Genesis 3:22 - Meaning and Application

The sentence was already being carried out on the guilty pair in part, right away. Here we see how God justly shamed them before himself and the holy angels by mocking the result of their scheme: “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! What a god he makes! See what he has gained, what advantages, by eating forbidden fruit!” This was meant to wake them up, humble them, and lead them to repentance. By seeing how badly they had been fooled by following the devil’s advice, they were to learn to seek the happiness God offered in the way he appointed. God fills their faces with shame so that they may seek his name (Psalm 83:16). He brings them low in order to bring them back. True repentant people will speak this way to themselves: “What fruit do I have now from sin?” (Romans 6:21). “Did I gain what I foolishly promised myself by sinning?” No, sin never gives what it promises. It always gives the opposite.

They were also justly driven out and shut away from paradise, which was part of the sentence that said, “You will eat the plants of the field.” We see here, first, why God barred man from paradise. It was not only because he had reached out and taken from the tree of knowledge, which was his sin, but also because he might reach out again and take from the tree of life. That tree had now been forbidden by God’s sentence, just as the tree of knowledge had first been forbidden by his law. If Adam had eaten from it, he would have treated a holy sign with contempt and acted as if he could escape God’s judgment. He might have foolishly thought he could live forever that way. There is a foolish tendency in people who have made themselves unfit for the substance of Christian blessings to cling to the outward signs of them. Many who dislike the terms of the covenant are still eager for its seals, for appearance’s sake. But it is not only just, it is also kind, to keep such people from them. If they seize what they have no right to, they insult God, make their sin worse, and build their hope on a false foundation. That makes repentance harder and ruin more tragic.

Second, we see the way God sent Adam away, like giving him a divorce notice, and drove him out of this garden of delight. He sent him out, and then he drove him out (Genesis 3:23, Genesis 3:24). God told him to leave and made it clear that this was no longer his place. But Adam liked the garden too much to let it go willingly, so God forced him out whether he wanted to go or not. This showed the loss, for him and for all his guilty race, of that communion with God that was the joy and glory of paradise. The signs of God’s favor, and the special delight he had in human life, were now withdrawn. The gift of grace was withheld, and Adam became weak, like other men, as Samson was when the Spirit of the Lord left him. His close friendship with God was lost, and the fellowship between man and his Maker was broken.

God drove him out as one no longer worthy of that honor and no longer fit for that service. In this way, through the fall, Adam and all mankind lost communion with God. Yet where did God send him when he removed him from Eden? He could justly have driven him out of the whole world (Job 18:18). He could even have cast him down into hell, as he did with the angels who sinned when he shut them out of the heavenly paradise (2 Peter 2:4). But instead, man was sent to till the ground from which he had been taken. He was sent to hard work, not to torment. He was sent to the ground, not the grave, to labor, not prison, to hold the plow, not drag a chain. His work in the ground would still be repaid by the food it produced. And living close to the earth, from which he came, could still teach him humility and remind him of his end. So even though our first parents lost the privileges of innocence, they were not left in despair. God’s loving purpose was already pointing them toward a second life of testing under new terms.

God also kept Adam out and gave him no hope of coming back in. He placed cherubim, God’s angelic guards, at the east of the garden of Eden, along with flaming swords that turned every way. These stood on the side nearest the place where Adam was sent, guarding the way to the tree of life. He could not sneak in, and he could not force his way in. Who can break through an angel on guard, or pass a gate defended with such power? This told Adam several things. It showed that God was displeased with him. Even though mercy was still stored up for him, God was angry with him for the moment, turned against him, and fighting against him, for here was a drawn sword (Numbers 22:23). He was, for now, like a consuming fire, for the sword was flaming.

It also showed that the angels were against him. There can be no peace with the heavenly hosts while a person is in rebellion against their Lord and ours. It further showed that the way to the tree of life was shut, meaning the way Adam had first been placed on, the way of perfect innocence. The text does not say the cherubim were set to keep him and his descendants from the tree of life forever. Thanks be to God, a paradise is set before us, with a tree of life in its midst, and we rejoice in the hope of it. But they were set to guard that former way to the tree of life. From then on, Adam and his race could no longer expect righteousness, life, and happiness through the first covenant, because it had been broken beyond repair. It could never be claimed again, and no benefit could be gained from it. Once that covenant’s command was broken, its curse stood in full force. It left no room for repentance as a way to restore the old standing. We are all lost if we are judged by that covenant.

God revealed this to Adam, not to drive him to despair, but to push him to look for life and happiness in the promised offspring, through whom the flaming sword is taken away. God and his angels are reconciled to us, and a new and living way into the most holy place has been opened for us.