Adam to Adam.
Have you ever heard of a “green thumb”? I call it a gift. Some people have the ability to nurse and till the ground and watch it produce some fruit or vegetation. Others have the ability to corral animals into the way and fold that they should be in. And still others have the ability to build and construct shelters and houses of habitation. All of these talents and innate abilities are gifts from the Most High.
In the beginning of things God had His own garden. Yes, it was a place He would come down to and walk amongst His creation. He put his son in it, the one we call Adam, to be the caretaker of it. It was good. All things were given to him except the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2: 15-17 NIV).
Adam was given charge of the creation after God formed it from the dust and put life in it. His first task, that we can read of, was to give names to the living creatures and whatever he set to call them, that is what they were called (Genesis 2: 19-20 NIV). We find John rehashing the beginning in his way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1: 1-5 NIV.)”
The garden of God must’ve been bright when He came to visit! It was full of life, light, and of His Spirit! It was the difference of walking in the light and walking out of it. We know this because of what Cain did (Genesis 4: 14 &16 NIV). The first Adam was the natural man that created a being in his image, Seth. Then Seth did likewise by adding Enosh, not Enoch. It was this third generation that humans had to begin to seek God (Genesis 4: 25-26 NIV).
But John reminds us that God did not forever cast off His creation, because once again, He came back. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us
(John 1: 14a) …” It was this later Adam that brought the Spirit to man once again
(I Corinthians 15: 45 NIV). What the first Adam had tasted in the garden before being banned from it, had come back to a fold of mankind that once again returned to their Creator by means of His Son. They would then be received into His Spirit and ooze or rather pour forth His glory (John 7: 37-39 NIV). A place where no night shines. Where one is enveloped in the Spirit of Jesus and His glory abounds (Revelation 22: 5 NIV)!
When His creation, who are made in His Image (Genesis 5: 1b NIV), seek Him once again (Psalm 27: 8 NIV), then as the headwaters flowed from Eden, will the River of His Spirit flow through His own. Light will shine in the darkness (John 1: 5 NIV). Take a moment and draw closer to Him.
Godspeed, The Journeyman
Ps. Today’s story comes from a conversation in the quietness of reflection on Adam and Jesus. Saltiness is needed. You are flavored with it. Sprinkle it. Spread it out. Share it kindly. It is needed in a dry and flavorless world. Matthew states in Jesus’ beatitudes of this: You are the salt of the earth… (Matthew 5: 13 NIV). I used the following website to assist in bringing you the quotes: www.biblegateway.com
Here are some of the scriptures I referenced:
John 1: 1-5 NIV; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1: 14a NIV; “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…”
John 1:18 NIV; “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
Genesis 2: 15-17 NIV; “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’”
Genesis 2: 19-20 NIV; “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.”
Genesis 4: 14 & 16 NIV; “Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
“So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
Genesis 4: 25-26 NIV; “Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.’ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.”
Genesis 5: 1b NIV; “When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.”
I Corinthians 15: 45 NIV; “So it is written: ‘the first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.”
John 7: 37-39 NIV “…Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
Revelation 22: 5 NIV; “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”
Psalm 27:8 NIV; “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
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