If there is a theme in this last chapter of Revelation and last chapter of the Bible it must be the return of this incredible garden near the city of New Jerusalem that is certainly at the center of God's presence in the new heaven and the new earth. I have found that almost no attention has been given to this incredible truth. The original Garden of Eden had to have been the most magnificent garden ever created. Creating gardens has been a pastime and a joy of the rich and famous for millenniums. It seems to me that this lost centerpiece of human life has left a vacuum in the human family that has never found true satisfaction. This garden was so pristine and perfect that it invited the joy of fellowship between God and His choice creation. Because of its excellent beauty and the deep sense of the divine delight of the Creator, Satan chose it as his location of attack against God and man.

Even as Eve listened to Satan's lie the River of Life was splashing in the background. When she looked upon the tree of good and evil, she well may have held in her hands the fruit of the Tree of Life. Her deception and then Adam's deception occurred within the reach of a life so perfect and full that the heart of a pure soul has never understood such foolishness. How could it have happened? The only possible answer is that our Creator gave this man He created absolute right of choice. He wanted love that had the right to choose to love because all other love is not really love. That day in the breathtaking garden, sorrow began that still rushes like a tsunami upon the whole of the human family and the created world. This great closing text reveals the final end of human misery and a total new beginning.

The Creator is going to move in with His redeemed family, the total curse will have been eliminated and we will actually see the Father face-to-face. While the city of New Jerusalem will be the most magnificent creation of all eternity, the earth will have been recreated into the paradise of perfect bliss. It will be a worldwide garden and nothing of disease, weeds, undergrowth, or destroying insects will be present to mar the beauty. If you can imagine the city of New Jerusalem set within and upon this garden-like world and the beauty of both united to welcome all of His and the Lamb's family, you are beginning to get the vision. We will be so identified with Him that His family appearance will be written upon each countenance.

The saints of God cannot imagine what awaits His chosen family. This garden will never fade and its blooms will never die. (This Salty Saints is excerpted from my book, The Masterpiece.)

Joseph R. Chambers