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. 
 
THE human heart longs to return into God’s presence in the perfect Garden. The Father created us to live in his glory; our hearts want that again. Sin has made our souls as a restless wanderer on the earth. (Genesis 4:12)
   Jesus came to offer you God’s rest. The Son’s mission was to points you to God’s Garden again. Jesus, the Living Word, spoke several Garden illustrations describing the kingdom of God. Here’s one: John 12:24 “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.”
   Do you hear that? If a seed is not planted, and it does not die, it remains alone. Expanding, restorative kingdom power can only come to you when you die to the sin-shackled life. Jesus is the living illustration of his teaching. He died, so he could came out of the ground into the Resurrection Garden! From that single day, the gospel seed has been planted into the world. The apostles received Jesus’ glory, and they followed Jesus with a noble and good heart. In the rich soil of their love for Jesus, the apostles taught many new disciples to hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. The harvest had begun.
   One day God will welcome the faithful into his glorious fruit-giving Garden: Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. 3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
   Fruit was the object of the first sin. God’s new Garden redeems the fruit trees, so they will be symbols of his forgiveness to heal the nations. God’s righteous Garden is your eternal home.
   How is your gardening? Are you seed-planting disciple? Do you expect – pray for – a harvest? Are you eager to return to Eden?
 
Isaiah 51:3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
 
Prayer: Lord, make my heart like the garden of the Lord. May joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the sound of singing be found in me. Amen.