In the beginning…11c. Earth Overlook: Day Six

“Wow!” Allen exclaimed. “Uh, Jesus? What’s God doing now?”

Distracted for only a moment, Jesus glanced around and noticed that his Father was no longer standing beside him. He looked over the railing toward the Earth and then replied, “Oh, that’s right. It’s the next step in the whole plan. He’s planting a garden.”

“He’s what!” Michael asked dumbfounded.

A young angel nearby posed the next anticipated question, “Why’s he doing that?”

Jesus explained, “Just something he wanted to do personally; kind of like I wanted to design all the animals and man even though my father could’ve completed that task in a split millisecond.”

Lucifer’s scoffing voice could be heard over the crowd, “What’s the point of that? Rather grandiose I’d say.”

Ignoring the mocker, Jesus continued thoughtfully, “He’s making a perfect paradise for man on the Earth. Toward the East over that way,” he stated pointing. “The garden is named Eden. It contains every type of plant: flowers, shrubs, trees. Man’s job will be to work the garden and take care of it.”

Allen suggested, “That will give man a purpose, won’t it, Jesus? Something in which to take pride, like I have the choir to direct.”

“That’s right, Allen,” Jesus approved. “Man will live in and care for the garden.”

 “Hummph! That’s work! God doesn’t work. I’ve never seen him lift a finger. That’s not the kind of thing he does,” Lucifer accused, but only loudly enough for his nearest companions to hear. He had moved over to the railing at the farthest end of the crowd to get a better view of these very curious happenings.

As always, the area to which God had walked and in which he was now planting, suddenly yet subtly, appeared to position itself directly under the Earth Overlook. The important events always seemed to occur in plain view of all the heavenly host staring down from above.

“Should we assist God?” Allen asked.

“No,” Jesus explained. “God wants to do this himself. He wants it to be personal; between himself and man. Just watch and you’ll understand it all by and by.”

All watched, amazed, as God actually caused flowers to bloom instantly and trees to grow at a fantastic rate; some didn’t grow at all but seemed to simply appear fully developed. There were blooms of all colors and trees that appeared to have fruit of all kinds.

“Some of those flowers appear very pleasing to the eye,” said Allen putting in words what many were thinking.

“And those trees! Their fruit looks … well, good enough to eat!” exclaimed Michael.

“Exactly right, Mike,” Jesus stated. “Man will think the fruit is delicious; and his hobby will be tending this lovely garden.”

Allen interposed, “Why does man need a hobby?”

Jesus seemed surprised, “Allen, just as you enjoy directing the choir, man will be a creature who relishes and thrives upon activity.”

Michael stated what several were thinking, “Kind of like you, too, huh, Jesus?” Several angels in the nearest group stifled chuckles until the Son burst into jubilant laughter himself.

“That’s right, Mike,” Jesus retorted. “After all, man is made in my image and after my likeness as well as my father’s.”

This dialogue was interrupted suddenly by a new commotion on Earth. Immediately all eyes refocused on the Father below. The angels were awed as God actually lifted the man and set him down beside the large river that flowed through the heart of Eden.

Gabriel, who had been looking in another direction, now announced, “See how that river flows out of the garden area and becomes the headwater for four other rivers.”

“That’s the way God and I planned it,” Jesus responded. “The rivers that will water this whole part of the Earth begin in Eden. They spread out in four different directions. We even know what man will someday name each of them. That first one is Pishon; it winds through a land that will someday be called Havilah. Man will find much gold there. Gold will be worth a lot to mankind. Man will also find aromatic resin, pearls, and onyx there,” Jesus persisted with the narrative as all eyes watched God put finishing touches on Eden below.

“The name of the second river will be Gihon; it winds through the entirety of a land someday to be called Cush. The name of the third river is destined to be the Tigris, it runs along the east side of what will be the land of Asshur in the future; and the fourth river will be designated the Euphrates. These rivers will actually make this whole part of Earth have very rich soil so that man will one day name it the Fertile Crescent,” Jesus concluded the geography lesson.

[to be continued]