Genesis 2:8-14 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.… To every human being, not less than to Adam, God has given a garden to till and to keep: it is the garden within him. Alas! this garden of the soul is no longer an Eden. An enemy hath come and sown tares (Matthew 13:25). Instead of the fir tree has come up the thorn, and instead of the myrtle tree has come up the brier (Isaiah 55:13). Nevertheless, the capacity of paradise still lies latent within us all. Like seeds which have for ages lain buried beneath the soil of our primeval forests, there lie deep down in the subsoil of our moral natures the germs of giant spirit powers and experiences. Fallen as we are, we are capable of being redeemed, reinstated in the range of conscious sonship to the everlasting Father. In fact, this capacity for redemption is, on its human side, the basis of the possibility of Christ's salvation. The Son of God came not to crush, but to save; not to destroy, but to restore; not to annihilate, but to transfigure. And when we let Him have His way in our hearts; when we let Him drive the ploughshare of His Spirit's conviction, uprooting tares and thorns and all baleful weeds; when we let Him sow the good seed of the kingdom, which is the Word of God; when we let Him quicken it with the warmth of His breath, and water it with the dews of His grace, and hue it with the sunshine of His beauty: then does paradise lost become paradise found; then is brought to pass — oh, how gloriously! — the saying of the poet-prophet (Isaiah 35:1). (G. D. Boardman.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.WEB: Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. |
    |