The Garden of Eden – Preaching
Preaching Outline on Genesis 2:8-17 – Now the Lord God had planted a garden in Eden on the east side, and there he put the man he had formed. Then the Lord God caused to grow out of the ground all kinds of trees that were pleasant to the eyes and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Eden there was a river that watered the garden and then divided into four.
Introduction
God placed the man he had formed in Eden, a beautiful place made by Him. Four rivers flowed through this place. It was large. To the north were the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a well-known place, Mesopotamia, to the south Pison and Gihon, in Africa, which still exist today, under the names Blue Nile and White Nile. They are tributaries of the River Nile. The Giom bathes Ethiopia.
Eden was a very large place and there God placed Adam and Eve as his helpmate, his companion. They were happy, they had sons and daughters. In the beginning, they married among brothers and sisters, because there were no human beings; they were the first inhabitants of the planet that God had established as a dwelling place for man. Acts 17:17
God made them with the ability to choose, they were moral creatures. God placed many trees in the garden and among them, right in the middle of the garden, the tree of life. He commanded them to eat from all the trees, to enjoy them and to respect one tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God commanded them not to eat of its fruit, because it would bring them something terrible, death. “You will surely die,” God told them.
Many people ask:
– Did God know they were going to eat?
– God is omniscient, he knows all things.
– And why did God place this tree?
– Because this tree would reveal their choice, their option. They would not serve God out of obligation (Gen 3).
The fall
Satan, the cunning serpent, approached Eve with a naive appearance and said: (Gen 3:1) “… is this how God said: you shall not eat from every tree in the garden? Eve replied: “No, we will eat of the fruit of every tree, only the tree that is there, in the middle, which God said to us: ‘You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die'” (Gen 3:3).
The serpent, Satan, said: “You shall not surely die”.
The practical teaching for us is the same.
God points us to the path of life and the adversary presents the path of death with lies. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life, and life to the full.” – Jn 10:10. How many are truly dying in faults and sins (Eph 2:1) every day because they prefer to believe in the friend led by the adversary, who only teaches the way of death and eternal death.
Eve disobeyed God, listened to the serpent.
Adam disobeyed God, listened to the woman.
The result: fright, fear. They began to see that they were fragile, naked, at the mercy of the weather, ashamed.
They always sought God’s presence at dusk, now they hid from God and covered themselves with fig leaves.
“And God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?
God went to Adam first, he was the head, and ashamed he said: “I heard your voice and I hid because I was naked”. Sad picture, he was uncovered. The woman you gave me as a companion (he accused God of giving him a companion), she gave me the fruit and I ate it.
Eve blamed the serpent. That’s the way it is, nobody wants to accept their mistakes.
God rebuked the serpent: Cursed are you.
God brings the solution to the problem of sin: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring; she shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise her heel.” (Gen 3:15)
Salvation
The promise of salvation was made by God to Adam, and by extension, Adam’s seed to the human race.
The enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus, was established by sin. The enemy would strike the heel of the Lord Jesus, but the Lord Jesus, by dying on the cross, would crush the serpent’s head. Glory be to God!
God took an animal, shed its blood and made tunics out of its skin and covered Adam and Eve.
The leaves were no good, they wouldn’t last, it means human providence.
The skins fit and came from the sacrificed animal.
Thus, the prophet Isaiah prophesied: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement that brings us peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed”. Is 53:5
What a blessing when we understand how sin came to us and how God forgives us in Christ Jesus.
Conclusion
Adam lost the right to live eternally, he lost the right to eat from the tree of life, but our second Adam, Jesus the man, invites us to come to him and partake of the Tree of Life and live eternally with the Lord.
Preaching Outline on Genesis 2:8-17 – Now the Lord God had planted a garden in Eden on the east side, and there he put the man he had formed. Then the Lord God caused to grow out of the ground all kinds of trees that were pleasant to the eyes and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Eden there was a river that watered the garden and then divided into four.
More Preaching Outlines
- Arise, O eternal portals – Psalms 24:07-09
- Like trees that walk – Mark 8:24
- Genesis 3:8-9 – Where are you?
