Garden Failure

There is a movie called “Cool hand Luke” with Paul Newman. Luke never seems to understand the rules of a prison camp and continues to disobey by trying to escape. The warden finally admonishes Luke and the prisoners by saying “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Perhaps, God had the same thought when Adam and Eve chose not to follow God’s warning about not eating the wrong fruit. Here is the story:

Gen 2:8 And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there He put the man whom He had formed.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:15 And Jehovah God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Gen 2:16 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree in the garden,
Gen 2:17 but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Gen 2:18 And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.
Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife; and they were not ashamed.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it so that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,
Gen 3:5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of both of them were opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made girdles for themselves.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God in the middle of the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9 And Jehovah God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself.
Gen 3:11 And He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.
Gen 3:13 And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
Gen 3:16 To the woman He said, I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bear sons, and your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you.
Gen 3:17 And to Adam He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it! The ground is cursed for your sake. In pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life.
Gen 3:18 It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.
Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Gen 3:21 And for Adam and his wife Jehovah God made coats of skins, and clothed them.
Gen 3:22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,
Gen 3:23 therefore Jehovah God sent him out from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken.
Gen 3:24 And He drove out the man. And He placed cherubs 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.

Rom_5:12 Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned:
Rom_5:17 For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.)

Rev 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city.

Man started out blessed by God. All his needs were provided and by eating of the tree of life he could have lived forever. Adam and Eve were sinless at that point and did not even know what sin was. Satan had no hold on them. God had given them freedom of choice about who they would listen to and believe and what they would do. If only Adam had followed God’s instruction not to eat of another particular fruit that became the tree of death to Adam and Eve. When they ate the forbidden fruit, they became aware of sin and had chosen to believe Satan over God. Mankind’s self-will had become stronger than their will to follow God. They had disobeyed God and as a result, had to leave the garden and the tree of life. Thereafter, all mankind had an inclination to sin, following Satan and disobeying god. All mankind would eventually die and return into dust. Further penalties were involved. Weeds grew, man had to grow his own food, (mosquitoes likely started to be attracted to flesh and bite.) Bread was eaten instead of God’s fruit. Women had pain during childbirth and were to be dominated by men even though both had equally sinned. It was a sad time for mankind! However, God had a backup plan.

 Christ was sent to pay the ultimate price by a blood sacrifice of His own blood to cancel and hide the sins of mankind when they freely chose to follow Him as God. By God’s grace, harmony between God and man was again achieved. God would again grant eternal life with Him in Heaven to those desiring to believe Christ and be with Him. Now, by choosing to allow God to again lead a person’s life, Satan’s will was to be avoided. We still get the weeds though and other problems during earthly life as testings to teach us to make good choices. However, Heaven will have no sin, no marriages, births or birth-pains. As spirits, there will be no pain of any kind in Heaven. There will not be any type of heartache there and no cause for tears. Those choosing God will be forever united with Him in love and fellowship with Christ receiving glory for the accomplishment since He was the one who had suffered and had shown total obedience to the will of God the Father. Jesus had single handedly overcome Satan on earth, in hell and in Heaven. He should receive all the glory and His name be elevated above all others!

Ps: Two more interesting thoughts: When God created man and woman He must have known that they would choose to disobey Him and eat the apples. Otherwise, when He had blessed them and told them to multiply as below:

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

They would have eventually outgrown the garden unless God planned to expand it.

Then, there is that word “replenish” which brings up a whole new thought line.
It also occurs after Noah and his family were saved. That is understandable but who were Adam and Eve to replenish (unless it just meant to fill instead of to fill again)?