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