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I started a new series at the rehab center where I go to teach most Monday afternoons. I want the men there who are struggling with addictions to get the big picture of the Bible. Most have a favorite verse, or have memorized a passage or two that the staff thinks is important. They all know the popular stories like David and Goliath or the Prodigal Son. But not very many of them, if any, know how all the verses, passages and stories fit together in this incredible book known as the Bible.
I am using as my base, the introduction to my English/Spanish NIV Bible. It looks at the sacred scriptures as a drama in six acts. Act one is God’s intention and perfection in creation. Act two is exile; the fall of man. Act three is calling Israel to a mission. Act four – The surprising victory of Jesus. Act five – The renewed people of God. And finally, Act six – God comes home; God makes his home with us in a new heavens and a new earth.
I think this is a good way to look at how the Bible is a unified whole, with each verse, chapter and book relating to all the other verses, chapters and books. When I look at each act, I can clearly see how God loves us and wants us to be happy, from the first act in Genesis to the last act in Revelation.
One of the things that makes me happy when I look at the first couple chapters of Genesis and the last couple chapters of Revelation, are rivers. I love rivers. When I lived in Northern California, I would go to the Russian River almost every weekend to canoe, swim or just relax. When I lived in Colorado and my family would go camping, we always chose a campground next to a river. As a teenager, I loved to spend time exploring the nearby South Platte River. There’s just something soothing, yet exciting about rivers. They are always moving; always going someplace. Almost always getting bigger. And you never know what’s around the next bend.
Genesis two describes the beautiful Garden of Eden that God had made for Adam and Eve. It was full of all kinds of beautiful trees, but perhaps the most beautiful part of Eden was a “river that watered the garden.” (verse 10)
Revelation 21 and 22 describes the wonders of New Jerusalem that descends from heaven to earth. “It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel. (21:11)
“The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.” (21:18)
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (21:23)
But my favorite thing about New Jerusalem is found in 22:1, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.”
So there you have it. At the beginning of the Bible and the end – rivers. In the first act and the last act – rivers. The two most beautiful, incredible places in the Bible, the Garden of Eden and New Jerusalem – rivers. I don’t know about you, but I think God is partial to rivers. I think he is a fan.
I am the gardener at a home for needy children in Oaxaca, Mexico. I have been a gardener most of my life. It started when I was five years old and my kindergarten teacher gave me and my classmates a Styrofoam cup with dirt in it. Then she gave us each a pumpkin seed which we planted in the dirt. Five months later I had four large pumpkins growing in the front yard of our little house in Denver and ever since then I have been a garden lover.
The Bible talks a lot about gardens and plants, from the first couple of chapters of the Bible to the last couple of chapters of the Bible. I especially like the first garden story found in the Bible in Genesis 2:8,9 –
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
I read an article in the magazine Christianity Today a few years ago that has always stuck with me. The article was about making gardens in prison. It was also about Nelson Mandela. Most people know that he led protests denouncing the abuses of white power against the oppressed black people of South Africa, and because of that he was put in prison for 27 years. He was finally let out of prison and a few years later became the president of South Africa. What a lot of people don’t know is that while he was in prison he planted a garden. It brought him some measure of hope and peace and what he felt like was a little bit of freedom and strength. The article is about both about Mandela and about the verses above:
Early rabbinical scholars saw in these verses everything that is necessary for shalom or what some people call comprehensive flourishing. First, they saw order. The garden was not random or accidental; God planted it. It had purpose and intent. This is what differentiates a garden from an verdant jungle–there is a gardener orchestrating it. Second, they noted that the beauty of the trees is listed in the verse ahead of their usefulness. Beauty is necessary for human flourishing. We crave it in our spirits as it draws us toward the beauty of God. Finally, the garden contained every tree that was good for food. There was an abundance of resources to meet every physical need.
Order, beauty, and abundance—these are what we need to flourish. And yet these are not the qualities we often experience in our fallen world. Instead we face an uncrossable sea between the world we desire and the one we occupy. We can see in our imaginations the world as it should be—the future New Jerusalem, the garden city of God—but it does not match the barren wilderness we experience in the present. Between today and tomorrow lie the cold waters of reality.
How do we cross the gap between our vision and our reality? We plant gardens. We work to cultivate a small piece of the wilderness of this world so that it reflects what we know the world ought to be. When we do this successfully, it brings hope—a small taste of freedom, as Mandela discovered.
I think one reason God made the Garden Of Eden was to be an example to us of what he wants our lives and our world to be like. I think he wants each of our lives to be little gardens of Eden, full of order, beauty and abundance that will impact our dark, broken world. Our lives can be changed from chaos, ugliness and lack, to order, beauty and abundance if we choose to follow him, cooperate with him, love and trust him. It takes time, patience and endurance, but it can happen by the grace of God. And the world can be a happier place.
I am thinking of a father and his soon to be 10 year old daughter. He loves her very much and wants to give her the best 
birthday party ever. He has been planning it for months, considering every detail so that it will be a beautiful affair, to be remembered always. It is to be a surprise party, so when the day arrives, mom takes the little princess out to have her hair done and nails painted and a special dress purchased. Meanwhile, the doting father is hanging miles of party streamers, inflating dozens of balloons, and placing hundreds of flowers all over the living room and kitchen. On the dining room table sits a beautifully decorated cake, filled with icing flowers of all colors and 10 candles. Loading down the kitchen counters is an array of catered food, the likes of which few people have ever seen, along with plenty of chips, and five kinds of pizza. The fridge is filled with soda and the freezer with ice cream. On a nearby shelf sits the gifts the father has chosen for his daughter’s special day. An i-phone, a Kindle tablet, a Blu-Ray player, and a 32” Sony LED TV, all wrapped up, waiting for his darling daughter to unwrap. He can almost hear her cries of delight and joy.
Her classmates, friends and family members, all decked out in their party best, begin arriving for the celebration at 1:3
p.m. for the 2 p.m. scheduled big surprise. At eight minutes past 2:00, the birthday girl and her mom walk through the front door and a thunderous cry of “SURPRISE – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” erupts. The young girl is blown away, overwhelmed by the decorations and love from family and friends. Music starts up from the live band out on the back patio and the party goes into high gear
The birthday girl rushes to her room to put on her new dress. Coming out of her room she runs into a 12 year old boy that she has a crush on. She is thrilled to see him at her party. He is looking at a red button on the hallway wall. He wishes her a happy birthday, and then asks her about the button. She tells him her house has a fire sprinkler system, and if there is ever a fire, all you have to do is to push the red button and the sprinkler system will go on. He tells her that sounds cool. He tells her that sounds like fun; just like playing in the sprinklers outside on a hot day. He tells her that she should push it; that it would be a great big joke on everyone and that everybody would laugh and dance around in the shower. She tells him that her dad said no one should ever push the red button unless there was a real fire emergency. He bets her that her dad would think this was a special exception, and that he would laugh and laugh and pick her up and dance around the room in the falling water, just like in the movies. She says that she will go and ask her dad first. He tells her that that would ruin the surprise. He gave you a big surprise party, and now it’s your turn to surprise him.
She thinks about it for a few seconds. She looks at the older boy with a bit of doubt in her eyes. He looks at her pleadingly. She looks at the red button and imagines what fun everyone will have in the water shower. She also thinks about what her dad has told her. She thinks and thinks. The boy says he’s getting a bit bored, and just remembered there was something he needed to do at home. He turns to go, and she pushes the red button.
Water gushes down on everyone and everything. It is all ruined. No one is dancing around in the water. No one is laughing . At first, all the guests look panicked – they look for a fire. They hurriedly make their way out to the front lawn or back patio. The party streamers turn soggy and drop from the ceiling onto party clothes and new carpet, which become stained. Frosting and cake slowly disintegrate. The pizza is inedible Some balloons drop and pop, adding to the chaos. Expensive electronic gadgets are flooded with water and become worthless. Firetrucks arrive and fire fighters rush into the house. All the people hoping for a happy, beautiful party go home upset. It was definitely one to remember.
The father is beside himself. He doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry; yell or die. The good, loving father truly wanted the best for his child. The best decorations; best food; best presents. Now it was all ruined. Now it was all ugly and bad; all because of a lie. All because of disobedience and distrust. All that’s left are regrets and remorse.
This story makes me think of our Heavenly Father. One time He prepared a great party for His children. It was a garden 
party. The garden was filled with the most beautiful flowers and plants ever seen. The variety of trees filled with good fruit was beyond description. All kinds of incredibly, beautiful animals roamed about freely. He invited His children to go in, and then yelled “Surprise!” His two children were overwhelmed with joy and the great. good, beautiful experience that they had. In the midst of their happy celebration, the Father walked them over to a tree. The name of this tree is “Knowledge of Good and Evil.” There are hundreds of beautiful trees in this garden, loaded with juicy, tasty fruit that will dazzle your taste buds and energize your bodies. I want you to enjoy all of them. But this tree, “Knowledge of Good and Evil” you must never eat of. You should never even touch it. In fact, just to be on the safe side, you should never even come to this part of the garden. The reason is, is, that the day you eat from it you will die.
I looked up the Hebrew words and definitions for “good” and “evil”.
Good is tobe:
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun, both in the masculine and the feminine, the singular and the plural (good, a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women), also as an adverb (well): – beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, fair , fine, glad, good deed, graciously, joyful, kindly, kindness, like (best), loving, merry, most pleasant, pleasure, precious, prosperity, sweet, wealth, welfare, (be) well ([-favoured]).
Evil is rah, raw-aw’
bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun: – adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil, + exceedingly, great, grief , harm, heavy, hurt (-ful), ill (favoured), mischief, (-vous), misery, noisome, sad (-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked (-ly, -ness, one), worse (-st) wretchedness, wrong.
Without eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they had all the good, beautiful, fair, bountiful, cheerful, joyful,loving, pleasurable, merry life that they could ever want. Unfortunately they disobeyed God. They believed the lies of the Evil One. They touched the tree and ate the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Banished from the Garden, their right relationship with God dead, thus their spirits dead, they suffer daily with the curse and punishment of God and experience the bad, evil, adversity, affliction, calamity, displeasure, distress, misery, noisome, hurtful, sorrowful, trouble, and wretchedness that most people in this world experience on a daily basis. They gave up all the good, and began to experience all the evil, the day they believed a lie.
Yet, some beauty, goodness and truth have survived. G.K. Chesterton gives us the image of a shipwreck and survivors living on a deserted island, in his book Orthodoxy. The survivors cherish the things that have washed up on shore from the lost ship. In the same way, after Adam and Eve made a shipwreck of humanity, God has left us remnants of the beautiful, good party. His love. His true Word. His grace and mercy. Things to cherish.
So we cling to beauty, goodness and truth for the basis of our happiness and joy in God. Daily, ugliness, evil and lies intrude into our lives, and often we have to battle to hang onto the good and beautiful and true. We seek to share the truth, the beauty, the good with a hurting world. We want to share our treasured remnants of the crash with those around us who have given up on having a good, beautiful life full of truth.
The Father has planned another party, bigger and better and more beautiful than the first. It’s called Heaven, or The New Jerusalem. Our invitations are found in the Bible. Have you RSVP’ed?
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Every component of our faith (worship, liturgy, creeds, theology, fellowship, spiritual formation, religious education, etc.), though in itself is valid and valuable, must lead to good works, good lives, good creativity, and goodness to help our world get back on the road to being truly and wholly good again, the way God created it to be. Brian McLaren in a Generous Othodoxy.
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Next blog – Purple Litter
To Enjoy God 