930

    I was inspired to write this piece several years ago. Initially my only thoughts were of what it must have been like for Adam to grow old, and reach the end of his life. We are all aware that something is fundamentally wrong, and broken in our world; but what must it have been like for Adam and Eve, who had lived for a time in the perfection that God had created before the fall of man. For years now I’ve been unable to finish this piece, as all I could picture was Adam’s misery in reflecting on the fall of man and creation.

  As we near Easter of 2024, I have finally been able to finish this “short story” (for lack of a better term.) The sacrificial death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is mankinds’ only hope for salvation; and so those same divine provisions were Adam and Eve’s only hope as well. 

   This piece is an artistic, and imaginary picture of what a conversation between Adam and God might have been like. I do not claim that any such conversation ever happened, or to know with certainty what it would have entailed.
  It is simply meant to draw the connecting line between Adam and Christ, and is meant to ultimately be a reminder to modern Christians of God’s love, and of the hope we have in the Gospel; which is our only hope.
  I was uncomfortable with the thought of writing “lines” for God, and so I drew upon the resource of words that we profess to be God-spoken. While out of place, and chronologically mixed, I nonetheless hope that the scriptures below will serve as acceptable and understandable replies to Adam from God.

  I pray that you will enjoy, and be encouraged by this work. -K Reno

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“And all the days that Adam lived were nine-hundred and thirty years: and he died.” 

-Genesis 5:5 KJV

  
  No living man can be truly familiar with death. Though we live beside it, though we witness it, though we ever strive to understand it; it cannot be known except by those who have experienced it. Only the dead may know death.

 

   Every man who passes through the veil that divides those who are bound by flesh, and those who are not, goes alone across that hidden threshold. This is not a natural phenomenon. It is, by all means, an unnatural phenomenon. God the Creator, made all good and perfect things, for the purpose of eternity…

930

At the end of the days of Adam: the first man-

   "With each passing day, I feel less of the breath of life within my flesh. Even now, I don’t understand what it may be, but I feel the curse of death as it draws nigh. The first moment in which I witnessed the curse of death lives clearly in my mind, as the Father took the skin of the lamb to cover the shame of myself and of Eve. The blood of that beast burns before me still; almost brighter even than that of my son who was slain by his brother.

 

   After all the long years; the memory of my first sons makes me to weep, and for my heart to break anew. I grieve still for Abel; I grieve still for Cain. Their sin is naught but my sin. Their curse is naught but my curse. What men might they have been if not for the sin of their father? Almost I see them now… not this shadow of the clay of man, but the bright and shining ones they were meant to be; great and pure, and at peace within the garden.

 

   And the garden…

 

   The children of my children bring me flowers from upon the fields, and it gives me joy to see the pleasure they derive from the beauty of the Father’s creation… but I am haunted by the memory of the true garden. These flowers once shone like the stars. Their perfume was once more intoxicating than wine. Far greater still; their purity was once as tangible as the hand of a newborn child cupped gently in your own.

  The beauty that remains here is such a pale reflection of what once was. Eve and I sense it far more strongly than those who were born after our expulsion from the garden. This world is cold, and grey, and dying already. Before, we could feel that every moment was that of increase; abundance overflowing, and growing always. Now there are only the fast, frail glimmers of the remnant of creation, that quickly fade unto death.

  Soon I shall be as them; dust in the wind, returned to the earth… I know that I shall die. And my terror is only in part for myself. What is to become of all the generations that have come forth from Eve, and that bear the mark of my curse?"

 

   “Father. Is this the way all will perish because of my sin? In the darkness, without hope?”

   “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” -Isaiah 43:18-19

   “Oh Father, I hear your voice, as I once did: still and small, speaking words of comfort, akin to sunlight upon my countenance. At the sound of your voice the troubles of my mind and flesh fade. They grow pale in the warmth of your great love and promise. Speak it to me again Lord. Speak of the Provision that will be given unto your creation. Father! Let me look into the face of my children, and see the plan you have for them. Let me know the hope of the righteousness restored, which you will bestow. Let me see your victory over the serpent, and the sin of my flesh.”

   “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” -Philippians 1:6

   “Father, You are beholden to no one. Your ways are greater, Your mind is infinite, and Your strength untamed. I beg to ask of You, Father: how will You accomplish this? How can the stain of my sin be forever struck away from my flesh, and the flesh of my offspring?”

   “Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
  His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears, but He will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with discipline from His mouth, and He will kill the wicked with a command from His lips.
  Righteousness will be a belt around His loins; faithfulness will be a belt around His waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
  None will harm or destroy another on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.” -Isaiah 11:1-9

   “Father, is this the provision? Will you raise up a man like myself, but a one who will not turn from your righteousness? Father, will this man be the instrument of our salvation? How may He save us from the pit? How may His righteousness make a way for us?”

  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
  Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
-Isaiah 53

   A mere glimpse of the Father’s provision is enough. I fall to my knees, and feel the weight of my guilt as terribly as at the first. So, this is the way, the only way. As with the lamb, who knew no evil, but was torn to clothe the woman and I; another must pay the price of my betrayal.

  “Father. How can this be? Why shall a perfect man bear the sins of the fallen? What cause have You to pardon me, by the blood of an innocent man?”

   For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39

   “Your love… Father. Is your love so great for me? Even still? I feel the Provision of Your love, here at what I believed would be my end. I shall put my hope in You, Father. For the sake of my soul, and that of my wife, and that of my children; I will not be afraid. I will put my faith in my Father, and rest my trust upon his great love for me.

  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -2nd Corinthians 12:9

   For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. -Romans 6:7-11

   “I, in fallen flesh, may not see the way, but I will trust in You, Father. You will make the way. You will provide the wellspring. You will deliver us. Praise the Father of man; for his strength and love will redeem what has been lost. I, and my children will have hope, and place all faith in our great Father.”