Story 4: Genesis 1:27-2:3: Eden...the way it was meant to be
Let’s think for a minute about what God did when He created the first humans. There are very few things that truly deserve to be called marvelous, but this is one of them. It is worth going over and repeating in our minds. It takes time and thought for it all to sink in because things are so very different now. We must meditate on the wonder of what God made in the beginning so that we can understand who we truly are…and so we can understand the devastation of what was lost. We must mourn over the tragedy of that which was lost so that we can then long with great hope for the time when God will restore all things.
The Lord, the Divine King over all creation, crafted our vast cosmos in order to give it as a magnificent gift and home to the crown of His creation...the human race. Humans were made in the very image of God, with a high and tremendous worth, distinct and different from anything else in all creation. In the beginning, they were able to respond rightly to their worthy God with exuberant adoration. They were given keen minds that could think great thoughts with God and understand His holiness, creativity, and purposeful plans. The Lord would reflect His magnificent qualities through humanity as they enacted His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
God created His people to live in perpetual nearness to Him; they would constantly absorb His abundant love and express it back to Him through their worship and total dependence. Like the sun’s outpouring of light and warmth, God’s wisdom, righteousness, and love would pour out on them, and they would reflect His light to the world. The human race would act as God’s royal servants, working together with Him in perfect unity. It would be a perfect world.
In this land where God was the only King and His servants walked with Him in perfect unity, there was no pain or tears. There was no temptation to sin or to make a choice apart from the goodness of God. There was the potential that death would never happen. The first humans had glorious bodies of robust, stunning beauty that would never fade or age. God created them so they would only hunger after what was good and pure and right.
Think about that! They had a chance at never-ending security and peace. If they obeyed God’s merciful and righteous directions, humanity wouldn’t even know the meaning of the words “evil” or “sin” or “pain.” They wouldn’t even be able to imagine those terrors. Their hearts would be able to live totally free from ever doing anything wrong. And no one would be tempted to treat anyone else with anything other than pure love. They would live in the solid, yet light, bright happiness of constant praise and worship of His holy name. This is what the Bible says:
““God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
”Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.”
“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”
Genesis 1:28-2:3”
Wow. God’s powerful work of creation-the plants and animals, the fish and birds, and fruit-were all lavish gifts from the Lord to humanity. They would be fed the finest fresh fruit, created to perfectly fit the needs of their perfect bodies. They were told to have many children, and all of their children would be perfectly healthy as well. There would be no colds or flu. Their children would grow up in a perfect world and would have their own flawless children. Pretty soon, there would be many hundreds and then thousands of people on the earth enjoying God’s lavish blessings.
Thousands of years after God made the universe, another man, a descendent of Adam and a great king, would write a beautiful song about the time of God’s Creation. It can teach our hearts to praise God for the world He planned for us in the beginning;
“O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place,
what is man that You are mindful of him,
the son of man that You care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
and put everything under his feet;
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
“O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!’”
Psalm 8:1, 3-9