The Father has taken me back to the Garden a lot this past year. But it’s really no surprise. The first few chapters of Genesis have so much to reveal to us about His original intent for His children. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. The very source waters of our divine relationship with Him began there.
Truly, most of our life is spent figuring out what we’ve only forgotten about who we are and where we’ve come from. Remembering our identity and purpose is a critical part of manifesting the image of our Father within us, and I’ve discovered that the opening chapters of Genesis play a huge part in jogging our memory.
I’ve written plenty about this over this past year, but I’m always learning more. There’s still so much more to unpack about the divine nature within. Every week I’m discovering new things about Him—about myself, and this past week was no different.
During one of my walks in the cool of the day with the Father, our conversation led me back to Genesis 2:15:
“And YHWH God took the man and He caused him to rest in the garden of Eden, to work it and to keep it.” (Berean Literal Bible)
Here we see three distinct tasks that the Father gives Adam to do in the Garden:
To rest and settle in it,
To work and serve it,
To keep and watch it
I see these three tasks, or responsibilities, as proceeding from the overarching command given to Man by God: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”
If Gen. 1:28 is the “what”, then Gen. 2:15 is the “how.” In fact, there’s a strong correlation between this first three commandments in the Bible and their corresponding responsibilities. Accordingly, I believe Father established this as part of the original order of things where:
Resting in the garden produces fruitfulness,
Serving it creates multiplication,
and guarding it empowers man to “fill & subdue” the rest of the earth.
There isn’t any physical Garden of Eden anymore. Like the Temple in Jerusalem, it also has been replaced with flesh and blood. In Yeshua, and now in us, the Father desires to walk with us in the Garden he has put within our hearts. Everyday, He wants to help us fulfill our prime directive—written in our DNA code. He wants us to learn—not according to the knowledge of men but by the wisdom of Heaven, how rest, work and preserve the way, truth and the life of the garden He planted in us.
I truly believe that once we realize just how much this aligns with the way we were made—with how we’re designed to move and breathe in creation, we will finally begin to experience a lasting satisfaction that can only be manifested through His divine nature in us. It is a satisfaction that vibrates with energetic joy at knowing who we are. And it is filled with exceptional love for the Father and His house because we begin to understand whose we are and where we come from.
Over the next few weeks I am going dive deeper into each one of these three relationships—between directive and responsibility, and draw back the garden mist just a little bit more on our identity and purpose in the earth as Sons and Daughters of God.
Until next week, continue to pursue the you He designed you to be! Shalom.
