The Garden of Eden is a very important place in the Bible. It is the place where man was created and where he fell into temptation by Satan. It is also the place that was taken to heaven and that we may be able to see, if we are faithful.
“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:8–9
The Garden of Eden was a very beautiful place that was watered by one river which turned into four heads. The name of the first river is Pison; the second river is called Gihon; the third river is called Hiddekel; and the fourth river is Euphrates.
“As it came from the Creator’s hand, not only the Garden of Eden but the whole earth was exceedingly beautiful. No taint of sin, or shadow of death, marred the fair creation. God’s glory ‘covered the heavens, and the earth was full of praise.’ ‘The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.’ Thus was the earth a fit emblem of Him who is ‘abundant in goodness and truth;’ a fit study for those who were made in His image. The Garden of Eden was a representation of what God desired the whole earth to become, and it was His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers, they should establish other homes and schools like the one He had given.” –Education, p. 22
Adam and Eve lived in harmony together, and with the animals, until one day the serpent, which was Satan in disguise, tempted Eve into eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. After she had taken one bite she went and found Adam. When he saw what she had done he decided to eat the fruit also, so that he could die with her. After they ate the forbidden fruit, they heard the voice of God, calling through the garden. Finally, they answered and God asked them why they had sinned. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:14–19
Adam and Eve were told to leave the garden, forever. After that, God placed Cherubim with a flaming sword at the entrance of the garden to keep any man from the Tree of Life.
“The Garden of Eden remained upon the earth long after man had become an outcast from its pleasant paths. The fallen race were long permitted to gaze upon the home of innocence, their entrance barred only by the watching angels. . . . When the tide of iniquity overspread the world, and the wickedness of men determined their destruction by a flood of waters, the hand that had planted Eden withdrew it from the earth. But in the final restitution, when there shall be ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ it is to be restored more gloriously adorned than at the beginning. Then they that have kept God’s commandments shall breathe in immortal vigor beneath the tree of life; and through unending ages the inhabitants of sinless worlds shall behold, in that garden of delight, a sample of the perfect work of God’s creation, untouched by the curse of sin—a sample of what the whole earth would have become had man but fulfilled the Creator’s glorious plan.” –The Adventist Home, p. 539
When God was speaking to Adam, Eve and the serpent, He revealed part of the plan of redemption. He said that the serpent’s seed and Eve’s seed would be enemies forever. He said that someone would bruise the serpent’s head and that the serpent will bruise His heel. God was talking about when, thousands of years later, Jesus would be nailed to the cross by the priests and Pharisees under the influence of Satan. Satan would bruise His heel with the nails, but at the time of the end, Jesus, our Lord and Saviour would bruise the serpent’s head, or, in other words, killing him, therefore ending all sinful life in the universe.
It is my wish and prayer that we may all be faithful, so we may meet in the Garden of Eden in heaven, eat the fruit from the Tree of Life, and live with Jesus forever. AMEN.
Michael Cyrus Newby