The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,–

One is nearer God’s heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

God’s Garden, by Dorothy Frances Gurney

The story of humanity began and will end in a garden.  It started in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve tended God’s garden, and met and interacted with him daily.  It was a place of beauty and abundance, and it supplied everything Adam and Eve needed.  In the middle of the garden, God had planted a Tree of Life; access to the Tree of Life meant that Adam and Eve would live forever. In the final two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21 and 22, God is with his people again, in a new Garden of Eden, in a new creation.

Revelation 21:1-4 NIV

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Look again at Revelation 21:3, this time in the NLT version:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.

God’s eternal purpose to be our God and for us to be his people is fulfilled.  The new covenant between God and humanity has become reality.

Jeremiah 31:33

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

We are also now adopted into God’s family, just as Jesus promised.

Revelation 21:7 NLT

All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

And we will live forever, with a tree of life on every riverbank.

Revelation 22:1-2 NLT

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.  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.

Thoughts

Since the day that the world fell into sin God has been working to redeem all creation, and to restore the relationship between man and God to everything it was in the Garden of Eden. 

Long ago, God pledged himself to humanity forever and without reservation through his covenants with mankind.  The covenants with Noah, Abraham, and Moses assured us that God intended a future for us.  In the covenant with David, God promised to establish a kingdom that would last forever.  And in the new covenant, God promised to forgive our sins and remember them no more, to give us new hearts, free from sin, and to be our God once again, living among us.

Jesus has come and he accomplished everything except the final phase of God’s plan of redemption.  We’ve already witnessed enough to trust that restoration to a New Eden is coming.  When Jesus returns, it will be as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and every knee will bow.

We’ll close with a passage from Isaiah:

Isaiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine- the best of meats and the finest of wines.  On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.  The LORD has spoken.

In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”