Introduction 

In part one of The Garden of God, we discussed the past, present, and future aspects of the Garden of Eden and the tree of life as revealed in the scriptures. 

In part two, we unravel in storytelling fashion the key events that happened between the garden of Gethsemane and the garden Christ was buried in. 

Join me as we explore insights into His descension, private ascension into Heaven, endowment with authority, and how these and other important garden-related mysteries impact our lives today. 

 

The Garden of Gethsemane  

After washing their feet, Christ ended an intimate dinner with friends telling them about His going away and the coming Holy Spirit (John 14:14-31). They all sang a hymn together (Matthew 26:30) and departed from the house for a mile’s walk under a full lit moon toward a garden in Gethsemane. 

After walking down the stone steps into the Kidron valley, Jesus likely stopped by a vineyard to teach on fruitfulness, relationships (abiding), and to give a new commandment:  

“I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit…. this is my commandment that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:15).  

To their left in the valley that night would have been the spring of Gihon – Jerusalem’s only natural water supply.  Its springs meandered throughout and fed into the pool of Siloam. After His vineyard discourse, they would have crossed over the valley and entered the garden of Gethsemane – where Jesus knelt to pray. 

I find it interesting that in the darkest and most stressful time of Jesus’ life, He prioritized talking with His Father in of all places…. a garden.  

Following His arrest and later forced passage by soldiers down the Via Dolorosa Street, He enters Golgotha, the “place of the skull”, to be crucified. It is here we begin to see the mystery between the cross and tree of life in the garden of Eden referenced in the very beginning of Genesis.  

 

The Tree of Life 

The Scriptures actually refer to the cross as a “tree”: 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us–for it is written: “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE“– – Gal 3:13 NASB20 

To understand why this is important, we must realize that a curse came upon mankind after the command to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was transgressed. At this moment in history, Christ willingly embodied that curse on the cross (a tree). By hanging on a tree, He was fulfilling the prophetic aspect of the law penned thousands of years before and took upon Himself our death sentence for our sins:

“Now if a person has committed a sin [carrying] a sentence of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, – Deu 21:22 NASB20 

 

The spirit, body, and soul of Christ 

During and after the cross, Christ’s spirit, body, and soul each went to different places.  

His spirit ascended: Immediately after quoting a psalm of David, His spirit left His body and went to the Father. Then, He died:  

And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I ENTRUST MY SPIRIT.” And having said this, He died. – Luk 23:46 NASB20 

His body buried: Shortly afterwards, Joseph of Arimathea was led by the Spirit to remove Jesus’ body from the cross (tree) and bury it before sundown. This was to fulfill the following prophetic shadow God hid within the law: 

His body is not to be left overnight on the tree, but you shall certainly bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is cursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. – Deu 21:23 NASB20 

If Jesus’ body was never removed and buried on the same day He was crucified, the land would have remained defiled. Interestingly, the Spirit led Joseph to bury Jesus in all places, a garden:  

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. – John 19:41 NASB20 

Why did God want Jesus buried in a garden? Because He was executing, fulfilling, and revealing the mysteries He had concealed since the beginning of creation. Namely, He was reversing what transpired in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Here is how: 

• In the garden of Eden, man brought death. In another garden, Jesus brought life. 
• Because of a tree, sin defeated man. Because of another tree, Christ defeated sin.
• Because of a tree, man was cursed. Because of another tree, Christ became and removed that curse. 

We discussed what happened to Jesus’ spirit and body, but what about His soul?  

His soul descended: While Jesus’ body was in the earth, His soul descended to the lower parts of the earth (see Ephesians 4:10). This was not a physical place inside the earth as some believe, but rather a lower realm of spiritual reality without geographical location.  

While there, He met and interacted with two different people groups in two different places. The first were spirits in prison:  

in which He also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, – 1Pe 3:19 NASB20  

According to the Apostle Peter, these were apparently individuals who lived during Noah’s time: 

..who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through [the] water. – 1Pe 3:20 NASB20 

He also visited saints who had died in faith before His death. These were dwelling in a place called “Paradise” – where the thief on the cross next to Him also went.  

The next key event was resurrection. 

 

Resurrection – The rejoining of Christ’s spirit, soul, and body 

After being buried for three days and three nights, Christ resurrected before His body began to decay.  The duration of His descension was timed perfectly to fulfill the following prophetic writing by King David, “for You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay” (Psalms 16:10). 

His resurrection occurred when the Holy Spirit rejoined Jesus’ spirit and soul with His body. We also see from scripture that when Christ resurrected, the saints whom He visited also resurrected with Him:  

Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. – Mat 27:52-53 NASB20 

This must have been quite a sight. Once-dead people climbing out of tombs, walking through the city, and aggregating together. But for what? Ascension! 

 

Christ’s “secret” ascension to the Father 

Christ actually ascended twice while on earth. The first time was from the garden He was buried in. I call this His “private ascension” because other than Mary of Madelene, few knew about it. The scriptures give us insights into how it unfolded.  

The morning of Christ’s resurrection, Mary was standing by the tomb weeping: 

But Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping; so as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb; – Jhn 20:11 NASB20 

Jesus, now alive again, saw her. Having compassion on her, He stopped to minister to her: 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Thinking that He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you put Him, and I will take Him away.” – Jhn 20:15 NASB20 

This is where things get interesting.  

After discovering it was Jesus speaking, Mary ran to embrace Him. Surprisingly, Jesus pushed back. His reason? He didn’t want any physical contact before first going to the Father. This was because His body had not yet been glorified: 

Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father;..John 20:17 NASB20 

Apparently, Christ was in the process of ascending to the Father when Mary encountered Him: 

…but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending (present tense) to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'” – Jhn 20:17 NASB20 

After Mary left to share this instruction, Christ resumed His ascension. But He was not to do it alone. Paul by revelation of the Holy Spirit describes three key activities during Christ’s private ascension to the Father. 

 

1. He led captives free  

He led those who also resurrected to ascend (i.e., the journey from this earthly reality to the higher heavenly reality) with Him:  

Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE [THE] CAPTIVES,.. – Eph 4:8a  

The above scripture is not referring to Christ’s public ascension in Matthew 28, but His private one in the garden. 

 

2. He gave gifts to His Church 

The second activity while transporting from earth to Heaven was that He gave gifts to people:  

AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE.” – Eph 4:8b NASB20 

What were the gifts He gave? People! The Holy Spirit explained: 

And He gave some [as] apostles, some [as] prophets, some [as] evangelists, some [as] pastors and teachers, – Eph 4:11 NASB20 

Please note that during this time His disciples were still in hiding! 

Therefore, why and how would Christ give people gifts to a non-existent Church? Because when Christ started this ascension journey, He was able to shed the constraints of time and space and operate in a heavenly eternal reality. A dimension if we will where past, present, and future events could all occur in a single moment! 

So, what actually happened?  

Christ, working backwards from the end of the Church age predestined and ordained all the yet to be born pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets and evangelists to specific churches, geographical areas, and global territories. For the scriptures reveal that:  

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. – Eph 2:10 NASB20 

Where you live, the work you do, and the people around you were predestined nearly 2000 years ago – all stringed together and very much dictated by the lives of your past ancestors. So, what happened next? 

 

3. Received Authority  

Shortly after Christ made His arrival into Heaven, He was awarded by the Father. The prophet Daniel saw this glorious event in a vision nearly 590 years beforehand and recorded it for us. For we read:  

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man was coming, – Daniel 7:13a. 

Like a movie trailer yet to be released, Daniel watched as Christ approached the Father (the “Ancient of Days”):  

And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. – Dan 7:13 NASB20 

Then, he watched the scene that changed everything.  

He saw the Father award His Son for His work on the cross by handing over to Him all authority and Kingdom oversight:  

“And to Him was given dominion, Honor, and a kingdom, So that all the peoples, nations, and [populations of all] languages Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. – Dan 7:14 NASB20 

Paul described this same event when He wrote:  

which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places,] far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. – Eph 1:20-21 NASB20 

This delegation of authority is temporary. One day, after everything is accomplished and the last enemy of God is put under Christ’s feet (death), He will then hand the Kingdom back over to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:17). 

 

Christ descends back to Earth 

After the Lord received authority, He descended back to earth in His new glorified body. His new body was a complete upgrade. It was spiritual in nature and not bound by physics (time, space, or matter), yet could operate perfectly within our physical realm. He moved through walls yet digested food. He time traveled long distances yet walked with people. He could break or leverage all physical laws at any moment by will or thought. 

After this descension back to earth, Christ now welcomed people to touch Him (see the account of Thomas in Luke 24:39).  

As He appears to His disciples, He shared what transpired and commissioned them for the work He had prepared for them. For we read:  

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, – Mat 28:18-19 NASB20 

 

Conclusion  

The passion of Christ started and ended in a garden. The cross is our tree of life. Multiple important events transpired while Christ was in the garden. These include a descension, ascension, establishment of key functions within His Body, and receiving total authority and a new glorified immortal body. 

Christ now sits above all things. He has called us to co-labor with Him, doing our part that He has planned many ages ago. Because of His authority, Kingdom position, and Lordship, we can be a part of helping all nations, tongues, and tribes of the earth come to serve Him. When death (as the last enemy) is thrown into the Lake of Fire, Christ will hand the Kingdom back over the Father.  

As the people of God, we need to be prepared and equipped for the age that’s coming.