The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. Genesis 2:15‬

They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” Mark‬ ‭14:32‬ ‭

Nobody could go back to the first garden, so there is a second garden. 

No longer a Tree of Knowledge or a Tree of Life, but an ancient grove of olive trees where Jesus often went. 

After Eden, the tempter, questioning God’s word and offering God-likeness, was cursed. In Gethsemane, the God-man bares his full humanity, agonizing over the curse awaiting him.

In the first garden, she saw, she took, she ate. In the second garden, He saw, He shook, He prayed. 

In the first garden, Adam chose, “My will be done.” In the second garden, Christ chooses, “Father, your will be done.”

The fallen were banished. Mighty angels and flaming swords guarded the return to Eden. In Gethsemane, a band of guards with torches and swords enter to seize Him. 

The betrayer, full of lies, self-promotion and prideful ambition, slithers in. Sweet-talking, he arrives with a kiss of deceit. 

Then, their eyes were open. Regret heavier than any other soul has ever known, sunk them into dizzying shame. They hid. 

But… Jesus, fully realizing all that is going to happen to him, steps forward to meet them. Light cannot be put in the shadows. Truth has no reason to hide. 
He spoke, “I am…”
Again, “I am…”
And again, “I AM… Let these others go.”

The Maker walked in the cool of the evening and said, “Where are you?” 

“We… we’re afraid… and… we hid.”

Now the Maker walks from the garden into the cool, dark night and says, “Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?” 

Two gardens. Eden “the fruitful plain” where friendship with God was born and destroyed. Gethsemane, “the oil press,” where blood, sweat, and tears baptize the way to restoration. 

In daylight, the tree of death becomes a tree of life.
The grave swallows him but cannot hold him. 
The enemy laughs with glee, but the Son of a woman stomps on His head. 

Love beyond imagination wins. 
Jesus reverses the curse, reveals and heals, restores to the core. 

“He who comes to Me, I will never turn away.”