October 22nd, 2013

Genesis 2:8-10 — And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;

As I begin today, I am sitting in a place of great manmade beauty. I am listening to the tumbling waters of two great and two lesser waterfalls. I can see beautiful Passion flowers, and peace lilies, and floating baskets of impatiens (we used to call those bizzy-lizzies where I come from). All of this is one of several areas in a resort where I am staying for a conference. 57 acres under glass, with a temperature maintained at a consistent 72 degrees all year round. It is truly very beautiful. The surroundings are paired with pleasant architecture and the whole is a tribute to its creators. But I was given pause, to think …what must it be like to live in the garden designed and built by the Creator?

In the first garden every tree grew that was pleasant to look at. Every tree grew that was good to eat. It was watered by a river provided for that express purpose. Later in the chapter we find, too, that the garden provided occupation — responsible occupation — for Adam.

Now the beautiful place in which I found myself today had its drawbacks too. It’s a tightly controlled environment. In fact it’s so tightly controlled that there aren’t many insects. With no insects, there are no birds except for a few handsome ducks. Eden, of course, suffered from no such drawbacks. It was perfect. Can you imagine what it must have been like?

Maybe we don’t have to imagine. In the very last book of the Bible, right at the end starting at Revelation 21:10-27 we find the description of the a new Jerusalem, a city so beautiful it defies our imagination. The description is glorious, and it tells of a river running through — “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

The creators of the garden I was in today are made in God’s image. In some way their creativity reflects His — but of course His is so much more wonderful. I can’t wait!