as I believe that the tree of life was in the center of the garden, I believe that the tree of the knowledge was in a hard to get to spot. That is not biblical just my way of looking at it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that with every temptation God provides a way out. God’s love is unconditional. That type of love never seeks forced love. God wants His creation to love Him but He wants true love, love that we choose to give Him. To me, that is the reason for the tree that is not to be eaten,

3. God made man a helper. (18-24)
    a. Animals were given
    b. Woman formed from a rib

18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” In these verses we see that the most important element in God’s plan is the family. It is so wonderfully defined in these verses. Verse 24 is the key. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. As hard as our world is trying to redefine the family, you cannot escape the clarity of this doctrine. Marriage is a Biblical concept, it is not a concept that the government can change. It does not belong to them, it belongs to God. To me that makes this Biblical concept protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution since that amendment now stands for the separation of Church and State. When God took that rib from man and made woman and then pronounce them husband and wife, He sealed the definition of family. Only from the mind of someone under the influence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could ever think that they have the right to change this Holy doctrine.

God transitioned His creation into the garden, next week we will look at the transition out of the garden.