Adam in the Garden of Eden

(Gen 2:8/10 +15) “And the Lord 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. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden: and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads…And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden “to dress it and to keep it.”

God Created a whole new environment for spiritual man, with different trees, precious metals and gems, presumably using the rivers as both barriers and boundaries. “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads…” He was clearly determined to keep Adam separate and apart from EVERYTHING He had made in the first creation until He felt Adam was ready to “till the ground” but Adam was NOT there to “till the ground” of the GARDEN, he had only “to dress and keep” the garden, IT WAS THE GROUND OF EDEN ITSELF HE WAS MEANT TO “TILL”, the ground from which he had been formed!

By creating spiritual man God had made it possible for ‘natural’ man to find Him. On the surface, natural man would see a man just like himself, someone with whom he could talk, and to whom he could relate, but Adam being ‘spiritual’ would know God and be able to lead natural man into a knowledge of Him, natural man could then make BETTER choices, the RIGHT choices IF HE SO DESIRED, but that depended on SPIRITUAL MAN making the right choices too! Adam was meant to “till the ground” of the heart of natural man, he was meant to plant the seed and water it, cultivate it to enable it to BLOSSOM and GROW. Adam would certainly have had more than enough proof of the truth of his words had he ever seriously attempted to reach out to natural man about God! What could possibly have been more astonishing than the beauty and perfection of the Garden of Eden miraculously appearing in the midst of their dry and barren land? IF EVER THERE WAS A CONFIRMATION OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, THAT WAS SURELY IT!

During this extraordinary period of revelation, I also saw something that had never even occurred to me before, which was that although the Bible records events consecutively, we cannot and indeed must not ASSUME that these events occurred immediately one after the other! The Holy Spirit will always lead us into understanding the profound truths concealed within the pages of our Bibles and I have come to understand many things about Adam and Eve and the meaning of all that happened in the Garden of Eden. We do not actually know, for example, how long Adam lived in the Garden of Eden before God created Eve as a companion for him, but the WHY, WHEN and HOW of it is in fact hugely important and we need the illumination of Gods Holy Spirit to truly grasp the significance of what was in fact a crucial period in the history of man and his relationship with God.

There was a reason behind Gods decision not to create a companion for Adam at the same time He created Adam himself, and it WAS a DECISION not an ‘oversight’ or ‘happenstance. When God created The Garden of Eden He created it away from people, with NO distractions whatsoever because He intended Adam to lead a life ‘separated unto Him’. He wanted Adam to learn directly FROM HIM, He ALONE would be his GUIDE, his MENTOR, his TEACHER and his FRIEND! God knew how essential it was that He and Adam form a strong, long-lasting and unshakable bond, but although God played His part, Adam did not: the divide between spirit and flesh was too great.

We know that God was in the habit of walking and talking with Adam in the cool of evening*, but we must not assume that was the only time of day He ever visited Adam, it is merely the only recorded time of day He visited AFTER the Creation of Eve, which is in itself significant as we shall see. We can be certain He appeared to Adam in human form on such occasions as there was no other way for Him to WALK and talk with someone who was flesh and blood and not pure Spirit as He was. (The Bible shows us that God took on human form when He appeared to Abram, who was described as ‘a friend’ of God.) ** It is so very important when we read about Adam that we REMEMBER that even though God had 'breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he had become a living SOUL', he was still HUMAN, he was NOT PERFECT! Adam was flawed, he was also highly intelligent and egotistical in that as with all humans, ‘The Self’ became more and more predominant, so much so that it eventually dominated even his SPIRIT, a spirit that had previously been at one with God! Knowing this, we must certainly acknowledge that Adam would undoubtedly have considered the possibility that the God who walked and talked with him in the Garden each day, as a human, could actually BE A MAN, JUST LIKE HIM and that the only REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM was that HE had all these strange, ‘miraculous’ powers, the secret of which HAD TO BE concealed in the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, BECAUSE THAT WAS THE ONLY FRUIT IN THE ENTIRE GARDEN HE WAS FORBIDDEN TO EAT! Spiritual mans’ separation from his Creator, in his heart and mind, began the day he first gave serious consideration to THOSE thoughts, and that undoubtedly happened LONG before the Creation of Eve!
(*Gen 3:8) (**Gen 18:1-33, James 2:23, 2Chr 20:7, Isaiah 41:8)

Adam may have lived a life ‘separated unto God’ for a few months or for several years, we have no way of knowing, but what IS clear is that at some point God realized Adam was no longer happy and that in his heart he was beginning to rebel against Him. I believe it was THEN that God said: “… it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” * Only problems in His Relationship with Adam could have caused God to so abruptly terminate Adams period of seclusion; we know from everything that followed that Adam certainly wasn’t ‘ready’, in any sense of the word, to undertake the task for which God had been preparing him, indeed he “fell at the first hurdle” as the saying goes, although he didn’t so much ‘fall’ as totally capitulate! The Battle for the Soul of Man was beginning in earnest, but God had long since decided that THE CHOICE of whom he would follow WOULD ULTIMATELY REST WITH MAN HIMSELF: this had been the point of placing the Tree Of The Knowledge of Good AND OF EVIL in the Garden. He had given man FREEWILL and THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE! (*Gen 2:18)

God IS SPIRIT, He meets ALL our SPIRITUAL needs so CLEARLY NONE of Adams’ ‘needs’, or should we rather say DESIRES, were SPIRITUAL! The rebellion in Adams’ heart had nothing to do with loneliness or the lack of companionship, but stemmed from a burgeoning ego and a burning ambition to be ‘like’ God, God however, knew what lay ahead and that Adam would soon come to need many things he had not needed before…but that moment had yet to come to pass. It was then that God did something that once again reflected His Extraordinary Grace and Mercy as well as His Love and Compassion, He used His Wonderful Powers to create new animals and birds especially for Adam! Some of these would undoubtedly have been the predecessors of our domesticated animals today; some would be ‘pets’, some would later be consumed for meat and others would work for him by literally and not at ALL symbolically, ‘tilling’ the soil of Eden to enable him to grow enough food to survive! (Gen 3:19)

This time, instead of creating more animals and birds by His Word as He had in the first period of Creation, God formed these creatures by HIS OWN HAND ‘out of the ground’, just as He had formed Adam himself! He created each of these things INDIVIDUALLY, undoubtedly bearing in mind Adams future needs, and then brought them to Adam to name. “And OUT OF THE GROUND the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.…but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.” (Gen 2:19/20) None of these beautiful, unique creations quietened the unrest in Adams heart however, so God once again did something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT for him! He decided to make a ‘woman’ for Adam, but He did not create a ‘female’ or ‘mate’ solely for the purposes of procreation as He had by His Word for natural man, neither did He create one “from the dust of the ground” in the same way He had created Adam himself: with Profound Understanding God chose instead to create A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TYPE OF ‘FEMALE’ FOR ADAM AND HE USED ONE OF ADAMS’ OWN RIBS TO DO SO! She would literally be ‘a part of him’ and thus be able to more closely meet his needs. “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, MADE HE A WOMAN, and He brought her unto the man.” (Gen 2:21/22) Note, God did not put the rib into the dust of the ground to form woman, He made woman entirely from the rib.

Adam immediately understood how different this creation was and that she was completely able to meet all his needs, for when God brought her to him he said: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” [Gen.2:18/25] Notice here the reference to “father and mother” and “leaving and cleaving”, Adam CLEARLY had a level of knowledge and understanding that could only have come directly from God, for Adam personally had never experienced ANY of those things. A superior intellect and an extensive vocabulary were also evident in that he was able to classify and give names to all the different life-forms God had created for him: his time with God in the Garden Of Eden had been FRUITFUL and he knew and understood many things without ever having eaten from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good AND EVIL!

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the Garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.…she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband WITH HER, and he did eat.” (Gen 3:1-6) Emphasis mine. Many people ask: Why did God make the serpent? Wasn’t He ‘setting man up’ to fail? NO! SATAN ALREADY EXISTED, EVIL ALREADY EXISTED, which was the very reason God had CREATED spiritual man: he was to help FIGHT the evil that was already RIFE in the World! It was part of Gods Quest to help mankind FIND HIM and enter into RELATIONSHIP with Him! He did it for the few who were TRULY SEEKING HIM, for even amongst the ‘spiritual’ many would fall, as did Adam.

In this World we are, and always will be, surrounded by temptation, our Christian walk is a lifelong battle between our spirit and our flesh, and choosing between the two is exactly THAT - our CHOICE! Adam had lived a life of SECLUSION, in PARADISE, WITH GOD, WHO IS PURE, RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY yet he still FELL …it is evil residing in the heart of man that causes him to stumble, not God! * Adam had not needed to be ‘tempted’ into the rebellious thoughts that already lay in his heart! Satan simply took the form of the serpent (which was just one of many creatures God had created for Adam that day, each one of which had a different nature and personality) because it was more devious than the others and he used it to give VOICE to Adams’ own thoughts! If that were not the case WHY did Adam stand quietly by, watching ‘the serpent’ deceive his wife? Why wasn’t he OUTRAGED by the mere SUGGESTION that they disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit? Eve had not lived a life of seclusion with God, she did not know the ramifications of “eating of the fruit” to the extent that Adam did, she was a pawn in a game that Satan was playing with Adam, offering him the secret desires of his heart if he would rebel against God AND, because ‘Eve’ was offering him WHAT HE IN FACT WANTED BUT HAD NEVER DARED TAKE FOR HIMSELF, Adam ate of the apple! Satan’s words had ‘confirmed’ his darkest suspicions… that to eat of the fruit was to be as God, and now he could lay the blame for his sin ON EVE, and that is PRECISELY what he did! (Gen 3:12) (*James 1:13/15)

Adam KNEW that to eat of the fruit was to openly DEFY GOD! He KNEW that eating the fruit would change his life FOREVER. He KNEW it was an ACT OF REBELLION and he KNEW that to eat of the fruit meant CERTAIN DEATH - yet still he took it and ate! As soon as he had eaten of the fruit however ADAMS’ EYES WERE OPENED and instead of discovering the ‘GLORIOUS TRUTH’ he had imagined would be awaiting him HE SAW FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME THE EXTENT OF HIS SIN AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS… he saw his LOWLINESS before God!

Through the enlightenment of Gods’ Holy Spirit, I have come to understand the purpose of the Garden of Eden and the creation of the first spiritual man, Adam. I have seen that natural man bears no resemblance to God in any way at all, THAT HE NEVER HAS, NOR EVER WILL! The Apostle Paul wanted us all to realize something EXTREMELY IMPORTANT when he wrote these words: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”* He prefaces this by saying: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, NOT IN THE WORDS MAN’S WISDOM TEACHETH, BUT WHICH THE HOLY GHOST TEACHETH: comparing SPIRITUAL things with SPIRITUAL.” (1 Cor 2:12/13) Emphasis mine. Natural man IS STILL WITH US, and it is important we remember that, along with Our Lords Warning “Give not that which is Holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest they trample you under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6)

This is becoming an increasingly dangerous world for TRUE Christians: there are MANY claiming to be ‘Christians’ who are really FAKE CHRISTIANS who do not follow THE TEACHINGS of Christ AT ALL, which is a prerequisite of Salvation! “From such turn away!”* “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN:”** Walk your own walk with God, and find your own path. Do not allow FAKE ‘CHRISTIANS’ to lead you down paths of UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! Let us always remember, with all due humility, that even spiritual man has a chance of Salvation only BY THE GRACE OF GOD and through the Supreme Sacrifice of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
(*2 Tim 3:1/5) (**Matt 7:21)

In closing, I would like to say this: many of us have been misled our whole lives through listening to and blindly accepting what have always been deliberately ‘blinkered’ interpretations by many denominations and Religious Institutions of what the Bible actually SAYS. These teachings actively encouraged man to have a GLORIFIED VIEW OF HIMSELF, particularly in regard to his importance in the Universe AND HIS STANDING WITH GOD! THE ‘GLORY’ IS NOT OURS! All GLORY belongs TO GOD for seeing something in us that He thought worthwhile and for preserving our species generation after generation, for He perpetually holds out His Hand to man, trying to save him from the disastrous fate that awaits him if he continues blindly along the path he has chosen …a fierce belief in HIMSELF, not in God his Creator.

Sylvia Darling 2021