Exodus 14:16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

What do you picture this verse in your mind? How does your mind play out this scene? Pause this reading here and do that. What happens next?

Ready?

Now see God’s word.

¹⁷ And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

¹⁸ And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

Chances are you thought the hardening of the hearts of the Egyptians came earlier. Don’t feel bad, most perceptions of what happened are not derived from the bible, they are the conveniences of the Hollywood script. Hollywood has made many epic movies about bible stories. You have to remember that Hollywood is about making a profit. You have to finance and have a large return on investment to set up the financing of your next project. It isn’t about the story, it’s about the money.

How many unbelievers do you think are swayed by the visual imagery of the movies and open up a bible to read the Word of God? Do you go to the Word to see the truth of the matter? Tomorrow I will continue this story from the Word. In the mean time I will quote my wife. I had given her the Robert Ludlum book the Bourne Identity after she had enjoyed the movie. She said this!

“The book is so much better.”

Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

It seems like every time we talk about the Eden story the only thing that gets mentioned is original sin and how the curse began. We focus on the curse in order to emphasis the importance of the cure. We should because we live under the curse.

Today I would like to look at the Eden story from the restoration point of view. Since God sent the cure to overcome the curse, what is being restored besides right relationship with God? We have that by faith now, while we still live under the shadow of the curse. What else will God restore?

I point to Genesis 2:16 as a reminder that God denied Adam nothing. We know from reading Genesis 3 all the things which resulted from disobeying God. The thorns and thistles, death and disease, pain and misery, subjection and toils were all part of the curse. If we remove all that, is that to say what paradise will be like?

Mark 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?

All we have seen is the result of the fall. In some small measure Christ has been revealed to us and in us, but to the extent to which He is in all His glory, I think we lack full knowledge. That is just who God is in relationship and does not speak fully to all the goodness He set before Adam in His creative nature. We are denied seeing that moment in Genesis 2:16 where Adam was denied nothing. We have been removed from that creative goodness and only see things from our cursed position. Jesus is telling us in Mark 4:30 we have nothing to compare it to in this world.

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Our imaginations are woefully short to imagine all the goodness God has waiting for us. Such is my hope in Christ.