Exclusion from paradise: So the LORD God drove

out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). Since their disobedience, Adam and Eve now had within them the nature of the serpent to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10a). And now, lest they eat from the tree of life and live forever in that state, they were driven from paradise (verse 22).

Many question why a single transgression was enough to expel them from the garden.  I hear people say “I am a good person. So why would God exclude me from heaven?” But Jesus tells us that only God is good (Matthew 19:17). If and when we come out of denial however, we will surly say with Paul that in me, that is in my sinful nature, dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18). It's true that because we are made in God's image, each and every one of us has the potential for great achievement, creativity, nobility, love, generosity and unselfish sacrifice. On the other hand, even if you don't fully know it, each and every one of us is also capable of unimaginable depths of depravity, corruption, destruction, hate and vindictiveness selfishness. That is the nature of the serpent, and it resides in us all.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a dissident in Soviet Russia spent many years in  the notorious soviet prison the Gulag. But instead of becoming bitter, hate filled, self righteous and judgemental, he came to following conclusion about human nature (including his own). He wrote  “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts.” Confirming this,  Jesus tells us “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lies and slander” (Matthew 15:19).

Not that long after conversion,  the Lord showed me that what was good in my behaviour, was conditioned. Conditioned because the consequences of the opposite were unacceptable. Paul could talk about the offense of the cross (Galatians 5:11), and part of this is that Christ's horrendous death was a necessary substitute to secure my salvation. It was necessary, because as Jeremiah tells us, the unregenerate hear is deceitful above all and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). I know this is true, not because I experience the reality of it on an ongoing basis, but because the Word of God tells me it is true. With the disciples I would not be able to bear it (John 16:12). But what I do, is that I accept the fact that in order to be fit for heaven, the unregenerate part of me needs to die.

Father, I thank You that though I am incomplete, yet I am fully accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). I have found this business of dying to sin and being alive to You is a process (Romans 6:11). And I suppose that is why Paul takes three full chapters to expound on it (Romans 6-8). I also want to thank You for the assurance that You who began a good work in me,  will keep right on doing it until the Day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). Thank You too, that on that Day that work will be completed in an instant.  I will be like Him, and so fit for heaven (1 John3:2). And I will be forever with You (1 Thessalonians 4:17) in Jesus Name Amen

The LORD God clothed Adam

and Eve with garments of skin (Genesis 3:21). After their disobedience, Adam and Eve had realized they were naked.  They sewed fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves (3:6, 7). Before the fall they had an open, vulnerable and transparent relationship. You will likely know from your own experience, that this side of the fall openness and transparency are, by and large,  unsafe! It will likely come back to you as judgement, accusation and blame (3:12)!  The fig leaves were an attempt to hide from each other and from themselves (see: Three alienations).

Like Adam and Eve, we try to hide our guilt and shame by covering them up.  Out of  fear of rejection, we are likely afraid to let others see who we really are, afraid they will see the “naked me.” Some of the 'fig leaves' we use to cover our guilt and shame, are to suppress them, to pretend they don't exist, or that it doesn't bother us. We also blame others for laying guilt trips on us. None of this works! In fact “He who covers his sins will not prosper” (Proverbs 28:13a). David cried out “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all the day long” (Psalm 32:3). Researchers increasingly are finding connections between guilt,  shame and mental, physical and emotional health. In recovery we often say that we are only as sick as our secrets.

This brings us to God's covering, God's provision for guilt to be forgiven. And ultimately God is the only one who can forgive, for in the end all sin is against Him (Psalm 51:4). David could cry out “ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (Psalm 32:1).  One of the pictures of salvation then, is that God cloths us with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 60:10).  Since all our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), then it is with His righteousness that He covers us, not our own (Philippians 3:9).  Without His covering we are lost, without hope in the world, and subject to God's wrath (Ephesians 2:12; Romans 2:8).

That's not good news, but we likely cannot fully understand the good news, unless we have first absorbed the bad. And we need to come out of denial of the fact that without Christ we are indeed lost. For if we do not know, that in and of ourselves we are wretched, miserable, poor and blind, and naked, then we will not seek to buy gold from God refined in the fire, so that we may be rich, and clothed, and that the shame of our nakedness may not be revealed (Revelation 3:17, 18).

This being so clothed is not automatic. There is no such thing as universal salvation (Ephesians 5:6; Romans 2:5). So how does it work? We first need to know that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). When God clothed Adam and Eve with skins, animals had to die. This was one of many pictures, shadows of things to come, but the substance is Christ  (Colossians 2:17). In other words it is the blood of Jesus Christ that covers our sin (1 John 1:7).  This covering has to be received through faith and repentance (John 1:12; Mark 1:15).

Father, I greatly rejoice in You today, for You have clothed me with garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10). Thank You Lord for salvation, amazing, great, rich and free in Jesus Name Amen

Your desire shall be for your husband

And he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16b). To say in another way what we said in the last mediation, the statement “he shall rule over you” would be the reality in a fallen world where the yeast of the Kingdom had yet to permeate (Matthew 13:33). Man dominating woman is not part of God's plan to bring the rule of God to earth as it was in paradise (Matthew 6:10). In paradise Adam and Eve ruled together over creation, not over each other. But what are we to make of “Your desire shall be for your husband?”

The commentators do not agree on what this means. Part of the confusion is that the Hebrew word translated here as “desire,” occurs only in two other places, and does so with different meanings. The first is Genesis 4:7 which reads “if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” God was warning Cain that his anger was wanting to control him. If this is the sense of the word here in Genesis 3:16, it means that Eve's desire would be to control Adam, but in stead he would rule over her.

The only other occurrence of the word is in Songs 7:10 where comes in the context of the honeymoon stage of King Solomon's love for the Shulamite. It reads “I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.” This is not just sexual intimacy however, though it certainly includes it. In fact Songs is quite raunchy at times, even instructing us on foreplay (2:6)! It is significant however, that the very next verse admonishes “Do not stir up nor awaken love, until the time is right” (Berean Study Bible). The point is that sex engaged in too soon can sabotage a relationship. In particular, as we were saying in earlier if the time is not right (i.e. in marriage) then the friendship love (phileo), is stunted by sexual love (eros). And is is here that the two meanings of the Hebrew come together. True intimacy is nurtured over time, and within the pseudo hyper sexual love that so dominates the West true intimacy (body, soul and spirit), it is largely absent. In the Jewish context, the (at least) year long betrothal with abstinence, had the benefit of increasing longing resulting in true intimacy. And to do this, while at same time, taming the beast of lust without which, it inevitably eclipses the deeper intimacy.

Emotions, longing and desire, in and of themselves, are neutral. They become sinful however when, for example, we allow anger to turn to rage, and attraction to lust. As with Cain we must master them. Brain research has show that emotions and thoughts come together as a package, and that every thought has an emotion attached to it. When we obsess it amplifies the emotion. So then in order to take control of our emotions, we need to take our thoughts captive unto obedience to the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Father, emotions out of control do not bring the Kingdom. Paul tells that those who are Christ’s have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). When we do our part in, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds and desires of the sinful nature (Romans 8:13), You do yours! You even change our desires (Philippians 2:12, 13). For these and many other things we give You thanks and praise in Jesus Name Amen

The yeast of Kingdom come on earth

The perceived teaching of the Bible on the woman's and other issues are red flags to our culture, but it's widely misunderstood. We are only now beginning to understand the ancient texts in context. One huge misunderstanding is that not every admonition is for all times, and all circumstances. Moral commands don't change, cultural ones might. If Paul's command concerning men's hair was for all time, how come the Nazarite vow required men to let their hair grow? There are many examples, do women need to wear hats in church (1 Corinthians 11:14, 6; Numbers 6:5)?

The primary mandate of the disciple is to cooperate with God in bringing in the Kingdom of God (Mathew 28:19, 20). Kingdom come is revolutionary,  and if we don't see this, we have misunderstood Scripture. Cunningham and Hamilton's “Why Not Women?” is helpful with respect to women's issues. Kingdom come is revolutionary, but it doesn't promote violent revolution. Jesus told that the one who lives by the sword shall die by the sword (Matthew 26:52). In other words violence promotes violence.

Kingdom principles and practices are very different from the World's. The picture is of yeast working its way through the lump (Matthew 13:33). Kingdom yeast does not address the problems head on, and change comes only gradually as hearts are changed. Consider slavery. It would be easy to make a (false) case that the Bible endorses it.  But if we love our neighbour as ourselves, we'll set slaves free wherever possible (Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:31). The yeast of the abolition of slavery is contained in this commandment.

William Wilberforce worked the yeast of the Kingdom for the abolition of slavery through his speeches in Britain's Parliament. It was a life long battle. Similarly it was the yeast of the Kingdom working though the suffragettes a hundred years ago, that lead peacefully to a women's right to vote.  “Kingdom come” reforms things, rather than tearing them down.  When things are not done in a Kingdom way however, things inevitably finish up going overboard.  Far too often in the World, the oppressed become the oppressor. Surely Wilberforce's way, was preferable to the carnage of America's abolitionist war. And it's still not settled today! Violence promotes violence, and hatred promotes hatred. And this is exactly what we have in the West in the tyranny of radical race ideology, and in the extremes of the women's movement. There is  much hatred of men in general, and masculinity in and of itself is said to be toxic. To be sure violence against women and gays is still very much a problem, and yes there are inequities in all these arenas, but if we don't follow Kingdom principles in reformation, things will always go too far.

The Kingdom is all about changing and winning hearts, and bringing peace. A key principle, if not the key principle, is forgiveness.  And if there is to be peace, the victim has to be the better person. It's a hard lesson to hear when you've been abused, but while we are not responsible for the wrong done against us, we are responsible for our response to the wrong done. Even harder to hear is that if we don't forgive, neither will we be forgiven (Matthew 6:14). But as King David came to realize, the one we have all offended and sinned against the most, is God (Psalm 51:4).

Father, we pray Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us grace to do our part Lord, in Jesus Name Amen

Male female equality: Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

“The LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam ... He took one of his ribs, and made it into a woman. And Adam said: 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh'” (Genesis 2:21-23)

The Bible gets short shrift when it comes to woman's issues, but too often we fail to see its positive radical nature that spoke to the cultures into which they were written. In particular we need to see this story as a polemic (a corrective) to cultures far and wide, ancient and modern. My main source here is Cunningham and Hamilton's “Why Not Women? A Fresh Look at Scripture on Women in Missions, Ministry, and Leadership.” While their work discusses the attitudes and practices of ancient Greece, I have no doubt they are similar to those of cultures into which Genesis was written.

Our growing knowledge of ancient Greece does not paint a pretty picture. It was one of the most woman-hating civilizations in all history! In particular, it would be hard to find a society that so elevated one sex, and subjugated the other. The poet Homer cast the die for beliefs and practices for thousands of years to come. In 'The Iliad' we learn that women were considered to be the cause of all conflict and suffering. They had no value however, they were mere possessions to be won, and pawns in men’s power plays. Things progressed negatively from there. Roman law gave the husband the right to kill his wife for either adultery or drunkenness. In the light of this, we need to see the positive radical nature of Biblical teaching. Cunningham and Hamilton's book is a must read in terms of understanding this!

A huge source of influence on beliefs and practice in ancient Greece were the gods, and their attitudes and practices filtered down into the culture. Zeus not only beat his goddess wife Hera, he had offspring with at least seven other goddesses. Hera of course was expected to be faithful. The Greek poets Semonides and Hesiod emphasized the separate origins of men and women, saying that women were a divine curse, originating from a sow, a donkey, or some other despised animal.

Over against this, Genesis paints a picture of shared origins. Created from Adam's rib, Eve is of the same exact flesh and bones. The Genesis 2 account, is an elaboration of the overview in Genesis 1:27, where we read that God created both male and female. Before Eve was created, it was not good for man to be alone (2:18). Only afterwards was creation declared to be very good (1:31). Her arrival transformed Eden into paradise! Matthew Henry comments “woman was made of a rib, out of the side of Adam; not out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” Adam and Eve were created equal, and we need to see here in the very beginning of the inspired Scriptures, the seeds of the emancipation of women. There is much to say!

 

Father, thank You for scholars who can give us insight into things we have likely missed. Again Genesis before the fall is the goal. Help us Lord, we have a long way to go, and we need Your help in Jesus Name Amen

Confession: When I refused to confess my sin,

my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long (Psalm 32:3 NLT). David is telling us poetically, that guilt was eating away at him.  We've been looking at blame and excuses, and about being unwilling to take responsibility for our actions (Genesis 3:12, 13).  Still on its own taking responsibility and making amends does not deal with the guilt that we might try and suppress, medicate or otherwise seek to mitigate. Suppressed guilt is one of the reasons we often don't like ourselves very much. We can sin against God, against each other, and in fact we can also sin against ourselves (1 Corinthians 8:12; 6:18). However after committing adultery and then murder to cover it up (1 Samuel 11), David tells the Lord “Against You, You only have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). If then our sin is primarily against God, then ultimately He alone has the authority to forgive (or not).  This is helpful to know when others don't forgive us, or when we have trouble forgiving ourselves.

In the first verse of Psalm 32 we read “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”  Part of what this means, is that the cure for guilt is to be forgiven. In order to be forgiven however, we need to confess our sins. And when we do, He is faithful and just, not only to forgive us, but to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). And He can be just because of the substitutionary death of Jesus for us, on the cross (1 John 2:2).  Of course, it's just one of the many reasons why our “higher Power” in twelve-step-programs needs to be the God of the Bible.

But actually twelve-step-programs lead us further in bringing the Kingdom into our relationships. It's another difficult step however. After making a fearless moral inventory of ourselves the next step (5) is “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”  This in fact is one small step for mankind in bringing in the Kingdom. And if you think step 5 is hard go figure James 5:16 which commands “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  Many will protest “I don't need to confess to others to be forgiven!” And this is true, we confess to God to be forgiven, but we confess to others to be healed. It's promised right there in James!

Step 5 suggests we start our confessions with one safe person (our sponsor), this because frankly, this side of the fall,  confession is not generally safe. In varying degrees of safeness however, the fellowship in twelve-step programs promotes a non-judgmental atmosphere where there is total acceptance of others. And as, with the gospel, it is in this spiritual atmosphere that we are set free to change.

Father, the picture I have of putting James 5:16 into practice, is for us to come together at the foot of the cross where,  in it's shadow and in Your presence, we know deep within our hearts that although we are flawed, we are fully accepted and loved. And here, in that place, we are able to extend love and acceptance first to ourselves, and then to each other. Here blame, excuses and our unwillingness to take responsibility flee away.  Here, we start to experience the same intimacy Adam and Eve had with each other and with You before the fall. Help us return there Lord,  in Jesus Name Amen

Excuses: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

After Adam had blamed Eve for giving him the forbidden fruit, God  asked Eve what she had done. The above was her response (Genesis 3:12, 13). It's difficult to make a hard and fast distinction between blame and excuse. But let's work with blame admitting just a little more than “I didn't do it,” and excuse admitting “Well yes I did it but .....”

There seems to be no lengths to which we will go to avoid taking responsibility for our actions. And there seems to be a progression involved starting, as with Adam, taking no responsibility at all;  Moving, as with Eve, to admitting we did, it but pleading extenuating circumstances; Next admitting we are wrong and actually making changes; Finally making amends where appropriate. We're talking about bearing fruit worthy of repentance (Luke 3:8), and about restitution (Numbers 5:7).  

Continuing to look at these things through the lens of twelve-step-programs, we see the first step is about coming out of denial, out of our propensity to rationalize. Eve was deceived, and it seems that few of us realize just how easily we too are deceived. We can see it in others, and might even judge them for it. But the fact of the matter is that for each and every one of us it is true that 典he heart is deceitful above all things, and desperatel

It gets tested, and/or revealed in step 4, which is to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. This is a truly difficult step, and a place where many drop out of the program. The point is that in order to do this, we will likely have to live again the pain of past hurts. This will likely propel us first to blame and then to excuses. And to move fully into this step we will need to forgive. And we will need to do all this hard work before we can honestly and fearlessly look at our part. Of course we don't want to get stuck in the past, but we do need to visit it in order that, with Jesus as our higher power, it can be redeemed. And as part of this our forgiveness needs to be from the heart (Matthew 18:25). Much of this is a process, and a painful one at that. But it is a necessary one if we want to be free of the past (John 8:32)

Working the steps then helps us to figure out what is our part and what's not. We call this taking care of our side of the street. In addition to forgiving others, we need to take responsibility for our part, and to make amends when and where appropriate (Step 9). There is a lot of work to do before this step. Timing is important, for before we do our amends we likely need to show over the long haul, both to others, and to ourselves, that we really have changed. People we have hurt are likely to be skeptical, words are cheap, we need to bear fruit worthy of repentance, and producing fruit takes time (Matthew 3:8).

Father, in this bringing of the Kingdom of heaven to earth, we all have a long way to go. We need Your help Lord. Thank You, that when we fully surrender, You change even our desires, and then give us the grace to do what without You we cannot do (Philippians 2:12, 13). Thank You Lord in Jesus Name Amen