In what has to be one of the saddest moments in the whole of the Bible, we see the separation of God and man.
“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 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.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3 v 21-24)
Adam and Eve start their walk out of Paradise and probably did what feels natural to all of us. I imagine them looking back because I would have done the same.
They reflect on what they once had and who they once were. What lies ahead doesn’t seem as promising as what is behind them. They look back and see the light of that ‘flaming sword’ guarding the tree of life. They would never know what they once knew. I keep wondering if they would even have the faintest hope that one day they would walk with God in the cool of the day again.
They had to leave.
“The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil,” God confirms what the serpent promised. However, what the serpent didn’t tell them within that temptation was the weight they would feel of their moral consciousness, the shame and fear, and instead of rising to be like God, they broke under the heaviness of it all.
Yes, they had to leave. “He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” That wasn’t solely punishment, though the phrase ‘drove them out’ indicated the seriousness of what they had done. It was grace. God was not going to allow them to live forever in their fractured, sinful state. That would have been an eternal curse. It would have been hell.
What was ahead of them?
Interestingly, it was to do exactly what they were doing in the garden—working—but with a big difference. From now on, they would labour with the sweat of their brow as they navigate the thorns and thistles. Life will be different; they will face opposition to their efforts, have days filled with frustration, and nights that are sleepless.
So they depart. The last thing they see is not God but the “cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” Even if they wanted to, and they most likely did, returning was impossible. It was over. The tree of life remained there. But this perfection was now guarded as if protected for a moment to come. They didn’t know what we now know. As they looked back, they realized they would never return, when in fact, God was saying, ‘not now’. To be continued … in many ways.
Missions Paul 