When you think of Eden what do you think of? I think of the nature, the animals, the plants, the crystal blue skies and lushes green grass. I also picture what David wrote in Psalm 23 "The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down on green pastures, He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul for His name sake…" I think David painted a perfect picture of how Adam and Eve's relationship was like with God before the fall.
Think about it for a moment I mean the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not be in want. Adam and Eve had God walking along side of them talking and guiding them along the pathways of Eden. He makes me lie down on green pastures, they got to lie in those truest green pastures with God! He leads me beside still waters, and you know what I bet they literally got to be lead by still waters. And finally He restores the soul. I feel like every day until the fall Adam and Eve had their soul always filled and there was no need for it to get restored. But, what I am after is what do we mean when we talk about getting back to Eden?
This might be cliche but as I was watching the Lion King and a line in it that Mufasa says to Simba as he is showing him around the lands is “Look at everything, all that the light touches is our kingdom…” When I re-thought of this line it hit me while I was asleep (usual Jesus moments folks, so write them down when they happen) all that the light touches is our kingdom, more so our kingdom given to us. For you see I feel like the whole earth is Eden; the beauty of the world is so magnificent just like I’m sure the Garden of Eden was. And yet when we say that we are wanting to go back to Eden I believe it’s to get back into that perfect harmony, that perfect relationship, that perfect union with Papa.
Is any of this biblically sound, some of it but more so it’s just truth being revealed*. I mean Jesus said that the Kingdom is at hand! Would I love to see the garden Adam and Eve got to walk in yes! But right here, right now we have a garden to walk, skip, jump and run in and that’s the whole of creation! I get to talk with the God who created me and walk in step with Him because He is living inside of me. So I am coming back to Eden by exploring what the Lord has given me and by doing that I am coming closer to His heart, coming back into deeper relationship with him, restoring what once was lost and coming into closer union with Him just as He always intended.
*Isaiah 54:5-8
"For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth. "For the LORD has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected," Says your God. "For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. "In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer.”
