There’s No Way Back - The One Year Unlocking the Bible Devotional

The LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.   Genesis 3:23

Over time, Adam and Eve would begin to notice lines and wrinkles on their skin. They would experience pain, and they would begin to realize that the death God had spoken about was a terrible reality they could not avoid.

Adam and Eve were outside the place of God’s blessing. They no longer enjoyed fellowship with him. Their lives had become a terrible struggle in a hostile place. They were exposed to all kinds of danger from the wild animals, there were thorns and thistles they had never seen before, and even their perfect marriage had become strained. They were alienated from God and alone in the world. Paradise was lost.

After God drove the man and woman out of the Garden, he placed cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life (see Genesis 3:24). We are told that the flaming sword was flashing back and forth, so getting around it would have been impossible. The sword would cut you down.

Try to imagine yourself standing with Adam and Eve outside Eden. As you look back at the angels and the flashing sword of God’s judgment, you see that there’s no way back into the presence of God.

Then someone comes out from the presence of God and stands beside you. He advances toward the flaming sword flashing back and forth. You see what will happen to him when he gets there, but he just keeps walking forward. The sword strikes him and kills him, breaking his body. But the sword itself lies shattered on the ground, and the way back into the presence and blessing of God is opened.

That’s a picture of what happened when Jesus Christ died on the cross. The judgment that kept us out of God’s presence struck him. It was spent and exhausted on him, and the way back into God’s blessing was opened for all who will come through Jesus.

For further reading, see Ephesians 2