What is a garden? Encyclopedia Britannica says: "Gardening is the laying out and care of a plot of ground devoted partially or wholly to the growing of plants such as flowers, herbs, or vegetables. Gardening can be considered both as an art, concerned with arranging plants harmoniously in their surroundings, and as a science, encompassing the principles and techniques of plant cultivation."
When you think about a garden what image comes to mind? Do you envision a beautiful lush green area filled with trees, bushes, and scrubs? Do you think about a space in your back yard where you will be growing vegetables like lettuce, beets, and kale? You might think about a rose garden, an area filled with plants where you can smell the aroma and see the beauty of the different colors. Gardens are unique and all of us have a different vision when we close our eyes and think about what a garden is.
The Bible has over 60 scriptures about gardens. However, there are four particular gardens that are mentioned in the Bible: The Garden of Eden, The Garden of Gethsemane, Golgotha, and The Heavenly Garden.
The Garden of Eden:
Before God made man, He made the heavens and the earth. He made light for the earth and divided the light from the darkness. He made fish and birds to fill the waters and the sky. He made the animals to fill the earth. He made every plant before planting them in the dirt and every herb before it grew. God hadn't sent any rain, yet, nor was there anyone to farm the soil. The ground was watered by a mist or dew, which arose out of the earth. Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed life into him. The Lord God "formed" man, not created him. It was not like Genesis 1:1, when God made all things out of nothing, but taking something that He had already created, earth, and shaping in into what God wanted to make, much like what the potter does to the clay. Man is of "adama." The name "adama" is Hebrew for earth. Which leaves us with the reminder every time we are at a burial site for a funeral, Genesis 3:19 is always quoted, "out of dust we came, and to dust we must all return."
Then God planted a garden east of Eden and placed the man He formed in the garden. We are reminded that the Lord planted all sorts of beautiful trees. God had made every tree, from man's point of view, "pleasing to the sight and very good for food." In the center of this garden God placed the Tree of Life and also the Tree of Conscience, giving knowledge of Good and Bad. God placed the man in the Garden of Eden as its gardener, only to tend and care for it. With a warning: "You may eat any fruit in the garden except fruit from the Tree of Conscience - for its fruit will open your eyes to make you aware of right and wrong, good and bad. If you eat its fruit you will be doomed to die."
But the Lord God thought: "It isn't good for man to be alone." The Lord will make him a "help meet." So the Lord God gave man an anesthetic and set to work on the first medical procedure in history. He extracted just one of man's ribs, and created a woman. Then God brought the woman to the man. Adam realized that she was part of his bone and flesh and then name her woman because, "she was taken out of a man." The Bible clearly says, "This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife in such a way that the two become one person" (Genesis 2:24).
"Disguised as a serpent, Satan came to tempt Eve" (Genesis 3:1). This verse gives us a red flag warning from the very start about the character of Satan. He is identified as the serpent in this passage. Satan at one time was an angelic being who rebelled against God and was kicked out of heaven. God makes it clear that Satan is a created being and thus has limitations.
So Satan went to Eve and asked her, "Really? None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn't eat any of it?" Satan is a great and effective communicator and his words possess the poison of doubt that kills the spirit. Eve told the serpent that they could eat the fruit in the garden but could not eat any fruit from the tree at the center of the garden, nor touch it or they would die. With this one question Satan accomplishes much. He created doubt in her mind. I am sure Eve was very content and happy until he planted the seed of doubt in her mind. He gets Eve to focus on the one thing that she couldn't have. Sometimes we fall into trouble too, when we focus on the few things we don't have rather than on the countless things that God has given us.
After Satan had finished planting doubt in the mind of Eve, he goes on to deception. His deception can be as sly and shrewd as the act of doubt. He comes out with an outright lie: "That's a lie!" You'll will not die!" Next he told her that "God knows very well that the instant you eat it you will become like God, you will be able to distinguish good from evil." To become more like God is the highest goal in humanity. We are supposed to be more like God every day. Scripture clearly tells us to become more like God, but this is not to be God Himself. But it is to reflect His characteristics and recognize His authority over our life. But Satan misled Eve so that he could accomplish his goal.
Eve became convinced. The desire to have a knowledge of good and evil seemed desirable and harmless to her. So she ate some of the fruit and gave some to her husband, and he ate some too. There are always consequences to our actions. Adam and Eve chose their course of action - disobedience, and now God chose His. God is a holy God and He could only respond to His perfect moral nature. Adam and Eve learned by painful experience that since God is holy and hates sin, He must punish sinners. Their sentence was DAMNATION.
God expels them from the Garden, but not just to them, this beautiful paradise was now lost to all mankind. Then God pronounced His judgment first to the serpent, then to Eve, and then to Adam. Before God executed his judgment and banished them forever from the Garden of Eden, He clothed them with garments made from animal skins. God made coats of skins; and clothed them to hide their nakedness, which did not bother them in their state of innocence. But in order to get the skins, the first act of bloodshed had to be committed. God showed them that to receive forgiveness for sin, blood had to be shed.
Isn't God mighty good? God already had a plan, because God is never blind-sided. The Bible is the story of how that plan unfolds. It all leads to God's own visit to earth through His Son Jesus. Jesus' sinless life and death made it possible for God to offer forgiveness to all who wants it. Our small and large acts of sin proves that we are descendants of Adam, but only by asking for forgiveness of Jesus Christ can we become children of God.
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