A Good Warning

(Genesis 2:16,17; 6:5; Revelation 21,22; 20:15)

I have always been a big fan of Snoopy, Linus, Charlie Brown and the Peanut's gang, created by Charles Shultz. One of my favorite cartoons pictures Linus sitting snuggled up with his favorite blanket, as Snoopy sits close by eyeing the blanket. Apparently Linus thinks Snoopy has designs on his blanket, so he gives him some words to think about: "Make one move toward this blanket, you stupid beagle, and I'll destroy all hopes you have for the future!" That was enough said for Snoopy. Snoopy turns away, and thinks to himself, "I love a good warning."

Wouldn't it have been nice if Adam and Eve had loved a good warning as much as that stupid beagle, Snoopy, did! It would have saved us a lot of pain and sorrow! In different words, but bearing the same distinct meaning, God spoke a warning LOUD and CLEAR to Adam. "You may eat of any tree in the garden, BUT from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall NOT eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." A warning does not get much better than that, especially when it comes from the mouth of God! But, unfortunately, Adam and Eve simply could not keep their eyes and hands off of that forbidden tree and its tempting fruit. Unlike Snoopy, they could not turn away!

Adam and Eve were placed in the perfect setting. They had a beautiful, lush garden, filled with fruitful trees, and surrounded by rivers. And it was a garden resplendent with gold. Finally, Adam and Eve were given dominion over every living thing on the earth, and were told to be fruitful and multiply. They were given a perfect place and perfect lives.

But somewhere in this perfect garden, they lost their way, and it did not take them long to do so. It began with a mistaken notion, or perhaps a misdirected desire to have it all, to know it all, both the good and the bad, despite the consequences. Although created in the image and likeness of God, man thought that by eating a borbidden fruit, he could become "like God". Man desired to know not just the good, but the evil as well. Man was a fast learner! He began fleeing the presence of God almost immediately. "Where are you?" God asked. And we have been fleeing from God, and pursuing the evil ever since. Ten short generations later, God looked down on earth and "saw that the wickedness of man was great."

What should have been the beginning of a story book tale of living happily ever after, in Genesis 2, instead became a long sad tale, one chapter after another, of wrong choices and the suffering that resulted. The earth was cursed, and mankind was destined to a bad future, ending in death. It does not get any worse than that!!! If only man had been as smart as that stupid beagle!

But because God loves us so much, we have Good News!!! We still have that chance of living that story book tale of happiness forever! What Adam and Eve destroyed by their sin of disobedience, we see re-created in the final book of the Bible. John the Baptist, who saw Jesus, proclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) Because of Jesus, the Lamb, the other John, "the dreamer," has announced that "I, John saw a new heaven and new earth..." "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them..." "There shall no longer be any death..." "And the city was pure gold, like clear glass." "He showed me a river of the water of life...coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb." "On either side of the river was the tree of life...and there shall no longer be any curse...and they shall reign forever and ever."

Wow, hearing those words of John almost takes my breath away! John, the dreamer, has given us a wonderful picture of the new heaven and a new earth that we shall inherit at the Coming of Christ back to this earth! Like John, I, too, am dreaming of the day when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. I want to be there! How about you?

But this promise of a new heaven and a new earth comes with another stern warning: "If anyone's name was NOT found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)

Just like that stupid beagle, don't you love a good warning?