Catching up

We saw previously that God is love. Jesus always acknowledged God‘s love for Himself in prayer and conversation. We saw the enduring nature of God‘s Love. Then we talked about knowing and developing faith in this love. We moved on and looked at the failure of natural human love. Last week we looked at the different kinds of love so that we may locate and pinpoint what exactly the love of God is not, and what it is.

We are now exploring how God loves us. We cannot walk in love unless we know how God Himself does it.

We will look at God‘s original intent and love for mankind in the garden of Eden.

Reading Genesis 1-2 we see a clear picture of God’s original intent for man before sin came. We sometimes do not like the responsibility and accountability part of God’s love. We can learn much about the love of God in the Garden of Eden before the fall.

The name Eden is associated with the idea of delight, pleasure, or luxury. Genesis describes it as a place that God Himself planted and prepared for humanity:

Do not look at Genesis chapter 1 and 2 through the lens of the fall - Adams sin, why God put the tree of knowledge in there or why God allowed Satan in there. The primary revelation of the garden of Eden is that God is Love, and this love never failed even after mans fall. In Edens luxurious beautiful provision God shows that not only does He create, but He also cares. Man failed in the garden because he did not love God back.

God's Love demonstrated in His provision and generousity

There was provision of every good thing in the Garden. God spent 5 days preparing for man a garden fit for him. Everything was ready for man before he came on the scene.

God does not give man a ration, He gives him a garden. Too many do not realise that God’s love is not to give you a ration, but a funtional garden that produces everything you need.

Do you think it will be different for you today? Long before you came on this planet God already made provision for you. The first act of love in Eden is extravagant abundance. Think of having access to all the fruits of the earth within reach! I am sure there are some fruits you have not tasted. Adam had all of them.

The garden was not only functional but beautiful. Beauty before the fall had a ministry to man.

This is the love of the God who, as Paul writes, “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). The logic of love is already visible in Eden: God gives first, and gives lavishly.

Have things changed today? Jesus told us not to worry about what we shall eat, drink or wear. He told us To seek His kingdom first and all these things shall be added unto us. He told us that we are more precious to God than we realise.

God has a daily portion allocated for you. We are living from pay check to pay check and thats not the garden God created for us. We have created the rations lifestyle by not seeking the kingdom of God first and seeking to get things naturally instead of resting in His love. Do not be like Isreal whom Jesus sought to gather as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings - but they were unwilling to come under the love of God and chose self sufficiency.

There is a garden for you today if you trust in God’s love for you.

God's Love demonstrated by His felowship

The first manifestation of love was provision and the second is His presence. God did not just drop the gift of the garden from a distance. He was involved. God waking in the garden signifies fellowship. He came to see them from time to time.

God‘s deepest demonstration of love is GOD WITH US.

What about today? Many are choosing comfort over the presence of His love. We have the presence of God with us as evidence of His love. Practice the presence of God.

He is with us today in a more powerful manner than He was with Adam and Eve.

God's Love demonstrated by giving us a responsibility

The third manifestation of love is purpose. God did not create Adam to fend for himself; He provided a nurturing environment where Adam could thrive and carry out his duties - a calling which is worship.

Before sin entered, work was satisfaction itself. It was purpose and not punishment. Many today are looking for job satisfaction and just finding stress.

Believing and trusting in Gods love for us will cause us to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

Mankind has moved away from knowing and relying on God’s love to rely on self. We hear about self made business people - there is no such thing.

God’s love does not merely pamper; it entrusts.

God's Love demonstrated by setting bounderies

God’s love is not a carefree love without responsibility. It is not a love that destroys but protects from harm. God did not put the tree and then let man find the hard way that they should not have eaten from it. We read that when God created all the trees He saw that everything was good. The tree was not bad, but there was a time and purpose for it. Also notice the command is given in the context of abundance. Every tree was given to freely eat, INCLUDING THE TREE OF LIFE. Only one was kept back from man. It was a lesson of obedience. The single prohibition, set against the vast permission, reveals a God who gives freedom its proper shape. God had loved man, and now it was mans opportunity to love Him back. Jesus later said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). The principle reflects what was true from the beginning: love is tied to obedience, not as a burden, but as the natural response of a creature who trusts the character of the God who created and commands.

God's Love demonstrated by providing a soul mate

We are so used to seeing the phrase “And God saw that it was good” In Genesis 1. God makes that statement after every creation day. In a creation repeatedly pronounced “good” (Genesis 1), this is the first “not good”—and it is spoken in love. This is important because everything God had previously created was called “good.” But God identifies one thing as “not good”: man’s aloneness.

Due to selfishness it is difficult to marry for the believer today. Many are living in open sin, and that puts the saint off to marriage. Still majority are living in the flesh to be of any use in a godly marriage. However God is still a matchmaker today. He does not think that it is good for anyone to not be married and be alone.

In Eden, God saw Adam’s condition before Adam had articulated a request. God knew what Adam needed, and God made provision. God did not send Adam to a matrimonial site or go looking for someone.

God's Love demonstrated in eternal felowship

God never blocked the route to the tree of life in the begining. It was intended for man to eat. The tree of life stood at the garden’s centre—a sign that God’s intention for humanity was not mere existence but eternal fellowship. Its presence testified that life, not death, was God’s design. Its later removal (Genesis 3:22–24) was not cruelty but mercy, preventing humanity from living forever in a fallen state.

God's Love demonstrated in persistance after the fall

The consequences of disobedience are real—spiritual death, the destroying of communion with God and sin is now mans nature. Satan has become the god of the world. Even after the fall, it was God who made the clothes for Man to wear. God‘s love is still persistent in covering man from his nakedness and shame. Adam and Eve tried to make clothing from leaves, but it was insufficient and not practicle. God made better ones for them. God was willing to kill animals to help man, a foreshadow of Christ. Then God makes a promise that the seed of the very woman who deceived Eve will crush Satan underfoot. This was the first whisper of the Gospel.

God's Love demonstrated in Discipline

We do not like to talk about this part. Love will discipline you. Both Adam and Eve found out that God in His love took away the path to the tree of life. God’s action against their sin was immediate but tempered with love. Both punishment and redemption was dealt at the same time. In these verses above, discipline is presented as “the consequence of love, not its contradiction”. The Living Bible renders Hebrews 12:6 with arresting plainness: “When he punishes you, it proves that he loves you”.

The rod is temporary. The love that wields it is eternal.

Punishment is God acting as Judge; discipline is God acting as Father. Which category are you in? Is He your father or is He God? God’s punishment stems from His wrath against sin, whereas His discipline stems from His love for His children. Discipline is the proof of sonship, not the sign of abandonment. God punished Adam and Eve. Today for His children there is correction and even harsh discipline if needed, but the intention is not to punish to destruction but to bring about repentance.

A love that looks on cruelty, exploitation, and rebellion with cool indifference is not love at all—it is apathy.

The refusal to discipline is the abandonment of responsibility, not the height of tenderness. Many pastors have yet to learn this.

God's Love demonstrated in refining fire

This is closely related to the discipline aspect. Sometimes God has to allow things in your life because you are too stubborn. He has to use the fire of affliction to purify you. A man was living with his father’s wife openly. Paul used his authority to handover that man to satan so that he may suffer in the flesh and change instead of going to hell. We read in 2 corinthians that he eventually repented. It took his body handed over to Satan for destruction for him to change. It is not God’s best for him, but love will do it so that you escape hell. David, after sinning went on living as normal until the prophet challenged him. It took confrontation from God for David to acknowledge his sin.

Conclusion

Gods love continued to man even after the fall and never rested for centuries until Christ came. It did not end there. It is still persistent today. Many have to know and develop faith in this love. I know that if God chastises me, it is for my own good because I trust He is love. There nothing but rest in His love. Satan will do what he did to Eve, make you mistrust God’s love and reach out with the arm of flesh to get what you think you are missing in life.

We have a long deep journey ahead of us in understanding the love God has for us so that we may walk in love. Amen.