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Returning to Eden

The Lord is so specific in aligning everything so perfectly so there can be life. From the planets to the stars in the sky, everything is designed in perfection. But why? Could it be that we are destined to learn something? Could it be that there is a process, a certain path so to speak, that maps out exactly where we are supposed to be for eternity? If so, what does that path look like, and how do we find it? Jesus calls this path “narrow” and “difficult.”

“But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.” (Mat 7:14 AMP)

Peter also writes in 1 Peter that it is difficult for the righteous to be saved (1 Peter 4:18 AMP). If it is difficult for the righteous, then the theory of “once saved always saved” goes out the window. In the old testament people were sacrificing goats and sheep to atone for their sins. They had to find a goat or a sheep that was perfect, without any type of blemish or spot; otherwise the sacrifice would be considered unfit. Apostle Paul tells us that doing this was only a type and shadow of the things to come (Heb 10:1, Co 2:17 AMP). The word “shadow” in greek is the word skia; which speaks of “an interception of light” according to the Thayer definition, and is referring to the state of sṓma (the body or slave) transforming to hēeikṓn (the image of God). The Thayer dictionary definition for the word hēeikṓn speaks of “the image of the Son of God, into which true Christians are transformed, is likeness not only to the heavenly body, but also to the most holy and blessed state of mind, which Christ possesses.” The Lord is coming back for a people, who are perfect and blameless.

“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

(Eph 5:27 KJV)

This must mean that the path we are supposed to be taking is the road to perfection. The state Adam once had in the garden before the fall was perfect, because man was made in His image (Gen 1: 28 KJV). Could this mean that the Lord knew all along that Adam would fall? Could this have been the original plan of all creation? The early church fathers actually believed that the garden of eden was in fact the holy of holies, so when the high priest went behind the veil, he was actually returning to the garden. The greek word for paradise is parádeisos, which actually refers to “a park, that is, (specifically) an Eden (place of future happiness)” according to Strong’s definition. The Hebrew word is pardês which speaks of an “enclosed garden” according to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Dictionary definition. So “paradise” referred to in Luke 23 is not a place in the sky, it is a place of understanding who God is (Luke 23:43 AMP). It is the habitation in which God dwells. This is not some place you have to go to, so to speak, paradise happens when the veil is removed of our false understanding of the character of God. If the garden we are returning to has to do with our way of thinking, how can we then be perfected?

“Now [the meaning of] the parable is this: The seed is the word of God[concerning eternal salvation].”  

(Luke 8:11)

Jesus says that the seed is the word of God. Seed comes from the greek word sperma. According to the strong definition sperma is referring to, “something sown, that is, seed (including the male “sperm”); by implication offspring; specifically a remnant.” According to the Thayer’s definition, it speaks

“of divine energy of the Holy Spirit operating within the soul by which we are regenerated.”

So the word which is God and was with God in the beginning carries the DNA or character of the Father (John 1:1). As the word gets in us, it impregnates us with the divine character of God, creating gardens in our mind. The Lord manifests His character into us through His word, meaning you are now born of God and cannot sin, or in other words, become ignorant to the truth (1 John 3:9). The word perfects us and renews us to that place of paradise and oneness with God. 

“No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, because God’s seed [His principle of life, the essence of His righteous character] remains [permanently] in him [who is born again–who is reborn from above–spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose]; and he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him.”

(1 John 3:9)



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