God planted a garden. That garden in Eden was the first recorded act of God after he created humans. It was a place of peace, comfort, and food. Above all, it was the place where Adam and Eve met with God. When they told God “We don’t want you anymore!” God drove them out of his garden. In that rebellion we lost more than a place of comfort and food.
We lost God.
We can’t find God, but he has found us. This blog will follow that story from Genesis to Revelation.
After many generations, empires like Assyria and Babylon rose and fell in the fertile whcrescent north of Israel. The term “Fertile Crescent” has a certain irony; the soil was very rich, but water was often scarce and always precious.
Therefore irrigation was needed even in earliest times. Rich and powerful people often built walls around irrigated areas where precious plants could be carefully tended. These gardens were places of peace, serenity, and rest. The Persian word for garden was sometimes used: Paradise.
Paradise, the garden of God, was promised by Isaiah (51: 3). The word “Paradise” which included the presence of God was promised by Jesus on the Cross when he said to the Penitent Thief “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 42) and the Tree of Life, forbidden to humans in the Garden of Eden, is finally given to believers by Christ in Heaven (Revelation 2: 7). God used a garden to symbolize restoration to fellowship and eternal life to all who heed his word; the Listeners.