Cast Out of Eden… Why?

When the serpent found his way to the heart of Adam and Eve, and evil entered Paradise, God was faced with a problem. What would He do now?

The greatest revelations of character come when we watch someone responding under provocation. Knowing God's great character of love, knowing that He had said Adam and Eve were to be left free to obey or disobey—that is, with no punishment either way at His hands, Patriarchs and Prophets, 48; A. T. Jones, Ecclesiastical Empire, 586-588 —we look on to see what God will indeed do now. If our sensitivity were not so muted by long familiarity with this story, surely it would come to us as a great surprise, shocking in fact, to read that "He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Genesis 3:24.

Drove? With a sword? To keep His tree of life safe? What happened to His principle that "the exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government"? The Desire of Ages, 22. Where now is His eternal promise, "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise—that is, never, in any case, under any circumstances—cast out"? John 6:37. In essence, He is saying, "There can never come a time when I will ever cast you out." Yet that is the first thing He does, apparently, when Adam and Eve disobey and then come to Him for forgiveness.

When we come up against an apparent contradiction between what God says He will do and what He actually does, our only task is to cling to the promises instead of to sight and circumstance. "When we learn the power of His word, we shall not follow the suggestions of Satan... Our only questions will be, What is God's command? and what His promise? Knowing these, we shall obey the one and trust the other." The Desire of Ages, 121.

" 'By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' are we to live. When assailed by temptation, look not to circumstances or to the weakness of self, but to the power of the word...' By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. '" The Desire of Ages, 123; Matthew 4:4; Psalm 17:4.

Therefore, in order to keep ourselves from the very path of false reasoning that Satan would have us follow, we must not "cast away faith, the key of knowledge," like Eve did. Education, 24. Instead, if we cling to God's word about Himself and trust that "from Christ's kingdom, every carnal weapon, every instrument of coercion is banished", The Acts of the Apostles, 12, we can be assured that we hold in our hands the key to knowledge which will unlock the puzzle of the swords which the angels held at the gates of Eden.

In order to do this we must look away from our own conception of what happened at the gates of Eden to the promises:
first, that God will in no wise cast out those who come to Him in repentance, John 6:37 and further, that no one is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand, not even Satan. John 10:29.

Based on these two promises and the fact that Adam and Eve did indeed repent of their sin, The Great Controversy, 647-648; The S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Vol. 1:1084, we must conclude that even though it looked like God was casting them out in punishment for their crime, in reality, they were still in the palm of His hand. If you will recollect, something similar happened at the cross, when Jesus Himself cried, "My God, My God, why are You forsaking Me?" Matthew- 27:46. He experienced being cast out Himself, but we know, looking back on it, that His Father was right there beside Him all the time, simply hidden from His sight.

One obscure Adventist wrote: "When we really know that the Lord truly loves us with an infinite and undying ardor, then we are absolutely sure that He will never do anything other than that which is for our best good even though it might seem otherwise at times. It was difficult for John the Baptist and impossible for his disciples to discern the manifestation of God's love toward him... [in] prison, but the Lord knew that, under the circumstances, this was the most loving thing that could be done for him. Since nothing is permitted to come to the Christian and his children other than what is for their best good, including the times when God permits them to bring suffering upon themselves by their own waywardness, then it is manifest that there is no place for murmuring, complaining or expressions of discontent among true Christians."

Therefore, when Adam and Eve were being cast out of Eden, evidently in punishment for their sins—when they lost their magnificent home and went forth to experience cold and hunger, thorns and thistles, hatred and the murder of their youngest son by their firstborn—"under the circumstances, this was the most loving thing that could be done for them."

Without a doubt, they had brought all this suffering upon themselves. But even the suffering which not God, but they themselves had set in motion, was designed to work for their best good. Romans 8:28. In fact, Sister White goes so far as to say that when Adam and Eve go home to heaven once more and they see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of His purpose in casting them out of Eden, they will choose for Him to have done just that-- cast them out. The Desire of Ages, 224.

So why did God cast them out, if He was sworn not to punish them for disobedience? It would appear from Genesis 3:22 that He was doing it in His own self-interest, just as Satan had said He would: "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore, the LORD God sent him forth..." The normal interpretation of this verse runs something like this: "This man creature has gone far enough! Let's stop him from taking any more of Our position and privileges." But was it really to protect Himself that God sent Adam and Eve forth from their home?

If there is one thing we can depend upon, it is the fact that in every instance, God takes no consideration for Himself and His position—every move is for us and our needs. You have heard the old saying, "You can't get there from here." This had become literally true in Eden. They could no longer get home to Heaven, if they stayed in their earthly Paradise.

"Adam and Eve had chosen the knowledge of evil, and if they ever regained the position they had lost they must regain it under the unfavorable conditions they had brought upon themselves. No longer were they to dwell in Eden, for in its perfection it could not teach them the lessons which it was now essential for them to learn....

"Although the earth was blighted with the curse, nature was still to be man's lesson book. It could not now represent goodness only; for evil was everywhere present, marring earth and sea and air with its defiling touch. Where once was written only the character of God, the knowledge of good, was now written also the character of Satan, the knowledge of evil. From nature, which now revealed the knowledge of good and evil, man was continually to receive warning as to the results of sin." Education, 25, 26.

Consequently, God's casting them out was an act of great mercy to all mankind, for had they stayed in Eden, they would never have achieved Heaven at all. Therefore, God was providing them with a chance to choose again. Only by seeing evil and good side by side could Adam and Eve choose again and regain a higher position and a more enduring Paradise.

Their loving Father had never intended them to know what bitterness was, but now that "God's restraint was snapped asunder, and their education under the teacher of lies began," Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 12, there was nothing He could do but let them have what they wanted—a taste of this new thing call "evil." Thus: "They gained the knowledge which God had refused them—to know the consequences of transgression. The tree of knowledge, so-called, [had] become an instrument of death." Ibid.

Notice that it was not an instrument of death to begin with. God had not placed a trap in the Garden ready with built-in punishment if they should disobey Him. "The knowledge of evil, the curse of sin, was all that the transgressors gained. There was nothing poisonous in the fruit itself, and the sin was not merely in yielding to appetite. It was distrust of God's goodness, disbelief of His word and rejection of His authority, that made our first parents transgressors, and that brought into the world a knowledge of evil. It was this that opened the door to every species of falsehood and error. Man lost all because he chose to listen to the deceiver rather than to Him who is Truth, who alone has understanding. By the mingling of evil with good, his mind had become confused, his mental and spiritual powers benumbed. No longer could he appreciate the good that God had so freely bestowed." Education, 25.

"Even the tree of good and evil was a gift to them, for it was a school designed to teach that which would be a perpetual protection. As they multiplied upon the earth, all that they had would have to be shared with the increasing population. Unless the lesson of absolute respect for the property of another was deeply educated into their minds, contention, strife, confusion, and open war would develop as men sought to wrest from each other that which they desired." Behold Your God, 21. Unfortunately, that lesson was never learned, and strife and open war have been our lot ever since.

When God sent His children out from Eden, He was not punishing them by any means, only giving them what they had wanted in the first place. But with the characteristic love of a Father, He provided a way back home. "As far as evil extends, the voice of our Father is heard, bidding His children see in its results the nature of sin, warning them to forsake the evil and inviting them to receive the good." Education, 27.

"So long as Adam remained loyal to Heaven, all nature was in subjection to him. But when he rebelled against the divine law, the inferior creatures were in rebellion against his rule. Thus the Lord, in His great mercy, would show men the sacredness of His law, and lead them, by their own experience, to see the danger of setting it aside, even in the slightest degree." Patriarchs and Prophets, 59-60.

Has a parent ever tried to warn a child against a hot stove, or a dog away from chasing cars, without learning this horrible lesson of the dangers of disobedience firsthand? There are, of course, harder lessons than hot stoves and dying dogs, worse sights of the consequences of sin yet to go through.

But the learning of new lessons essential to their salvation was not the only purpose in separating them from Eden. God asked them to leave their paradise home for a yet deeper reason:

"They had yielded to Satan's deception and believed the word of Satan, that God would lie. By their transgression they had opened the way for Satan to gain access to them more readily, and it was not safe for them to remain in the Garden of Eden." The Story of Redemption, 40.

Why was Eden suddenly now so unsafe for them that they must have angels protecting them from its dangers?
"The bewitching power of Satan is upon him(Adam).... Every faculty and power given him of God has been used as a weapon against the divine Benefactor. So, although He loves him, God cannot safely impart to him the gifts and blessings He desires to bestow." The S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Vol. 6:1099. Evidently God still desired to impart to man the blessings of the tree of life, but it was no longer safe to do so. What was it about the tree of life that could be turned into a weapon against the universe?

It was because of what Satan had in mind that God had to guard Adam and Eve from the dangers now inherent in the tree of life. For, "it was Satan's studied plan that Adam and Eve should disobey God, receive His frown, and then partake of the tree of life, that they might perpetuate a life of sin." The Story of Redemption, 41. Of what is perpetual sin a description? An everlasting hell. God would spare both them and the universe that.

"Satan's intention was nothing less than the creation of an everlasting hell. Satan and the fallen angels "could unite with Adam and Eve, take possession of Eden, and hold it as their home. And if they could gain access to the tree of life in the midst of the garden, their strength would, they thought, be equal to that of the holy angels, and even God Himself could not expel them.... If they failed here, all prospect of regaining and controlling heaven, or any part of God's creation, was hopeless... He shuddered at the thought of plunging the holy pair into the misery and remorse he was himself enduring." The Story of Redemption, 28.

Satan may have shuddered at the thought, but he did it anyway. And hell resulted, for hell is "any place or condition of evil, pain, disorder or cruelty." Webster's New World Dictionary. Clearly then, Satan intended to begin his everlasting hell on Earth and then extend it to Heaven, until he controlled the entire universe. He did indeed succeed in making a hell of this Earth—that is, a place of pain, disorder and cruelty—for most of its inhabitants. But because of God's foresight and instant provision of guardian angels, Satan failed in his idea of making it everlasting.

"Satan had been working to make the gulf deep and impassable between earth and heaven. By his falsehoods he had emboldened men in sin. It was his purpose to wear out the forbearance of God, and to extinguish His love for man, so that He would abandon the world to satanic jurisdiction." The Desire of Ages, 34-35. What if he had succeeded? Satanic jurisdiction -- what better description of hell could there be, than to be handed over to the cruelest of tyrants?

Fortunately, because of God's undying love and His unfathomable wisdom, the provision of those angels at the gates of Paradise foiled Satan's plan to create an eternal hell. What was Satan's response? To charge God with creating the very hell He had worked so hard to prevent. "With his own evil characteristics he sought to invest the loving Creator. Thus he deceived angels. Thus he deceived men....Thus he drew men to join him in rebellion against God and the night of woe settled down upon the world." The Desire of Ages, 22. When Satan found that he had failed, he charged the work of creating hell upon the very One Who alone had kept it from happening.

"But after the Fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to inculcate the belief in man's natural immortality; and having induced the people to receive this error, they were to lead them on to conclude that the sinner would live in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness, working through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant, declaring that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him, and causes them ever to feel His wrath.... Thus the archfiend clothes with his own attributes the Creator and Benefactor of mankind. Cruelty is satanic. God is love." The Great Controversy, 534.

Naturally, those who were blinded by Satan's lies about God, misunderstood His actions, having only Satan's interpretation of what had happened at the gates of Eden, and "instead of gratefully remembering His mercy to Adam and His gracious covenant with Noah, they had complained of His severity in expelling the first pair from Eden.... But while they murmured against God as arbitrary and severe, they were accepting the rule of the cruelest of tyrants." Patriarchs and Prophets, 120.

When the end is seen from the beginning, and Adam and Eve see what would have resulted from remaining in Eden—will they not be glad to have left that happy home? And when they see what God had in mind all along, when they re-enter the gates His way, will they not then rejoice to have trusted His way over their own finite reasoning?

For heaven and hell hung in the balance that day, at the gates of Paradise. They could have chosen to grasp eternal life their way—and they would have created hell instead. Or they could follow God's advice and leave their glorious home, not really understanding why, only to find heaven again, waiting for them at the end of the line. Because they chose the latter and above all, because of their Father's foresight and the loving guardianship of the angels, Heaven triumphed.

Being cast out is not such a bad deal, when it is the only way back home.