Gardens of Delight

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Short Summary
The discourse reflects on the profound love and wisdom of God as demonstrated through the creation of the Garden of Eden, highlighting its beauty, peacefulness, and the lessons it imparts about patience, obedience, and spiritual growth. It emphasizes that while the natural garden was a place of delight and learning for humanity, a greater spiritual garden awaits, representing the future kingdom where God’s purpose and character will be fully realized and shared. The message encourages trust in God’s timing and guidance through life’s challenges, assuring that enduring faith will lead to ultimate restoration and joy.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on “Gardens of Delight”

Opening Prayer and Setting the Tone:
– The speaker begins with a heartfelt prayer, asking God to bless the fellowship, guide the speaker’s words, and grant the listeners wisdom to understand and apply the message to their Christian lives.
– Emphasis on thanksgiving for the opportunity to meet and study together.

Introduction to the Theme:
– The discourse centers on the concept of “Gardens of Delight,” a metaphor drawn from Scripture representing peace, rest, beauty, and spiritual growth.
– Acknowledgement of the vastness and profundity of God’s wisdom and love, especially in permitting evil temporarily as a means to train mankind and angels for eternity.
– Reflection on why God created the universe despite having all perfections—because love desires companionship and sharing of blessings.

The Desire for Companionship and Divine Expression:
– Love, by nature, does not like to be alone; it seeks to share joys and blessings.
– God’s creation of angels and humans is an expression of His love, intending for them to reflect His attributes and share in joy.
– The development of these creatures involves experiences and lessons that prepare them for future usefulness.

Gardens as Symbols and Actual Places of Rest:
– Gardens symbolize tranquility, peace, and rest away from life’s anxieties and bustle.
– Reference to Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11:28-29:
> “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
– Personal experiences visiting beautiful gardens and natural wonders (Dupont Gardens, Skyline Drive, Multnomah Falls) illustrate the concept of peaceful, delightful places designed by God for human enjoyment.

Biblical Foundation – Song of Solomon (Chapter 4 and 5):
– The speaker cites Song of Solomon 4:12-15 describing a “garden enclosed,” a metaphor for the church (the “sister, my spouse”):
> “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse: a spring shut up, a fountain sealed…”
– The garden includes exotic spices and perfumes (spikenard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, aloes) symbolizing the richness and variety of spiritual blessings.
– The garden is initially closed but will be opened when the spiritual fruits mature, symbolizing the church’s future role in blessing the world.

Garden of Eden as the Prototype Garden:
– Genesis 2:8 describes God planting the garden “eastward in Eden” where He placed the first man.
– The garden is perfect and beautiful, full of trees pleasant to the sight and good for food.
– Adam was created in God’s image, the crown of material creation, and placed in this garden to learn dominion and to reflect God’s character.
– The garden featured shade trees, flowers, brooks, waterfalls, and birds, all contributing to a beautiful, peaceful environment.
– The harmony between mankind and angels existed then, a fellowship foretold to be restored (Isaiah 62:4-5):
> “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah… For the LORD delighteth in thee…”
– This harmony and fellowship will be restored in the future.

Lessons from the Garden of Eden:
– The garden was not only a place of enjoyment but also of learning and growth.
– Adam was tasked with tilling and managing the garden, which taught him responsibility, dominion, and cooperation with God’s work.
– The presence of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden represented a test and a lesson in obedience and self-control.
– The Lord’s prohibition to not eat of this tree was a call to patience and trust in God’s timing, similar to David’s waiting to become king.
– Patience and endurance are vital virtues, as expressed in Scripture:
> “Blessed are they that wait upon the LORD” (Isaiah 40:31).
> “He that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
> “Cast not away therefore your confidence… for ye have need of patience” (Hebrews 10:35-36).

Symbolism of the Spices and Trees:
– The garden’s spices and trees symbolize spiritual qualities and lessons:
Myrrh (bitterness) represents the necessary suffering and trials that develop obedience and character. Jesus “learned obedience through the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
Aloes represent purity and cleansing, symbolizing the need for spiritual fumigation and holiness.
Cassia (similar to cinnamon) symbolizes workmanship and the skillful application of wisdom, including tact and timing in speech.
Frankincense (white, pure) symbolizes righteousness and the perfect balance of God’s character.
– Other spices like galbanum and storax also represent virtues developed in the Christian life.

The Garden as a Future Reality and Spiritual Metaphor:
– The garden points towards God’s ultimate plan for His people, a spiritual garden richer and more glorious than Eden.
– It will be a place of beauty, joy, health, expanding knowledge, and harmonious fellowship.
– The leaves of the trees are “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2), showing the church’s role in bringing healing and hope to the world.
– The church is likened to a “garden enclosed,” presently sealed but destined to bless all mankind.

The Necessity of Trials and Growth:
– Life includes bitter experiences (myrrh) and hardships that are essential for spiritual growth.
– Job’s example is cited, accepting both good and evil from the Lord (Job 2:10).
– Jesus’ suffering is an example of enduring hardship for a greater purpose.
– God, as the “husbandman,” prunes, waters, and tends the garden (the believer’s life) with infinite wisdom.

Encouragement for Study and Application:
– The speaker encourages listeners to study the Word deeply and ask God for wisdom to understand the spiritual meanings behind natural symbols.
– Not all is revealed at once; a wise teacher leaves room for personal discovery.
– The discourse closes with a prayer for God’s continued blessing and strength for faithful endurance until meeting Christ face to face.

—

Key Bible Verses Mentioned or Alluded To:

– Matthew 11:28-29:
> “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…”

– Song of Solomon 4:12-15; 5:1,12:
> “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse…”

– Genesis 2:8:
> “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden…”

– Isaiah 62:4-5:
> “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken…”

– Hebrews 5:8:
> “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”

– Revelation 22:2:
> “…and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

– Job 2:10:
> “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

– Hebrews 10:35-36:
> “Cast not away therefore your confidence… for ye have need of patience…”

– Matthew 24:13:
> “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

—

Summary Conclusion:

The discourse uses the metaphor of “Gardens of Delight” to explore God’s loving purpose in creation, the beauty and peace of His spiritual kingdom, and the necessary growth through trials and obedience. By reflecting on the Garden of Eden and the Song of Solomon’s imagery, the speaker illustrates the divine plan for mankind’s development into a spiritual garden that will one day bless the entire world. The message emphasizes patient faith, endurance, and cooperation with God’s pruning hand as essential for reaching the fullness of Christian character and enjoying the ultimate rest and joy promised by Jesus Christ.

Transcript

Sam Ra Sa J Sa Ra Ra Sam Sa Our kind, gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to Thy throne of grace with our hearts full of thanksgiving that we have this opportunity of approaching Thee, and thanksgiving that we have the opportunity of meeting together. Father, bless our fellowship and bless the meetings. Bless the talk that we are about to hear. Guide the words of him who is to speak to us, that they may speak words of wisdom and words of truth and grant us wisdom, Father, as we listen to these words, that we may not only hear them, but may understand them, and then may have the courage to apply them to our Christian life. Be with us, we pray.

Grant Thy presence in our midst. Bless those who are not able to be here. All of this we ask and beseech thee, and we give Thee all the thanks through the name of our dear Lord and Master. Amen.

Gardens of delight. Gardens of delight. Brother Migus, I am sure that we have been greatly rejoicing in the last two days, yesterday and today, and have been really sitting at the feet of our Lord Jesus in the heavenly places or conditions, and listening to the words of wisdom that he has recorded for us in the Word of God. There are so many things in the Scriptures, a wide variety to fit every mind and every heart that is searching the Lord, that I feel that sometimes utterly incapable of giving the gospel message in its beauty and in its strength, in its majesty, with the best of words that you can select, they fall far short of being sufficient to express the wisdom of God. The love, and yet the seriousness involved in all of this wondrous permission of evil and the training of mankind and of the angels for all the ages of eternity.

It is a tremendous task, and it takes all the wisdom of the divine nature to accomplish it and the power that is therein also.

In the beginning, why have you thought? Did God create anything? Why did he do it? Why wasn’t he content to remain alone, seeing he had everything desirable, every quality that is needed? And yet there was something lacking.

What was it? Well, you know, love doesn’t like to be alone. It likes to share its blessings, its joys, its experiences. There is more happiness somehow in eating a loaf or a crust of bread with someone else rather than eating it alone. You get the same amount of nourishment, perhaps, and yet perhaps not.

Because sometimes the amount you get of nourishment depends upon the condition of your mind and the surrounding circumstances, and so we feel that it was the love of God that wanted to see his own wonderful expressions, wonderful characteristics, wonderful powers reflected in the eyes and the actions of others, and that will be supremely enjoyable by and by. But in order to have that full enjoyment, there had to be experiences and lessons in connection with the development of angels and men training for the wondrous usefulness that God will have for them in the future, and so we find in the Bible quite a bit about gardens and the delightful things connected with them. We feel that many of us in the ordinary walks of life have so much of weariness and anxiety, so much of bustle and time limit of things that must be done up to and accomplished on a certain date, that somehow we wish we could drop everything once in a while and just retire like the Lord did with the disciples, into quietness and into just peace and enjoy rest for a while.

Now we who have come to the Lord realize that there we find the joy, the peace, the rest of heart and mind, and the satisfaction that we sought for in the world. We didn’t find it in the world because it wasn’t there. But our Lord said in Matthew 11, you remember the closing, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find a resting place for your souls, a home for the soul to come to when it needs encouragement or rest or peace or quiet, and that companionship that goes with those things. Now, many of us have had the privilege of seeing wonderful, beautiful gardens that are now in existence.

I was privileged a while ago to go to the Dupont Gardens north of Wilmington, about 10 miles, and to view the breathtaking beauty and wonder of the acres that were there under glass. All kinds of flowers and trees and fruitages from all parts of the world under glass, acres of it, and then other places like the jewel box of St. Louis. I don’t know whether that is still in existence, but it was enlarged and I suppose it is as beautiful as it was before when I saw it.

And then others of us have had the privilege of going along the skyline Drive in Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and seeing the wonderful views that are available from there, and then otherwise on the other side, the Pacific coast, the Multnomah Falls, along the Columbia river, that take you away from the bustle and the drive of the highway into a little glen there, where a great river falls over a precipice in full volume for some 600ft and goes into feathery spray that fills the whole glen with moisture. It is a beautiful place, and there are many other Places, gardens of delight that thrill you right through with the wonderful things that are there and remind you of the fact that all these things were provided by a loving Creator in His wisdom, in his thoughtfulness, and in his, you might say, understanding of everything that mankind would need and enjoy.

Now we realize that the things connected with gardens are usually in quiet places. They’re away from the noise and the bustle and the anxieties of life, and they are there, situated apart from these things, so that you can have rest and peace and enjoyment a little time to, as it were, enjoy the sweeter, the calmer and the more peaceful things of life.

We find that this is expressed in many of our songs. We have about the collection of the best songs available. Not all the best are there, but we add to them from time to time in the appendix, and I remember one that I met when I was a child. I never found it since, but in it was this expression.

Shut out the world, and let us be for one sweet hour shut in with Thee, and I hope that will be our experience in our study here of the gardens of delight. The text is in the fourth chapter of the Song of Solomon and part of the fifth chapter in the twelfth. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits. Campfire with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. See what a list is given there, and their spices and perfumes that are accounted, and were even long ago accounted. Very precious indeed.

Only those who had means or kings could have them, and then comes experience in connection with the garden. Awake, O north wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden, and that the spices thereof may flow out. You see, experiences of various sorts, good and bad, are necessary to bring out the flavor and the perfume.

Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits, and then the fifth chapter. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh, and with my spice I have eaten my honeycomb, with my honey I have drunk my wine, with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

We sometimes forget about that. We get so involved in the cares of life somehow that we forget to drink and drink abundantly, and the more we drink, the more we feel that there is not only an abundance there, but it is wonderfully vivifying, wonderfully refreshing, and raises you above, in heart and mind and thought, above the things of life.

And so our heavenly Father, through his Son, has arranged a garden of delight, and as you know, the natural things are used in the Bible to picture the spiritual things. The spiritual things are always better, larger, more beautiful. But the natural things, by looking them over and thinking upon them, give you a better appreciation and understanding of the spiritual things, and so we realize that the garden of God, for that is the name applied to it, the garden of Eden, the garden which God made.

And it tells us in that second chapter of Genesis that the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden. Now, some translators have remembered the fact that in the Hebrew they do not have words for northeast, south, and west like we do, but that the word for east was before, in front of you, ahead of you, and so they translated this passage, that the Lord planted a garden in the former Eden. That is, the one that was not known in Moses day, but the one that existed before the Flood, the former Eden. Maybe that’s right.

But anyhow, he planted that garden eastward in Eden, and he planted it, and if you look and think upon what he did there, it will give you an idea concerning a greater garden that he is working for. Now. It says, the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, or in the former Eden.

And there he put the man whom he had formed. Notice that expression. There he put this man, this material creature, the first material expression of the likeness and image of God that was made. The first one, evidently, and such a glorious one that it tells us that even the angels and the morning stars were delighted, and they sang together and even shouted for joy. That means it was a wonderful thing, the garden and its beauty and mankind as a crowning creature that God had made for this material expression of himself.

For that’s what it was, and notice, he put this man whom he had formed in his own image and likeness, the creature through whom he expected to see his own wonders of love and patience and joy and all those other wonderful characteristics reflected in his eyes, in his words, in his actions. You know, when a father finds in his own child that awakening mental capacity, in the brilliance of the eye, in the look of understanding that’s there, and see some of the qualities that he’s trying to instill into that child reflected there. It gives you a joy, doesn’t gives you somehow a satisfaction that your labor hasn’t been entirely in vain, that it’s already beginning to bring some fruitage.

And you hope by and by it will bear a complete fruitage, something wonderful. So this creature Whom the Lord loved, loved to such an extent that he was willing to give in the training of this creature that most treasure, a precious treasure that he possessed, and that meant the greatest sacrifice that he could make. He must have loved mankind very deeply, and as the expression of that love, notice what he did.

That out of the ground, made the Lord Jehovah to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight. Now think for a moment what that meant. You’ve seen beautiful trees. You’ve seen the flowering peach, the apple, the cherry, the various other fruits as they’ve grown. You’ve seen the crab apple in its bloom.

You’ve seen the other. The flamboyant trees, the acacia, the. Well, we could mention a great many all through the world that grow in various parts, and they’re beautiful, even make you gasp at some of the combinations of color and beauty that are there, and the Lord made the ground to bring these forth everything that was pleasant to the sights.

And why did he do it? Because he loved the man that he had put there, and he wanted him to enjoy the things, and likewise to realize that His Creator had provided them, and thus that everything that he saw about him would bring a message to his mind and his heart.

That this particular thing brings a message of that, sort of to you as a message from the Lord, and we have that more and more as we do go in the knowledge of God. Everything, every experience in life has a message to us from the Lord.

And beside all of these things, you see these beautiful trees. There was the shade of the oak and the elm and the other deciduous trees that shed their leaves. They didn’t. I don’t suppose they did then because the climate was not like it is now. But at any rate, they had the shade and the shelter from the sun whenever that was needed.

And then beside these, there were the flowers on every side of every variety, growing in the shade and in the woods, and beside them were the waterfalls and the brooks and all of the things that go with them, bringing refreshment and life to all the things of the garden, and then beside these were the birds. Many of them of wonderfully beautiful plumage and others with just plain plumage but wonderful song and melody that enlighten the heart and the mind and remind them of the Creator. The lark, the mockingbird and others all have their various little voices.

And they have a lovely habit when they drink, of lifting up the head as if they were giving thanks for their blessings, and all of these, you see, bring to each one a message of the Father’s interest and love for them, and what a quietness was there in that garden. None of the noise, the bustle, the anxiety, the care that we have in the earth now. A beautiful, quiet place.

And then, besides all those things for the eye and the mind to think about, the Lord supplied all the food that was necessary, and that in a wonderful variety.

We see now that through the work of the Lord in enlarging the understanding of man and his thinking apparatus, applying it to work, to invent new things and new varieties, we see all these wonderful fruits now, and they were in the garden of Eden, all of them there, the oranges, the grapefruit, the pear and the peach and the plum, and all these other things, the apple, all there in their richness and beauty, not only of bloom, but of fruitage, and then there was also the lesson of the fact that the Lord didn’t make them all bloom at once necessarily. There. Everything has its season.

You remember so that the year round has something good with every part of it. It some message of blessing from the Lord, and then beside all these and every variety that could be needed, all the vitamins there to keep the body in constant repair, so that it did not grow old from day to day, but is in full vigor of manhood and womanhood there in the days they spent together, and then every morning was the freshness of the rising sun and the delights that were before the mind for another wonderful and beautiful day, and then at the evening time, there came the rest and the quiet with the day’s occupations finished.

Because Adam had little to do, you know, he didn’t sit down and just look at everything. The Lord sent him there to till the ground, to take care of things, to manage that garden and through the management of it, learn not only about his own dominion, but about the Creator and how he manages various works that he is carrying out also, and so in this evening time, you remember, part of it was the wonderful fellowship that they enjoyed when mankind, Adam and Eve, walked with the angels that God sent to represent him, Heaven and earth in perfect harmony. Now we know that that was lost, but the Lord says it’ll be restored again in Isaiah, that wonderful prophecy. I think it is in the 63rd chapter.

But anyhow, he says that thou shalt no more be termed desolate, but thy land shall be married, and thy land shall be called Beulah, and thou shalt be called Hephzibah. For the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married, and so again mankind and the angels will have communication one with the Other sometime we’ll learn the names of some of those that are given in the Bible. Gabriel is mentioned, and there are others whose names are wonderful, and other names we learn more about them, and they are wonderful beings.

And then will be restored that perfect harmony and fellowship and beauty of thought and everything that is desirable, and you could say that all this was just for the natural man, just for the lowest of God’s intelligent creatures, and yet it is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? The more you think of it, the more you realize the vast experience, the vast knowledge and the depth of God’s love and interest in his creatures that was manifested by that garden of Eden, and then in one of the psalms, it tells us the 87th Psalm, you’ve all read it.

He says that the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, that is, the least one in the kingdom of heaven is more precious in his sight than the best and the most glorious of the earthly things. You read that and think it over. The Lord loveth the gates, the outermost parts of the heavenly face of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, and so if that is true, and that the Lord is making a garden, as he says, for his precious people, we could see that this garden would be richer in every department of. Would have not only the beauty, more delicate things of joys, a fuller life of expanding knowledge and understanding, a wider range of activities and experiences, which all would have a richer value and a greater and more lasting reward.

Oh, there are wonderful things to be thought of and to be realized about this garden of the Lord, and you remember that as we read this in the Song of Solomon, it mentions some of the things in that garden, and as you think about them, you realize that there’s wonderful pictures there given us, and the first is, he says that there’s needed a waiting place, a garden enclosed, walled in, protected by the Lord’s power and wisdom. Is my sister, my spouse, that is the church.

A spring, yes, a well spring of wonderful living waters, as he said. But it’s shut up now, and a fountain, but the fountain is sealed. It isn’t yet flowing out to give its beauty to those outside, to the world of mankind. By and by it will be.

And then when these various trees have reached their full fragrance and their full fruitage, they’ll be open to the world, and the world will draw lessons of love and interest from the church because of the heavenly Father’s provision for it. You remember, it tells us that there be on the banks of the river, very many trees on this side and that side, and that they brought forth a fruit every month and they had 12 varieties, and likewise that he said that the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and the leaves are the outward expression, the things that others see.

In other words, the things that the Lord will learn. I mean, the people will learn as they look back upon what they knew of those who finally became members of God’s church. They’ll say, I knew that man back there. He had stumblings and weaknesses and failings just like I did, and yet the Lord, through his Holy Spirit has made such a wonderful result out of him.

And they’ll be encouraged by that. They say, if the Lord could do that when Satan was loose and all the evil influences are surrounding, why then he can help me also that I might rise to the full expression of my capabilities, and so to be for the healing of the nations, the memory and the lessons connected with the church. But there are also in this garden that Adam had not only pleasurable things, but, you know, Adam had to learn, he had to grow, and so the Lord placed in the midst of the garden a lesson for Adam and, and Eve, a tree.

And he told them that that is set there. It is there. Notice that. What did that mean? That meant that it wasn’t always going to be denied them, else the Lord wouldn’t have put it there.

Its very present meant that sometime after the lessons connected with it had been learned, the Lord would give them that tree for them to enjoy like all the other trees. But meanwhile, he says, you must not touch it. Well, you see, that would mean lessons of self control, of seeing a beautiful thing, yet holding back, of seeing a knowledge connected with a fruit that would be very desirable, yet waiting the Lord’s permission, waiting the time, like David did with Saul. You know, David was already anointed. David was already told that he would be the king.

And yet while he had various opportunities in which he could have slain this one, that was then King Saul, who was an enemy and tried to kill him. Yet he didn’t do it. He said, thou shalt not touch the Lord’s anointed, and he did not, and he waited through those years when he had to run for his life and be a fleeing one all through that experience.

And then when the time came and the death of Saul did take place, he didn’t try to assume the whole. He didn’t lambast the 12 tribes or 10 tribes because they didn’t want him. But he was content for a period Just to reign over the two, and then the others came of their own accord and asked him to reign, and so we wait.

We get things that come and that in their proper way. They’re a gladsome acknowledgment and a gladsome interest in ourselves and in one another. There’s always a better way that the Lord has, and as he says, blessed are they that wait upon him, and how often we have that experience.

Now there are some that are not willing to wait because it seems as though the kingdom was tarrying. But the Lord said it wouldn’t really tarry, it just would seem to tarry. But meanwhile wait for it. It will surely come, and so if we’re patient, as he says, in due time we shall reap, if we faint not.

And as Jesus said, he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved, and again that we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. So he urges us to cast not away our faith and the reward. There’s a great recompense connected with it. There’s a wonderful fruitage and reason for every experience that we go through in life.

Now, some of the things mentioned here are like that, like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The resistance of that would have developed the self control in Adam that would have enabled him to enjoy the privileges connected with, with that tree, with safety, with wisdom, without trouble and sorrow and sin. You know, mankind is going through an awful lot of trouble and experience because he has misused the knowledge that the Lord has given him. He used it to kill one another and greedy for power and so forth, and the Lord’s letting him realize those things, they’re letting him learn that the Lord’s blessing could be poured out upon him without measure, but that they would only be turned into curses as long as man’s heart was raw.

That man must learn to love and cooperate with his fellow men, and so in this wonderful garden that the Lord is preparing, he sows the seeds of that garden in the hearts of his beloved now, and he asks us to cooperate with him, to work with him in those developments, and he tells us that he will superintend everything. He is the husbandman that does the pruning.

He tends to the time and the amount of the watering. He tends also to the various things connected with the soil and the time for everything, and then he asks us to fall in line with that, to be submissive, to learn obedience, and so one of the things that are quite prominent in this garden in is myrrh, and you know that word means bitterness.

We meet it first in the waters of Marah that were bitter and the children of Israel therefore couldn’t drink of them. But also that is the root of the word Mary Miriam in the Hebrew, Mary in our language, and you know, that is the sweetest name that has been given to womankind, and yet it means bitterness, and that’s odd, isn’t it?

And what has made it sweet? It’s the association with Mary, the mother of Jesus. I think that’s part of the reason for it at least.

And so the Lord has placed that in our garden myrrh, and we realize that he points out that though Jesus were a son, yet learned he obedience through the things that he suffered, and in bringing many sons to glory, he made the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Yes, the Father himself suffers mentally in mind because of the permission of evil, which is horribly distasteful and repugnant to Him. But because he loves his creatures, he’s permitting it for a time.

By and by, there’ll be a time when it’s done its work and will be stopped. So this word myrrh, it’s a word that tells us that we have to have a training through bitter experiences in learning to trust our Heavenly Father where we can’t see the reason for it. That nevertheless, if we have devoted our hearts and promised to do what he tells us, what his wisdom indicates is the best thing, then we’ll willingly bear and endure the experiences connected with the bitter things of life. As Job said to his wife when she expostulated with him and told him to curse God and die. What’s the use?

He said. Why, we receive the good things of life, shall we not also receive the hard things, the evil things? And you know that it isn’t a very much of a character that all he can experience and all he wants is just the pleasant things of life. It takes a sturdy character to stand up against evil and unpleasant things and bring them into life’s experiences. I see the time is going swiftly, isn’t it?

But this is one of the things, then that we have to realize is necessary for the rounding out, you might say, for the stability of our character. We know that Jesus shed tears not only at Lazarus Beer, but likewise in Gethsemane and in other places. It tells us that he did and because he loved mankind, and he could see the effect of this sorrow, and yet did he try to stop it?

Oh, no, it was the Father’s will for it to continue, and so we learn to endure, and Jesus therefore, endured. Another feature of that garden is the aloes. Not the common ordinary one that we know around here, but it’s imported from Cochin China and also grown in northern India.

And it is used for fumigation, for cleansing, and we need that, do we not? A purity is part of the quality of God and of His Son and of us. An atmosphere that is cleared of all things out of harmony with God, but is pure and clean. Fumigation is a work that accomplished by the aloes and perfume.

And then there was cassia, and that was the inner bark, somewhat like cinnamon, that is used likewise for flavoring and has a beautiful odor, too, and it represents workmanship, what we call the know how to do anything, the application of what we learned, and we do learn that it is not always wise to tell the truth to a person at the particular time we might think of it, that some time might be more appropriate, and then we learn that there are times and seasons for everything, and we try to use tact.

And so this master workman or craftsmanship comes, and that’s part of our training to learn how and when to speak a word in season to him that is weary, and then there’s a frankincense that in the Hebrew has the word lebona, and that means white. It’s the same word as meant as used for Lebanon, which likewise means white, and it’s the word also for moon, just little difference in the vowels used.

And it would represent righteousness, the clear white, without the admixture of any impurity, and yet, on the other hand, we realize that the white color is the proper, proportionate mixture of all the desirable qualities of character. God is light, he has them all. But the effect is so perfectly balanced that it is white, and then we have the others, Galbanum, ornica, stacked, each of them representing some wonderful quality that is developed.

And when this garden is completed, it will be the exhibition of what God can do for those who trust him, and not merely that, but also it will tell us that out of the depths of God’s wonderful wisdom and love there will be provided to all eternity things that will entrance his creatures and make them love him more and more and trust him if they could be more completely. So we’ll see. Dear friends, I wish it could be longer. But you know, a wise teacher doesn’t tell everything.

He leaves a little for the others to study and work out for themselves. So in this, I hope you’ll study as you read and think more of what you read and ask the Lord to give you the wisdom from above that you understand his thought behind each of these written expressions, and may the Lord bless you in his study.

Me Ra Sa Savior, as we have studied Thy Word with one another these last two days, we thank Thee for the things that Thou hast opened up to our minds and hearts of the depths of love and wisdom that are revealed in Thy Word, and for the wonderful things still stored away there for us to study. Grant us of Thy guidance therein. May Thy Holy Spirit fill our hearts more and more so that we might enter into more full cooperation with Thee, and O Lord, wilt Thou bless our weak and humble efforts and help us to be encouraged and to be strengthened by Thy might with the inner man and help us to continue through thick and thin, through help and through despondency in every situation until we meet Thee face to face. May Thy blessing continue throughout the convention that we may be enabled to carry a measure of it to those at home, and for these things we thank Thee in Jesus name, Amen.

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