The Exile
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen 3:22-24).
This is the tragedy of disobedience. Man was created for fellowship with God, and that fellowship was broken. The Garden was created for man, and was to be his perfect home, but after the fall he could no longer stay. When discord entered into our relationship to God, we were also cast into discord with the rest of His creation. Man now dwells in a place of continual strife. As we are redeemed, and our relationships to God is restored, we are also restored to a place of harmony with His creation. This is a part of the gospel, and it is part of the message we have been given to carry. As He said in Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’” Paradise will be restored as we see in Rom 8:19-22: For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Even so, there is relatively little said about the restoration of the creation in Scripture, because that is obviously for the age to come. Before we can be used to accomplish the restoration, we must have our relationships to God fully restored, and then our relationships to our fellow men. This restoration of fellowship between men actually begins with the restoration of the intended relationship between men and women.
- The situation in Syria is chaotic. Most of the cities are in ruins. More than 2million Syrians are refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.
- Pray for the protection and safety of some refugees who are forced to go back to Syria because of huge medical bills where they are in order to get free medical treatment in Syria.
- Pray for many Syrian children that are separated from their families, many have dropped from school and are forced to become bread winners for their families.
- Pray for peace in that country that have defied all international efforts for a peaceful resolve of the crisis.