Genesis 3:24 So 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… I. WHENCE DID HE DRIVE HIM? From Eden. 1. It was a garden of pleasure. 2. A scene of wholesome occupation. 3. A temple of blissful communion. And out of all this he was driven. II. WHEREFORE DID HE DRIVE HIM? 1. The act of man's disobedience was the ground of this expulsion. 2. This act of disobedience, if properly considered, will be found to be an act of high demerit and aggravated criminality. 3. The awful indications of Divine displeasure that have followed this act, plainly demonstrate to every considerate mind what must have been its malignant nature. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" III. WHITHER DID HE DRIVE HIM? He drove him into this blighted wilderness of our present abode; He drove him without the precincts of the garden that was formed for him, and in which he was first placed — He drove out the man — sent him forth to till the ground, and He "placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." This world is a wilderness, because — 1. So inferior to Eden. 2. A scene of labour. 3. A scene of vicissitude. 4. A scene of vexation. IV. WHETHER THERE IS ANY DOOR OF HOPE AND ESCAPE? 1. It is my delightful task and happiness to announce to you that the gospel reveals Him who is the second Adam. The first Adam was a figure of Him that was to come — in Adam all died, in Christ all are made alive. What the first Adam destroyed, the second Adam repaired. 2. By His perfect obedience, and meritorious sacrifice for sin, He has actually declared the right and title of reinstatement to this inheritance in behalf of all His people. 3. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is the appointed means of our personal restoration to God's favour, and the pleasure and delight of communion with Him. 4. Regeneration and sanctification are the feet by which we are to retrace our steps to celestial felicity. 5. There is a blessed certainty in all this — a certainty upon which you may depend, and upon which you may venture your immortal souls without scruple or hesitation, and which the second Adam has secured by His all-perfect obedience, atonement, and death. (G. Clayton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. |
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