A Tale of Two Gardens

Two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane.
Two millennia separate the first sacrifice made to cover sin and the final one.
The first Adam, a man, fell to the temptation of becoming like God. The second Adam, God with us, suffered becoming a man to redeem that fall. One son created, the other begotten. One son rebellious and thus dying, the other obedient unto death.

Two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane.
In the garden, man was given every cup, save one.
In the garden, Christ wept bitterly over the cup of man's failing. A cup He was about to consume—and that He knew, for a time, would consume Him also.
God sought man in the garden, but man hid from Him.
Christ sought God in the garden, but God, instead, hid His face.

Two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane.
Only the ancient serpent is the same. A slithering liar from ages past. His hissing tongue knows no language but hate and falsehood.
He succeeded in Eden. The crunch of an apple reverberated in the din of man's fall.
In Gethsemane, his second victory was nearly in hand. He had this Christ on the ropes. He had this One who had come to save man facing two losses—disobedience in avoiding the cross or death upon it.
This time, however, the sound resonating through the ages would be the crushing of the serpent's own head. A sound echoing in the crashing fall of the gates of death and hell—gates that never again would be allowed to prevail.

Two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane.
Sin entered a perfect world and destroyed it.
Perfection entered a sinful world and redeemed it.

Two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane.
Angels guard the entrance of one with flaming swords so that man may not access the tree of life.
In the other, Angels guard the One who will soon give man access to that tree once more.

Two gardens. Eden and Gethsemane.
We live in the agony of Gethsemane. Yet, because Christ Jesus was obedient unto death, we have on offer the gifts of Eden once more. We have the hope of walking with God in the cool of the day, of being in His presence without the constraints of time.

Christ's passion is for you. It's for our world. It's for the failings of Eden and the joy set before Him.

We live in the agony of Gethsemane. But because of Christ's sacrifice we have the hope of Eden in our hearts.

"…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1b-2).

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:13-14).