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Wednesday, October 4, 2017

The Picture (An Abundant Life)

It’s easy to dismiss what I talked about yesterday.  Why would I think that we could live like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?  That was perfect for them back then, but we don’t live in the world described in Genesis 2.  That’s because they listened to the serpent in Genesis 3 and got kicked out!

So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. (Genesis 3:23 HCSB)

It is true that we don’t live in the same world that Adam and Eve enjoyed.  Now, we need to work by the sweat of our brow.  Now, their is pain in childbearing.  Now, the world is filled with people who have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Now, one out of every one person dies.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1-5 ESV)

While these things all may be true, we see another part of God’s picture at the end of the Bible.  In the book of Revelation, we see a vision of a new heaven and a new earth.  We see a picture where God makes all things new again.  That’s because God’s design and desire for our lives was best seen when everything was new.  When things are made new again, we will get to enjoy A Garden Walk just like Adam and Eve did back in the original Garden of Eden.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. (Revelation 22:1-3 ESV)

We don’t need to wait until Jesus returns, though, to start experiencing A Garden Walk.  Jesus came to earth, taught, died, rose, and ascended into heaven so that we could start experiencing a taste of it now.  When we live A Garden Walk today, God’s Kingdom comes and His will is done here on earth just as it is in heaven.  We start experiencing the benefits and blessings that go along with walking together with God.  Jesus told us about it when he was here, but he didn’t call it A Garden Walk.  He had a different term for it: an abundant life.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 NKJV)

How about you?  Do you see the picture God is moving us toward in the future?  Do you look forward to the perfect Garden Walk someday in the future?  Are you ready to live an abundant life now?

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