https://www.bible.com/events/49235012
Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg
Easter 2024: A Tale of Two Gardens
“Where are you?”
Easter is really a tale of two gardens.
The first garden was beautiful, but more than just physical beauty, this garden represents all creation as it should be: man and woman made in God’s image, walking intimately with Him.
There is no sin, no brokenness, no sickness, and no death.
This is life as it should be, and it’s beautiful.
The story begins in that garden
Genesis 2:8-9
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God has provided everything they needed in a garden whose beauty is beyond imagination.
Within this garden there was one tree that was off limits. They were not to take and eat from that tree. Adam and Eve, they had a choice- Would they take God at his word? Or would they take control?
Genesis 3:7-8
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
They decided to take control, to call their own shots.
The moment that sin enters into the world through this selfish act, immediately there is fear and shame. They were ashamed to be naked, and they ran from God.
Read a little further and there is accusation, blame, and denial between husband and wife. Sin entered the story and so did separation from God. The weight of failure and shame set in, and they hid.
Romans 5:12
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Sin entered into the world in that first garden, and it didn’t stop there. It became an epidemic infecting the hearts and souls of all mankind forever.
Whenever you see confusion, you can be sure that something is wrong. Disorder in the world implies that something is out of place. Usually, at the heart of all disorder you will find man in rebellion against God. It began in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day.
-A.W. Tozer
Our story begins in that first garden because sadly, for many, that’s really all they know. That’s their whole story, at least, so far. All they’ve known is a life filled with disorder and chaos.
That is the story of the first garden.
But…Easter is the story of not just one garden, but two.
John 19:38-42
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Here we see another garden.
Interesting that the first garden initially represented life, but now symbolizes death.
A place where life should have been celebrated, death became victorious.
And now in this garden, the garden tomb, it is clearly a place of death, a place where death has had the final word.
But in this garden, the second garden, death does not get the final word.
Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
There’s great irony in juxtaposing the two gardens:
1. In a place of the earth’s greatest beauty – the Garden of Eden – the hideousness of sin entered the world through human choices spurred by the devil’s deception.
• Out of great light falls great darkness.
• Death was never supposed to be a part of that beautiful place. But through the sin of man, it was.
2. In a place of death, the Garden Tomb – where darkness has its home – the Lord is resurrected and light dawns.
• The darkness of sin obliterated by the Light of the World.
• No one was ever supposed to escape that grave. But through the victory of Christ over sin, He did.
The Bible is the story of two gardens: Eden and Gethsemane.
In the first, Adam took a fall.
In the second, Jesus took a stand. I
in the first, God sought Adam.
In the second, Jesus sought God.
In Eden, Adam hid from God.
In Gethsemane, Jesus emerged from the tomb.
In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death.
From Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life.
-Max Lucado
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