by It started with a garden,
Gen 2:8 – And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. If I might digress here for a moment (I’ll clear this up in another post) Doing a deep word study on this statement, we get the following – And the LORD God planted a Bride in the ancient of days to behold, know, experience the door to life. (I will warn you ahead of time, I may jump around a little)
At this point we could go in a handful of directions. We could talk about the Bride. We could talk about how it’s all about a wedding. We could talk about how it’s to teach us what Love is, and how to love. I will choose at this point to talk about the garden, the gardener, the seeds, plants, and diseases.
The garden is us. The gardener is Christ, the sower of seed. The seed is the Word of God. Again, the plants are us. The diseases are what attack us. He goes forth into the world to sow seed (Himself), in order to produce a garden (bride). If He is the seed, then we are to become like Him as the plants the seed produces.
The field in which the seed is cast, consists of differing terrain. Acidic soil, Balanced soil, Rocky soil, Sand, Weeds, Briars, and birds.
Now first, the seed. There are different seeds for different climates and soil. Some are coarse and pointed, and work their way into the soil. Most of these seeds are designed for acidic soil. Upbraid, reprove, rebuke, admonish. Some seeds are softer, not so pointed, designed for a more balanced soil. with these comes longsuffering, meekness, temperance. To plant these different seeds, we need to understand the soil.
Some soil is hardened, and needs to be broken so the seed can take root. It needs to have it’s PH adjusted (become less caustic/acidic) over a period of time before planting. Become balanced. Some soil is already somewhat balanced. It just needs some adjusting, seed, and water.
Now comes the point of talking about the plants. He (the gardener) will meet us where we are. We can grow as we are, then we just kind of grow spindly, blown around with the cares of the world. If we trust Him however, and allow Him to remove the unneeded leaves (the things we no longer need in our lives). Once pruned, we become like a bush, that just rustles a little when the wind blows.
Now, there are diseases that attack the plants. Among them are rust which tarnishes and removes the luster. Another is smut, that kind of removes the moister and slowly becomes powderized, loosing parts of itself. Rot affects the whole plant. Then there are weeds, that steal nutrients from the plant (this falls into the unequally yoked scriptures). But a properly maintained garden grows, and bears much fruit. Reproducing after it’s kind. Let us bear fruit!
More to follow.
