Issue 1190 – The Garden Gate – June 30, 2023
I will take a short break with the Canada Day long weekend here. Gleanings will resume on July 4.
The community had changed a lot over the years. The street of stately estate homes for the well-to-do was now a mixture of boarding houses, vacant lots and businesses catering to the more base of human needs.
The people of the neighbourhood walked by or sat outside like ghosts. Seemingly oblivious to everything around them, if they noticed me at all, it was to wonder what I was doing in their neighbourhood.
A tired brick home, a mansion in its day, stood abandoned and covered in graffiti. A tall wrought iron gate stood in a vain effort to keep people out of the once beautiful formal garden.
Although rusted, the gate was intricately styled and still had vestiges of vivid red and green paint in places. It looked like no one had maintained it for decades, possibly generations.
I thought about going into the yard to look at the garden, but the combination of the rusted gate and the overgrowth kept me at bay. Dressed in shorts and sandals, I wasn’t curious enough to warrant all the scratches and cuts I could get for my effort.
I continued my walk, curious about the beauty the garden once had and the people who had lived there. Given the craftsmanship of the fence and gate, the beauty of the gardens that remained, although overrun and derelict and the home’s architecture, it must have been a beautiful place in its day.
All people once lived in a magnificent garden and regularly walked with its owner. Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and walked with God until they sinned and were cast out. God stationed a barrier angel to keep them from returning.
Since then, we have walked into a neighbourhood past its prime, full of broken people and predators willing to cater to their basest of desires. We are close to the beauty of the garden but oblivious to it. We pass by the lovingly built mansions like the living dead, ignoring the calls to return made by the Master Gardener.
The gate was flung open when Christ died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected. We now have the opportunity to be reconciled to God and given a ticket to the new garden. It is available to all for the asking.
Billions of people have not heard or accepted the message that a return is possible. They walk by the open gate every day either without seeing it or consciously choosing to avoid it. They reject the promise of redemption, believing that the whole world consists of what they have grown accustomed to seeing.
The new garden is described in the Revelation of Jesus the Christ to John the Apostle.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Revelation 22:1-5
Until next time rejoice that you have been given a ticket to the new garden. May the Lord place people in your path who do not yet have one, and may you find delight in inviting them.
Be Blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2023 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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