Home sweet home. For some home is a place of conflict and violence. Home is a place of darkness and abuse. Hopefully however most might find home to be a place of refuge and rest. God designed the home to be a pleasurable place. It is a place where we can pray in private. Home is where close moments with family can be cherished. Any home has ups and downs but God created Adam’s very first home to be all that a home should be. Why did Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden then?

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:8-9 ESV

Garden Called Eden

When God finished his creation and rested on day seven he proclaimed the creation “good”. Then God places Adam into a garden home called Eden. If the creation itself is “good” then the garden of Eden is even more grand. Eden, עֵדֶן, means pleasure or delight. God, creator of the universe, plants a garden home for Adam that is more than good it is a pleasure.

A common criticism of God runs along the lines of “If God is so good then why is there so much evil and death in the world?” But that criticism would have been unthinkable at this point in the creation history. All that has been created is “good”. Adam’s home is a “pleasure”. There is no death even Adam and the animals are all vegetarian. No one knows sickness. No one has ever died from an accident. The creation is good and Adam’s home is a pleasure.

Life for Adam and Eve

In the “midst” or the middle of this garden is a tree of life. No long harrowing journey needed. A tree in the back yard that provides immortality. It was intended, by God, that Adam would live forever in this wonderful home. Why then did Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden?

Leaving and Lost

Adam and Eve lost this home due to their own negligence and because of their rebellion against God the way to Eden, this wonderful home, was blocked. We today suffer the consequences of that event. Some people blame God that life will be painful and that loved ones die. But ultimately that blame rests on us sinners.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. Genesis 3:22-23 ESV

A New Eden awaits for Adam and Eve

God’s plan for humanity was set in motion. This removal from Eden while tragic is only a temporary setback because God’s greatest gift, Jesus Christ, has been given to restore our relationship to a “good” and pleasant home. Christ will return and bring all the children of God into a new and better home.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:1-3 ESV

A Greater Home Awaits

This future home Jesus is preparing is even more amazing than the Garden of Eden that was prepared for Adam and Eve. Eden is just a glimpse of the amazing future that awaits God’s Children when God’s good creation is restored. Our hope and happiness are in the future when God will restore a home to us that revolves around him. He will bring us to a home that is perfect where we will live with no more pain or death.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. Revelation 22:1-3 ESV

If you enjoyed this then click the like button, leave a comment, or ask a question! Next up Genesis Chapter 3: Kicked out of Eden we are Expatriates now.