#DailyDevotion The First Commandment With A Curse
Gen. 2:15-17 15The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16The LORD God gave the man an order: “Eat as you like from any tree in the garden, 17but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat from it you will certainly die.”
People often wonder what we are going to be doing in the world to come. Some are even afraid that we’ll either plucking a harp on the clouds or being in a continual worship service. Well here we have Adam, in Paradise, perfect, without sin. The LORD put him there and gave him a job to work the garden and take care of it. Apparently it wasn’t particularly difficult for Adam at this time. We know that work only became toil after the fall. Now I still don’t know what we will be doing in the New Heavens and New Earth, but we will be productive. The good news is while we will have stuff to do, it will no longer be toil. While there will be worship of our LORD, we won’t have this sinful flesh holding us back and or distracting us. It will be glorious.
Now we get to the first command given to man, “Eat as you like from any tree in the garden, 17but don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat from it you will certainly die.” While the LORD didn’t say it specifically, the man could eat from the Tree of Life if he wanted. Note what also isn’t commanded or rather forbidden. Adam could have chopped down the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He could build a tree house in it. He could take the fruit, make pies and have a food fight with it. He just couldn’t eat the fruit. This will be important later when we get to Eve.
Note also this, the day they eat the fruit that day they would die. “Now wait a second,” you may say, “They did eat the fruit and they lived for 900 years more.” Well, they did live bodily, almost animalistically, as many do today, but they did most certainly die the day they ate the fruit. Remember Adam and Eve were made living souls. Well when they disobeyed the LORD their souls died that very moment. We remember Paul’s words concerning our state of being before we came to faith, Eph. 2, “You, too, were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you once followed the ways of this present world and the ruler whose power is in the air, the spirit who is now working in the people who disobey.” Everyone born from Adam and Eve’s dead souls were born with dead souls. Death passed down from parents to children to this day.
We need to be made alive again. So Jesus promises us in John 3, “14“As Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up 15so that everyone who believes in Him has everlasting life.” Paul says concerning baptism in Tit. 3, “He saved us by the washing in which the Holy Spirit gives us a new birth and a new life.” So we see Jesus reverses our death by being obedient unto death. He gives us his life again when we are baptized and believe in him. Just as our bodies had to catch up with our death so too our bodies will catch up with our life when we are raised or transformed on the Last Day.
Heavenly Father, grant us your grace to believe in your son Jesus Christ, and in that faith receive eternal life from him so we may live before you forever in grace and peace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.