When I was in the military, we would often go on field exercises. Basically, we would live in the woods for a period of time. The kind of units I was in did not take a lot of equipment. As a result, in the “field,” I did not have a shower. There was no hot food, air conditioning, or a comfortable cot to sleep on. Being a creature of comfort, I was always looking for an opportunity to enjoy those things. I soon learned that hospital units had them, and I would try to visit such units as often as I could. They even had ice cream. I would look for any reason to go there, such as visiting another chaplain, seeing an injured soldier, etc. When I did, I made myself at home and was never in a hurry to leave. I acted like I belonged there. It was paradise.

Eventually, someone working there would notice me. They would find out I was not a part of the unit and they would realize I was sponging off of all the wonderful things they provided. Despite any protests on my part, I would be tossed out of the area, back into the “field.” It was always a sad time in my life when that happened. I always missed those hot showers and a comfortable place to take a long nap.

In Gen 3:24, Adam is tossed out of Paradise. He lived in a perfect environment, in the Garden of Eden. He had everything he could possibly want. All of creation was in perfect harmony. Unlike me prolonging a visit at a comfortable hospital unit, his own actions caused him to get cast out. His sin had turned that garden into a wilderness, with the ground being cursed and producing thistles. God tossed him out into that field.

In my experience in the military, I would tell of others of the trauma I felt going from a hospital to getting tossed into the field. I remember one of my seminary professors, Craig Glickman, describing what happened to Adam, and I thought of the parallels. Adam went from Paradise to getting tossed into the wilderness. Both of us were sad pictures, but I am sure Adam’s sadness was much greater than mine.

In the NT, Christ is called the Second Adam (Rom 5:12-21; 1 Cor 15:45-49). To use Glickman’s terminology, Jesus came to turn the wilderness back into paradise, to undo what the stupidity of Adam had caused. He would do what was necessary for His people to leave the wilderness and stay in paradise. It would be like if the army had told me I could leave the field and stay at the hospital forever.

The Gospel of Mark tells us how Jesus began His ministry for us. After the Holy Spirit fell upon Him at His baptism, Mark says, “and the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness” (Mark 1:12). Garlington maintains that this is a clear parallel with Gen 3:24, and points to the Lord as the Second Adam. The word “drove” is a forceful one. The Spirit forced Jesus into the wilderness. It reminds the reader that God drove, or tossed, Adam into the wilderness from the Garden of Eden (D. B. Garlington, “Jesus, the Unique Son of God: Tested and Faithful,” Bib Sac 141 (1994): 289).

The very mention of the word “wilderness” in Mark 1:12 reminds us what happened in Genesis 3. Eden had been turned into a wilderness. The fact that Jesus would be tempted by Satan also reminds us that the first Adam was tempted by the evil one.

Mark is the only Gospel that mentions that in the wilderness, Jesus would find Himself with “the wild beasts.” France comments that this also points to Genesis 3. Prior to Adam’s sin, in Paradise, there were no wild beasts. After his sin, and being placed in the wilderness, there were (R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark, 86).

The curse that Adam brought into the world, of course, also resulted in death. The wilderness throughout Scripture is a place of death.

Glickman, Garlington, and France are all correct. Mark’s description of Jesus being driven into the wilderness takes us back to Genesis 3. We are to see the parallels with the first Adam.

But there is at least one major difference. When the first Adam was tossed into the wilderness, he went against his will. Who would want to leave Paradise and go there? It was like when I was forced to leave a hot shower, good food, and comfortable cot, to go out into the field. I never did that willingly.

But our Lord did. He allowed Himself to be tossed out into the wilderness. We all know why. Such was His love for us.