From Dean Ohlman on April 26, 2011

The LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24).

There’s always a bittersweet nature to nature. It displays the “Eternal power and divine nature” of its Creator and it gives evidence of the divine curse, a curse that was not the result of anything arising out of the non-human elements of nature, but the result of Adam’s sin. It was a disciplinary action that first denied humanity access to the sustenance of the tree of life, nourishment that apparently prevented the negative aspects of aging that lead to eventual death, and then made the earth more difficult for people to cultivate and control.

The apostle Paul refers to this action in these words: “The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it”—the Creator. As a result, “The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:20, 22). Robert Frost, one of my favorite poets, captured this truth in one of his most quoted poems—quoted especially in early spring when many early buds and blossoms unfurl with a golden hue that will give way to leaves of green and blooms of many colors as the plants prepare for their seasonal work.

Nature’s first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf’s a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay.

One tree that dramatically shows the progression from leaf to flower is the dogwood, one of our most attractive trees, not only for its amazing metamorphosis, but also for its mature shape and form. It is lovely in all seasons. We often think of the dogwood flower as the white “bloom” we see in the spring, but the white “petals” are actually bracts (small specialized leaves that protect the actual flower inside). These fade away when the actual leaves appear. By summer the red dogwood fruit appears, fruit that is toxic to humans but not for birds.

Like the gold of early dogwood “flowers” cannot remain and like the gold of sunrise cannot remain, so the sinless state of humanity did not remain: “So Eden sank to grief/So dawn goes down to day/Nothing gold can stay.” This reality has colored our view of nature since the day we were banished from the Garden. Hence nature groans, we groan, and even the Holy Spirit groans. This truth can have a tendency to lead us to despair, but, as Paul points out, it should not. There is hope for us and for nature itself. We all may groan in the present, but there is hope. Consider the rest of what the apostle reveals:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope thatthe creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:18-28).

This eventuality is then affirmed by the apostle John in the Revelation: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse” (Rev. 22:1-3).

Yes, “Eden sank to grief,” but that grief is not eternal. We are living “east of Eden” now, but our return to Paradise has been assured, and we will once again have access to the tree of life. That is something to hope for!