The New Garden

Isaiah 61:11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
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Luke 8:15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. 
 
WE long to return to the Garden into God’s presence. Sin cast us out: Genesis 3:23 So the Lord God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which they had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. The Garden was life, the place of God’s holy presence. Unholy man could no longer live in unity and peace with the righteous God. Thankfully, though, our LORD God grows his greatest victories from the most devastating defeats.
    We begin to see God’s victory strategy in his New Garden plan to Abraham:  Genesis 17:8 “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”  God graciously chooses to form a people who will dwell with him again. He then purposefully commands Israel to this land in Exodus. They arrive in Joshua. But as history tells us, Israel rejected the Lord’s presence, purpose and commands. Still God persisted to fulfill his promise. He proclaimed through Isaiah and others the day of renewal. As natural and powerful as the seed coming from the ground, the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
    Jesus then came to describe the Kingdom of God with a Garden illustration. The Word of God planted in faithful hearts would produce life. Then Jesus gave life to his illustration. As a seed from the ground bursting forth with life, the Christ came into the Resurrection Garden! From that single day, the first faithful disciples began to follow God with a noble and good heart. In the rich soil of their love for Jesus, they would hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. The plantings continue to this day. Good Gardeners plant vibrant seed in life-giving soil, and the Holy Spirit grows a faithful church to know and obey God’s commands.
    By his grace, God will one day fulfill his purpose to welcome his own into his eternal Garden. Revelation 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
    How is your gardening? Are you following God’s commands to plant, so his Spirit will grow the church? Do you expect a harvest?
 
Prayer: Lord, look with compassion on all our ruins; make our hearts like Eden, like the garden of the Lord. May joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the sound of singing be found in your church. Amen (from Isaiah 51:3)