Before Eden, Why?

Travel with me back.. Pass the medieval jousts, the burning of Rome, Greek art, mythic Hebrews among pyramids in Egypt, before a flood that covered the earth, back, on, further. Stop a moment at a garden. Sweetly scented, verdant, gently misted, soothed by quiet chatter of birds and beasts. Go on back. Watch creation reverse itself, the marvels of beasts, birds, stars, trees, water dissolving into blackness. But the void is inhabited. Nothing moves. Nothing is seen. Only a Presence… exists.

Before even time could define linear motion or thoughts, there was community. Three persons in one being. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Eternally enjoying each other’s community without any warring or conflicting interests. Perfect intimacy. From eternity, They have intended to create a moment for Their glory.

The moment comes. In the beginning. There it is! So the glory begins to be revealed to an audience as yet uncreated. The drama will demonstrate the nature and character of God, I AM. Through the plan called history, men will come to know His tri-unity. They will know His wisdom in creation. Angels will praise His holiness, though they themselves are without sin, yet He alone is set completely apart, ways unsearchable, high and lifted up. He will be recognized as God-who-sees. He will see not only for judgment and wrath, but also for compassion and love and mercy. Mercy will demand He be for His creatures God-who-saves. And so on.

Why? Back in the emptiness, perfect intimacy and eternal glory existing in infinity, why would God want a moment? Why would He, knowing all things, create a world that would cost Him so much?

Heavens. Earth. Light. Water. Air. Land. Plants. Trees. Moon. Stars. Sun. Birds. Fish. Insects. Animals. Monstrous beasts. Man. Woman. Good.

When first God made man, He said it was not good for His image to be alone. Indeed, though man was made in the image of a triune God, he was individual, with the potential to be lonely. Why? God could never be lonely with Himself for company. But man?

God set eternity in man’s heart from the beginning (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Pascal described it as, “the God-shaped vacuum”: every man’s longing for the infinite God.

God created a helper suitable for Adam, who named her woman. And so the two, in old English, twain, shall become one flesh. Striving: Longing: for that intimacy that God shares with Himself. Yet God created man to desire that relationship, to desire all relationship. Primarily God made Adam and Eve to desire relationship with Him, and so to experience God’s nature firsthand, that they might bear witness forever to His glory.

In the beginning, God made a garden for man and set him in it. Nearly the first communication was warm, fatherly instruction. Yet “fatherly” is inadequate. The instruction was godly, with all of His love and justice and fearful truth. “You may eat of any tree,” He said. “But this tree, here, in the middle of the garden, called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, of that tree you shall never eat.” (Genesis 2:16-17) Hear how adamant He is. Anticipating, a twinge of pain enters His tone as He explains to His creature, he who has no way of understanding. “For in the day,” He sighs, seeing the day, “that you eat of it, you shall surely die, continuing to die, until you are dead.”

He was describing the horror of life separated from Him. Death. As fever is a symptom of infection horrible in itself, so death would be a symptom of loss of intimacy. And, like a fever, death could be part of the cure if only… Death meant nothing to Adam, in the cool, growing garden, life teeming about him. Only through the intimate trust of creature to God could he discern that God’s warning was serious, to be heeded.

In the cool of the day, God would walk with His creatures: man and woman, Adam and Eve. For a time, He enjoyed intimacy with them. But I can’t explain it. I can’t imagine it. What is intimacy without mercy? What is love without discipline? What if none of that was required? Surely they were feeble, creatures not gods themselves. Yet He loved them with the unimaginable love of God, the unceasing love. Unceasing does not describe something that once was. It was, it is, and by definition must evermore be. Love is unconditional.

Like a man when he first woos a woman, perhaps God walked in closeness with them, but they were not deep enough into His heart to see all of His love. He loved them completely. But no one had threatened His beloved for Him to rescue them. The beloved children had not rebelled for Him to accept penitence. They were not wayward, so had no need for Him to call them back to Himself.

For the same reason God created man, for the same reason He created the tree, for the same reason He warned them of death – one day He let them walk alone. In the heat of the day Adam and Eve sought shade under a tree, near the center of the garden. Out of the corner of their eyes they could see the forbidden tree, fruit (nothing spectacular, just more fruit in a garden of abundance, different from all the other fruits in a world of incomprehensible variety).

What was it like before that moment? For how long did Adam and Eve walk with God and learn from Him, enjoy His presence and know His nature? Did He tell them about mercy and justice and non-contradictory logic? Did He tell them why He chose the cool of the day in which to walk with them? Did they ever discuss His instruction, His one command? Did Adam ask what God meant when He said “It is not good,” in all of His perfect creation? What about rest? Adam and Eve saw God rest. What did that rest portend?

God’s motives are not changed by any man or creature. He will still have His glory known. Every knee will one day bow (Isaiah 45:23). Though we no longer walk with Him, face to face, in a garden, throughout His history He has been revealing Himself to us. Throughout history He has been preparing to dwell with us again. In coming to know our God, we cannot ignore, cannot evade His longing for intimacy. It is, in fact, a frequent theme when God’s prophets declare His words.

Let us consider the calling of prophet. Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:21-24). Abraham was called the friend of God (James 2:23). Moses met with God face to face, as a man talks to his friend (Exodus 33:11). Since that time until the completion of the book of Revelation (which means Unveiling, of God), there have been prophets, individuals called and empowered by God, who received His words directly to proclaim to the people. Prophets were called out, called to extraordinary lives of walking with God. In hearing His words and seeking Him with such abandon, they gained portions of His heart until sin grieved them as it did Him, and wrath excited them. Hardened hearts angered them.

Michael Card writes of their plight, “I am a prophet, and I smolder and burn. I scream and cry and wonder why you never seem to learn. To hear with your own ears, with your own eyes to see: I am a prophet, won’t you listen to me.” The prophets could not imagine doing without hearing God’s word themselves. They begged. “Do not take your presence from me! Hear me! Speak. Why do You wait? Why are You silent?” (Exodus 33:15, Psalm 39:12, 1 Samuel 3:9-10, Psalm 6:3, Psalm 88:14) They who had seen, often in very visions of heaven (Isaiah 6), God’s glory, could not forget. They longed always for home (Philippians 1:23).

What of God’s heart did they proclaim?

"And let them make me a sanctuary,

that I may dwell in their midst."

~ Exodus 25:8

"And I will walk among you and will be your God,

and you shall be my people."

~ Leviticus 26:12

"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother,

saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,

declares the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity,

and I will remember their sin no more.”

~ Jeremiah 31:33-34

"And they shall be my people,

and I will be their God.

I will give them one heart and one way,

that they may fear me forever,

for their own good and the good of their children after them.

I will make with them an everlasting covenant,

that I will not turn away from doing good to them.

And I will put the fear of me in their hearts,

that they may not turn from me.

I will rejoice in doing them good,

and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness,

with all my heart and all my soul."

~ Jeremiah 32:38-41

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Behold,

the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and shall call his name Immanuel."

~ Isaiah 7:14

Immanuel, directly translated, means "God-with-us."

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!

How often would I have gathered your children together

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"

~ Luke 13:34

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have,

for he has said,

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

~ Hebrews 13:5

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,

and God himself will be with them as their God."

~ Revelation 21:3

Travel forward from the garden, from the captivating world of the prophets. What is God’s plan for you now? How do we respond to the desire of our Creator?

"Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God,

walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments,

as at this day.”

~ 1 Kings 8:61

In this verse, the Hebrew for “wholly true” is shalem, from the same root as shalom, “peace.” It can be translated “complete, perfect, at peace, full, safe.”

"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up

,who inhabits eternity,

whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite."

~ Isaiah 57:15

"Jesus answered him,

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our home with him."

~ John 14:23

Why do we know so little of God’s motives in creation? Why is Genesis so silent on the relationship man had with God before his fall? Perhaps even God’s silence on this matter reveals something of His heart.

To God be all glory.