Let it Rain!

The Garden of Eden was a paradise in every way imaginable--untainted by sin, harmony between man and his environment, and a landscape painted in shades of unimaginable beauty. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished from the Garden and cast into the wilderness of thorny toil and painful pregnancy. The generations and the work they did would both be encompassed by the shadow of sin. Within that wilderness, man remains to this day.

Yet flowers bloom. Some 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ walked within the wilderness. Soon after that miraculous baptism of Christ, where God the Father thundered "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased," and the Spirit hovered, signifying His presence with Christ, the Messiah was cast into the desert for a time of temptation. This desert could be seen as the Garden of Eden A.S. (after Satan). In this barren ruin of Eden, the wild beast again submitted to the rule of man; in this barren ruin, Christ--the second Adam--was tested by Satan, but this time, the Word of God prevailed over the word of the tempter.

God's people for thousands of years previous to that point had attached themselves to the hope of the promise (Gen. 3:15) and waited for the day when relief would come to a parched world with parched hearts. In the day of Christ's ministry, buds began to bloom and a trickle of water seeped from the earth. He walked the worldly wilderness, with the mission to know it and conquer it on behalf of His people. The whole of human history emphatically declared its thirst, to which Christ said "I am the water of life."

The continual rainstorms in southern California right now powerfully evoke this ancient imagery. In a land known for its barrenness, the most vibrant hues of green now abound. What once was scorched by wildfire now blooms anew with life. Amidst such flourishing scenery, how can one not think of Christ?

Through Adam, the first federal representative of humanity, came sin, death, suffering, and pain. Through Christ, the second Adam, the new representative of the redeemed peoples of the earth, came righteousness, life, peace, and hope. Christ, upon His perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension, made rare buds bloom and issued forth that trickle of watery hope.

There will be a day--that Great Day--when Christ will return on the clouds. The buds will spring forth into a new Garden and the trickle will turn into a mighty torrent, breaking through the impediments of death. On that Day, a new heavens and earth will be created. Heaven and earth will meet in the New Jerusalem, but the new city of God, unlike the original Garden, will allow for no more rebellion. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil will no longer be accesible, but will be replaced by the overgrowth of the tree of life. The leaves of that tree will be for the healing of the nations. There will be no more sin, no more pain, no more tears.

My God, let it rain!