NO separation at all

The doubt that started it all

Complete the thought

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden ’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent…

Hints

Deu 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (ESVST)

Deu 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (ESVST)

New Testament Hints

Heb 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (ESVST)

Why worry

Mat 6:25 “ Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air:they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (ESVST)

No Separation of any kind

Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God ‘s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died —more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

No separation of any kind

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “ For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESVST)

What about Eve?

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. ’” (ESVST)

We are one with Him

Jesus as the incarnate God-man reveals to us the perfect relationship of a man-God. In Him all of mankind is joined to God. One died, all died. One lived, all lived. As Adam did for many, Jesus UN-did for everyone. We were dead in Adam and are made alive in Jesus. Let me point out that John even suggests that we have always been made alive in Jesus but just weren’t aware of it.

He is the light of our life

Jn 1:3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.(ESVST)

Jn 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.(ESVST)

No separation of any kind

Col 3:11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.(ESVST)

No separation for anyone

Act 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything

No separation for anyone

26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘ In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘ For we are indeed his offspring. (ESVST)

Commentary

Maybe the lie was closer to the center of her than a serpent crawling in the dirt? Maybe the dirt is a metaphor for humans who come from dirt and the voice of doubt is the slithering lies that bubble up from within. Maybe the same doubt Eve had is what we carry today. Maybe we are still trying to hide from God instead of embracing our union. Maybe the cross was God’s desperate attempt to get our attention and shift our gaze from us to Him and our union with Him. Maybe Jesus is necessary on earth because we are so blind to the truth of our union with God we need a guide to show us. Maybe all of the suffering and evil and darkness could have been avoided if we would have trusted God and had never doubted His closeness to us, His union with us, our true identity in the image of Jesus.

An example

Being Jesus in NashvilleJim Palmer