Articles
God Created Mankind. Then What?
Genesis 2 describes again the incredible creation of the human race. The LORD formed the first human being, Adam, “from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (v.7). The entire Genesis account of creation peaks at this point: mankind is the final entity to be created, and the only being to be blessed by God and given dominion over the rest of creation (Gen. 1.28). This raises an important question to the reader of Genesis: what would God do with Adam? What would be his purpose for existence? How would God interact with the newly-formed man?
“Then 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.’” (Genesis 2.15-17)
God Provided Adam with Purpose
Adam was placed in the garden not simply to lay about, eat fruit, and stare at the clouds. Adam was instructed to work and keep the garden of Eden. God established this paradise of a garden in Genesis 2.8, distinguishing it from the rest of the created realm of nature, and this garden by His design required maintenance. And yet what a blessed life Adam was to lead in this garden! His charge would be so very different from the grueling labor that Adam would be subjected to in Genesis 3 due to his sin. Even in a state of sinlessness and moral perfection Adam required a purpose for his day, a reason to live.
Today we have also been provided with a purpose for living. Mankind was ejected from the garden long ago, but the irony is that we’ve been called right back to our original profession: tending a garden! “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9.37-38). Mankind today has been called back into the fields of the Lord’s kingdom to search out those who would serve Jesus as King and to bear fruit for Him as branches of the True Vine (John 15.5). Many today are searching for their reason for living today, and many grow hopeless and despondent as this world cannot provide a true reason to exist. The LORD has provided us with purpose: will we accept it, rejoice in it, and find our happiness in it?
God Provided Adam with Sustenance
Adam’s creation is followed by God’s providence in several key areas. God immediately creates a garden in which grew “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2.9). Following Adam’s placement in the garden he is then provided with “a helper fit for him” (2.18). God has provided man with some form of shelter from the elements in the garden, as he and Eve are not clothed (v.25) and yet this is not a problem that God is described to have addressed. In short, God gives mankind absolutely everything they could possibly need to fulfill their purpose and provide for their needs in this perfect state.
People today wonder whether or not God will provide for them. We know this because thousands of years after God created the human race and provided for each and every one of their needs, Jesus addressed men and women who were still worried whether God would provide. And yet Jesus speaks to this during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6.31-32: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or “What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” Little has changed today. The God that created you and gave you purpose will not fail to provide you with what you need to carry out His purposes for you. Our problem is we often fault God for not providing what we need for our purposes.
God Provided Adam with Boundaries
The concepts of holiness and righteousness both imply the possibility of an alternative. After all, there is no “right” choice unless a “wrong” choice exists, and there can be no “holy” if there is nothing from which to be separate. God is both righteous and holy (Psalm 7.9, Leviticus 11.45), and God chose to require both from the only created being with the ability to imitate Him. In the garden of Eden God placed two special trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2.9). Upon the first God places no restriction, but upon the second God provided mankind with the choice between righteousness and unrighteousness, between the holy and the unholy. Rather than create mankind to be a mindless automaton, incapable of choosing righteousness and holiness, God provided mankind the opportunity to honor and obey Him, enabling them to be righteous and holy. Without His commandments there is no choice, no ability to seek God, no opportunity to imitate Him out of love and admiration.
The world balks at the concept of a God who commands and requires our obedience. Without His command, how can there be any “right” or “wrong”? If we are the source of the standard, what prevents us from setting that standard and changing it when we see fit? Moral relativism is attractive for this very reason. On the other hand, God’s commandments for us are not a burden nor a curse: they are the avenue by which we express our love for Him. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5.3). God’s commandments enable us to have the choice to be righteous and holy. A life spent in defiance of God’s commandments is certainly unrighteous and unholy, but a life lived without God’s commandments by definition cannot be righteous nor holy.
Conclusion
The original state of man was one in which they had purpose, were fully sustained, and were given boundaries to make them righteous and holy. So many in our world today either have no idea this is what we were meant to be or have turned away from this towards the Tempter’s lies. Will we seek to return to the garden through faith in Jesus Christ, or will we endlessly toil and sweat and suffer till we eventually die? Just as it was long ago, so it is now: It’s our choice. -Kyle Sanders
