It's Almost Spring...

Technically, it IS spring, it's just not acting like it yet. Spring means beautiful flowers, and gardening and planting. At one time I had a garden. The soil... well, you couldn't really call it soil, it was so full of clay that hardened that it was more like solid concrete. I tried planting a garden. I planted cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and zucchini. I did end up harvesting about a half dozen bell peppers about the size of cherry tomatoes, and the tomato caterpillars got all my tomatoes. I remember when I tried to dig the ground and clear the weeds thinking about how backwards creation is. I had to work very hard to coax plants that I  wanted to stay alive, but the ones I didn't want grew like...weeds. Sigh. It wasn't like that in the garden of Eden. I don't think there was such a thing as a weed there. Everything grew nicely (I imagine) not out of control and haywire all over the place. And the soil must've been perfect and lush and full of minerals. The garden did need tending, but I don't believe that is was as back-breaking to care for as a garden of today is.

Paraíso - Jan Bruegel

In the Bible, the first mentioned garden is the garden of Eden. And what is mentioned in Revelation about the new earth sounds like a garden of Eden restored. Are there other gardens mentioned between the first and the last?



There's this one:


Deu 11:9  And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 11:10  For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
Deu 11:11  But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
Deu 11:12  A land which the LORD thy God careth for the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deu 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deu 11:14  That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
Deu 11:15  And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

and what about this account of Ahab and Jezebel?

The Song of Solomon mentions a garden of spices

and this promise of the Lord:

Isa 51:3  For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

and:

Jer 31:12  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

and the Bible tells us that satan:

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

and this incredible passage that speaks to Pharaoh of Egypt about the beauty (greater than any of the trees in Eden) and deadliness of pride and how someone that is caught in pride will come to a terrible end

and the coming destruction:

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
Joe 2:3  A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. (this is an amazing chapter to read see it here)

In this search, I discovered something about the garden of Gethsemane (which is what I've always heard it called, and what I've always referred to the place where Jesus prayed at the time He was arrested)...that isn't what the Bible calls it.

Mat 26:36  Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

Mar 14:32  And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
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Can you tell that I want the spring flowers to be blooming again? Sigh...soon...soon and as beautiful as spring is here on earth it won't compare with the beauty that the Lord has planned for His children when we are with Him...