Genesis 2:

16 And the Lord God (YHWH) commanded the man saying, Of all the tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die 

Adam, the man, was neither formed to be immortal nor created to be mortal; he wasn’t perfect nor imperfect. But he was innocent in that he had no knowledge of anything good or evil – as innocent as a newly born child which hasn’t been tested with the any experience of this life. The man didn’t know any experience outside of God, and of the knowledge of the beautiful animals and their worlds. He was to eat any of the trees in the garden except that of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, to the bold phrases above in the passage. In the margins, the first which is thou mayest freely eat is in Hebrew said to literally mean eating thou shall eat and the second, thou shall surely die as dying thou shall die. Eating and dying constitute a sense of continuos actions. Eating should mean continuing taking as food and dying as a process of continuing to die. We shall return to this in future medications if the Lord wills.

Here, man could be taking or pertaking of every tree in the garden apart from that of the knowledge of good and evil or else he would be dying. God didn’t put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden for the purpose of tripping Adam, the man through test of thou shall not. It’s planted there by someone other than the Lord God. So the servants of the householder came and said to him, Sir, didst not thou  sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, an enemy hath done this…(Matthew 13:27-28). When the Lord God said, Dying thou shalt die (a double emphasis), He was warning the man of the consequences of what would result. It’s like a parent warning a child not to make a spark near petrol or gas. The parent knows the consequence but the child doesn’t.

The two trees were exclusively mutual and of keen interest to the watching universe, earth being the newest, recently placed in space. Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth?…. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job: 4-7). The other prominent tree was about life; this life was God’s own. The God-formed man was to make a choice between partaking of the sole nature of God “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light where no man can approach unto….” (1 Timothy 6:16) or partaking of mortality, coded in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam, the man was to journey to either of the two options of expression.

Immortality is more than deathlessness. It is a nature that encompasses what makes God up. No other being has this nature. God at no time was never non-existent; God didn’t become. He has always been. After all, there are other God-formed beings that have a form of deathlessness. Angels are! Satan is! He’s been here since aeon years, overseeing and supervising generation after generation of mankind. If immortality is a matter of deathlessness which angels and Satan partake of too, then it’s superfluous for the scripture to say of the Lord, the true potentate as he ” …… Who only hath immortality.”

This immortal nature peculiar to God alone, this inheritance of the glory of God was held out to man as a hope to come into. It’s a pursuit we are still gunning after, even now. “Wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2). Again, “To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life” (Romans 2:7). 

The garden in Eden then was a school of fellowship, family experience with the Godhead. It’s the garden of God’s delight. But it’s also porous for, as we continue in our meditation, we shall see a being call Satan who had access to it also. He’s the enemy that hath done this, vehemently antagonistic to the Creator.

Lord, it’s a great thing to know the genesis of our life, to know the good thoughts You have for us; it’s good to know you have ever enjoined man to be like and be part of the godhead. Thank you for all these and more, for that’s where belong. Thank You for the trees in the garden for all the actions taken there are coming into fulfilling Your thoughts for us. Your adversary will always play into Your hand

Lord, thank You