Potential Interrupted

Genesis 3

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Gen. 2:16-17, NASB).

In the book of Genesis we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). In five days God creates the physical heavens and the earth and the various forms of plant and animal life. On the sixth day God creates humankind in His image and likeness and gives to them dominion over His creation. God gives the man and the woman everything that they need to live and to fulfill their potential. They have a job. They are to take care of, refine and beautify what God has created. They are given dominion over the animals. God gives them a home, the Garden of Eden. He gives them food, and He tells them specifically which plants and fruits are good for their consumption. Everything needed is provided.

However, the man and woman are not created as robots. They are free moral agents, created with the ability to make choices. Along with this privilege to make choices, they are given the responsibility to make choices. The choice that they make will determine whether or not they will reach their full created potential. So, God gives them a test so that they will have to make a choice. How does God do this?

God plants a tree in the garden. God tells the man and the woman not to eat of this tree because eating of this tree will cause death in the day that they eat of it. We will address this death later. Notice, God provides everything needed. He commands them what to do and what not to do. When Moses tells this story to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, he is explaining to them that it is essential that they obey God’s commands fully. God gives the man and woman everything that they need in the garden, but the garden is not free from that which is evil. This is seen in chapter three.

Chapter three begins, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made” (3:1). The man and the woman live in a garden, but that which is crafty comes not from the garden; rather it comes from the field. The word “field” represents the world. It represents a place where the thoughts and ways are different from that which is of God. The serpent speaks to the woman. “And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’” (v. 1)? We see here that that which comes from the field comes to challenge our faith and our commitment to God. “The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!” “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5). The serpent deceives the woman by using words of God out of context. The serpent deceives the woman into believing that it will be to her benefit if she knows good and evil. God warns that to know good and evil will cause death (2:17).

When God plants the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, He warns the man that he will die on the same day if he eats from it. Many people have asked many questions about the death of Adam. This is because we read that Adam does not die on the same day if we think of a day as a twenty-four hour period. Genesis 5:5 tells us that Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years. How do we explain this? The answer is given to us in Genesis 2:7. “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (NASB). God creates the man of the same substances that exist in the ground; the chemical elements that make up our physical body. God also breathes His Spirit into the man. It is the Spirit that gives the man his unique life in union with God. When the man eats of the forbidden fruit, the Spirit leaves him and he dies. The union and the fellowship is broken leaving the man spiritually dead. We are born in trespasses and sin. We are born spiritually dead.

It is sin that causes the interruption of the potential that God put into Adam, the first man and woman. The Spirit leaves the man and the woman. Now they know both good and evil. Now they no longer look forward to meeting with God. Instead, the man and the woman cover themselves with fig leaves and hide themselves from God when they hear the sound of God walking in the garden (3:7-8). All of their descendants are born separated from God by sin. People live with a potential that is interrupted by sin.

Because of sin all people are born with the carnal nature. This means that all are born with a nature controlled by animal appetites and governed by human nature instead of by the Spirit of God. We are born with the desire to do things our own way. By nature, we do not want to hear God, and we think that our ways are better than God’s ways. We would rather listen to the words of the serpent than to obey the words that God has said. I am reminded of two familiar scriptures. The first is found in Isaiah 55. God says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts” (v.7). “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD”’ (v. 8). The second scripture is found in the book of Proverbs. “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (14:12, NASB).

Let us return to the story in Genesis 3. God confronts the man and the woman in the garden. God pronounces judgment upon them and their descendants. When God passes judgment, He includes the whole earth. God says, “Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you” (vv. 17-18). God drives the man and the woman from the garden into the field. They have a new home, the field. They will have to struggle to earn food to live on. Their days on earth are limited. The man and the woman no longer have access to the tree of life because God does not want them to live forever (v. 22).

The potential for God’s creation is yet to be filled. The beatification and refinement of the earth still waits for human beings to bring about this potential. “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from the slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” (Rom. 8:19-22, NASB).

Although this may paint an ugly picture, it is also a message of hope. Human potential will be restored. The earth will be restored. How? The famous and well known scripture found in the gospel of John gives us the answer. ‘“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”’ (Jn. 3:1), NASB). Human beings that believe in the Son will be given eternal life which includes the full potential that God gave to humankind at the beginning. The earth will be restored to its original potential. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea” (Rev. 21:1). This potential and this hope is what Christmas is all about. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Those who believe in Him are restored to a personal relationship with God. Through Jesus Christ we are united to God. We receive His Spirit. Our potential is restored.