#268 Kingdom: The Kingdom of Eden

We have shared previously how the first two chapters of the Bible have a definite fulfillment in the last two chapters of Scripture. The natural “creation” in Genesis 1 is fulfilled in the spiritual creation of New Earth, the New Heaven and in the New Jerusalem. Still, as we have shared many times, these are not just objective fulfillments but should be applied subjectively within us. In other words there should be a progressive and subjective fulfillment of the New Earth, then the New Heaven and at sometime the New Jerusalem as our personal experience.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The New Earth is the fulfillment of the created earth. The New heaven is the fulfillment of the created heavens and the New Jerusalem is the fulfillment of the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden is a type and shadow of the Kingdom of God. Man was placed in the Garden of Eden to have dominion and rulership over it and then over the whole world. In other words it was a foreshadowing of the Kingdom of God so we could call it “the Kingdom of Eden.”

The “first creation” is a type of the “new creation” under the New Covenant. The “first heaven” is a picture of the “new creation of our spirit”, developing heavenly viewpoints and of the creation of that “heavenly realm” today in our experience. The “Garden of God” is a type of the saints coming to the fulfillment of man in God’s eternal purpose or we could say the New Jerusalem.

Even as the Tree of Life, as a type, was in the Garden of God so the Tree of Life, in its fulfillment, is in the New Paradise of God, the New Jerusalem. My theory is that even as the New Jerusalem is God’s people who have come to this perfection so also is the Garden of God [or the garden of Eden] is the people who have begun this journey with God. The “garden people today” have the same choices to make as the first people. We can easily make the same wrong choices as they. God’s people are His garden.

Isa 51:3] Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.

Of course there are no waste places, wilderness or deserts in Zion so this is speaking of various experiences that God uses to perfect those who will participate in Zion. [ His throne, His manifested Presence and His Government, the manifested sons of God]

Isa 58: 11] “And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. [12] “And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

Jer 31: 12] “And they shall come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they shall be radiant over the bounty of the LORD – Over the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their life shall be like a watered garden, And they shall never languish again.

To just interpret these things as a fulfillment in natural Israel is too shallow for the New Covenant Christian that has been raised up and seated with Christ in “spiritual realms.” Of course the carnal mind can only interpret carnal and natural things by human understanding.

Song of Songs 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!” Song of Songs5:1 “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.

To interpret these verses as something natural is certainly human but they make no sense. If we can see that the “garden” the “field” the “vineyard” the “tower” and many of these metaphors are speaking of the people of God in whom God is working to bring forth fruit for eternity, the applications are simple to make. The bride “is His garden” in which He works for her perfection. The severity of the winds are for God’s purposes and for Her perfection.

1 Cor 3: 9] For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

God’s people are compared to the four kinds of soil in Matthew 13: 3-8. In most people the soil was not YET properly prepared to receive the seed of God. In the ones that the soil had been properly prepared and the fallow ground was plowed deep and all the rocks and clods were removed, the seed produced 100 fold. This is a spiritual lesson for us to discern why some receive the Word of the Kingdom and grow by it and others can hear nothing.

Those who wish to go right from Calvary to perfection without the plowing, and tilling, the winds, the rain, extreme temperatures and the removing of the rocks and the beating down of the clods and the various preparations of the earthly nature will just stay in the status quo. There is NO shortcut to perfection or to God’s eternal purpose to bring us to Zion. The earthly nature [dirt] cannot receive the Word of the Kingdom until there has been a serious work completed

Isa 28: 24] Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed? Does he continually turn and harrow the ground? [25] Does he not level its surface, And sow dill and scatter cummin, And plant wheat in rows, Barley in its place, and rye within its area? [26] For his God instructs and teaches him properly. [27] For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin; But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club. [28] Grain for bread is crushed, Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever. Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it, He does not thresh it longer. [29] This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

Here again God uses the farming process to demonstrate His working within us to produce His harvest. God knows how to prepare the soil for the Kingdom seed. He doesn’t continue to plow but when the soil is properly plowed He begins to level the field. He only plants when the soil is properly prepared. When it comes to harvest He doesn’t forever beat out the crop in the thrashing process. Everything is done for the best possible harvest. We are God’s field and a planting of the Lord.

Isa 61: 3] To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

This is the last part of the verses that Jesus read from Isa 61 when He returned from the wilderness and began His ministry. Those who mourn in Zion and overcome the difficulties are the planting of the Lord.

The “gospel of super grace” ignores the preparation of the soil, the adversity of the elements, the maturing of the crops and the severity of the harvest. The carnal and earthly nature [earth’s soil] is ignored because “We are saved by grace.” Man is made from the earth but there must be the preparation of this dirt for the planting of the Kingdom seed. The harvest is NOT earthly and temporal but spiritual and eternal. Therefore, there must be some revolution in the soil to bring forth a spiritual crop. There must be an overthrow of the carnal social order within that always seems to gravitate toward a religious system rather than toward the new system of the Spirit and the Kingdom of God. This must produce a dramatic and far reaching change in the inner man to make us the planting of the Lord.

This revealing of Christ should be within the manifested sons of God. The doctrines of Christ are designed to be experienced within His believing church. Fulfilling the doctrine as a subjective experience must become a personal responsibility and not just something we believe. If this is really true why don’t we see the evidence in the church? Because the greatest emphasis has been placed upon what we believe and not upon what we are and whether we actually manifest the Christ that is within. Is He actually free to be displayed among men or is he encapsulated within this frame of dirt?

Multitudes today, both men and women, are using plastic surgery to cover up or remove outward defects. Maybe a hanging chin or a bulging nose or bags under the eyes. Even sagging extremities are tightened up. It is very popular to try to look our best on the outside but little thought is given to our inward defects and bulging egos. The hair, eyes and hands are seen by others but the inner defects are seen by God. He looks upon the heart and sees that it is desperately wicked even if we look good on the outside. The next restoration will not be so much about outward ministries that make us look good but about our inward purity that makes our ministry spiritual and defined by righteous acts.

We have pointed out that there was a garden “in Eden.” There was a much larger area called Eden but there was a smaller section called the garden in Eden. Adam was given dominion, sovereignty and rulership over this small area. If he had been faithful in guarding it he could have been granted rulership over all of Eden. If he had been faithful in guarding that larger area he could have gained dominion over all the earth.

We are IN this garden and this garden is us. We, like Adam, are given responsibility to be faithful and to effectively guard, keep and tend this garden and this planting of the Lord. If we can’t properly rule and guard this “small garden” then we are not yet ready to govern the church of God. If we can’t govern the church [the larger garden of God] how can we judge angels and be given authority over the nations? Our assignment is to guard, keep, tend and dress the garden. Pull the weeds or whatever should not be there and keep it pure and righteous for God. We are husbandmen in the garden of God with an assigned task to keep this garden in Eden perfect in the sight of God. If we just interpret the garden in Eden as so old history and not as a revelation of ourselves then we are still seeing everything from the carnal, natural and earthly.

The Lord of the vineyard has assigned laborers in the vineyard whose vineyard we are. We may be busy tending other peoples vineyard while we let weeds grow and the crop spoil in our own vineyard.

Song of Songs 1: 6] “Do not stare at me because I am swarthy, For the sun has burned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me caretaker of the vineyards, But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

This is the curse of these ministries that are raising up laborers to care for various vineyards around the nation but they are not trained and warned to care for their own vineyard. “Ministers” are busy helping others perfect their vineyard and their own family is falling apart.

Our inner man is this garden of God and the fertile soil where God is perfecting “sons” that are to be manifested as the planting of the Lord. If we neglect this garden our life’s work can be lost. The spirit, the soul and the body are His garden enclosed and the wells of water must spring up out of the inner most being. The River of Life must flow from the Throne of God within. Everywhere this river flows it will produce a harvest.

Eze 47: 7] Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. [9] “And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. [10] “And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. [11] “But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

If we are still looking for this river in Iraq or in Mississippi or any natural river in the middle east we have lost our way and are comatose toward the next restoration in purely spiritual light. Interpretation by the natural mind and out of the carnal nature can come up with some fairly incredible understanding concerning spiritual things.

The future for the swamps, backwater and the marshes is not good and will produce no harvest. These things must speak of the old nature that is in proximity to the river but is brackish and can produce no life. A vital restoration must come to these people if they are going to participate in the next restoration of God. Most will be satisfied with the “still waters of the swamp” and testify to the peace of the marshes.

Fruitful ministry will depend upon this river which flows from the throne of God. The river is totally dependent upon the Throne of God. The throne of God will depend upon our inner life and the fulness of the glory of the Sanctuary within. In other words the Government of God within is the source of all ministry.

Eze 47:12] “And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

Any carnal interpretation of these things will destroy any possibility of revelation and a spiritual application to our lives. In Psalm 80 and in Isaiah 5 Israel is the vine that God brought out of Egypt and planted in a good land. He properly prepared the soil and did everything for her but she still didn’t bear good fruit for God. Therefore, God broke down the hedges and let the hogs in to destroy His vineyard. There is a warning there for us!