Garden of Eden, Place of Protected Pleasure

Courtesy stock.xchng/thesaint

I've been doing a lot of studying lately on various topics. Somehow I keep getting drawn to Genesis and the Garden of Eden. The events which took place in the garden still affect mankind today. Good and evil, believe it, or don't believe it, are still affecting us. We will feel the effects of what took place in Eden tomorrow, next week, next year, till we take our last breath.

Back to the Garden of Eden

It's not so much what took place there that leads me to write this article. It's the biblical meaning of the words garden and Eden and how these meanings can be applied to us today.

• garden: from the Hebrew gan meaning garden (as fenced). The word comes from a primitive Hebrew root meaning to hedge about or protect.
• Eden: the name Eden is from a Hebrew word which means pleasure or delight.

We can thus say the Garden of Eden was a protected place of pleasure. The inhabitants of the garden lived in perfection in a place of perfect, protected pleasure. Sounds idyllic doesn't it?

From the Garden of Eden to Unprotected Displeasure

I won't recount the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. I won't get into the how and the why of it. The fall happened and we must deal with its effects every day of our lives. We experience pain, sorrow, anxiety, stress, fear. We are surrounded by violence, terror, natural disaster, and evil.

The idea of a protected place of pleasure seems far-fetched at best. We think of it. We dream of it. Yet our personal Eden seems to slip further away with each moment. It doesn't have to. Really.

No, all of the problems of this life will not go away. Yes, we will still experience anxious moments, bow under the weight of stress, and fear for our tomorrows. But what if I tell you there is a way to get back into that perfect protected place of pleasure? Are you interested?

Back to the Garden of Eden, the Place of Protected Pleasure

The ancient prophet of Israel, Isaiah says it like this: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3)."

Matthew Henry defines the perfect peace of Isaiah 26:3 as "inward peace, outward peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace at all times, under all events."

Are you starting to get a picture of the Garden of Eden, a place of protected pleasure? We may not achieve such a physical place in this life yet, at the same time, it is still attainable. How?

Jesus says: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you (John 4:27)." Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross of Calvary (see Colossians 1:20), gives us the place of protected pleasure. He fulfills Isaiah 26:3 perfectly.

Jesus speaks of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (John 4:16) who would come in the name of Jesus (John 4:26). Do you ever wonder why Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter?

It is this Comforter by taking up residence in you which gives you access to the peace given by Christ Jesus. Anybody wish to question the concept of comfort bringing peace? You do have access to the place of perfect protected pleasure, your personal Garden of Eden, through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

You can access your place of protected pleasure as much as you want, whenever you want. Repent. Make a conscious decision you wish to change your life by turning away from sin. Be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of, the washing away of your sin. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the source of everlasting access to your personal Garden of Eden.