Genesis 2: 7-8, 15-17
“7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Our high calling is to know Christ (Philippians 3:10-14):
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
This article is to encourage us to know Him as our builder of walls and gates and as our Gatekeeper.
1. Testimony
Recently, I had an inner prompting to seek the Lord for more revelations about being a gatekeeper. So happily I searched the internet for books on biblical studies on this topic. I found and bought an e-book “Gatekeepers Arise” by James Durham. It focused on Nehemiah Chapter 3. Very informative but I sensed the Lord wanted me to know more, starting from Genesis. Adam was the first gatekeeper and the garden in Eden was nothing about botanical plants but a special garden the Lord had planted for man, unlike the plants that were planted outside the garden for feeding the animals and birds and of course man.
2. The Garden of Eden
It seems from the bible the Lord planted the garden in Eden after forming man, the first Adam (with Jesus being the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45)). The feature of the garden were the trees, including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of all the trees, the only one they could not eat from was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What is interesting in the bible are references to spiritual trees
“She (wisdom) is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her.” Proverbs 3:18
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12
“A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4
Furthermore, it is interesting the God really cares about trees, including botanical trees. God gave instructions to the Israelites about the great care that they need to give to trees that bore fruit, even in times of war. This surely must be symbolic if not prophetic about spiritual trees (Deuteronomy 20:19-20):
“When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.”
The bible also tells us the importance of spiritual food, especially as Jesus, the last Adam, said in John 4: 31-34:
“In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ Therefore the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’”
I believe spiritual food was the kind of food that the garden in Eden provided, to enable Adam to know and do the will of God, which he demonstrated by naming all the living creatures (Genesis 2:19-20). The bible encourages us to feed on His Word daily – “give us this day our daily bread” Matthew 6:11. Sin resulted in Adam and Eve being cut of from the Garden with God placing His angelic gatekeepers to protect the garden and the Tree of Life.
3. Adam was the first gatekeeper
Genesis 2:15 states: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it”. To tend comes from the Aramaic word “âbad” which means to work, to serve or to worship. To keep comes from the Aramaic word “shâmar” which means to hedge about, guard, to protect, which is what gatekeepers do. Thus what Adam was doing was nothing about cultivating botanical plants like grains and herbs. The Aramaic word used for the trees in the garden in Eden, “êts”, means just that, (wooden) trees.
4. Adam had special tasks as a gatekeeper
I find the following scriptures to be relevant:
“The seed is the word of God” – Luke 8:11
“The LORD said, ‘… I am (actively) watching over My word to fulfil it” – Jer. 1:12 AMP.
“For I the LORD will speak, and whatever word I speak will be accomplished” – Ezek. 12:25 AMP.
“Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right time” – Prov. 25:11 AMP.
The Word starts off as a seed. Adams’ task, before he sinned, was to tend to the word till it bears fruit and to watch over it and perform it. He saw the word being performed when he named all the animals, birds and fishes according to the wisdom of God.
4. Gatekeepers should not work alone
Genesis 2:18 states “And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” God recognised that is important that there should be at least two gatekeepers, for the simple reason that it is not good for man to be alone.” We see Christ adopting this principle when sending out disciples as pairs, e.g., Luke 10:1.
Conclusion
We can see that just as Jesus is a gatekeeper, so was Adam. Revelation 3: 7-8 confirms that Jesus is the one who opens or shuts doors.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”
So, arise Gatekeepers of Australia, the Kingdom of God needs you and waits for you to take up your position and calling.
Shalom and with every blessing to all,
George
GEORGE PERRY
National Chairman
FGBA Gatekeepers
FULL GOSPEL BUSINESS AUSTRALIA