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"Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy
life, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it
wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust thou return."
Sorrow enters into creation together with sin and death. Yet the words which tell
them of their sorrow, tell them that where sin abounded grace was to superabound. If
Adam was to eat in sorrow, he was nevertheless to be spared to eat "all the days of his
life". The death sentence is held back. As an outside spiritual force had entered into the
case on the one side, an outside spiritual force shall enter into the other. If the serpent
could not restrain himself, but must attempt to hasten man's ruin, the Lamb of God can
step in and bring about His redemption. Already the great conflict that runs throughout
the Scriptures has become apparent. Man, though responsible for his disobedience, was
not entirely alone in the deed. He must suffer the wages of sin, but he shall learn before
he returns to the dust "good and evil". As a living soul he had no exercise of faith, no
patience of hope. As a fallen sinner, seeing on the one hand the "evil" of the serpent's
motives, and the "good" of the Lord's provision, he might learn for his eternal welfare
lessons which in his original state he was not capable of learning. The ways of God are
wonderful, and altogether beyond us. Sin and sorrow and death are nevertheless beneath
His sway. Adam commences a new experience. The creation around him becomes no
more a delight. A curse rests upon it, never to be lifted until the last Adam comes as the
life-giving spirit to deliver the groaning creation from its bondage of corruption. Adam's
experiences become one lesson of good and evil. A spiritual conception is now a
possibility. In a new life beyond the grave lies all the hope of man. Adam is prevented
from further access to the tree of life. Life unto the ages can only be his now by virtue of
the promised Seed, and the pledge of the redemption of creation and of man is found in
the cherubim tabernacled at the east of the garden. So ends the first dispensation, the first
step so far as the human race is concerned of the purpose of the ages.
It shows us man standing between the wiles of the serpent and the wisdom of God.
The cherubim that are referred to constitute a great pledge of redemption, and were
understood so to mean by those who first peopled the earth. We must consider something
of their message in our next article before we go on to the section which covers the
period from the fall to the flood.
The Cherubim (Gen. 3: 24).
The hope of Creation.
pp. 164-167
Gen. 3: is a complete section of Scripture, as its wonderfully complete structure
shows. We do no more here, however, than call attention to the opening and closing
members. The chapter opens with the "serpent" and closes with the "cherubim". The
serpent is connected with the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the cherubim with the
tree of life. The serpent is the medium of a supernatural tempter, the cherubim, afterward