The Cul-de-sac and The Garden

Genesis 2:15-17
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

As I write this, my 11 year old daughter and two of her friends (who live on our street) are playing outside on the piles of snow created by snow plows. We live on a cul-de-sac, so we have the largest piles on the block. Here on Long Island, we were just hit with an unusually substantial snow fall. A record 22-30 inches of snow slammed us the last two days. As a result, in front of our house, there are massive mounds of snow. Some piles are as high as six feet, which make them ideal for igloo construction, tunnels, snow forts, and sliding down on plastic toboggans. As wonderful as this opportunity is for my kids and their friends to take advantage of this gift from God, it also provides a reminder of the fact that we are fallen creatures.

As my daughter went out this morning to play, I gave her the typical warnings, as I do after every major snowfall. My kids already know that I am not a fan of re-shoveling the base of the driveway and around the mailbox, due to them playing on those specific piles.

(Above is a picture of our driveway.)

“You may play on any of the piles of snow in the cul-de-sac, but of the piles of snow at the end of the driveway, you may not play on them, because if you do I will be angry.”

Sound familiar? My command to my daughter regarding the cul-de-sac mirrors God’s command to Adam regarding the garden:

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

My daughter replied, “I know dad,” and went out the door.

Thirty minutes later, guess which piles my daughter and her friends were playing on…

We are fallen creatures. We do what is right in our own eyes (Judges 21:25). However, God foretold of His future solution to our fall in the garden. He directly addressed Satan right after Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree that they were commanded by God to avoid. (Satan was the one who had initiated the temptation for them to eat from it.)

Here’s what God said to Satan:

Genesis 3:15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.”

Christ Jesus later bruised Satan’s head when He died on the cross 2,000 years ago in Palestine. On the cross, His blood was shed for those who repent (mournfully recognize that God’s purpose has been violated) and for those who also trust in Him as their propitiation (the appeasement of God’s wrath for their sins against Him). Three days later Jesus Christ rose from the dead, proving who He had claimed to be.

May we (Christians) always keep in view the solution that God provided for us 2,000 years ago, when we mournfully realize that we have been playing on the forbidden piles.

Godspeed, to the brethren!

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