My father loved gardens. Everywhere we lived, he kept a garden in addition to his farms. When he retired as a farmer, he often sat in his backyard garden for fresh air. In his old age, he received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. And when he died at the age of 90, we laid him to rest in his garden. Thinking about him always reminds me of two gardens in the Bible: Eden and Gethsemane. God put Adam and Eve in Eden. It was there Satan fought against them. In their disobedience, they fell, and sin spread to all humanity. Sad story: Because of their sin, human beings lost a great inheritance in heaven. This sad story is recorded in Genesis 3 of the Old Testament of the Bible. In the New Testament, there is a different story. The bad news became Good News. This is because, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have an everlasting life” (John 3:16). The battle: In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus fought a terrible battle. Should he allow himself to be beaten and nailed to a cross? Should he, who was without sin, die painfully for sinful human beings? No doubt, Satan, who tempted the first couple in the Garden of Eden to sin, was in the Garden of Gethsemane to wage war against the Son of God. Jesus knew that the approaching suffering and death was part of his mission on earth. Yet, facing that terrible suffering required a huge sacrifice. Cup of suffering: Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:29). The “cup” was the suffering and death. If the “cup “passed from him, he would not have suffered for us. But if he had not suffered and died, our sins would not have been paid for. We would have lost our inheritance for ever. But Jesus chose the cross. He laid down his life for us willingly. While Satan meant to steal, kill, and destroy, Jesus said, “I came that you may have life in abundance” (John 10:10). He came to restore for us the inheritance we lost in the Garden of Eden. So, quickly in his prayers, Jesus added, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” New life: By yielding his will to the Father’s will, Jesus willingly went to the cross for us. He won the victory for us. In Eden, Adam and Eve were disobedient. But in Gethsemane, Jesus obeyed God and accepted to suffer for us. The Bible says, “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life (1 Corinthians 15:22). Two gardens: in one we encountered death, but in the other we found life; in one our inheritance got lost, but in the other our inheritance was regained. The Bible tells us that in his great mercy, God has given us new birth into a living hope. He has also given us an inheritance that will never perish, kept in Heaven for us (1 Peter 1:3-5). What do you have? If you have Christ, you have salvation that comes with eternal inheritance. If you don’t have Christ, then you have only Adam, and your inheritance is still lost! Pray now: repent, ask God for forgiveness, and invite Jesus into your life.