Young People’s Blog

“And a Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert (protection) from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Isaiah 32:2).

Some years ago, I was on a wilderness camping trip with some good friends in the northern part of the state of Minnesota, U.S.A. It had been a nice day for traveling by canoe, but that night a terrific storm came up. Our tent was among some trees, but we still felt the strong wind and very heavy rain. Eventually the floor of our tent felt almost like a waterbed, there was so much water on the ground from the rain. But our tent was a good one and did not leak, so that we stayed perfectly dry. By the morning the sun was shining again.

We all need protection in the storms of life — the difficulties that come upon us from time to time. Sometimes those difficulties seem like a hurricane! But as our verse says, at other times what we need is a good drink of fresh water, or perhaps shelter from the hot sun. We have different kinds of spiritual needs in our lives, but whatever we need, the Lord Jesus will provide that for us, if we ask Him. He is the “Man” referred to in this verse.

“Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life…in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…cursed is the ground for thy sake…thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee…in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Genesis 3:14-19).

In the parts of the verses that we have quoted today, we see five things that were part of God’s judgment on Adam, Eve, and Satan — dust, sorrow, a curse, thorns and thistles, and sweat. Have you ever noticed that the Lord Jesus endured all these things when He was here in this world? Because He suffered from the effects of sin from without, He experienced all these things. Here are three verses to consider:

“Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death” (Psalm 22:15).

“Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow” (Lamentations 1:12).

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

See if you can find a verse that talks about thorns in connection with the Lord Jesus, and one that talks about sweat. He experienced both of these in His life!

“And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not”(Genesis 4:9).

When Cain was guilty of killing his brother Abel, he did four things that still characterize the world today. First, he lied to the Lord, and never repented of his sin. Second, he complained that his punishment was too great. Third, he went out from the presence of the Lord. Fourth, he built a city, and tried to surround himself with as much pleasure as he could, but leaving God out.

The world today still operates in the same way. Man wants all the good things of life but does not want anything to do with God. The world may sometimes seem attractive to us as Christians, but it will deceive us, if we trust it. John reminds us that “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). The family of Cain followed Satan and wants the things of this world. The family of Seth followed the Lord and wanted to call upon His name. Which are we going to do?

“And she (Eve) bare a son, and called his name Seth: for God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Genesis. 4:25).

Adam and Eve must have been very sad when Cain killed his brother Abel, and then “went out from the presence of the Lord.” Now Abel was dead, and as far as we know, Cain never again had any interest in the Lord. He wanted only to please himself. But now God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth, which means “appointed.” They had confidence in God, and this son was one who pleased the Lord.

If Adam and Eve had not disobeyed God and brought sin into the world, Cain would never have killed Abel. Yet God was gracious to them, and gave them another godly son. Cain’s descendants were ungodly men, but Seth’s descendants were among those who began to “call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26). What an encouragement this must have been to Adam and Eve! If you are being brought up in a Christian home, are you an encouragement to your parents?

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise (crush) thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Several days ago, when we mentioned how that Adam and Eve had sinned, we pointed out that God already had a plan to bring in much greater blessing for man through the Lord Jesus. In our verse today, we see that plan that God had.

The devil had appeared in the form of a snake, and the Lord pronounces a curse upon him. Ever since sin came into this world, Satan has been the enemy of man. However, God said that the “seed of the woman,” would crush the head of the serpent. This is referring to the Lord Jesus, who came into this world as a man. At first it seemed as if Satan would win, for the Lord Jesus was rejected and crucified. But in that act, the Lord Jesus really won, for Satan was defeated at the cross. Now, in that sense, his head is crushed, and eventually he will be cast into hell forever. Right after sin came into this world God told man that this would happen, and it was a great encouragement to godly people all through the Old Testament, as they realized that the Lord would have the victory over Satan.

“And unto Adam He (God) said…Cursed is the ground for thy sake…in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Genesis 3:17, 19).

Many years ago, I was speaking to an older Christian farmer whom I knew well. He was a good farmer, and often went to farming meetings and seminars to learn more. He told me that at one farming seminar, the professor who was speaking made the following statement — “We know well that we are not getting the yield out of the soil that we should. Even with perfect sunshine and rain, perfect mixtures of minerals and fertilizers in the soil, and excellent cultivation techniques, we are getting only a fraction of the yield that the soil could give us. But try as we will, we cannot unlock the secret!” Since it was a large meeting, the farmer did not feel free to interrupt the professor. But he told me that he would have liked a few minutes to speak, for he could have told them why they could not find the secret.

According to our verse today, it is all part of the curse God put upon the ground after man sinned, so that he has to work hard in order to grow things. That curse is still with us, and it will not be removed until the millennium, after the Lord’s coming for us.

“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).

We know that the serpent was Satan, and right at the end of the Bible, he is still called “that old serpent, which is the Devil” (Revelation 20:2). As we see in our verse today, he directly contradicted the Lord in his conversation with Eve, and Eve chose to believe him instead of what God had said.

There seemed to be some truth in what Satan said, for we know that Adam and Eve did not die the instant they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Rather, as we explained yesterday, their minds and bodies gradually lost their strength and vitality over a period of years, until they finally died. We know that Adam lived a long time, to the age of 930 years, but then he died. A few others lived even longer, but they died too. Tomorrow we will see how God dealt with all this. Although He pronounced consequences upon both the man and the woman, He told them about some wonderful blessing as well.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

This is a very serious verse, for it represents the responsibility under which God placed man in the Garden of Eden. He had everything he could wish for there, but there was one command; he was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did so, God said that they would die, or perhaps more accurately, “dying thou shalt die.”

Sad to say, as we all know, first Eve and then Adam did eat of the fruit of this tree, and brought sin and all of its bad effects into this world. God’s words came true, for disease and gradual deterioration of our bodies and minds begin to take place when we are still young, and it gradually gets worse until eventually we die. Some die young, while others live to be very old, but death comes to all, because all have sinned. However, as we will see, God knew all this would happen, and already had a plan to bring man into even greater blessing through the Lord Jesus.

“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life” (Revelation 22:1-2).

Yesterday we talked about the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden, but here we find a heavenly river proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In heaven this may not be an actual river of water as we know it, but it means the same as other rivers in the Bible — a continuous flow of blessing.

This river does not need to break up into several other rivers, but there is something else unusual about it. The tree of life is not only in the middle of the street, but also on both sides of the river! I have never seen a tree that straddled a river; that does not happen in this world.

But the tree of life is a picture of the Lord Jesus, who will be the One on whom our eyes are fixed when we get to heaven. There will be wonderful blessing there, but it will all be because of the Lord Jesus and His work on the cross.

The tree of life is mentioned ten times in the Bible; see if you can find them all! (It is actually mentioned eleven times, as the phrase “book of life” in Revelation 22:19 really should read “tree of life.”)

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads” (Genesis 2:10).

Do you notice how this river does the opposite from all the rivers we have today? If you live in the United States, you know that rivers like the Missouri and the Ohio are what we call tributaries of the Mississippi river. If you live in Canada, you know that rivers like the Richelieu and the Ottawa flow into the St. Lawrence river, and become one big river.

But the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden parted into four rivers that went in different directions, instead of having four rivers make one big river. Why is this?

In the Bible, a river usually speaks of a continuous, even flow of blessing. In this world, smaller rivers come together to make one big river, but with God, His river has enough water to make a number of other rivers. The blessing of God increases as it goes on, instead of getting smaller. God’s blessing broadens out, and it will be the same way in the millennium, when a river flows out of Jerusalem. It will flow in two different directions, to bring blessing to the earth. What a wonderful God we have!