And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” — Genesis 3:22
Consider the Lord’s compassion in preventing fallen man from living forever.
What if every Al Capone, Jesse James, and Adolf Hitler were still alive and unchecked in his pursuit of evil? And by now how proficient would the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah be in perfecting perversion?
Yet the Lord’s greater compassion isn’t just curbing runaway evil. It’s in allowing death to come.
What do I mean by that!?
Follow the progression with me:
- Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- The consequence, God had warned, was, “…you will surely die.”
- By their act of disobedience they died immediately–spiritually. For the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).
- They were now “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1).
- In mercy God delayed their physical death, giving them time to repent of their sin, for upon death “comes the judgment” (Heb 9:27).
- After a while He allowed their bodies to die. It was a compassionate halt to their misery from disease, defect, and decline.
- At the right time Christ came to “taste death for everyone,” conquer death by His resurrection, and offer forgiveness and eternal life (Heb 2:9).
- Adam, Eve, and all the “dead in Christ” willsoon be raised imperishable and immortal (1 Cor 15:50-57) when the “first things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
- Thus, for those who are “alive in Christ,” physical death becomes God’s compassionate, necessary gateway for “making all things new” (Rev 21:5).
- And that’s one of the reasons why the Apostle Paul says, “to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).
Thank You, Lord, for not allowing us to live forever in the cesspool of our sin. Even though we must cross through this valley of death, we recognize it is part of Your kind plan to bring us to the New Day when there will no longer be any death, mourning, crying, or pain. Amen!
Blessings,
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