Banished no more

DEVOTION

GENESIS

BANISHED NO MORE

Gen 3:21-24

21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

NIV

If we ever questioned if God knew about evil this should banish that thought. Because the man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God said that he had now become like us, or him or the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God has always known about good and evil as we saw in the very beginning he separated the light from the darkness, which we understood as good and evil. But since this man now was like God in the sense of knowing good and evil he could not be allowed to eat from the tree of life and live forever. This is our story, this is our lot in life. Because of Adam our first parent, the parent of all mankind, we have the knowledge of good and evil. This tree of life is in the paradise of God somewhere. Certainly the garden is hidden from man forever, but the paradise of God is not. Just as God placed a cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life, he has placed another way for us to enjoy the fruit of that tree. Jesus said that he was the way, the truth and the life.

John 14:6

 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

NIV

There is no other way to get to the tree of life and live forever then to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Anyone who thinks any differently has been deceived by the evil one. Jesus is the only way to get back into the paradise of God and to eat from the tree of life.

Rev 2:7

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

NIV

This overcoming is about not submitting to the deceptive schemes of the devil. In that particular portion of the letters to the churches, Jesus states they had lost their first love. These are the believers who have allowed the schemes of the devil to tempt them into seeking after the things of the world. They had been distracted by fame and fortune. If we want to regain entrance into the paradise of God we need to overcome those temptations and stay true to the one and only way into the paradise of God, Jesus. Once we attain entrance through the valley of death and are resurrected a new creature, because we have washed our robes in the blood of Jesus, we will once again be able to eat from the tree of life and live forever as God intended.

Rev 22:14

14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

NIV

It does seem strange that man throughout the course of history has for the most part always chosen the evil instead of the good. We know this was certainly the case before the flood.

Gen 6:5-7

5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

NIV

We also see that because man chose evil over good it grieved God and his heart was filled with pain. Do we chose evil over good? Maybe not in our actions, but maybe in the thoughts of our heart. Are we inclined toward evil more than we are toward good? If we think that is not true, and that we are always thinking good thoughts and always doing good acts, maybe we are simply deceiving ourselves.

1 John 1:8-10

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

NIV

Although some would argue this only speaks to how we were before we accepted Christ and once we have become a believer we no longer sin, this is so far from the truth and is, once again, a deceptive scheme of the devil. The fact is we do fail, we do falter from being a perfect human being, never having any thoughts other than the thoughts of God. Yet because we have washed our robes in the blood of Jesus, because we have accepted the provision God made for the forgiveness of our sin, our imperfection, we will once again be able to eat from the tree of life and live forever. We are not like those who lived before the flood. Although we falter, we have not turned our back on God and forgotten all about him, having our heart bent toward evil all the time. We desire to please God, it is just we are not able to do that one hundred percent of the time because we have the knowledge of good and evil and the evil keeps creeping into our thought life. Yet because of our determination to desire to please God and because accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior is the greatest pleasure we will ever be able to give God, we will eat from that tree of life. We will not be banished.