EDEN IS GOD'S IDEA

Beloved,

FOCUS: 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.  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.  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 22:1-5  

Get this straight: God’s idea has never been suffering. Don’t let anyone confuse you and refuse to endure adverse situations. They are never God’s idea. Till eternity comes and last, God’s will is that we prosper and be in good health (3 John 2). Let economies fail and earthquakes happen, none changes God’s purpose for his children. Let science proclaim their discoveries, and let their analysis say what they like: they can never change God’s idea. Friend God’s idea is Eden.

In the beginning God created everything that will make man comfortable before he created man. This was what he said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26).  To ensure that man did not miss anything, God carved out the garden of plenty with every good thing you can imagine and put man into it. Let nothing confuse you, God’s intensions has always been for us to enjoy good. Think about it, who among us wants suffering for his household or relations? If we don’t, why do we call God wicked by thinking that he wants us to suffer? Friend, Eden is God’s idea; not just an idea of supplies. God’s ideas included man operating in power and glory. The glory was so much that Adam and Eve did not know they were naked. They had the power that controlled their environment.

God has not changed. Even when man messed up and listened to the devil, God set mechanisms through which man can get back to living the life in the Eden. The difference was that this time, man would work it out using the tools God gave him. I mean he set tools to lead us back to that edenic life. This is clearly detailed in Deuteronomy 28:1-14, but for space let’s see verse one:  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. So to get back to the Eden, man needed to diligently hearken to God’s word and obey them. There is no other option. This was how he put it to Joshua. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (Joshua 1:8). Good success and prosperity were at their reach, and at their command. “Thou shall make thy way prosperous and successful”, God told them. So Eden has always been God’s, but now man had to work it out using the tools God provided.

Let’s fast forward to Jesus. The son of God brought back Eden with a different kind of work. This was what he said about his coming: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). The more abundant life is life in the presence of God: delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13). So we are not going to have eternal life. We already have eternal life. To avoid any confusion, the scripture said These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13) . But a different kind of work is required to enjoy the fullness of eternal life. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent (John 6:29). Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all (Romans 4:16). I see from these scriptures that the fullness of eternal is sure and available to everyone and how much of it anyone enjoys in this side of eternity is defined by the person. Do challenges come?  Plenty but the tool of faith can deprive them of power to harm you (1 John 5:4). Hallelujah!

The beauty of it is that a time is coming, and very soon too when there will be no challenges for those in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation22:1-5). There shall be no tears or suffering or pains. The question is: how well are you preparing to be there?

Eden has always been God’s idea. Fight the good fight of faith, so that you can lay hold on that eternal life from now on and till eternity (1 Timothy 6:12)  

Shalom