Over in Genesis chapter 8, we read this, And the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man
whom He had formed. And then in the book of the Song
of Solomon, in chapter 4 verse 10. It says, How fair is thy love, my
sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than
wine, and the smell of thine ointments than all spices. Thy
lips, O my spouse, drop as a honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants
are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphor
and sphagnard, sphagnard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense, myrrhs and aloes, with all the
chief spices. A fountain of gardens, a well
of living waters and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north
wind, and come, thou salve, blow upon my garden, that the spices
thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. I am come into my garden, my
sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, O friends, yea, drink abundantly,
O beloved." Then over in the book of John chapter 18 and verse 1, says when Jesus had spoken these
words, He went forth with His disciples
over the brook Cedron where was a garden into which He entered in His disciples and Judas also
which betrayed Him. knew the place. For Jesus oft
times resorted thither with His disciples. And then in John 19 verse 40, Then took they the body of Jesus,
and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is
to bury." Now in the place where he was
crucified, there was a garden. And in the
garden, a new sepulcher. where never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore
because of the Jews preparation day for the sepulcher was nigh
at hand. The Lord planted a garden. The scripture tells us exactly
where he planted it. It said he planted it eastward
in Eden. A garden is not a weed patch. A garden is something that you
specifically mark out a spot for. and you plant the plants
in it that you want to be there. And the Lord planted the garden
and He was pleased to put man in it. Scripture says that He
put Adam in that garden. And this was the planting of
the Lord. It was the purpose of God. to
make this garden. And, of course, we read of those
other gardens there. He likens the church of God,
the people of God, to a garden. He said, Thou art a garden walled
round. You're set apart. You're a peculiar place. You're
a spot that is designed by my hand. And so the Lord in His
mercy and kindness has made a place in the earth
for His people. And He's made a people for the
place. And He said, You are my planting. You are those whom I have planted
in my garden. And this is a precious place
to Him. Now, we also see that the Lord resorted
to a garden whenever He was under great burden. Scripture says
that He often went to the garden, which we commonly refer to as
Gethsemane, which means the wine press. that it should be called the
wine press because it was there that the Lord was pleased to
put Himself in that press to bear our sin, to be our substitute,
which is what we come today to remember, the Lord's death till
He comes again. And it is also in a garden where the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ was laid. What a glorious thing to think
that the God who created the world and made a garden for the benefit
of men and put a man in it and gave him everything. He put within that garden the tree
of life, planted it there so that man
might eat of it and that he might live. And yet we know the outcome of
that situation. And we've seen the result of
it. But this was not a garden that
was planted by mistake. It was a garden that was planted
on purpose. And all that occurred in that garden was according
to the purpose of God that He might reveal to us, to His people,
something far greater than the glories of creation, as great
as they are. And so it is only fitting that
he should come to a garden, is it not, that was planted by men? Now think about it. God planted a
garden and He put a man in it. And yet here he is coming to
a garden that men planted that he might bear their sin. And the script says he went over
the brook Sedron. Now I've mentioned this before
in times past, but to refresh your memory, the brook Sedron
was really a sewer. It was a little creek-like that
ran from the middle of Jerusalem. And in it was cast all of the blood from the sacrifices
and whatnot was cast into this river or creek. And it ran, I
don't know where the ultimate, where it ran to, but in any event,
it was a black stream because of all the blood that was there. The Lord Jesus Christ crossed
over that sewer of sin into this garden that man had planted that
he might be our substitute. And when he went into that garden,
he didn't pray for but he prayed for us. And he didn't just pray for everybody,
but he prayed specifically for those, he said, whom the Lord
had given him. He said, Thine they were, and
Thou hast given them to me. And he said, Father, keep them.
Keep them. When he went there to that garden,
he had no thought for his own self, because if he had, he'd
have never went to the garden. If he had, he would have departed
from the garden. He said, nevertheless, not my
will but thine be done. And then he saw fit to be buried in a garden. Because, you see, it was this
garden, this place that man had planted, that he was pleased
to come into a sepulcher that man had hewed out of the ground.
Now, God doesn't need a sepulcher, does he? I mean, can God die? Can he who is eternal cease to
be? And we know the answer to that.
Of course, he cannot. The God who created the heavens
and the earth did hang upon Calvary's cross, and He did pour out the
blood that was in His body for the remission of sin. And He
did ordain that His body be taken and laid in a grave, hewed out
by the hands of men. in a garden that was planted
by men. And yet it was in this same place that Mary came early on the first
day of the week. And the Lord appeared to her
there. And He said, He said, Go and tell the disciples,
Peter, that I go before you. Dear brethren, it is this one whom we speak of here today
that we remember in this bread and in this wine because He gave Himself in our
behalf. And he poured out his blood and
he said to us, remember this until I come again. And because
of that which took place in this garden and that which was revealed in
this The resurrected Christ was seen in this garden. You see, the Lord has brought
all things to pass for our benefit and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God who are the called according
to His purpose. And it is according to the mercy
of God that He has shown us these things and given us the privilege
to be partakers of something that even the angels of heaven
cannot even touch. He never told them to do this,
did He? He never put one of them in the
garden. He never created a garden for
them. But He created a garden for us. And He has cleansed the
garden See, the garden that he created didn't need to be cleansed.
He barred man from coming back to it, did he not? His garden
was pure. But the garden of men that men
planted, it needed to be cleansed. And the Lord Jesus Christ by
His own blood and according to His purposes cleansed that garden.
And it's in this garden where we meet with the Lord. that we
can't meet with the Lord in the garden that He planted because
He put the angels there with the swords that barred us from
doing it. And that's exactly what you had reference to there
earlier. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of heaven. It can't do it. But yet, men,
real men, men who can be seen and touched shall indeed inherit
Kingdom of Heaven. And we have been given the earnest
of that before us right now and told to remember His death until
He comes again because it is in what He did that gives us
a right and a reason that we can approach unto Him. And so
He created the garden and He put man in it and then He cast man out. But yet he came to a garden that
man planted, and he cleansed it by his own blood. And he rose from the dead. And
he said, I live forevermore. And he said, temporarily, in
the meantime, until I come, I am giving you this, that you might
remember me. May the Lord give us a mind that
we might remember Him.