Sealed by the Cherubim: Genesis 3:20-24
God needs to show us a better path. I was talking with some students this week about prayer. They asked if it was selfish to pray for things they wanted. I told them it’s never wrong to pray for things we want. After all, prayer is communication with God. If the desire lives in our heart, we might as well pray it out loud and confess its existence. At the same time, though, when we pray for our desires we should always leave room for God to change our desires when they do not align with His desires. We may want something, but we should always recognize the possibility that God has a better way.
Now that Adam and Eve knew the difference between good and evil, God casts them out of the garden. He did not want beings under the influence of sin also having the condition of immortality. The last thing God needs is a planet full of immortal self-centered people mucking about His beautiful creation.
Before God casts out Adam and Eve, He makes clothing for them. He replaces the fig leaves and gives them genuine clothing to keep them safe, warm, and dry. I love how the story of the fall blends God’s righteousness and God’s compassion together.
Adam and Eve sinned; there were consequences. God did not ignore the consequences. Rather, God issued the consequences because He loved them. Ignoring Adam and Eve’s transgression would not have been an expression of love and compassion. What would they have learned?
On the other hand, God knew kicking them out of Eden would force them into a world that can be cruel and harsh. Thus, God gave Adam and Eve clothing. The consequences God hands out to Adam and Eve provide a circumstance for Him to express love. In this, we see God’s compassion is sated by His righteousness. These two things must go together.
As God drives Adam and Eve out of the garden, he places a guardian so that the garden could never be entered again. This guardian signifies the end of scene one in the story of God’s relationship with creation. God created a beautiful place. God made incredible things that complemented one another. God desired for that existence to continue forever. Sin entered the world and many people say everything changed. The cherubim signify this change. What was intended is sullied and it cannot be revisited.
On the other hand, I believe nothing changed. God still allows us to dwell in His creation. God still desires to dwell with us. God still wants us to live forever with Him. Nothing has changed.
This is the dichotomy into which scene two will be written. God needs to write the story about how we can return to Eden. We can’t go back through the path sealed by the cherubim. There needs to be another way. God needs to show us a better path.
