The Bible is a library of many books, written by many authors, across many generations. And yet those books tell one unified Story.
It begins in a garden.
It moves through God’s promises to Abraham and Israel, the rise and fall of kings, and centuries of waiting. Then Jesus enters the Story. He announces God’s Kingdom, enters another garden, gives His life on a tree, rises from the dead, and sends His Spirit to empower His people.
And the Bible ends where it began: with God, humanity, creation, a river, and the Tree of Life.
Except now it isn’t simply a garden.
It’s a Garden City.
Each day this week, we’ll practice four movements:
READ
What does this passage actually say? Pay attention to repeated words, images, locations, characters, and ideas.
TRACE
Where have we seen this before? Biblical authors intentionally develop ideas across Scripture. Look backward and forward.
SEE JESUS
How does this part of the Story ultimately lead us toward Jesus?
LIVE
If this is God’s Story and we have been invited into it, how should we live?
Sunday: Matthew 26–27
Another garden.
Another test.
Another tree.
But this time, humanity’s representative chooses differently.
Matthew 4:1–11
Jesus enters the wilderness.
He is tested.
Where Adam failed in a garden of abundance, Jesus remains faithful in a wilderness of scarcity.
Where Israel failed in the wilderness, Jesus trusts God.
The test keeps repeating.
Will humanity trust God’s wisdom?
Finally, the answer is yes.
Jesus is the faithful human the Story has been waiting for.
Where are circumstances making it difficult for you to trust God’s character?
Matthew 26:36–46
Jesus enters Gethsemane.
The contrast with Eden is striking.
Humanity’s choice in Eden amounts to:
My will, not Yours.
Jesus prays:
Not My will, but Yours.
The garden of rebellion is being answered by the garden of surrender.
Jesus’ obedience isn’t abstract.
It will cost Him everything.
Yet He trusts the Father.
Identify one area where you need to pray:
Not my will, but Yours.
Isaiah 52:13–53:12
The King will win.
But not how anyone expects.
He suffers.
He carries.
He bears.
He gives Himself.
The Bible’s vision of victory is becoming surprising.
God defeats evil not simply by destroying His enemies but by allowing human evil to exhaust itself upon His Servant.
The cross is not an interruption in Jesus’ mission.
It is its climax.
What does the cross tell you about how seriously God takes both sin and you?
John 19:16–37
Humanity once reached toward a tree in rebellion.
Jesus is now lifted upon a tree in obedience.
An instrument designed to produce death becomes the place from which God brings life.
Tree of rebellion.
Tree of redemption.
Tree of Life.
Keep following the trees.
Jesus takes humanity’s violence and rebellion into Himself and answers it with self-giving love.
Spend several minutes contemplating the cross without asking God for anything.
Simply worship.
Romans 5:12–21
Paul places Adam and Jesus side by side.
Adam’s rebellion brings death.
Jesus’ obedience brings life.
One humanity is marked by Adam.
A new humanity begins in Christ.
Genesis 3’s problem finally receives its answer.
Jesus hasn’t simply patched the old Story.
He has begun new creation.
Where are you still living as though your failures define you more than Jesus does?
