The Day of New Beginnings

In the Midst of the Garden

 

Song of Solomon 4:
 
12 "A garden locked is my sister, my bride, A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.
 13 "Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates With choice fruits, henna with nard plants,
 14 Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, With all the trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.
 15 ¶ "You are a garden spring, A well of fresh water, And streams flowing from Lebanon."
 16 "Awake, O north wind, And come, wind of the south; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, Let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden And eat its choice fruits!"
 
5:1:
1 ¶ "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers."
 
Solomon paints a picture of his bride as a garden filled with choice fruits and the finest spices. She is also described as a garden spring, a well of fresh water and streams flowing from Lebanon. Solomon calls to the winds, “Make my garden breathe out fragrance, let its spices be wafted abroad.” All of this imagery is an expression of the Body of Christ. The fruitfulness of the garden typifies the attributes of Christ manifested in His people. The references to fresh water and flowing streams point to the Holy Spirit within us and the Word flowing out. The garden breathing out its fragrance is the presence of the Lord emanating from His body. Paul stated, “For we are a fragrance of Christ…”
 
It’s interesting that this same imagery is portrayed in Genesis.
 
Gen. 2:
8* ¶ The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
9* Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10* Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.
11* The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12* The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15* Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
16 ¶ The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17* but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."
 
The Lord planted a Garden in Eden. Eden means pleasure, delight or finery. All are adjectives describing a realm that God delights in. In this garden He caused to grow every tree and plant that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. A river also flowed out of Eden which eventually divided and became four rivers. The passages also allude to the gold found in that region and the precious stones. But the most important thing found in the midst of the garden was the Tree of Life. 
 
The Tree of Life typifies the divine nature through which all the other symbolism has its root. It is the nature of Christ within us that is the source of all God’s attributes through us. Now, here is something very interesting. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was also in the midst of the garden.  The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a type of our old, independent Adamic nature. That tree existed in the Garden of Eden right along side the Tree of Life! It was there from the beginning. It did not show up afterward. So too, in the Body of Christ there exists the divine nature of God and along side it exists what we call our “old nature”. 
 
For many years I could not understand why God allowed certain things to remain in my life. Why couldn’t there be a total deliverance in which certain things never reared their heads again? Have you ever felt like God’s provision just wasn’t working in your life? Or that maybe you had problems that were just too deep rooted for God to change? Seeing problems in our flesh day after day that don’t seem to go way can be quite frustrating. But in the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden we have an explanation.
 
Adam and Eve were told they could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a matter of focus. Would they be obedient or would they be enticed? At the present time God is revealing the nature of Christ in His body. It is a real, solid revelation that is coming forth. We are beginning to discern His nature and Life within us. This is happening in spite of an old nature that constantly screams in our ears telling us how alive it is and how little we have appropriated from God. What we have not understood is that the new nature is coming forth within us in spite of the old nature’s continued presence. 
 
First and foremost, we must seek God until His nature within us is a reality, not a theory or a doctrine, but a living reality within us.  It must be a revelation to our hearts just as it was a revelation to Peter when he exclaimed, “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God.” It was the Father that revealed that to Peter, not flesh and blood. Once we see the new nature, it becomes a matter of focus, just as it was with Adam and Eve. What are we going to believe? Faithfulness and obedience in this hour will be measured by how we cleave to the new nature being created in us and how we refuse to listen to the old. We can’t argue with the old nature when it begins to “speak”, we can only turn away from it and proclaim, “I know Christ’s nature and Life is coming forth in me, and that’s all I choose to know.” This is exactly what Jesus did when He was reproved by Peter for saying that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed. His response was, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s." 
 
Our faithfulness and obedience to believe only in what we see God creating in us is leading to something. There comes the time when “what is mortal must put on immortality” (1st Cor. 15:50-58), but it doesn’t just happen. There is a pattern of obedience that is fulfilled in us that opens the door to it. Wishful thinking and hoping will not get the job done. There must be a determined faith. We are to manifest His Life and nature. This is the calling and purpose of the Body of Christ. 

 
Psalm 110:
1 ¶ <> The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."
 2 The LORD will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the midst of Your enemies."
 3 Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.
 4 The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, "You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek."
 
This psalm is about the Lord Jesus, but it also about Him in His body. The command is, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” We are talking about the enemy within us, the old nature. We are to rule and be victorious in spite of the presence of our enemy. This comes about only as we set our focus upon the new nature within us and refuse to believe anything else. 
 
Psalm 23:
1 ¶ <> The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
 6 Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
 
The strategy of God is not to take away what hinders us, but that we overcome by believing in what He is creating in us. It is a Satanic lie that tells us God’s provision is not working or complete in our lives because problems and the old nature seem to remain. The victory is in getting a revelation of His nature within us and staying focused on it. We rule in the midst of our enemies!