The Garden of Love
John 18 :11 AMPC Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword back into the sheath! The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it’?
As I meditated on this passage of scripture, I heard The Holy Spirit say….“ Do not attempt to fight a battle that I have already won. This is not a fight against flesh and blood. People are not the enemy. Responding to spiritual matters in a fleshly manner is a distraction ploy of the enemy. In this season, you must not be led by your emotions of fear, doubt , and unbelief. All selfishness must go. Do not get in My way. Do not hinder or delay My assignment, My hidden strategies, My plans - The Father’s plans that you still do not fully understand. For you only see in part and know in part. Your part is to simply hear, trust, and obey. Just be still and know that I AM !!! I have already given you the assignment to stand, watch, and pray. My sheep hear my voice. Again I say, hear, trust , obey. By your feelings and emotions, do not be led astray . Follow Me, yield to Me - My example must lead the way. Sweet communion is essential, sit at My feet. In order to have your undivided attention, I must have your undivided heart. A return to the garden…that was The plan from the start.”
The scene of the conversation between Peter and Jesus in the 18th chapter of the book of John takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had taken the disciples there following the Last Supper. Judas (his betrayer) had already departed from the table. Scripture makes it clear that Judas knew exactly where to find Jesus and His true disciples because Jesus often retired there with His disciples. Judas included.
Matthew 26 gives us more details of the garden gathering. The 36th verse begins with Jesus asking the disciples to sit and stay or watch and pray while He takes 3, considered to be His inner circle, to pray with Him. Peter, James, and John notice that Jesus is in mental anguish. Jesus asks them also to stay put, stay awake, keep watch by praying with Him. Jesus walked on further, alone, and prayed to The Father that His will be done. Upon returning to the disciples an hour’s time later, He finds them sleeping.
Matthew 26:40-46
40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, What! Are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour?
41 All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
42 Again a second time He went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass by unless I drink it, Your will be done.
43 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down with sleep.
44 So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, using the same words.
45 Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of especially wicked sinners [whose way or nature it is to act in opposition to God].
46 Get up, let us be going! See, My betrayer is at hand!”
Going back to John's account and picking up at verse 3, Judas shows up with the Roman soldiers and guards of the Pharisees.
John 18:3-12
3 So Judas, obtaining and taking charge of the band of soldiers and some guards (attendants) of the high priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4 Then Jesus, knowing all that was about to befall Him, went out to them and said, Whom are you seeking? [Whom do you want?]
5 They answered Him, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus said to them, I am He. Judas, who was betraying Him, was also standing with them.
6 When Jesus said to them, I am He, they went backwards (drew back, lurched backward) and fell to the ground.
7 Then again He asked them, Whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus the Nazarene.
8 Jesus answered, I told you that I am He. So, if you want Me [if it is only I for Whom you are looking], let these men go their way.
9 Thus what He had said was fulfilled and verified, Of those whom You have given Me, I have not lost even one.
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Therefore, Jesus said to Peter, Put the sword [back] into the sheath! The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?
12 So the troops and their captain and the guards (attendants) of the Jews seized Jesus and bound Him…
Jesus made a point to instruct His disciples and especially those closest to Him of standing, keeping watch, and praying. These are instructions on how to stand. How to resist the enemy. How to tend the garden. How to stay in communion and close fellowship with The Father. How to drink your cup. How to “Kingdom Come, Your will be done.”
Is The Father continually prompting you to come and tend the garden with Him in the night watches? Are you being awakened between the hours of midnight and nine A.M? “Can you not pray with Me for 1 hour?”
Would Peter have reacted so hastily in his emotions if he had watched and prayed? It was obvious that Jesus was in no need of the sword or physical force to escape Judas’ mob. He simply spoke the “I AM” and those that came to arrest Him fell backwards off their feet.
When Jesus spoke ‘I AM’, He was speaking from the courts of Heaven. God had announced Himself as I AM, just as He did from the burning bush with Moses. God was already pronouncing the case closed and shut before Jesus was put on trial in the religious courts of Annas, Caiaphis, and the Sanhedrin. Before Jesus was tried in the political courts of Pilate and Herod, The mob being knocked off their feet was a physical sign of the clashing of the Kingdoms occurring. What was done in the Garden of Eden when Adam turned over his dominion and authority to satan was about to be undone by God Himself through His son Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here is our clue. The Holy Spirit made a point of mentioning only the name of the soldier who had his ear cut off. His name was Malchus. In Hebrew, Malchus means KING, MY KING, or KINGDOM. And when Jesus healed or reattached his ear, (Jesus’ last miracle), this was also a clue. Ear is symbolic in the bible of spiritual understanding, obedience, capacity to receive God's truth. Again, Jesus was restoring mankind back to God's original status of the Garden Of Eden before the Fall. The Garden of Gethsemane was a do-over. The word ‘gethsemane’ in Hebrew means a place of pressing or crushing.
Yet we know that the story does not end here. But before we get to the end, let us explore this garden theme more closely. If we look at the word ‘garden’ in Hebrew, it is ‘gan,’ which means a protected or hedged in / fenced off area. As we see in the opening scenes of the Book of Genesis,God places Adam and Eve in His Garden of Eden. ‘Eden’ in Hebrew means paradise/pleasure/luxury. This represents a place of provision where God shows his generosity and care. God desires fellowship and communion. The Garden of Eden is earth's first temple, a place where God walks and talks with His people in intimate companionship. A place of prayer and God given instructions and wisdom. God instructs Adam and Eve to be fruitful, care for one another, fill the earth, subdue, rule, tend the garden, and, like Jesus told His disciples, watch over it. Watch over it in obedience and complete trust and reliance on God. Just like Jesus was trying to teach His disciples. The same principles apply. How do we tend the garden today and walk in communion and fellowship with God? By being watchful to pray, hear, trust, and obey. Spending time in The Word is spending time fellowshipping with Jesus . For Jesus is The Living Word. We have The Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth. But we must yield to His leading. Now we will take a closer look at the Garden Tomb of Jesus.
John 19:41-42
41 Now there was a garden in the place where He was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever [yet] been laid.
42 So there, because of the Jewish day of Preparation [and] since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus.
Jesus was crucified near a garden that contained a burial tomb. Afterwards, His body was placed inside the tomb, in the garden. This garden tomb was also the site of Jesus' resurrection and where He appears first to Mary. Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardner. Upon speaking with Jesus and hearing Him call her by name, Mary receives the revelation that Jesus is alive and she becomes the world's first evangelist to spread the Good News!!!
John 20:11-18
11 But Mary remained standing outside the tomb sobbing. As she wept, she stooped down [and looked] into the tomb.
12 And she saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13 And they said to her, Woman, why are you sobbing? She told them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.
14 On saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing [there], but she did not know (recognize) that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you crying [so]? For Whom are you looking? Supposing that it was the gardener, she replied, Sir, if you carried Him away from here, tell me where you have put Him and I will take Him away.
16 Jesus said to her, Mary! Turning around she said to Him in Hebrew, Rabboni!—which means Teacher or Master.
17 Jesus said to her, Do not cling to Me [do not hold Me], for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brethren and tell them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.
18 Away came Mary Magdalene, bringing the disciples news (word) that she had seen the Lord and that He had said these things to her.
What insight and wisdom and revelation knowledge we receive when we spend time in the Garden fellowshipping with The Lord. Revelation is where we and God, in His divine plan, will wrap this up. Our last look at the garden takes us to the 22nd chapter of John's Revelation of paradise/The Garden of Eden restored .
Revelation 22:1-6
1Then he showed me the river whose waters give life, sparkling like crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 Through the middle of the broadway of the city; also, on either side of the river was the tree of life with its twelve varieties of fruit, yielding each month its fresh crop; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing and the restoration of the nations.
3 There shall no longer exist there anything that is accursed (detestable, foul, offensive, impure, hateful, or horrible). But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall worship Him [pay divine honors to Him and do Him holy service].
4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no more night; they have no need for lamplight or sunlight, for the Lord God will illuminate them and be their light, and they shall reign [as kings] forever and ever (through the eternities of the eternities).
We are given old testament glimpses and prophecy of The Garden of Eden restored and christened The Garden of The Lord. Isaiah prophesied in the 51st chapter,
3 For the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song or instrument of praise.
4 Listen to Me [the Lord], O My people, and give ear to Me, O My nation; for a [divine] law will go forth from Me, and I will establish My justice for a light to the peoples.
5 My rightness and justice are near, My salvation is going forth, and My arms shall rule the peoples; the islands shall wait for and expect Me, and on My arm shall they trust and wait with hope.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall be dissolved and vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner [like gnats]. But My salvation shall be forever, and My rightness and justice [and faithfully fulfilled promise] shall not be abolished.
Finally, we must get revelation as John did . We are chosen and called to abide in The Garden of The Lord which is The Garden of Love.
John 15:1-17
1I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
2 Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.
3 You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].
4 Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
6 If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
8 When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.
9 I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [continue in His love with Me].
10 If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.
11 I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.
12 This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.
13 No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.
15 I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]
16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you [I have planted you], that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting [that it may remain, abide], so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], He may give it to you.
17 This is what I command you: that you love one another.
The Word of God describes this abiding in The Garden of Love status in referencing Christ and His Bride in floral imagery.
Songs Of Songs 2:1-2 TPT
1I am truly his rose,
the very theme of his song.
I’m overshadowed by his love,
like a lily growing in the valley!
The Shepherd-King
2Yes, you are my darling companion.
You stand out from all the rest.
For though the thorns surround you,
you remain as pure as a lily,
more than all others.
