Seeds of faith planted long before Jesus rescued the world from sin

Spring is in the air, and with the arrival of spring comes the annual traditions of yard work and gardening, marking the transition from the frigid cold of winter into the delightful warmth of summer.

Gardening, however, is not for the faint of heart. It requires work to maintain and keep a garden, especially when it provides food. I do not have what is called a “green thumb;” plants typically do not survive too long in my care. Last summer, however, I had a wonderful plant that refused to die, even though I forgot to water it for long periods of time. It was such a surprise to me because gardening, though wonderful, requires hard work.

There are many spiritual truths gardens can illustrate, but gardens also help us to tell the story of our world. In fact, the Bible teaches us that a few gardens define the history of our entire world, and our eternal hope.

Exploring the gardens of faith

First is the Garden of Eden. God made the world and everything in it, and He made the first human beings, Adam and Eve, to live in and cultivate the garden. Everything God made was very good. But while Adam and Eve were made to represent God, they instead chose to try to rival Him. As a result of their disobedience and rebellion in the Garden of Eden, sin and death entered into the world. Every one of us has repeated the very same sin.

But God did not leave us without hope. He sent His Son into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God yet truly man. He lived a completely sinless life, yet he still died. His death was not because he deserved it, but because we did. His death bore the penalty of sin for us, so that whoever believes in him and places their faith in Christ as Lord and Savior would be forever rescued.

The Bible tells us that after he died, Jesus was taken down off of the cross and buried in a tomb in a garden. It was in this garden Christ’s dead body was buried as a payment for the curse of sin, but it also was in this garden He was raised to new life. On that first Easter Sunday, Jesus walked out of the tomb into the bright morning light in the middle of a garden.

While Adam disobeyed, Jesus obeyed. While Adam’s life led to death, Jesus’s death leads to life. While Adam was kicked out of the Garden for his disobedience, Jesus welcomes us into the presence of God through his sacrificial work.

This spring, when you work on your yard and your Garden, think about how it reminds us of the Bible’s grand storyline. As Easter approaches, think of what Jesus came to do to rescue us from sin and bring us eternal life, for all who believe.

Josh Wilson is the senior pastor at Grace Church.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Body of Jesus raised to new life from a tomb in a garden