Graves Into Gardens – Resurrection Power In Everyday Life
Resurrection, in Scripture, is never presented as a slogan or a mood. It is an act of God that interrupts the natural course of decay and reverses what no man can reverse. When we speak of graves becoming gardens, we are not speaking poetically first, but covenantally. A grave is the end of human ability. A garden is the place where God walks, speaks, and brings forth life by His own hand. The movement from one to the other is not emotional optimism. It is divine intervention. From the opening pages of Scripture, life and death are held in careful tension. Man is formed from the dust, yet animated by the breath of God. When that breath departs, man returns to the dust again. The Hebrew Scriptures speak of death with sobriety, not terror and not sentimentality. Death is described as sleep, silence, rest, returning to the earth, and going down to Sheol. The word muth to die and shakab to lie down are often paired with the language of rest and waiting. Death is not portrayed as activi...