THE PROMISE IN EDEN - 8/50

THE PROMISE IN EDEN                                       8/50

  Cambodia Basic English Series

Ref: NI^RV.  Slideshow available

   

1.       1.    The Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. It was a beautiful place. God gave man opportunities and responsibilities. 

2.        The Opportunities.

God made light. Life cannot exist without light. God gave man a natural and spiritual environment to live in. God also made light to reach the minds and hearts of people. He made Adam and Eve above the animals and gave them the food they needed and a perfect place for them to live and learn (Genesis 1:28-31). 

3.         The Responsibility.

God formed man from the dust and gave him life, personality and desires or appetites. Everything that Adam was able to do; breathe, think, feel and act came from God’s power or spirit. With this gift came responsibilities. God made him above the animals and gave him the responsibility to work in and care for the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:28). God also asked him to name all of the animals. Everything God had made had a purpose. Adam was given the responsibility to care for God’s creation. God involved Adam in a learning process with His creation.  Adam and Eve were made like the angels, able to obey and worship God. In His wisdom God also gave them choice.

Genesis 2:15. The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to work its ground and to take care of it.

Genesis 2:19. The Lord God had formed all of the wild animals. He had also formed all of the birds of the air. He had made all of them out of the ground. He brought them to the man to see what names he would give them. And the name the man gave each living creature became its name.

These responsibilities included obeying a command from God.

Genesis 2:9,16-17.  The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground. Their fruit was pleasing to look at and good to eat. The tree that gives life forever was in the middle of the garden. The tree that gives the ability to tell the difference between good and evil was also there.

¹⁶The Lord God gave the man a command. He said, “You can eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden. ¹⁷ But you must not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you can be sure that you will die.”

Adam had to use his abilities to think, feel and act using what he learned from God and His creation. God wanted Adam to choose to obey Him. Adam was told not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he disobeyed God he would die. Eve shared these opportunities and responsibilities with Adam.

4. The Problem.

Adam and Eve chose not to obey God (Genesis 3:1-8). They ate the fruit from the tree following the thinking of the snake. They followed their own desires and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were supposed to be above the animals but failed, and listened to the snake.

They tried to hide their sin but God knew what they had done and punished them. As a result, from this time on, man has tried to find his own solutions to problems. This is why the world is in such a big mess.

Romans 8:7. The sinful mind is at war with God. It does not obey God’s law. It can’t.

5. The Solution.

Genesis 3:15. I will put hatred between you and the woman. Your children and her children will be enemies. Her son will crush your head. And you will crush his heel.”

The children of the serpent choose to ignore God, following their own ideas and looking for their own solutions to problems. Many look for power and wealth and want to control people to satisfy their own desires (Deuteronomy 32:24). Jesus spoke of leaders as being like snakes because of their evil thinking and actions.

Matthew. 12:34. “You nest of poisonous snakes! How can you who are evil say anything good? Your mouths say everything that is in your hearts.

The children of the woman are those who have stayed faithful to God. The next part of Genesis 3:15 refers to Jesus. “ . . . he will crush your head,”  In his death, Jesus destroyed the power of sin. God’s plan was to provide a solution to the problem of sin and death. Jesus overcame sinful thinking and wickedness in his life, including his death. “. . .you will strike his heel.”

God raised Jesus from the dead after three days, never to die again. 

Acts 2:24.  But God raised him from the dead. He set him free from the suffering of death. It wasn’t possible for death to keep its hold on Jesus.

This fulfilled the promise that God made in Eden in Genesis 3:15.  The solution God provided was for man to follow Jesus and also put sin to death in their hearts and to give their best to Him.   

 

6.    The Promise of a Redeemer.

Before Jesus was born, people who followed God believed He would save them through the seed of Eve. Followers of Jesus believe that he has saved them and look with great hope to His return to remove falsehood, sin, disease and death from the earth. 

Pharaoh King of Egypt refused to listen to God. The Egyptians worshipped a snake God.

We recommend that candidates study Learn to Read the Bible Effectively and God’s Plan With Man (Cambodia friendly versions) before preparing for baptism. Slideshows and translated versions of these are also available. See Lessons 13 and 14: Maps.