And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. (Genesis 2:8-10) A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. (Song 4:12-16)
The picture of the Garden of Eden is take in Genesis and found in Song of Solomon as indicative of the beloved bride.
This idea of the Garden representing the Bride progresses in the word of God in the precise same manner that the garden of Eden progresses in development into a beautiful HOLY CITY, New Jerusalem. Gen 2:9-10 KJV And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (10) And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. Rev 22:1-2 KJV And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (2) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. The beautiful thing about this City is that, just like the Garden used to symbolize the beauty of the beloved woman in Solomon's song, we read this about the city. Rev 21:2 KJV And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev 21:9-10 KJV And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. (10) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Both the Garden and the City are used in association with the idea of a beloved woman become a bride!
The Garden is the beginning and the New Jerusalem is the end. They both have the greatest distinctions in them of all the world.
And this progression is so beautifully typified in the bible by a beloved woman considered as a Garden enclosed coming to the place of being a Bride and City. Heb 12:22 KJV But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, Gal 4:26 KJV But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. God's Spirit was always called a River of Life. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14) In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39) Originally all cities began as wooded forest regions that were settled by people. A homestead was settled, and as more people came, the region was developed more.
Look at the progress seen in Revelation alone: Rev 4:2-3 KJV And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. (3) And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. Rev 4:4 KJV And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. Rev 4:6-7 KJV And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (7) And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. Heaven is virtually empty in Rev. 4 compared to Rev. 7. Rev 7:9 KJV After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; Rev. 4 has God, 24 elders and 4 beasts.
Jesus was always the answer. The Lamb comes to the throne in Rev 5 and redeems man, and in Rev 21 the Lamb is the light and the Lamb is the temple. The blood of a lamb on the doorways stood between safe Hebrews and the dying Egyptians the night of Passover. Two thieves curse Christ on crosses. One suddenly repents and asks Christ to remember him in His Kingdom.
The Lamb is between life and death. Cursed Goats of disobedience on one side and blessed sheep of obedient souls on the other.
Lambs speak of sacrifice and atonement and redemption. We have a Garden in Genesis bereft of mankind with a river flowing.
From a Garden to a City ! We're the Bride, church. And we need to develop in spiritual maturity.
God is opening up His Word and showing the powerful and anointed truths in God's Word to hungry believers today who are willing to let go of traditions if necessary to know full truth. Just as the word IN implies a place or thing that contains something and is the POSITION something then has, the idea of IN CHRIST speaks of our position.
We've often heard the term "The finished work of Calvary".
You were totally repulsive to God when you were in the kingdom of darkness. But you were completely reconciled when you were saved.
God put Adam in the Garden. Col 2:8-10 KJV Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (9) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (10) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: The reason God said that we are complete in Him so we should never let any man spoil us from Christ through philosophy is because WHAT THEY SAY WILL REMOVE YOU IF YOU FALL FOR IT, BECAUSE WHAT THEY SAY YOU NEED IS WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE IN CHRIST.
Gen 1:31 KJV And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. God planted the Garden. God watered the Garden and
God FINISHED THE WORK of the garden before Adam was ever put into it. Adam walked into a finished product.
The way we mature and progress is to find what is already inside this CHRIST in WHOM we exist now, and DIG IT OUT and no longer ENCLOSE and IMPRISON these things, but release them through our lives. Gen 1:27 KJV So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Gen 5:1 KJV This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; God made them in HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS. But then we read: Gen 3:4-5 KJV And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5) For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. He lied and implied they were NOT LIKE GOD. He said there was a way in which THEY COULD BECOME LIKE GOD.
And the woman did not realize she was already like God, and fell to temptation. IT WAS HIDDEN FROM HER. When Paul speaks of being in Christ and reconciled to God in Christ, he says things such as the following: Col 1:21-23 KJV And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (23) If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Col 1:28 KJV Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Col 1:19 KJV For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; Col 2:6-11 KJV As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (7) Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (8) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (9) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (10) And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (11) In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: We are complete in Jesus. This means we have everything required of God to be saved and pleasing to Him.
We can be SPOILED, or STOLEN out of this Garden of Christ. Deceivers can SPOIL us. And what Eve already had in the Garden, we also HAVE. Now, if Eve was LIKE GOD already, and yet the devil succeeded in making her think she was not and offered her a way to become Like him, then OBVIOUSLY IT WAS HIDDEN FROM HER.
Col 2:1-4 KJV For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; (2) That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (3) In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (4) And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. If Eve could have LEARNED about herself a little more, then when the devil lied and said she could be like God, she could have responded saying, "You're a liar. I am already made in his likeness." (V. 3) Paul said THERE WERE TRUTHS HIDDEN IN CHRIST that were wisdom and knowledge. (V. 2) He said there was a full assurance that UNDERSTANDING brings. It Acknowledges a MYSTERY.
Colossians is very similar to Ephesians. The reason Eve fell to sin and lost her place in the garden although she had all the devil tried to make think she did not have, was because IT REMAINED A MYSTERY TO HER. People must be taught by the ministry to see what is part of this finished work.
There are things that remain hidden in Christ to believers.
Revelation is not something preachers alone are supposed to experience. Col 1:22-23 KJV In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (23) If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Col 2:6-7 KJV As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (7) Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. There were things in the Garden rivers all around the Tree of Life that are seen in Revelation's City with the same tree of life. Gen 2:10-12 KJV And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. (11) The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (12) And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Rev 21:18-19 KJV And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. (19) And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; What we see is a picture of things FORMERLY HIDDEN in the Garden region that were excavated and BUILT UP into a city all around that TREE in Revelation. This is not a physically city.
Those who will lose out next month, if anyone loses out, will do so because they're in Christ like everyone else here is who is saved, BUT WERE NOT ROOTED IN HIM like the others were who DO NOT LOSE OUT. We need to get tired of satan's successes and GET ROOTED IN CHRIST SO WE STOP LOSING OUR POSITION IN HIM. Col 1:23 KJV If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; There's been so little teaching in Pentecost until people have no clue about things we need to learn if they do not deal with what saves us. IT IS FINISHED means NOTHING LACKS. God is going to bring souls into the GARDEN phase of spirituality and take them all the way to the CITY dimension.
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