HUNGRY

HUNGRY

What was Adam hungry for in the Garden? God made him king of creation (Gen. 1:26-28), and gave him Eve, as his queen. Eve got friendly with a talking serpent, who convinced her she would not die, as God had threatened, should she eat the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2:17).

As King Adam’s cup-bearer, Eve “took of the fruit thereof, and did eat” (Gen. 3:7b). What went through Adam’s mind as he watched his wife eat and not instantly die? How hungry was he as he eyed the forbidden fruit? Did adrenalin start pumping as he was about to take and eat? About to give his crown to Satan and join his battle against God, about to bring the curse upon himself and all humanity, about to covenant with death, was there a drum roll as the tension mounted? Did all the future kingdoms of the world pass before his eyes? Did he quote God’s Word to the Tempter? Alas! Eve “gave also to her husband who was with her; and he did eat” (Gen. 3:7b).

Adam’s hunger was not for food, but autonomy from God. Not satisfied being God’s feudal vassal, he wanted to judge good and evil for himself. Thus, Adam became the evil king, seeking his own kingdom.

Hungry for power, Adam died spiritually the day he ate the forbidden fruit. Consequences? Subsequent physical death for himself and all humanity (Rom. 5:12). Something physically died that day, a substitute: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). And, “He drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24). The self-deposed king cast his crown into the dust from which he had come.

What did the replacement Adam hunger for in the wilderness while being tested by Satan? Adam had food aplenty yet listened to Satan. Jesus had none. Would He heed Satan and make stones bread or do what Adam ought to have done? Victory! “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4b). Thus, Jesus’s food was to do God’s will.

As Abraham used “a ram caught in a thicket by its horns” as a substitute sacrifice instead of his son, so God used the thorn-crowned Lamb of God to take away our sins, and to cover us with the “skins” of His righteousness (Gen. 22:13; John 1:29; Gal. 3:27). “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews!” (John 19:2-3a).

The Serpent as it were had said to Eve, and through Eve to Adam, “Take, eat”. Thus, when Adam and Eve dined with demons (1 Cor. 10:21), it was the same day they bit the (holy) hand that fed them, drawing the blood of the cross. Christ died in principle on that day (Gen. 3:15).

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28). Jesus, as the new Adam, intended to go back into the Garden.

Hanging on “the tree of life” Jesus said to the repentant thief, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). God turned the Cherubim and flaming sword on His only Son. “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Mark 15:37-38). Representing the gate to the Garden, the curtain had Cherubim depicted on it (Exo. 26:31). “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12b).

The first man hungered for his own glory and brought death. The last Adam hungered for God’s glory and brought everlasting life. What are you hungry for? “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).