Walking With Christ

Genesis 3:2-3 (2)And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, (3)but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”(ESV)

Matthew 26:39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”(ESV)

The story begins in a garden (Eden) where the first Adam disobeyed God. The story begins again in another garden (Gethsemane) where Jesus embraced the will of the Father.

The Hebrew word for Eden can be translated as “delight” or “pleasure”, while Gethsemane is loosely translated as “olive press”. Eden was a place of near perfect bliss that was in perfect balance and required very little of the occupants. Gethsemane speaks of transformative pressure that changes olives into the refined oil that the region was known for.

In our raw, natural state, we have flaws and weaknesses that will allow us to fall into the traps of the enemy. Through the transformative nature of the Christian walk, we are refined and made into something new and more valuable. Almost the entirety of the Christian faith can be seen through a study of these two gardens to compare and contrast them.

What began as a failing in one garden was finished through obedience in another garden. What once appeared to be an irreconcilable rift between God and man was closed with the words, “It is finished.”