Restoring the Garden Experience

Jesus came that we would know the truth and that truth would set us free.

I must then ask myself, “What was the lie He came to free mankind from; was it our bad thinking; our religion; our sin; our perception of Him and His Father?” I think it is all the above. Mostly, I think He came to make right what the devil messed up through his lie in the garden. I believe Christ came to restore the garden experience to His people and not only restore it but improve upon it.

Jesus came as the second Adam refusing to sin, though He was tempted in every way. He faced the same temptations as the first Adam, but because He came as the Truth and fully lived it, the devil’s lies had no effect on Him. He was the Truth in the flesh. He brought the truth as He lived the truth. He was so grounded in the truth that He was indeed the Word made flesh; the very perfect example of the Rhema word of God. How frustrating for the enemy! The one who had no truth in him had to deal with the One who was and is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus was a walking lie detector, GPS system, and conduit of life eternal for all who knew Him because of His connection to His Father.

This connection He had is available to us. Adam walked with God and now we get to walk in God with God in us! Jesus, the second Adam, came so that we could walk not only with God in intimacy, but have the truest form of intimacy and abide in Him as He dwells in us.

John 14:19-21 Says, 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

That is as intimate as it gets! He gave us His Spirit so we could truly know Him from the inside out. He gave us His Holy Spirit so we could know Him, not just know of Him. Holy Spirit leads us into all truth as He did for Jesus when He walked the Earth as a man. Jesus was our example of what is available to us as Sons and Daughters of the Living God. I know for myself I want all that is available to me and know I have barely scratched the surface of what is obtainable.

The greatest truth I have learned in my life about Jesus and what He did for me, is that He made a way for me to know His Father through the Helper, Holy Spirit. Jesus, through His work on the cross, did what I could never do for myself: He stood in my place and took upon Himself all the shame and condemnation that I deserved, so I could walk in His victory over sin and death. He did this because of His love for mankind. He did this because He knew His Father’s love for us, and what greater gift could He give to His Father than a way for mankind to return to intimacy with Himself and His Father? There is nothing God desires more than intimacy with His children. In fact, the desire is so great, that it is far greater than our desire to be with Him. He wants intimacy with us more than we want it with Him! Such an awesome truth to take a hold of: Intimacy with you is more desirable to God than any work you could do for Him. YOU cannot get to Him by your works, but only by the works of Jesus. He was the way; we cannot make our own way. He loves it when we do good and righteous things. I also believe He loves it far more when we just believe we are righteous because of Him, and then live out of who we are, not from what we do.

John 8:31-32 states, “31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

You will know (Gonosko) the truth (Aletheia) and the truth (Aletheia) will set you free. The word for “know” here in the Greek is “Gonosko”, which means intimate or in-depth knowledge, not shallow or carnal knowledge. The word for truth here is “Aletheia”, which translates to, the truth of the truth or eternal reality. Eternal reality is Heaven’s reality and not a temporal or carnal reality.

It is not carnal reality, or knowledge of God that sets us free, but true Spiritual experience and understanding of the person of God and His ways. What truly sets us free is intimate knowledge of the person of God and Heavenly realities. The Word of God is our plumb-line, but the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth.