More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP : Gen. 2; 11 -17 Adam's Probation
What if true love is not just a feeling but a choice that demands reciprocation and voluntary expression? Join me, Dr. Robert Jackson, as I navigate the joyful chaos of having eight grandchildren at home, all while reflecting on profound spiritual questions inspired by Genesis, Chapter 2. This episode of More Than Medicine invites you into a family-filled exploration of God's intentions, the significance of free will, and the divine design in creating humanity. We ponder the nature of genuine love and obedience, drawing parallels to parental relationships and setting the stage for a deeper understanding of how love should genuinely motivate our actions, not fear.
The journey continues as we explore the life-altering power of the gospel and its pivotal role in awakening new life within us. I emphasize the urgency and responsibility we have to share this message assertively and kindly with those unaware of the transformative sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. Reflecting on the contrasting choices of Adam and Jesus, we uncover the path to spiritual revival and encourage you to share this good news with those around you. As we wrap up, I invite you to join the Jackson Family Ministry for more resources and insight.
https://www.jacksonfamilyministry.com
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson. Papa, can you tell?
Dr. Robert Jackson:me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather around, grab your Bibles and let's look into the written word, which reveals to us the living word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Well, if you hear loud screeches in the background or bodies falling to the ground or furniture breaking, it's because we have eight grandchildren here in the house today and they insist on running up one flight of stairs across the upper part of the house and down the other stairwell like a racetrack. It's a little cold outside today and they don't want to go out into the yard, as my wife has insisted. I can't decide if my house is more like a racetrack or a bowling alley, but it's a delight to have six grandchildren from Pennsylvania and two from Roebuck and we are the babysitters today, and it's such a great delight. So, anyway, we'll try to do something spiritual while there's bedlam in the background. So we're still in the book of Genesis and we're still in chapter 2, and I'm having a wonderful time studying the Word and sharing with you the insights that I have been gathering.
Dr. Robert Jackson:So let me start with a couple of questions. First one is why was Adam on probation? Why was he even given a moral choice? Have you ever wondered about that? Why was he created, given a moral choice? Have you ever wondered about that? Why was he created in the first place? Was the triune God, who existed from eternity past, not content within himself that he needed to create man for fellowship in a divine experiment? No, no, no, it's not that simple. We cannot answer these questions. Apart from divine revelation. Anything else is human speculation. First thing, we are part of the creation and we are in no place to judge the creator. Just because you are at the top of the food chain on planet earth does not mean that you are at the top of the food chain in the cosmos. So my recommendation is that you and I get off of our high horse. The scripture says shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus? That's in Romans, chapter 9, in verse 20. And that's an excellent question. Shall the clay say to the potter why have you made me this way? Of course not. You see, the Creator has a divine prerogative to make you and me in any way that he pleases.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Number two Holy Scriptures reveal that God is a God of love. First, john, chapter 4, is full of Scripture that explains to us that our God is love, that he is a God of love and that he loves all people. In Revelation, chapter 4 and verse 11, the Bible tells us that he is worthy to receive all glory and all power because it is by his will, his divine will, because it is by his will, his divine will, that he created all things, including mankind and wonder of wonders. He intends to demonstrate the exceeding riches of his grace on man's behalf through all the ages to come. We find that in Ephesians, chapter 2 and verse 7. Number three so, just like parents who beget children for no other reason than that they can love them and care for them, all the while knowing that their child could grow up to become a rebel and reject their parents' love, god created man out of a heart of love on whom he could bestow his love and his care. And number four but true love has to be reciprocated. It has to voluntarily go both ways.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Unrequited love is a great tragedy. You remember that one of Shakespeare's characters said how sharper than a serpent's tooth is a thankless daughter. Well, he understood the pain of unrequited love To be genuine. God allows for mutual love and God demonstrated by to be demonstrated by obedience. In fact, many, many years after the creation, jesus said if you love me, you will obey me. Now my wife and I said that to our children many times over. We would look at them and say if you love me, you will obey me, and we wanted them to get that into their little pea brains so they would understand that their obedience to their parents should ultimately flow out of a heart of love. Well, jesus wants you and me to understand that our obedience to God should flow out of a heart of love and not out of fear.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Number five an involuntary love is a contradiction in terms. There's no such thing. So Adam was given a choice. He was a free moral agent. He was free to love God, but he was also free not to love God. He was a free to obey God and he was also free not to obey God. So you see, this probationary time in the garden was a risky move on God's part. The angels, not being omniscient, held their breath, wondering what would this original man do, god knowing the end from the beginning? Well, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Now let's go to Genesis, chapter 2, verses 11 through 14, and let me read these scriptures to you Now. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. This is verse 10. And from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon. It flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good. The Bdillium and the Onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Is the Euphrates Now?
Dr. Robert Jackson:Let's stop right there, and you see, the tropical garden probably required a lot of water, more than the daily mist supplied. So God provided a river flowing through the garden that probably elevated the water table and supplied adequate water to this lush tropical paradise in which he would later place the man. The river perhaps and this is mere speculation was supplied by an underground reservoir. Now let me remind you that sometime later in Noah's day, the Bible tells us that the fountains of the deep burst forth and the windows of the heaven were opened in order to provide the water for the flood that overtook the entire world. So there was a great deal of water trapped under the surface of the earth and so, like an artesian spring, this water fed this great river that flowed through the Garden of Eden. So what happened to these four rivers? Well, peter tells us in 2 Peter 3, in verse 6, that the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. You see, in the great flood, everything that existed back in that day was destroyed and these rivers were obliterated. They were destroyed and the topography and the geography of that day completely changed. And that's why those who search for the Garden of Eden must realize that these antediluvian rivers and the antediluvian geography were completely obliterated by the great flood of Noah's day.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Now verses 15 to 17. Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Well, now we enter that probationary period of which we spoke Verse 15, to cultivate it and keep it, even in the perfect world, god made work, was essential for the good of man.
Dr. Robert Jackson:The garden was not a place of idleness which, as you know, is the devil's workshop. Didn't your mother and grandmother tell you that all of your life, that an idle mind was the devil's workshop? But you see, the garden was a place of meaningful activity and meaningful service to God. Actually, it was a place of stewardship. You see, the Bible says that it is required of a steward that he be found faithful, and Adam was a steward over the garden. Every garden needs pruning and raking and shaping and creating pathways, making orderly that which will grow wildly to bring greater beauty. And again, I say to you, it is required of a steward that he be found faithful, and Adam was steward over this garden. Even in the new heaven and earth. Revelations 22 and verse 3 tells us that his servants will serve him.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Heaven will not be a place of idleness and frolic, but a place of serving and worshiping our great king verse 16 from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, not even the, he was not even restricted from the tree of life, which produced greater life, length of life, health of life. He could even partake of the tree of life, but verse 17, oh my goodness, there's that word but. And you see, god told him in verse 17,. But from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Well, a single minor restraint was given to Adam, and this was the test of man's love for God, true love and true gratitude at the overwhelming abundance of provision that God had made for this man. You would think that that that would engender from him complete obedience forever, would it not? Just like you and I gave our parents right, just like your children give to you because of the way that you provide for them right? Well, that's not the way it works out, not between you and your parents and not between your children and you. Even though our parents provided for us and even though you provide for your children, that gratitude does not always engender complete obedience. My wife used to tell our kids these guidelines, these restrictions, are there to protect you, not to restrict you, and placed there because we love you. And if I heard her say it once, I heard her say it a thousand times. And what's so funny is now I hear my children saying that to my grandchildren.
Dr. Robert Jackson:Adam would have naturally assumed that God placed that restriction out of love. Would he not have assumed that? And you would think that he would gladly obey the heavenly father because of the abundance of his provision. But Adam had every reason to obey and he had no reason to disobey. If he did disobey he would be without excuse. Nevertheless, in this probationary period he was a free moral agent before God. He could choose to obey and he could choose to disobey. So here was the question that was hanging in the air. All the angels were watching to see what this first original man would choose to do. Would he trust and obey out of love and gratitude, or would he doubt the sincerity of God's word when he said in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die? Now Adam already knew what was good. You see, the tree was the knowledge of good and evil. He already experienced good, the goodness of God, the goodness of God's provisions. Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would give him real personal knowledge of evil, which is rejecting God's will, disobedience to God's will. The literal translation of you will surely die is dying, you will die. Remember that dying, you will die.
Dr. Robert Jackson:And what happened in that moment when Adam made the wrong choice is he experienced immediate spiritual death, which is separation from God, instantaneous separation from God. But he also experienced physical death. The principle of decay and death began to operate in his physical body. Adam still lived, get this 900 years, but for those 900 years he slowly declined physically, just as you and I do, just as man slowly became, just as man slowly. Just as man slowly, because things were different. You see, before the flood, man was protected, probably by some kind of water canopy that protected him from the sun's solar radiation, and he lived 900 years, slowly physically decaying. Now things are different today and that water canopy is not there and so men live 80 to 100 years maximum. But Adam and Methuselah and Lamech and Noah and all of those men back then, they slowly died physically over 600 to 900 years. But the physical death occurred instantaneously and everybody after Adam was born, physically dead. And then they, I'm sorry, spiritually dead, but then they began to die physically from the moment they were born. And today we are all born physically alive, but spiritually dead.
Dr. Robert Jackson:In Ephesians, the Bible tells us that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. We are born spiritually dead. But here's the good news, brothers and sisters we can be made alive in our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus purchased our redemption at the price of his own life. He gave his life's blood to purchase our redemption and he imparts to us physical life. When we are spiritually born again, we inherit spiritual life, and that's the good news of the gospel.
Dr. Robert Jackson:I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto everyone who believes. You see, don't be ashamed of the power of the gospel, the gospel message. It's the power of God unto everyone who believes, and that message brings new life to you, to me and to everyone else. And we should be willing to share that message aggressively, assertively, kindly, gently, because the people that are around you and me that don't know our Lord Jesus Christ, they are born spiritually dead and eventually they will die physically. And it's all because of the decision that Adam made. But the good news is that our Lord Jesus Christ made a different decision and he chose to give his life in order to impart new life to you and me. You need to think about that and you need to share that with everybody around you, because that is the good news. All right, that's enough for today. We'll be back again next week and I pray that the Lord will bless you real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Slone Audio Production at bobslone. com.
