Read: Genesis 2:6-9 NLT – Instead, springs came up from the – Bible Gateway
“Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.” Genesis 2:8 NLT
The Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis is sometimes referred to as ‘paradise.’ The Septuagint Bible uses a word that forms our English word ‘paradise.’ Indeed, it certainly would be a paradise by today’s standards but so much more. The Bible says after God created Adam He planted a garden and placed Adam in it. This was no ordinary garden. It was planted in pure uncontaminated soil in a perfect environment of the newly created earth. We would expect everything grown there to be without spot or wrinkle, perfect fruit hanging from the tress.
God placed in His garden all kind of trees beautiful and producing delicious fruit. Today we still enjoy the fruit of God’s creation, but it comes at the expense of working the cursed ground. Adam did not have that problem but he still worked in the garden. Adam’s work was dominion over the garden in serving God. He was allowed to eat from any tree in the garden except the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ Adam had sweet fellowship with his creator while working to care for the garden and the trees providing him with sustaining food.
The Lord loved and cared for Adam providing him with a paradise in which to live and all the fruit he could eat. But God did place one restriction, not to eat from that one specific tree or he would be sure to die. (Gen.2:17) We know the story, Adam disobeyed God along with his wife Eve and the process of dying had begun. There was another named tree in the Lord’s Garden of Eden, the ‘tree of life.’ This tree is a symbol of the eternal ‘tree of life’ that will be in the new heaven. (Rev.22:2) Adam noticed that ‘tree of life’ every day as it was placed in the middle of garden alongside the forbidden tree. God gave Adam and Eve freedom of choice. They willfully chose wrong. May we choose to obey God in all our actions. We have a tree of life waiting for us. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, now is the time to look upon calvary’s tree of life in which Jesus died and accept His offering for your sin. The Lord’s Garden of Eden in the new heaven awaits you.
