Exodus Sequel: Returning to the Garden

Joseph Gisbey considers the nature of God and man, Adam and Eve, and how Christians today might respond to temptation ... 

So often I find myself thinking God is just like me. He likes the same music, agrees with my prescribed doctrines and spirituality, gets ticked off at the same things and would probably, if here wear the same clothes as me! Of course this is absolutely ludicrous but we humans definitely hold the propensity to presume that Yahweh the maker of heaven and earth is just like us. The famous quote attributed to Mark Twain and Rousseau amongst others says, ‘God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentleman, returned the favor.’

The Genesis narrative clearly shows us that God desired a people that he could relate to, not creatures led simply by impulses or servants like the angels. Psalm 5:8 says, ‘You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.’ However, the word here translated as angels is actually Elohim, which is an interesting Hebrew word. It was used to identify the ‘creator god’ and became one of the common names for Yahweh. The radical nature of this verse is that God made us to be just like him, to have royal blood and heavenly DNA flowing through our veins. God desired friends who would take his hand and walk with him, who could know his heart, who he could share the stewardship and beauty of his creation with. What began in a garden was supposed to envelop the earth. Adam and Eve were called to take dominion to multiply and to carry the Glory of God that clothed them until earth looked just like heaven. Their relationship was that of a loving Dad, raising his children, they walked and talked in the cool of the day. 

This was too much for Satan to bear! From what we can piece together from scripture (and it is rather nuanced and up for conversation), a belief arose that Satan, once known as Lucifer, had become too ‘big for his boots’ and declared that he would become ‘like God’. God said, ‘No you won’t!’ and cast him out of heaven along with a third of the angels. Lucifer now stripped of any glory he once had sees God create mankind to be just like him in Adam and Eve. To Satan this was salt rubbed in the wound. The serpent was determined to ruin the plan of God, but how?

First, he would challenge what they thought they knew about their father and themselves. This is so often the root of our failing when we are made to question the ultimate goodness of our heavenly father and what he has lovingly promised us. ‘Did God really say...?’ Adam and Eve were faced with a choice, would they take the bait and question the ultimate source of truth and goodness? Our world gets rocked when this cornerstone of God’s goodness is challenged. If I begin to question if He really has my best intentions at heart, fight and flight kicks in and I begin to depend on my knowledge of good and evil to try to answer the serpent’s question. Who or what was going to be their ultimate source of truth? It’s not only a challenge to God’s goodness but also to God’s ultimate authority in their lives. I am sure Eve thought to herself, ‘Look at that fruit! It looks amazing! ... it must be good. Maybe I just heard wrong…’ God’s command was, ‘you must not eat from the tree...’ (Genesis 2:16) and He never saw fit to explain why not. They were to accept it simply based on the fact that their loving Dad knew what was right.

Isn’t it ironic that in spite of the almost complete freedom that God gives, they are about to stumble in the one command that he left them? ‘God knows you will be just like him’ the serpent hisses. ‘Just like him’ was tempting – they had seen Yahweh in all his glory. The great irony of course is that they already were like him – but they wanted more. They wanted to be the ultimate authority.

This is the great temptation that mankind has faced throughout all history - to see ourselves as god.  This was just as true in Jesus’ day. Indeed it was the world into which the second phase of returned exiles from Babylon would step into. In the centuries preceding the birth of our saviour, Alexander the Great had conquered much of the then known world. Alexander believed that the Greek way of life, known as Hellenism was superior to anything the tribes and nations that he faced had to offer. As a result he quickly set about attempting to change the culture of the lands that he conquered using the propaganda machines of sport, theatre, education and religion. The human form was worshipped, as was the human mind and reasoning. Truth became what could be understood and controlled. The Platonic philosophy of dualism would have a huge impact on Christianity, as reasoning would assume pride of place over experience of the indwelling Christ and the power of The Holy Spirit.  Religious beliefs would be instilled through the Temple and Greek Theatre, where the stories of the gods were proclaimed in all their glory. Though Hellenism claimed to believe in a myriad of different gods the reality is the people worshipped themselves. Their gods were made in their own image, little more than extreme versions of humanity’s attributes, both its virtues and depravities.

Hellenism is still alive and well both within atheistic and religious philosophies, today we call it humanism and whilst the names and understandings of the gods have changed, there is little difference between our 21^st century culture and that into which the gospel first advanced. We still worship human accomplishments; we lust and obsess over the human form, we elevate what can be understood and chase after what pleasures can be had. For the most part we don’t care at what cost or who we must walk over to achieve the objects of our desire. The battle has not stopped raging from that day in Eden when Satan first said, ‘Has God really said?...’ How are we going to respond? What will the true sons and daughters of the living God, those who know their loving father, give in answer to this challenge? Will we eat the bait or will we, through word and deed, live out a different way to be human? Will we upstage the empire through our love for our neighbour? Will our lives declare man is not the ultimate source of truth, God alone is worthy and He alone is supreme!

Joseph Gisbey’s first book, Follow: Walking in the Dust of the Rabbi, was published on Thursday May 21 and is available to purchase in paperback and eBook for £9.99.