Mon, 2 January, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Genesis 2:4-17

⁴ These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵ When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up–for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground– ⁷ then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis is the book of beginnings. In today’s passage, we see the account of how God created man, forming him from the dust of the ground into which God then breathed into him the breath of life. From the previous chapter’s account of the creation, we see God speaking things into existence. But with man, we see God directly forms him and breathes life into Him in a more direct fashion.

God then places Adam, our first father, into the garden of Eden, providing him with the food and water he will need. God provids Adam with all he needs, and all God asks of Adam is that he work the garden and not eat of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil. (In our reading tomorrow we will see how that worked out.)

But notice in our passage today: God commands Adam to work and keep the garden of Eden.

What do we learn from this?

This is before the fall (sorry if I just spoiled for you the surprise of what happens in the next chapter). Adam is living in paradise, and God assigns work for him.

Maybe you haven’t thought of this before, but here is a profound thought that runs contrary to most everything we hear. Work is not a result of the fall. We often act like work is a terrible thing and something we should avoid if we can. (If you’ll pardon the frivolity, here’s a short video that expresses this common attitude of how work is a curse and recreation is paradise.)

Friends, God made us to work. Work is not punishment. It is a part of paradise. (Here comes another spoiler:) The curse on work in the next chapter is that our work of subduing the world will be more of a struggle (after the fall work entails thorns, thistles and sweat). But the curse is not the work itself. Work is still part of our commission from God dating back to paradise of the garden of Eden. Work is part of how God made us.

Consider your attitude toward work. Is work what you endure until you can get to your recreation? Or are you working to fulfill your God given calling to subdue the earth? Do you see work as a drudgery or as a calling? Consider carefully: God made us to work.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Adam had to work the garden of Eden and obey God’s one command. As our federal head, Adam represented us in his task of obeying God. (Another spoiler follows:) Adam failed, and we all failed in Adam.

But Jesus Christ came as the second Adam. He perfectly obeyed God’s law, doing that which the first Adam failed to do. And as the federal head of all those who come to Him in faith, he has earned their salvation, paying the penalty for their sin by dying on a cross, and giving them the righteousness which He earned by His perfect obedience.

Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the work given to Him by living and dying for His people as the second Adam.