The day of rest instituted by God. Genesis 2:22And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2), a type of the rest that remaineth to the people of God. Heb. 4:3, 4, 9, 103For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. (Hebrews 4:3‑4)
9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9‑10); The Garden of Eden, type of the Paradise where God will place all that love Him, and where Jesus will be in the midst of all His people, as the tree of life in the midst of Eden. Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 147He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
2In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2)
14Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14).
The river that flowed through Eden; type of the river of the water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the Holy Jerusalem. Rev. 22:11And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1).
Adam, a type of Christ, as lord of creation, and the figure of Him that was to come. Rom. 5:1414Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:14); 1 Cor. 15:4545And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45); Eph. 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22), and as head of the Church. Eph. 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30).
The deep sleep of Adam, type of Christ going through death to have His people with Himself through the eternal ages. John 12:23-3323And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. 27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. 30Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 31Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33This he said, signifying what death he should die. (John 12:23‑33).
Eve, a type of the Church, Eph. 5:31, 3231For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31‑32), and as Eve received all her blessings in Adam, so also the Bride of Christ receives all from Him. There was no one so near and so dear to Adam as Eve, so the Church will have the nearest place to Christ in the coming glory. Rev. 19:6-96And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:6‑9).
The third chapter of Genesis stands in contrast with the former chapters which we have read together. It is God’s plain and full account of sin entering into the world by one man, Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12), which brought death upon the whole race.
Many persons, ignorant of themselves, and who have never, as Solomon puts it, known “every man the plague of his own heart,” 1 Kings 8:3838What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: (1 Kings 8:38), have said, Had I been in Adam’s circumstances, I would not have given up God for an apple; and perhaps many of our young readers, confident in themselves, and ready to boast in the goodness of a heart, which God declares to be “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” Jer. 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9), think that they would not have been beguiled by the serpent, as Eve was; while they forget, that she was attacked by Satan, and fell, when she was innocent and without sin, whereas they have a sinful nature for Satan to work on, which loves evil, and hates good, and so makes them an easy prey to his wiles.
Nothing keeps children from desiring to know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, more than the ignorance of the sinfulness of their hearts. I remember, when I was yet a youth, being much troubled by a short sentence, which I heard, because my conscience bore witness that it described my state, “Light views of sin give slighting views of Christ.” I find it so now with children. As long as they escape punishment, and are commended by their parents or teachers, they mind but little how God regards them. The root of this indifference is unbelief. They read in God’s Word that they are lost sinners, that by nature they are the children of wrath, and that, unless they are born again, they cannot enter the kingdom of God; but they do not believe this in their hearts, and so their hearts grow harder every year, and their consciences more and more dull and insensible.
Now, dear children, it was this same unbelief which gave Satan a door into Eve’s heart. God had told Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve heard what God had said, and yet, directly Satan, under the disguise of one of the animals, began to speak to her, and to question the truth of God’s word, Eve listened, and believed the traitor.
You may be astonished that Eve should have forsaken the word of her Maker, because one of the animals in the garden contradicted it; but have you never given up God’s commands to please a playmate, or to keep into favor with some sinful companion? Eve was fallen from God directly she doubted His word, and trusted in the word of the serpent. He did not tell her to disbelieve God, but he led her to believe that part of what God said was not true. She waited not even to ask counsel of her husband, but immediately put herself into Satan’s hands, and then she trusted her eyes, and looked at the fruit, and decided that it was good for food, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. Unbelief opened the way to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and she took and eat, and then, having destroyed herself, she turned a tempter, and gave the fruit to Adam.
The Word of God says that Adam was not deceived, 1 Tim. 2:1414And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14). Satan does not speak to him, he had Eve now to do his work for him, and this he always prefers to being seen himself, like the fowler, who keeps out of sight; and uses captive birds to hop about on his snares, to call the free birds to them, and thus taking them off their guard, they are soon entangled in the fowler’s net, and are easily caught by him. Eve gave up God’s word to believe in a creature of whom she knew nothing, and Adam gave up his allegiance to God out of love to Eve, thus serving the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore. Rom. 1:2525Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 1:25). Eve “took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat,” v. 6. And then Satan’s lie came out. Their eyes indeed were opened, but only to see they were naked and powerless; they knew good and evil, but it was by losing the good forever; and becoming altogether evil. At once they use deceit to hide their shame from each other’s eyes, but when they hear the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, their fig leaf coverings will not avail them, and they seek to hide from God among the trees of the garden.
When God speaks to them, their wicked excuses show how utterly they have fallen from their gracious Maker. Adam to excuse himself, daringly throws the blame upon God, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Eve throws the blame on Satan, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Oh! These vain and deceitful excuses. Alas! which of us has not made them, and thereby added to our sins, and hardened our hearts all the more. “But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared,” says the Psalmist. Before God pronounced judgment on Adam and Eve, He curses their destroyer, and lets them hear of a Saviour, to be born of woman, who should bruise the Serpent’s head. Sin came into the world through the woman, the weaker vessel, and salvation, God declares, should come to ruined sinners through the seed of the woman. This is the germ of the Gospel, which appeared in Eden, directly man had fallen, from which all the blessed truths of salvation have in due time come. Then we are told of two races, that should ever contend, the one against the other―the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed―and God put enmity between them.
The Bible is the history of these two families, as you will see if you read carefully 1 John 3:7-107Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (1 John 3:7‑10). Until we are born again, we belong to the serpent’s seed, as the Lord said to the Jews, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him,” John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44), and again, “If God were your Father, ye would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God,” John 8:4242Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (John 8:42). But what a man sows, that shall he also reap, and God pronounced a sentence of sorrow upon Eve, and of toil and death upon Adam, and then God drove them out of His beautiful garden, and placed at the gate Cherubim, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Sorrow, toil and death were now before them, and the happiness and delights of Paradise cut off from them forever. Such is the end of sin.
Dear children, you have been born outside Paradise, you have come from the man that God drove out from His garden, you were born with the seeds of sin and of death in you, you have already brought forth some of the sad fruits of these seeds, both by naughty feelings, naughty ways and naughty words on the one hand, and by pain and trouble, and perhaps illness on the other.
May God bring you into His presence, and show you yourselves, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and then, as He clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin, the product of death inflicted on innocent animals, for the covering of the shame of our first parents, may He clothe you with Christ, who knew no sin, but was made sin for His people, that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21).
I am, dear children,
Your affectionate friend,
UNCLE R.