The first promise given to fallen man was a promise of grace. God never promised Adam anything when He put him in Eden. God never entered into a covenant with him as He did with Abraham. God told him, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17); but when this came to pass, then God came and gave him a gracious promise. He dealt in grace with him. As he left the Garden of Eden he could say to Eve, “Well, God does love us, though He has driven us out.” There was no sign that Adam recognized his lost condition. As far as we know there was no cry for mercy or pardon, no confession of sin. Yet we find that God dealt in grace with him. God sought Adam out that He might bestow His grace upon him. He met Adam in his lost and ruined condition, and the first thing He did was to proclaim the promise of a coming Saviour.
For six thousand years, God has been trying to teach the world this great and glorious truth-that He wants to deal with man in love and in grace. It runs right through the Bible; all along you find this stream of grace flowing, The very last promise in the closing chapter of Revelation, like the first promise in Eden, is a promise of grace: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). So the whole revelation, and the whole history of man is encircled with grace, the free favor of God.
// d.l.moody
when two worlds collide 