Restoring the Garden of God

My sermon today is about restoring the Garden of God. We may not realize it, but at one time in human history, very early in human history, the creator of the universe created himself something that was very important and precious to him. He planted a garden, and he put a man and a woman in this garden. And unfortunately, because they disobeyed him, that garden was lost. And to put it in a nutshell, God has been working out a plan since that time to restore his garden on earth. And that's what I'd like to talk about today. Let's begin by going to Genesis 2, verse 7, and see how important this understanding is, this concept of a garden. It's so important that we're going to see that it's a reoccurring theme from Genesis to Revelation. That's how important it is to God. Genesis 2, beginning in verse 7. Moses was inspired to write, and the Lord God formed a man out of the dust at the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living being. Then the Lord God planted a garden eastward and Eden. Brethren, I can assure you that since God did it, that anything that God does was beautiful and was perfect, and it was unlike any garden that mankind has ever created. If God planted this garden, it had to be the most lush, beautiful, perfect garden that there ever was. And continuing, it says, and there he put the man whom he had formed, and out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of this garden that God planted, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out from Eden to water the garden, so it wasn't watered like we had this morning. Water didn't come out of the sky to water this garden. It was basically watered through irrigation and through a mist that arose from the earth. It says, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. I won't focus on what those riverheads were, but I will pick it up here again in verse 15. It says, and the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. So let's zero in on what we read here a little bit. First of all, the word garden is from a Hebrew word, gan, and it means a sheltered, protected spot. This was a lush, beautiful, protected spot in which the Creator could relate to His creation, in which He could come down and manifest Himself in a way that they could recognize Him and hear Him and understand Him, and they could spend time together as Creator and beloved creation.

God created the garden as a haven where He might be able to enjoy His God, His wife, and the beautiful creation that God had given Him as an absolute gift. As a matter of fact, God has an affinity and a love for gardens. And we'll even see that a little later when we get into the New Testament. And God loves gardens because of its connection with His ultimate creation. Eden at this time, unlike my yard, was without thorns and other undesirable vegetation. It was a beautiful, perfect garden that required a little effort to maintain it or to control it. Adam was put into the garden to tend it, to keep it beautiful. But the amount of work that Adam spent in this garden, it was fulfilling and it was satisfying, but it wasn't overwhelming or a burden, unlike the gardens that we have today. In Eden, the vegetation was luxurious. Animals roamed freely, and they were not predatory. They didn't try to eat or devour one another. The climate was such that clothing was not needed for heat or for protection against biting insects. It was a beautiful, perfect environment. Unfortunately, as we know, Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God changed that environment to the one that we live in today. Now, in our own world, we see beautiful flowers and we see gardens, and we say, how lovely, how beautiful. It's because we don't know any better. We don't know what Eden was like. We don't have anything to compare it to, and indeed, and to our physical minds, since it's the only thing we've ever known, flowers are beautiful, and yards can be manicured and they can be landscaped to look very pretty in the kind of environment that we have now. But we need to understand, of course, that Eden was a perfect, a beautiful garden and environment. Let's now go to Genesis 3, beginning in verse 1, and see what Adam and Eve did and the curse that was put upon the land. It says, And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Now, I love the approach that Satan takes because it's so manipulative into what we see in people today.

God had the glass 99% full, didn't He? You have this beautiful garden. You can eat of anything in this garden, except this one tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And what does the serpent say? He says, God indeed has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. You see, the glass is always empty. Satan is implying God's hiding something from you. Why, there's something He's not telling you. Did you know that you yet lack something? So He's already trying to put doubts in her mind. Notice the answer that she has in verse 2, which is wide-eyed and innocent and so beautiful.

Because of the effect of her Creator, she looks at the glass as 99% full, not as something lacking her void. The woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. She says it's very positive. We can eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But there's just this one, the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

God has said, You shall not eat it, nor touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, of course, the very first lie, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. The serpent says, You'll discover emotions and feelings that you've never felt before. The day that you eat of it, you will think things and have attitudes and perceptions that you don't have right now. It's like it's going to take you to a whole new level. Now, what kind of a level we won't discuss at this point, but that is what the serpent is telling her.

Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You'll be much closer to God, is what the serpent tells her. Verse 6, So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and indeed they felt things that they had never felt before, like guilt, like shame, like embarrassment, like a feeling of wanting to hide themselves and be introverted and make themselves exclusive, apart from their Creator.

It says, And they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? When God says, Where are you? It's not because He doesn't know where they're at. He's God. He's all-knowing. When He says, Where are you? What He's reflecting is the fact that every other time I came to this garden, with excitement and enthusiasm, you came up to welcome me.

You were glad to see me. You were glad that I was here, that I came to spend time with you. And now I come, and you know where to be found. You're hiding yourselves. So, Satan, he deceived the woman, and unfortunately, the man, instead of being the leader, followed her lead. And now they felt shame and guilt for the first time in their lives, even to the point where they covered themselves. In spite of that, as was God's habit, he walked in the garden because he wanted to share some time with his beloved creation.

However, this time they didn't rush out to meet him, and instead they hid themselves. And that not only happened literally, but symbolically, that was the beginning of the separation between mankind and its creator. And, frankly, we as mankind, humankind, we've been hiding ourselves from God in one way or another ever since. Genesis 3, verse 17. Let's take a look at the curse that was put upon the land. And then to Adam, he said, God said, Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree in which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat out of it, cursed is the ground for your sake.

So even the ground, the soil quality, and the ground itself would change its very nature. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Instead of just walking out in this perfect garden and all of this lush, beautiful vegetation and fruits and things, where you just walk up and pick it off the tree and eat it organically right on the spot, all of that would be gone.

Now it would require great labor fertilizing the soil and trying to keep the insects off of the leaves and the fruit. It would now become hard, very difficult work. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Verse 18. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field, and in the sweat of your face You shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and the dust you shall return. So, brethren, from this point on, man's walk with God in his paradise was ended. And Adam and mankind would face a different environment than had existed in Eden. Now there would be a struggle with nature. The soil could be hard, as it is in many areas of the world. It could be poor. Thorns and thistles and invasive weeds would overtake desirable land. The weather could be changeable, sometimes harsh. Insects and diseases would harm things that grow. Now it would be hard and overwhelming work to produce enough to eat and enjoy. I want you to notice that God didn't curse Adam here. He cursed the land. Something that he has said in Genesis chapter 1 verse 31 was very good. Now he cursed the land, even though it had been created for the benefit of man. And so what do we find in our world today? Well, what we find in our world today is nature's constant tendency to go back to the curse.

We're sitting in my yard today, but I can tell you that it requires a lot of work to keep this yard up. In just a matter of weeks, weeds are invading the mulch beds. In a matter of a month, I have thorny bushes that begin leaving the woods and growing into the grass, hedging their way onto the property that have to be pulled out of the ground. It is a constant struggle in our world today to have things that look nice because the earth itself was cursed. There's a lot of work that is involved in it today. There are areas of my yard, for example, those two mounds behind me, in which nothing really grows very well. You may see a few flowers on them, but those mounds were created when the pond was dug, and the soil is not very good in that area. And all around us in the world today, we see the great efforts that man makes to try to halt and change the course of nature. But it's a never-ending battle, brethren. If you go to a neighborhood where a house has been abandoned for a year, you'll see that nature takes over and goes back to its native state. You will see weeds bring and overgrow where there was grass. You will see things infest the flower beds where there once were beautiful flowers. There will now be florns and thistles and undesirable things growing in those flower beds. Because of the curse, nature has a way of being at war against mankind's desire to make it beautiful or useful. And it's a constant battle, and nature will always strive to return everything that we do back to its native, natural state as a result of the curse that God put on the land. When God said, for dust you are and the dust you will return, God basically told Adam that I have some bad news for you and your wife. This serpent lied to you. He lied to you. You are going to die. And that was the point that God made with that particular statement.

So, brethren, from that time until now, God has been working a plan. And His plan has been to restore the garden of God on the earth. That curse that the land has received has been with us ever since. The Garden of Eden was literal, and indeed it existed. Yet it also represented something very important to God. It represented the kind of relationship that God wanted to have with His children. In a garden, in a beautiful environment, where everything was green and growing, where things were kind, where it was a world in which even animals weren't predatory, where insects didn't sting and cause problems. It was just an entirely different world than we experience today. Even the prophets themselves looked forward to the restoration of the garden of God that had been in Eden and was lost. Let's go to Isaiah 51 and see where Isaiah longed for. Wrote about a time when Eden, when the garden of God would be restored to the world. The prophets looked forward to the restoration of this garden. We know, of course, brethren, that after the great tribulation and a day of the Lord, that our world, as we know it today, will be in shambles. Much of its environment will be ruined. The earth, the sky, the atmosphere, much that is part of our world today will literally be in shambles. A lot of the land will be in desolation. But here's what Isaiah looked forward to in Isaiah 51, and we'll pick it up in verse 1. Isaiah 51, verse 1, Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole from the pit of which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, Nisara, who bore you. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. For the Lord will comfort Zion. Again, this is prophetic about Israel. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden. So even though this earth will experience tremendous destruction, the prophet says that God will make the wilderness of Israel like Eden. He will restore what was taken away from us. And her desert, like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found in it. Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, O nation, for law will proceed from me, and I will make my justice rest as a light of the peoples. My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone forth. My arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands will wait upon me, and on my arm they will trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look on the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish away like smoke. And indeed, during the great tribulation and the day of the Lord, that will occur. The earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people, in whose heart is my law, do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults, for the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever. And my salvation from generation to generation. So, brethren, here we see the prophet Isaiah looked forward to a time when God would restore the waste places of Israel, from the wilderness to an Eden, from a desert to a garden of the Lord. When Jesus Christ establishes His kingdom, His righteousness will bring God's law and justice and salvation.

Jesus Christ already became the curse for us. He already became the curse, as we will see, that God had given upon the land. He accepted that upon His death. And when He returns again, He will take away that curse, and once again the earth will become like was originally intended in the Garden of Eden. The result of Christ's presence in Zion, it says here in these scriptures, will be the Garden of the Lord. And what will be there? It says joy and gladness and thanksgiving and beautiful music will all be in that garden. Let's take a look at another prophet, Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36, if you'll turn there with me.

Ezekiel 36.

Again, looking at a time when the kingdom of God will be established, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it. I will bring no famine upon you.

I will multiply the fruit of your trees in the increase of your fields.

Now let's drop down here to verse 33. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by.

So they will say, this land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden.

And the wasted desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it and will do it.

So, brethren, here is another prophecy this time from Ezekiel about that restoration of the garden that God has always desired. The relationship between God and His children will be restored. The land that was desolate, that will be desolate because of the events that are going to occur in the future, will be restored like the garden of Eden.

But something had to happen before any of these prophecies could be fulfilled. Jesus Christ had to come to earth and He had to be the Son of God. And that was an important step in restoring the garden of God on the earth. He lived a perfect life so that He could become a curse.

He could take away the curse upon the original creation, and that includes the curse upon the land. He lived a perfect life so that He could accept and become that curse, so that He could take away the curse that was given after the original creation. Let's go to the New Testament now, and we're going to go to John chapter 18. This is the conclusion of his ministry, three and a half years of Jesus preaching the Gospel. And I want to point out a few things in his final suffering and death that we may not have thought about quite in this way before. But God doesn't do anything out of chance, or He doesn't do anything out of coincidence. He always has messages and themes for us to live by. The book of John, John chapter 18 and verse 1. I want you to see here that it says, When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the brook, Kedron, and there was a garden. That's not a coincidence, brethren. Let's continue. Which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place for Jesus often met there with His disciples. Should it surprise us that the very God who later became known as Jesus Christ, when He emptied His divinity and came down to earth and walked as a man, should it surprise us that that same God who created a garden and longed a fellowship with Adam and Eve in the original garden of Eden, would have wanted to be in a garden when He taught His disciples, when He had a relationship with those whom He loved, it says, He often met there with His disciples. You see, brethren, God has an affinity for gardens. It's very meaningful, very precious to Him. Verse 3, then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, Whom are you seeking? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am He and Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. So let me ask this question. Is it interesting that Jesus had an affinity for gardens, not when we understand our great God?

The very one who created the original garden for Adam and Eve, later became known as Jesus Christ. He was arrested in a garden. But you know what? Something else is going to happen, because that old serpent is going to attempt to mock the very Savior, Jesus Christ, during a time when He's at His weakest, during a time when He must submit, during a time when He must, according to the will of the Father, allow Himself to go through pain and torture and sacrifice, so that the curse could be broken. In His weakest moment, that old serpent tries to mock Him and bring that curse down on His head. Let's go to John 19 and verse 1 and see something that occurs here.

John 19 and verse 1.

It says, So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him, and the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head. And they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, Hail, King of the Jews, and they struck Him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him. Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, Behold the man. Of course, this is Pilate's sarcastic remark. When he says, Behold the man, he's saying, Look at your so-called King now. Doesn't he look majestic? Doesn't he look like royalty? Doesn't he look like a king the way he's dressed and the way he's standing before you now? But you see, brethren, Jesus Christ also bore upon Himself not only our sins, but the curse that God placed upon creation. Because of Adam's sin, God had introduced thorns and thistles into our environment, into our world. And the thorn bush was the first one mentioned in Genesis 3 and verse 18 that we read just a little while earlier. The thorn is a symbol and a reminder of the curse. And one of the blessings of Jesus Christ is that His second coming, the creation, will be freed from this curse, including the curse of thorns. Let's go to John 19 and verse 31.

John 19 and verse 31.

John writes here, They did not break His legs. And one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who had seen has testified, and his testimony is true. And John's saying, I was an eyewitness of these events. And he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled. Not one of His bones were broken, and again another Scripture says, they shall look in Him whom they pierced. Now we're getting to the fun part. Verse 38. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly perfere the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and allos, about a hundred pounds.

And they took the body of Jesus and bounded in strips of linen and with spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Verse 41. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had been laid.

So there they laid Jesus because of the Jews' preparation day, for the tomb was nearby. Again, brethren, the creator of the very first garden that ever existed on earth, we know of as Eden by reading the Scriptures. The creator of that very first garden was not only arrested in a garden, but he was buried in a garden.

You see, brethren, the themes of Genesis 3 and the curse upon the earth are important in the New Testament teaching, in that Jesus accepted our sins upon himself and became a curse for all of us. And he became a curse for the land. All the themes from Genesis 3 are tied together with the suffering and the death of Jesus Christ.

First there's the tree. Adam and Eve sinned because they disobeyed God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus died on a tree to redeem their descendants. The death of Christ gives us access to the other tree that they should have desired known as the tree of life. Then there's the sweat. Adam was told that in the sweat of your face he would toil. In agony until death. And on the eve of his death, Jesus prayed in agony in the garden in the Mount of Olives, so fervently that his sweat became drops of blood. That's how fervent and passionate he was in his prayers, as recorded in Luke 22. Then there are the thorns. The thorns and bristles would make the land difficult to cultivate. That was the curse in Genesis 3. They cause pain and they draw blood. If you've ever pricked yourself working around your yard, you know it can be quite bloody. Well, Christ readily accepted the pain he experienced, and he shed his blood, symbolized by the crown of thorns that were forced, that were rammed upon his head by the Romans.

And then there's the experience of death. Adam died because of his sin. Jesus Christ died to forgive all sins. As Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 15 and 22, My point today as we consider the curse that was put upon the land in Genesis 3 is that Jesus experienced it all. To have victory over it. To have victory over the curse through his resurrection. As Paul stated in Galatians 3 and verse 13, Now let's go, brethren, to a final scripture. Let's go to Revelation. Revelation 2. Revelation 2 and verse 7.

Revelation 2 and verse 7. Very special message for the church in Ephesus.

John was inspired to write, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Now this word, paradise, is a Greek word. It actually has oriental roots and it means a park. From the park of God, I will allow people to eat from the tree of life in the midst of the park of God. Verse 8, These things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life. I know your works tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of these things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. That you may be tested and you may have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. Even though he accepted willingly the crown of thorns, he is willing to give to his children, to his beloved who have been called out and who have remained faithful the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Now let's now go quickly to Revelation 22 and verse 14.

We started out in Genesis. We're concluding in Revelation 22 and verse 14. Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates of the city, but outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star, and the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him who hears say, Come, and let him who thirst, come, whoever comes, let him take the water of life freely.

So today we have seen how beginning in the book of Genesis that God had created a garden because he has a particular fondness and affinity for gardens, because to him they represent a beautiful relationship between he and his creation.

We saw that that was lost. We saw that the prophets wrote and longed for a time when that garden would be restored.

We saw how Jesus Christ came to earth and how he had an affinity for gardens, and how because he was willing to become a curse for us and accept the curse that he gave upon the land, the very curse that he spoke to Adam and Eve himself, that he was willing to take that curse upon himself so that once again in a day not far away we can all once again dwell together in that beautiful, that perfect garden that we know of as Eden.

In conclusion today, I would like you to consider this. How is your spiritual garden?

You see, our minds, our spiritual gardens, Eden can exist right up here between our two ears if we only allow it, if we're willing to go there.

What's growing there? Are we tending to and keeping our thoughts and attitudes?

Are the fruits of the Holy Spirit ripening in a positive and healthy environment in our spiritual gardens?

Or have we allowed predatory and invasive weeds to take over our thoughts?

Have we allowed thorns like bitterness, sarcasm, and unbelief to creep in and spoil our garden?

Have we allowed those kinds of undesirable invasive thoughts to come and crowd out the fruits of God's Spirit in our spiritual garden?

If so, I encourage you to do what is spoken of here again that we just read in Revelation 22 and verse 12. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. God gives us his Holy Spirit as a gift, and it's free.

And it literally can change our hearts and minds, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have a beautiful spiritual Eden right up here. So, brethren, stay faithful. Live by the values and the Word of God. When we do his commandments, we are blessed, and his righteousness will give us the right to the tree of life in that garden that we all long for, that garden of God known to us as the Garden of Eden.