Page 27 - January 2026 - Truth & Tidings

H All nature shall wear on that Eve would work to “dress” and “keep” the
er bridal attire and her festal array
garden (Gen 2:15). Much has been written
glorious day;
but, at a minimum, they speak of action,
For her King cometh down, with His people about the implications of these two verbs,
to reign, effort and service. In the context of Eden,
And His presence shall bless her with Eden that work was horticultural: tending to the
again. garden that God had planted. In the Mil-
Horatius Bonar’s hymn of millennial ex- lennium, too, dressing and keeping will be
pectation climaxes with the hope of Eden required. This will be true in a particular
restored at the return of Christ when a way at the beginning of the Millennium
groaning creation will be “delivered from as a massive clean-up operation will be re-
quired following the horrors of the Tribu-
the bondage of corruption into the glori- lation and the slaughter of Armageddon.
ous liberty of the children of God” (Rom
8:21). As the creation’s groaning seems It is clear from passages such as Zechariah
1
to grow ever more intense, and what 14 that Christ’s return will involve massive
Wordsworth called “the still sad music seismic reconfigurations, and the rubble
of cities will need to be removed and new
of humanity” continuing to crescendo, dwellings built. God promises, “In the
the prospect of Eden restored seems ever
more remarkable. More remarkable still is day that I shall have cleansed you from
the fact that the Millennium will not just all your iniquities I will also cause you to
be Eden again; the ultimate outcome of dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be
builded” (Eze 36:33). Amos 9:14 records
God’s redemptive project will bring this
world to heights unknown even before God’s promise that “I will bring again the
the Fall. It is nonetheless true that the captivity of my people of Israel, and they
Millennium will see the implementation shall build the waste cities, and inhabit
of God’s initial purpose for the planet; them; and they shall plant vineyards, and
drink the wine thereof; they shall also
mankind will, once again, inhabit a world
free from the effects of the curse. And, make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.”
because work was part of God’s original Similarly, the city of Jerusalem and
design for humanity, the Millennium too Ezekiel’s temple will need to be built,
will involve work. and although Isaiah 44:26 tells us that
Some of that labor will be physical. In God says “to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be
Eden, God’s intention was that Adam and inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye
shall be built, and I will raise up the de-
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the cayed places thereof,” and Zechariah 6:12
KJV. promises that “he shall build the temple of
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