Thank God for Death
How many of you would agree that death can be a blessing? Think about it. Life isn't easy. Life can be very painful. Life, on this earth, is not God's greatest.
How many of you grew up believing that when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, God instantly became angry at them and banned them from the Garden? I did. I still hear that being taught and preached, even today.
Let's go back into the Garden for just a moment and take another look:
Genesis 3:22-24 (New Living Translation)
Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us,
knowing both good and evil.
What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it?
Then they will live forever!”
So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden,
and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.
After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
I see this as a complete act of grace, mercy, and kindness.
He did not banish them because they disobeyed him. He banished them because God did not want man to have to live for eternity in a fallen state. At this time, there was no way for them to be born again. Had they been left to partake of the Tree of Life, all men would have lived forever. Can you imagine having to live forever?
Think about those that are born deformed, or with mental illnesses. Think about cruel, rotten people. Think about the Hitler's. Think about the fact that there would never be a way to escape from evil. You would just have to live with it, forever, and ever.
But God was not about to let that happen. He was, and is concerned for mankind. He took immediate action steps to prevent us from having to live for eternity.
It was an act of Grace!
Not only did he get them away from the tree, but he also made certain that it would be guarded, insuring that this tragic event would never happen. He knew that there was a better way coming. He knew that one day his Son would be sent and sacrificed as an atonement for our sin.
Did you also know that God continued to walk and talk with Adam and Eve after this. If you read further along in chapter 4 you see examples of this. God did not remove himself from mankind as an act of punishment for our sin. He didn't do it then, and he certainly doesn't do it today.
Our sins are not being imputed against us. Adam and Eve's sin was prior the the law being given. And hopefully you know that today, we are lo longer bound to the law. God is not counting our sins against us.
Romans 5:13
For until the law sin was in the world:
but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
I have to disagree with people that blame world's tragedies on God. It's just not God's nature to pour out his wrath on us. He poured out all of his wrath on Jesus.
GOD IS NOT ANGRY!
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