Gardens of God - Garden #1

Gardens of God

Genesis 2:1–7 NKJV

1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. 4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The first day of spring is March 20. We are so excited. To say goodbye to cold weather and shortened days, and say hello warmer weather and longer days. It is wonderful. We start thinking more of flower gardens and vegetable gardens. We love gardens.

God loves gardens also. We are going to do a 4-part series on the Gardens of God. God uses gardens to accomplish His will towards us.

It all starts in the beginning.

John 1:1–3 NKJV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

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God would walk in the cool of the day and talk with His creation. He would just do life with Adam and Eve.

God started it out perfectly and we, as a creation, ruined it.

When Eve was confornted with temptation and thought maybe things were really greener on the other side or that God. How many times do we make the same choices? We believe a lie that if we eat this fruit or purchase something we do not need and difinitely out of budget, it will somehow make our life so much better. Then we regret our decison realizing too late that thinking we were wise, we were really foolish. This is what happened with Eve. She should have stood on what God had told her and repeated it back to the serpent.

Matthew 4:4 NKJV

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

We know the rest of the history. Eve gave the fruit to Adam and Adam ate and sin entered the world. Paradise was lost.

Sin breeds fear and shame.

Genesis 3:8–10 NKJV

8 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 God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Hiding from God is the worst thing we can do. We were created to have a personal relationship with the Lord. God is the only one who can fix us and put everything back together when we break it.

God asks Eve why she disobeyed and she does not take responsibility for her actions she blames the serpent. She knew full well she was disobeying God.

Adam takes an even wider step to pass the buck. He insinuates blame on God.

Genesis 3:12 NKJV

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

God gave him Eve, so God must be at fault. As if Eve and God are to blame for the free will choice he made. When Eve was created, Adam did not have any complaints then.

Genesis 2:23 NKJV

23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

We have blaming everyone else for our problems we caused ever since then and if we can not find someone to blame, then we blame God. What did God do? He gave us paradise and we ruined it.

Praise God, He loves us in spite of ourselves and is always making a way for us.

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Adam had been given the responsibility to guard and protect and instead he gave authority and command to Satan.

God is prophesying Jesus coming to dethrone Satan from this world.

John 12:31 NKJV

31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

But the prophecy also tells what it will cost Jesus the Christ to do this.

John 20:27 NKJV

27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

The first garden ends in sadness and a separation between God and His creation. But it also ends with hope. God does not give up on us. He loves us and goes to great length to reconcile us unto Himself.