Wordsurfers
  • Home
    • About
  • Sermons
    • The Beatitudes
    • Parables
    • Fruits of the Spirit
    • The Seven Churches in Revelation
    • Living in Christ
    • The Gospel according to John
    • Daniel
    • Other Sermons
  • Publications
  • Thoughts
  • Key Readings
  • Prayers
  • "Quotes"
  • Gallery
  • Video

The Garden

19/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ever notice how the Bible begins and ends with the image of a garden?

In the first chapters of Genesis the Creator surveys all He has made and declares it to be ‘very good’.  Then He grants the first human beings charge over the rest of His work, and gives them a beautiful garden called Eden in which to live.

In the last two chapters of Revelation the ‘new Jerusalem’ is described as a garden city, with a river ‘of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God, and of the Lamb’.  The ‘tree of life’ is pictured as blossoming and bearing plentiful fruit on both sides of the river.  The leaves of this tree, we are told, are ‘for the healing of the nations’.

Now in between these two idyllic pictures we have the uncomfortable but honest account of human sin and rebellion which has resulted in a cursed state of affairs.  The world is still beautiful but now it produces ‘thorns and thistles’, and people live with strife, sorrow and pain.

However Revelation 22 v 3 promises that in the coming time when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead and God makes ‘all things new’ ‘No longer will there be any curse’.

No more terrifying disasters.  No more warring nations or individuals.  No more ‘death or mourning or crying or pain…’.  Rather there will be healing and peace for God’s servants, amply supplied by the tree and the river in the pleasantly restored kingdom of God!

This can only be so because Christ has already come into this world to sort things out.  We all have sinned and suffer for it, but He has us covered.

‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. (Galatians 3 v 13)

What happened on that barren, rocky hillside called Calvary was much more than another typical human injustice, it was a divine transaction.  Christ, though innocent, took our guilt and punishment on Himself and prayed for us, ‘Father, forgive…’.   

He suffered the full effects of the curse on our behalf, He paid the complete penalty that we might be freed and receive God’s blessing of grace.

Everyone who puts their trust in Him is forgiven and even now restored to fellowship with God, and can look forward to an inheritance in that future heavenly garden city.

Here is hope and the beginning of healing for the wounded and broken, the homeless, the trafficked and abused, the lonely and demented.  The Lord has taken pity on us and come down to save us.

Thanks be to God!

‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.’  (Revelation 22 v 14)

 

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.