Dear Readers and Listeners
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of Genesis, Chapter Three verse Nineteen, “God said: By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” (NRSVB). In the creation account we read that God spoke and said that the knowledge of good and evil, blessing and calamity that was bestowed on humanity after the act of disobedience, caused that they had to leave the Garden of Eden.
Adam’s and Eve’s leaving the Garden of Eden resulted in their having to toil to harvest food from the earth, it also caused their existence changed from immortality to mortality. God numbered the days of each individual’s life-span and ordained that they would return to the ground where they came from once they expired. The Garden of Eden was guarded by angels with flaming swords, thus it was not possible to return to Paradise. Humanity had to learn to live their lives on the earth and use the soil and seeds, the produce of nature and the elements to eke out a new type of life. God did not take his protection or his care from the humans he created. Out of his love he did not take their lives away from them in Paradise, despite their disobedience, he forgave them. He gave them a second chance to live on earth and create a life for themselves and their off-springs, with his help. Nothing would be the same again, until the Son of God would come and reconcile humans with their Father God, attaining entrance to Paradise and life-everlasting as God intended from the beginning.
The prophet Jeremiah prophesied in the Book of Jeremiah, Chapter Twenty Nine verse Fourteen, “I will be found of you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I have caused you to be carried away,” (Amplified Bible). This promise was firstly seen as a promise to the captives who had been taken from Jerusalem and who were held in captivity. It can also be interpreted as a promise to all humanity, for all suffered the result of having been driven from the Garden of Eden. Ultimately through death and resurrection, all will be reinstated in paradise where they will live with God forever.
When Jesus was teaching his disciples regarding the Kingdom of Heaven he told the disciple Nathanael, as we read in the Gospel of John in Chapter One verse Fifty One, “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you all, you shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man,” (Amplified Bible). Instead of angels with flaming swords, guarding the way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus Christ would make it possible, through his death and resurrection, that those who believe in him would enter paradise, accompanied by the angels. Death has been overcome and the fear of death has been vanquished, death has become the portal to victory. The mortals who have turned to dust, would be restored to immortality, their earthly bodies would be changed to the perfection of the transfigured body.
The Apostle Paul wrote in his Second Letter to Timothy in Chapter One verse Ten, regarding Christ’s gift of life for all, “Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” (NRSVB). Because of the work of Jesus Christ, as God promised already to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we have gained entry to Paradise and will live with God in the Paradise, as Jesus promised there where he was hanging on the Cross, to the man hanging next to him. Despite the heart-ache and devastation of death here on earth, and the accompanying sorrow, we are assured of life-everlasting and look forward to see our loved ones again. We can face the challenges of working on earth and of dying on earth, for we will receive immortality through the Gospel, the Good News of Christ’s perfect work: his death, resurrection and life, for us.
Dear Father God, our Father, we thank you that you planned for our re-entrance in paradise, to live with you and your Son and the Holy Spirit, the angelic hosts and all the believers through the ages in perfect peace in the Kingdom of Heaven. We praise your Holy Name and ask that your will be done on earth as in heaven, Amen.