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 Come Into my Garden by George Warnock


[b]Come Into my Garden[/b]
[i]by George Warnock[/i]

"Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (Song 4:16). "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse" (Song 5:1).

"The whole earth is full of his glory", said the prophet; and in this age of clamor and bustle, when a thousand conflicting voices would invade our hearts and minds to distract us or distort our vision, it would do us all good to draw aside to hear a word from the book of nature... God's creation. But always, of course, in the context of the Bible, the book of New Creation. For the Bible teaches us that "the field" in which the seed of New Creation life is planted, is the world which is now under the curse. "The field is the world", Jesus said (Matt. 13:38). How wonderful to know that the old creation has become the seed plot of the New Creation, and God is the Creator of both; recognizing, of course, that the old creation has become subject to futility by reason of man's Fall. And so right here in the midst of the old creation God is able to speak to us out from that environment. Jesus said to us, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow..." (Matt 6:28). And again, "I am the vine, ye are the branches..." (Jn. 15:5) . Through these natural things God would point us to reality, to the New Creation... and through them unfold to us something glorious from the Spirit of Truth. It is only after the natural instrument has served its purpose in the will of God that God removes it. Therefore He has removed the serpent of brass, and the ark of the covenant, and the golden candlestick... and every other form of ritual, type, and shadow that belongs to a past order. But the written Word of God remains with us; and so does the book of old creation. So must they remain until the full glory and purpose for which they were given is manifested, and the New Creation shines forth in all its brilliance as the very expression of the thought and heart of God. Some would speak of the written Word as though it were something final and complete in itself. But not so. I am confident our present canon of 66 books is what God intended.. But in reality the Word of God goes far beyond the scriptures; and the written Word is not fulfilled in God's intention until it has been written in the hearts and minds of God's people. God said, "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" (Heb. 8:10). God's Word has been written in nature, and it has been written on paper... but its ultimate fulfillment comes when it is written in "flesh". And so we read, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:14).

But we must understand that the purpose of His incarnation in flesh was not final in itself either. For after having "finished the work" that the Father gave Him to do on earth, He ascended into the heavens to engage in a "more excellent ministry" from the throne of God. He ministers the same Spirit of Truth that He walked in when He was here... but now He is ministering out from the true Sanctuary in Heaven, to His own who are in the earth, as "the Mediator of a better covenant" (Heb 8:6). In consequence of this ministry from the throne, His redeemed in the earth are to become His very own living epistles, "known and read of all men: ...manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God" (2 Cor. 3:2, 3). We have been very anxious to get the world to read our Bible--and rightly so. I believe God intends that all people should have His Word written in their own language. It was the printing of the Bible in the language of the people that caused the light of the gospel to shine forth in the world about us, throughout the history of the Church... and especially in the tumultuous period of the Reformation. But the fact remains, and grows more glaring year after year, that we are faced with an impossible task if we conclude that the distribution of more Bibles and more Christian literature is God's answer to a perishing world. The world does read the Church... they always enjoy reading the Church--and sad to say they are often greatly disillusioned with what they read, and what they see. And not until the Church has become "the epistle of Christ" are the nations going to hear and see the Christ of the Bible. We may train and equip and organize and finance the workers of God, but it is only the reflection of His glory in His people that will change the hearts of men.

What Is God Looking For?

If we know what God is looking for, and what He is waiting for, we would scrap all those theories and dates about the coming of the Lord. If we know for sure that our Lord Jesus is on the throne of glory, interceding for His people to bring them into the fulness of God's intention... then we would be more concerned that His intention be realized than in speculating about when He is coming back. What is He waiting for? And what is He coming back for? And what is He doing about it right now? He is waiting for a family of sons and daughters in His image and likeness. He is preparing an army who will overcome "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11) He is building a habitation for Himself, a building made up of "living stones", a temple "not made with hands". He has found "a pearl of great price" a pearl that is formed from a mere grain of sand, but transformed into a gem, by marvelous grace. For it is the Spirit of God who takes the virtues of the living Christ and manifests them in His Church to bring about this precious gem. He is cleansing for Himself a Church, "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing..." And how? "With the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26). He looks for a Holy Bride, and John saw her in prophetic vision coming down out of heaven, and "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2; see 2 Cor. 11:2). He looks for fruit from the Vine that was planted in the earth; for Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit" (Jn. 15:5). For God is not only Architect, Builder, and Artificer... He is also Bridegroom, and Gardener. And so He tells us, "I am waiting for the precious fruit of the earth." He is not waiting around for the clock to strike the midnight hour. He is waiting for something that will be the fulfillment of His heart's desire, His holy Church, His spotless Bride, His Pearl of great price, His precious Fruit. And while he is waiting for that, He is diligently preparing His people for "the praise of His glory". And because He patiently waits for that, He admonishes us... "Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (Jas. 5:8)


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