Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast
Reverend Ben Coopers podcast, offers an inviting space for listeners to explore Christianity and spiritual growth with wisdom, humor, and a deep commitment to biblical truth. Through Rev. Ben's engaging conversations with guests, the podcast not only explores the timeless wisdom of the Bible but also tackles the pressing issues of life, faith, and hope in a way that is accessible, thought-provoking, and enriching. Whether you’re seeking spiritual nourishment, answers to life’s big questions, or simply a place to reflect on your faith, the Rev Ben podcast is a valuable resource on your journey.
In each episode, Rev. Ben guides listeners through profound theological reflections, personal stories, and practical insights drawn from the Bible and the broader Christian tradition.
Reverend Ben Cooper's Podcast
Unwrapped: How Burial Clothes Danced to God's Voice (#1033 - Elim)
https://www.pastorbencooper.co.uk/The Three Sacred Gardens: A Pathway to Redemption - A Message of Transformation
In this powerful teaching, Pastor Ben Cooper takes us on a transformative journey through the three sacred gardens that outline humanity’s redemption story. This message goes beyond mere religious rituals, cutting to the heart of salvation and revealing profound truths about God’s eternal plan to restore His creation.
The Garden of Eden: The Fall and God's Redemptive Promise
We begin in the Garden of Eden, where humanity’s fall shattered the perfection of creation. Genesis describes Eden as a paradise so perfect, "it was beyond human understanding" (Genesis 2:9), until sin entered the world through Adam and Eve's disobedience (Romans 5:12). Pastor Ben explains that this moment didn’t just affect mankind, but sent shockwaves throughout all of creation, altering the very fabric of the universe. Yet even in the midst of the fall, God’s rescue plan was already in motion. Genesis 3:15 hints at the first prophecy of a Savior who would come to crush the head of the serpent, marking the beginning of God’s redemptive work. The Garden of Eden, though marked by sin and loss, foreshadows God’s ultimate plan to redeem and restore all things.
The Garden of Gethsemane: The Ultimate Sacrifice
Next, we move to the Garden of Gethsemane, the "50-50 garden," where Jesus faced the ultimate decision that would lead to His sacrifice on the cross. Here, in intense anguish, Jesus prayed so fervently that He sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Pastor Ben highlights that Jesus fully understood the suffering ahead of Him but chose to submit to the Father’s will. Despite overwhelming emotional and spiritual turmoil, Jesus prayed, “Not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). This garden represents the tension between human frailty and divine will, showing us a Savior who fully understands our deepest struggles yet chose to fulfill His mission to redeem humanity.
The Garden Tomb: The Triumphant Resurrection
The final sacred garden is the garden tomb, where Jesus' body was laid after His crucifixion. Pastor Ben shares a powerful insight into the miracle of the burial cloths that “folded themselves” after Jesus’ resurrection (John 20:6-7). The cloths themselves responded to the power of God. This miraculous event demonstrates the authority of Christ over both life and death. The resurrection transforms the tomb from a place of sorrow to a place of triumph. Jesus conquered death and broke the chains of sin, offering eternal life to all who believe in Him. The resurrection is the culmination of God’s redemptive plan, showing us that the grave could not hold the Son of God.
Moving Beyond Religion to Embrace the Power of Resurrection
Throughout this teaching, Pastor Ben urges us to break free from the trap of empty religious rituals. “Religion keeps Jesus on the cross,” he warns, while true faith celebrates a risen Savior who conquered death. The resurrection is not merely a past event—it is the source of transformation for believers today. Eternal life is not a distant hope but a present reality, experienced when we embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (John 3:3).
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https://www.pastorbencooper.co.uk/
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Welcome to Rev Ben Cooper's podcast. We are a radio and podcast ministry based here within the UK. Your support is vital through prayer and through sowing a seed of faith. We are so thankful to have so many people around the globe downloading and listening to our podcasts, whether you are on Spotify, apple Podcast, google, alexa, amazon Music and so many other platforms. For more information about our ministry, please find us on pastorbencoopercouk. We would love to hear from you as you partner with us as we reach the world for Jesus Christ. Please send us an email through our contact form on pastorbencoopercouk. Also, you can find our latest books on Amazon under hashtag one, hashtag two and hashtag three under Christian Straight Talk hard hitting real life conversations taken from our podcasts.
Speaker 1:Your financial gifts play a crucial role in supporting our radio ministry, helping us share the gospel through these podcasts and providing free copies of the Gospel of John and Bibles around the globe. Please pray for this ministry as we stretch out beyond the boundaries, as we walk by faith. If you'd like to support our mission, please consider clicking the support button on Spotify, apple Podcasts or Buzzsprout. You can give a one-time gift or set up a regular contribution of £3, £5, £8 or £10. You can also leave a legacy by clicking in the links within pastorbencoopercouk. Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry, as we spread the message of hope far and wide through this radio ministry. So, whether you are on the daily commute or at home listening to our podcast, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, relax and enjoy god bless you.
Speaker 2:God bless you. We thank you so much for joining us in the house of the lord this evening and thank you to everybody online, wherever you are, as you join us for this podcast across the world, in radio as well and as you're on visuals and we apologize to those that won't find us on youtube at this moment in time we've got a bit of an issue going on again with youtube, so but you can find us on twitter. Twitter's a real. You know x, as it's known as this day and age, you know you can find us on x. It's really clear. We never get any problems whatsoever. So if there's any issues, just go over straight over to x, you know, formerly known as twitter, the little blue bird, and you and you will find that there is no issues whatsoever with the sound, with the visuals, um, it's clear, it's easy to follow, so you could just jump over there and you can find us on there. Uh, our brother will put a link up, no doubt, if anyone wants to try it. You know anyone wants to jump over to see what it's like on that channel. It's really really easy and it flows really nice. You know facebook. You know good old facebook. You know they. They kick us off quite a lot. We're having a lot of trouble with that lately. Youtube we're on quite a long stretch at the moment a bit of a band going on there and uh. But other than that, you know, we've got some great things coming to another platform that we're pushing out on soon. That won't give us any issues whatsoever. We'll be able to send you the link out. You'll be able to listen to it loud and clear, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So that's really, really encouraging what's coming there. But so we thank you to everybody that downloads all our podcasts, everything that goes out all the sermons, everything that goes out through the airways. We are so blessed that you're sharing all that stuff. But if you're with us tonight, let's turn to the Gospel of Luke. Let's turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 22, verse 39. Let's get to verse 39 of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22. Wherever you are across the world, we thank you so much for your faithfulness to sharing and to getting into the scriptures with us and wherever you are in the Lord's house, you know, in the journey of your life, and for everything that goes along with that. May God strengthen every one of you. May the hand of the Lord continually be over there, over you. There's some amazing things happening around the world at this moment in time. There's amazing things happening across the globe. We're certainly getting prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ. We're getting ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ, so let's get straight into the scripture.
Speaker 2:You know, religion is in Lent at this moment in time. Religion is stuck in Lent and it will be, because it's performing. It's performing arts month, so they've got to be in that. They love a bit of performance, a bit of religious performing arts going on there. But if you are a Bible believing believer, you can fast, you can pray, you can take communion, you can do anything like that according to the word, any day, any moment, any time. And last week we've done that podcast and that service on basically, are you a Catholic or a Christian, and that's got a lot of fire underneath it. We've had a lot of people commenting and downloading all that sort of stuff. But we're going to be looking at the three gardens, the three gardens at this moment in time.
Speaker 2:The reason that I'm following this sort of theme is not just because it's Lent. It's because I feel God is, I really actually believe God is leading us to these scriptures, and the reason I say that is just to show us how important it is to be biblically illiterate, so we get the word, so we can see it for ourselves. You know the Passover lamb. Jesus is the Passover lamb, he's the coming king, the savior of the world, all that sort of stuff. But when you look at this scripture that we're in, we're in the gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verses 39 through to 46. If we're looking for a title on the on this, uh, this study that we're in, you know the garden that he didn't want, because when you think about this one, this was the 50 50 garden. This was a garden where he could have said I'm back to heaven, but we know what he said.
Speaker 2:So the garden is critical, this third garden. We understand the Bible talks about another garden in the heavenly realms in the book of Revelation, but that is not a physical garden. What we are looking at is we're looking at the three gardens on earth. We're not talking about the spiritual garden, we're talking about the physical realm that the human beings, the disciples and everyone around Jesus actually see, touch, smell or went to them places. So these are really, really critical points and they are very powerful within the word of God. We know, in Genesis. Genesis it talks about the garden very, very clearly. God created the garden and it was beautiful, it was. There was no blemish in the garden. It was absolutely beyond human understanding in the book of Genesis, until the human race got in there and heard the lesser voice but actually went on the word of the lesser voice. So there are three gardens, three critical gardens, and there is the fourth garden garden, but that is that spiritual garden, the garden of God. So we look at these gardens. We could say, you know, the garden of Eden was the garden of temptation, obviously, the garden where Jesus was in, the garden of Gethsemane, the garden of sorrow. We could, we could look at that like that. And then this, this garden, the borrowed garden, you know, and there are many areas that we could look at this.
Speaker 2:There are so many ways that we could unravel these scriptures, but we're in the gospel of luke and as we're in the gospel of luke, chapter 22, verse 39, it says jesus went out as usual to the mount of olives and his disciples followed him. On reaching this place. He said to them pray that you not fall into temptation. Uh, he withdrew about a stone's throw behind them, knelt down and prayed. Father, if you are willing, let's look at that, verse 42. If you are willing, take this cut from me, yet not my will. Your will be done. An angel from heaven, verse 43. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him and, being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like droplets of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer, he went back to the disciples and he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. This is Jesus. Why are you sleeping? He asked them get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.
Speaker 2:It's quite interesting that that that the word temptation is is arisen in the scripture there, because when you look at the conversation that Christ has through the text, there is a temptation of Christ, but he is referring those to those disciples Watch and pray that you do not fall into temptation. So was Christ tempted in that garden? Was he trying to swerve? But he said not mine. What is your will? When you look at that, when you with these texts, they're, they're big hitting texts. They are really deep, fundamental, really strong texts that we need to understand. So the three gardens. So let's just basically throw open the envelope and see what happens.
Speaker 2:So what happened in the garden in genesis? We understand that god created the garden. It was perfect, it was out for, it was without error, it was beautiful, it was beyond human understanding, it was beyond the reason that we could ever imagine. You just couldn't grasp how beautiful it was. The Bible explains it, but we do not have the capacity, we do not have the understanding to grasp the beauty and the power of this beautiful garden that God created for the human race. And they was given charge of that.
Speaker 2:And he said one simple thing whatever you do, please don't touch, please don't take off. Whatever you do, everything else is yours. But as soon as you drop the bat into it, the human race starts to want to challenge the bat in the situation why, why, why, why, why can't? You've got everything else, You've got everything before you, but whatever you do, the but is the tempter. I wonder what is about that. Don't touch that one, don't go near that one. Whatever you do, everything else is yours, but whatever you do, don't. That's what I ask of you. So you look at the three gardens and we understand the human race fell in the garden, the collapse of the glory, of the power, of what was around them, to a certain degree, that that really made God have to really push into an area that we can never imagine what that was like for him.
Speaker 2:But when you think about it, that God created this perfect world, this perfect place, and as we're in Lent and as we're looking at Lent and we're trying to get an understanding of how it runs with the scripture, you know, easter we don't like that terminology. You know it's a very awkward way to describe. It's a very paganistic way, very Anglo-Saxon. It's a very steep word that is filled with paganism and occultic worship. So we've got to be careful. I believe that we're all living lives and we're seeing things where we've got to draw a line in the sand with religion. We've really got to be careful. I believe that we're all living lives and we're seeing things where we've got to draw a line in the sand with religion. We've really got to put the line in the sand and say I'm for Jesus Christ. One thing's for sure I'm for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Speaker 2:So we look at this middle garden, this garden where Jesus was in this place of anguish, the 50-50 garden, where Jesus is saying I, I just wonder. So what we find is the the human beings fell in the garden. The second garden is the. The 50-50 are. What are we going to do? And then we understand that the third garden, the garden is mentioned in the gospel of John. The reference for that is John 19, 41, and it tells us that the tomb was borrowed and it was. It was in in a garden, it was in the garden. And when you think about that, yes, we could say the rescue plan started from Genesis, from that garden. It started actually before all that. The redemption plan started before that.
Speaker 2:But the gardens are significant to the human being, the, the human race, to understand, because God uses areas, god uses the properties of the world, god uses figures, god uses structure, he uses that to get that over, because that's how we learn and we understand is basically by visualization. So that's really, really important. So we understand that the human race fell in the first garden and the catastrophic things that happened there, that you know the way that there's big tear that went right the way through the whole universe, because when you think, when you study astrology and what's happening in the realms, outside of what we can't grasp and see outside of the realms. You know, you've got all the fallen rocks, you've got the fallen stars. You've got all the fallen rocks, you've got the fallen stars, you've got all there is damage up in the universe. So when God created the heavens and the earth, he did not create a damaged universe. So when you think about what happened, how, how could this, what, what could have, what have been, what could have been the force that damaged it?
Speaker 2:I believe I and through scripture we can look at that another time that when the fall of the garden took place, I believe it didn't just shake the garden, it didn't just shake the atmosphere and change the landscape that was there. I believe that there was a spiritual wrench that went right the way through to eternity, right the way through, and the spiritual devastation that shook the world outside, in the astrology and outside in the stars and the rock face. Because when you look at certain planets, there is damage on certain planets, you know, and the area, the way everything spins and moves, and there is damage and there is fallen rock. And when you analyze everything, you know. The Bible says that God created and moves and there is damage, there is and there is fallen rock. And when you analyze everything, you know. The bible says that god created the heavens and the earth and it was beautiful. So god wouldn't create a damaged atmosphere, he wouldn't created a damaged planet, he wouldn't have created devastation, he would have created, as the scripture says, beauty and power and majesty.
Speaker 2:So in the fall of the garden, we have a physical act, we have the touching of the tree of knowledge. We have, we have this act that went on. But not only do we have an act within the physical realm, we have also the the area of the spiritual realm that we can't see. But we we see that through the damage that has been caused. Not necessarily that they didn't see the actual power moving at that point, because it was impossible, but now, with astrology, studying the atmosphere, studying everything that goes on. So the spiritual implication to the fall in the garden. So we have a great fall. Humanity fall in the garden. So we have a great fall. Humanity falls in the garden of Eden, catastrophic.
Speaker 2:But what I find absolutely fascinating, beyond all these gardens, is that God is all-knowing, god is all-knowledge, god is all-encompassing, god is all-power, god is all-salvation. And God still created the heavens and the earth knowing that when he created beauty and power and just beyond human understanding, the human race could not describe through literature, through picture form, how and what it looked like. We're not capable of grasping the beauty of the true creator. And when he created it was beyond perfect to what we know. But he still chose to create everything that he created up to the fall of humanity, in the garden, the area of. He still chose. So, if he still chose, he knew at that point, at that moment, at that millisecond, that after he created everything, once he brought adam to life, once he brought eve out of the rib, out of the side of him, he knew that there was going to be a time when they would foul and let him down, but he did not in any way, shape and form allow that to stop creation.
Speaker 2:So there are many ways that we can look at this, but as we're in the free gardens at the moment, so God created the heavens and the earth and the beauty and the power and the majesty before the fall. So the human race fell in the garden. Then, suddenly, from from the garden, we start hearing about redemption, about a plan, but there will be another way, that there is another way, but God will make a way where there seems to be no other way. And so, when you look at this, what Jesus is doing, so we understand, through Scripture and theological studying and Christology, that Jesus was at the very beginning of the fabric, of what we call time, because God is outside of time, god is outside of. We call time Because God is outside of time.
Speaker 2:God is outside of the realms of light, God is outside of darkness. God is outside of everything that we can understand and that our minds can take us to a level of just trying to understand. He is far beyond what we can imagine and beyond science and beyond the natural ability, beyond. He is outside of light, the speed of light, the way that it travels, the universe beyond, and what they say is it just has no end. But God is on the outside of the end. That we know it because God is just, it's beyond.
Speaker 2:So when you come to look at this little tiny, tiny, little dot, this little tiny dot in in creation, he created the whole universe, and beyond time, beyond space, beyond the stars, beyond the furthest star that we could ever imagine, he's beyond that, because what is he doing? The bible says in the book of Isaiah he is stretching out the heavens. And the heavens are just in his hands, just in his hands. How big and how enormous is this God? He's beyond our recollection, he's beyond the mind, he's beyond what we can think and ask, he's beyond everything. He's beyond all this sort of and ask. He's beyond everything. He's beyond all this sort of stuff. He's outside of everything, he's outside of space, he's outside of time, but he's in here and he's in you this evening. Not only is he in you, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, but he stretches out beyond time itself, beyond space.
Speaker 2:So, in this time that we're at, and as we're at, lent and the mainstream denominations are out there celebrating lent, what significance does that have to eternal life? It's a religious program set at a particular point, that moves every year according to the calendar of the West. The calendar that is set, it jumps and it moves around. But Jesus says, through God, I am the same yesterday, today and forevermore. I do not change. I do not change. But religion changes, science changes, fear is change. Everything changes except the word of God. The word of God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. He is the Lord that he left thee. There is something so powerful about the word of God that is outside the realms of thinking, outside of space, time and matter. So these three gardens are extremely significant to the salvation plan because God uses creation to show us, through the visualization, what salvation is.
Speaker 2:The Bible says in Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15 Christ is the image of the invisible God. So Christ had to come down the staircase of generations and generations and be revealed as a human being. So the scriptures that we have heard would be revealed through the sightings of Jesus. So these gardens are critical to the sighting of Jesus being raised. So it's not just a spiritual exercise. It says over 500 people see Jesus around the area after the third garden. So the first garden it was lost and it was broken. And all those thousands of years God was bringing a plan, he was bringing a plan, he was bringing a plan. And suddenly we find in the gospel of John that Jesus, this living word, that this, this creator, this, this heavenly host, this God that is above all things. Suddenly we find that this God reveals himself through the visualization, that suddenly this image, christ, is the image of the invisible God. Suddenly, again, god is using visualization and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So the gardens are critical to salvation, not to the power of salvation but to the understanding of the redemption plan.
Speaker 2:The redemption plan was spoken about in Genesis. We see the start of the fall of the human race in the garden. So it was lost in that garden. And then Jesus comes into the world, as the scripture says, through the book of Isaiah and through the prophets, a prophet sign. Suddenly we find that Jesus has been presented to the human race and suddenly is before us and we have I'll use this terminology as a lot of people do it is the documentation that Jesus Christ walked this earth through the living word.
Speaker 2:So so often in our lives we go into these doubt modes, we go into these areas of doubt and fear. Is God real? Where is he? What is going on? But God brought the visualization of salvation by bringing Jesus to the earth. But then we say to ourselves well, it was all right back for Matthew, mark, luke and John and everybody in Jerusalem and Samaria and all of Saranac. They see him.
Speaker 2:But actually the Bible says blessed are those that haven't seen but believe, because there is power in believing what has been written. So we have to believe with every fiber of every ounce, even when we're in a doubt day. That's why the gardens and the visualization, a way god uses scripture to open up the fig tree, the fish, the mountains, the rainfall, agriculture, because that's how we believe. Yes, I've seen it. The fish, the miracle catch of fish, the nets, the boats, jesus walking on water. That's why the word became flesh.
Speaker 2:Why did God choose this route for his son? Why did he choose himself Understanding that Jesus was always, the Holy Spirit was always? Because the Bible says that, yes, there is significant parts where we read about them as separated, but only on the text, but not separated as in the spiritual realm, because Jesus says I and the father are one. So when you look at all this stuff that's going on, we have this visualization through the word for the human race to believe, because faith isn't enough to us, because we have to, we have to see, and that is good old Thomas.
Speaker 2:Unless I see this Jesus, it didn't happen. Unless I see this Jesus, it didn't happen. That's like saying, unless I see that chair float, I won't believe. And Jesus left him for seven days or more, steps through. The stone wall breaks all science, breaks all physics, breaks everything. You tell your teachers that, you tell your atheist friends that that my Jesus stepped through a wall about two foot thick. He just stepped through it Because there is a realm greater than this physical realm. It is a spiritual realm that is accessible now because Christ went and he's been to every garden. Jesus Christ has been to the four gardens but the three that we're looking at right now. He's been and he created every one of those gardens, but the third natural garden the physical realm he was actually, as we know, was laid to rest in the garden that he created.
Speaker 2:And we understand through scripture that the tomb had been carved out of the rock. Very interesting that it says that. It doesn't say nothing about the hillside, it says the rock. Upon this rock I will build my church. No-transcript the rock, but out of the rock flowed. Out of the rock flowed living water. When you understand and you start to go and ask the Holy Spirit, lord, take me deeper into this, take me deeper into your word, lord, expand me, lord, stretch my thinking and you can hear God going. It's not your thinking that is going to give you the understanding, it is the Holy Spirit that is revealed in you and the scripture comes alive, because academics Ben has nothing to do with the word of God. You can be the greatest academic person in the world, like Jesus said to Nicodemus You've got it all, nicodemus, but you don't understand the spiritual realm.
Speaker 2:So the spiritual realm was always so. God knew that there will be a fall and he knew that he would have to send himself, but in the likeness of his son, as he is the image of the invisible God, he would have to go all the way from these gardens, hit these checkpoints so that the human race would go. Yes, it was written about that. Isaiah said a, b, c and d. Yes, it says that he would. They would crucify him. Yes, it says that he was buried in a borrowed tomb that was in a garden. So the three gardens are critical, the three gardens of God. The first garden it was lost. We understand it was lost in the beautiful garden, jesus.
Speaker 2:In this gospel that we're reading in Luke, chapter 22, and it says Jesus went out, as always, and he went to the Mount of Olives and he went to this place, and it says he fell into temptation. Be careful that you do not fall into temptation. He withdrew about a stone's throw, knelt down and he's in the garden. He's in the garden of Gethsemane. Follow these scriptures through in the other gospels, because they all give you different eyewitness accounts of the savior, of the king of the world. And it says he knelt down and he prayed. Father, if you are willing, if you are willing. So this 50-50 garden explains so much to us about Jesus. Explains so much to us about Jesus. It tells us that Jesus, being fully God, fully man, fully deity, fully power, fully word, is speaking the words of a human being. Because as you follow these through, you will not find God speaking in this type of language, but what you will find Jesus, because Jesus, fully God, fully man, fully king, fully savior, the Bible says this, is why the Bible says it the man, christ, jesus, the full human. So when you read this text here, it says that he fell down to the ground and he prayed. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from him. And we know what we was referring to and what he was referring to the redemption cup, the third cup, the third cup. How many gardens, earthly gardens? Three. How many nows? Three. How many crosses? Three. Three is absolutely significant to the scripture, father, verse 42 of Luke, chapter 22 father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.
Speaker 2:I love the fact that he doesn't talk about the cross, because the cup was it representing the cross? It was representing the cross. But there is something greater than the cross that we understand, because redemption is bigger than the cross. But there is something greater than the cross that we understand because redemption is bigger than the cross, because when we understand what the cross is, the cross is a visualization of the spiritual redemption. So when we look at the cross, the cross makes the human being understand that Jesus Christ went to that physical cross. But the reason he went to that cross was because of the third cup. And the third cup represented redemption, because redemption is not of a physical understanding. It is, be it the terminology means to be brought back, brought back from what Brought back from the fall. Where did we fall? They fell in the garden. So the cross wasn't in an eye shot in the garden. It only comes into play in the New Testament. But the scripture is really interesting the way it speaks about these three gardens. We could spend forever and a day in the garden of Eden. We could spend forever and a day in this garden and the garden of Gethsemane.
Speaker 2:I call it in my language the 50-50 place. Jesus is in a 50-50 place. If, when you've got if involved in a conversation, it's going to swing left or right. If it is, could it be so when you analyze these texts and you unpack these and go a little bit further, father, if you are willing, if you are willing to change what? If you are willing to change the way that we can do this you got the thumbs up. If you are willing to change the plan, what plan? If you are willing, it says there let's read that a little bit more. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, take the plan.
Speaker 2:He doesn't talk about the cross, because I've got to understand that the cross is the visualization of what Jesus was doing when he said take this cup from me, the cup of redemption at the Passover table. What was itizing in that cup? Was it a block of wood? No, it wasn't. In that cup was the crimson tide, the blood of Jesus. Was it the cross? That was the start of the blood fall? No, it wasn't. The blood is spoken about right back in Genesis. There is power in the blood, there is life in the blood.
Speaker 2:The scripture says, when we come up to the book of Exodus, chapter 12, god doesn't talk about the cross, he talks about the blood, because there has to be the shedding of blood for the remission of sin. The cross isn't really spoken about in depth as we think it would possibly be. So it is all about what the blood. So we start to see a forerunner of redemption in the garden of Eden. It comes up, we start to see a plan and then God accelerates it by bringing in the Passover, and this is what Jesus is referring the cup of Passover. So Jesus is saying, if it's possible, is there another way, rather than what the Old Testament has been prophesied about? But Jesus is the Old Testament because he is the living word and he's saying, if it is, can there be, is there another way out of this? Because Christ is coming to this. Christ is facing impending death and he knows he's facing death. But as he looks at this and he he speaks about this openly as a human being, but fully God, fully man, fully word, fully king, fully redeemer.
Speaker 2:It's very interesting that at this point Jesus isn't talking about the cross physically, he's referring to the cup. Is he referring to the cup as the carrier? He's not referring to the cup as the carrier. He's referring to the cup. Of the contents of what is in the cup he's not referring just take this cup out of my hand. Because he didn't actually have the cup in his hand at that point. He was referring to what he knew that he had to go to, if it is possible, because we could look at that and we could say well, jesus must have a cup in his hand. He is the cup. He actually is the cup of redemption because he is the redeeming king.
Speaker 2:So when you look at these scriptures, an angel from heaven appeared. Why was this angel in appearance? This angel was in appearance because we start to see Jesus Christ for the first time and the only time in stress, it's a, it's a deep push. So what we find is at this point and an angel from heaven appeared to him. I love the fact that the gospel is saying him. When he refers to him, he's referring to the masculine, the male, the man, the man, christ Jesus and strengthened him and, being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly. Isn't that interesting that the more he prayed, he started to bleed.
Speaker 2:When you look at this scripture, it says that his sweat was like Now. We can't take this as it's saying. It was just like it resembled as in the drop. Jesus sweated droplets of blood. Science and the medical world tells us clearly that this is a condition that any human being can have, that you can sweat blood in the extremities of fear, anguish and sorrow. In the other scriptures Jesus says very clearly my soul is so overwhelmed it is, I'm at the point of death.
Speaker 2:Now was he referring to redemption? No, he was referring to the point of I've hit the wall. Jesus hit the wall. His stress levels were so high, his fear levels, because anxiety and anguish creates not a joyful feeling. When anguish and stress and sorrow come in, it drives us to the key component, which is fear. So Jesus experienced fear that is clear when you understand the depth of the text and an angel came from heaven and strengthened him. Being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like droplets of blood falling to the ground. He rose from prayer and he went back to his disciples and he found them asleep. It says they're exhausted from sorrow, the extremities of stress. We haven't reached them points in our lives. You might say well, I've reached points that you will never know. I've reached points that you will never know too, but we have never reached the point that Jesus reached.
Speaker 2:Jesus went further than any human being in the realms of anguish and sorrow and stress. Where did he find this? And where was he? He was in the 50-50 garden, the garden of Gethsemane, the garden of anguish, the garden of temptation, the garden of fear, the garden of doubt. We spend the majority of our lives in this garden, a fearful mode, a garden of doubt, if it's possible. Are you there, god? The extremities that we get taken to? And then, as you look at, christ was crucified and you look at the Gospel of John, and as you look in the Gospel of John 19.41, it clearly tells us that after the crucifixion, when he was buried, he was laid to rest in a tomb that was in a garden. So what we find is it was lost in the first garden, the second garden. We are starting to see Christ. Is he going to do it? Is he going to go? What way are you going? 50-50. God, come on, jesus, tell us what you're going to do. What you're going to do. No one knew what we knew or what we know, sorry, at this point we only know because we are reading the historical events.
Speaker 2:The disciples on the fringe of the garden was Jesus was just in prayer, just as it was customed. He'd gone to the same place. He'd gone into the garden again, he'd gone to the Mount of Olives, he'd gone to that place of prayer. But so often, and there will be particular points in your life and my life where we will go to the same place, but we will go to that place in a different drum, a different beat, in the extremities of life. So Jesus, he sees and he understands the garden where it got lost.
Speaker 2:Then he's in this realm of the human being, where he's in this second garden and everything's going on. He's in extreme anguish, he's in extreme stress, everything's going on. He's at such a place where fear is so strong upon him. Jesus experienced fear and I will take it a little bit more. His brain, his brain, took him to a place, what we call today mental health. It's a strong thing to say, but where does anguish start? It doesn't start in the heart. Anguish starts in the mind. Fear doesn't start in the heart. Everything starts in the brain and in the cognitive processing. That's why it's called mental health. If it was to do with the inner person, it will be called heart health, but it's to do with mental health.
Speaker 2:So you have to look at Jesus with a mind and the concept thinking as a human being. So if we put ourselves as the human in this garden, we would have just died on the spot with extreme heart attack. So Jesus is thinking and through his thinking has triggered extremities that we would never understand. Through his thinking and his mind, jesus hits stress points that we could never imagine. Jesus hits a place in his mind where he's thinking hang on a minute. Jesus hits a point that we will never understand the extremities. Jesus hits a point that we will never understand the extremities. But the three sitting on the fringe just thought he was at the point of prayer, but they didn't realize what he had to go through and that was redemption, known as the cross in the visualization. So when we look at these scriptures, this garden is the pivotal point where Jesus could have gone.
Speaker 2:I'm going to wipe this. I'm not going to do it. If it's possible, is there another way? Could we go back to the beginning of time and God could have done that at any moment when you think about it. God could do this. He could get his hand, he could pick the world and he could breathe over the world and just erase it. God could just erase all the human race. He could erase every star that is unseen by NASA and the human eye. He could just stretch out his hands and put everything that he has created and just scoop them in his arms and just put them in the trash bin and erase it and go back. He could have gone back because Jesus said is there another way?
Speaker 2:If there was another way, it would have meant that God would have got his arms and got his voice and retracted everything and taken all of us into the abyss of nothing and he would have just been Father, son, holy Spirit, with no existence of nothing. But when he chose to create everything, he knew that he would have to send his son and his son is himself in carnation thousands of years up the timeline of the human race, according to the chronological process that God put in the Bible. And God say at that time, at that millisecond, at that hour, I've got to take myself, known as the son of God, and present my son and myself in the image of a human being. When, actually, when you look at the human race, it was already ready in the visualization of creation, because God said let's create man in our image. So there had to be a blueprint, there had to be something, there had to be two feet, two eyes, there had to be a shape of, because the Bible says God is invisible, but the Bible says John, chapter one, in the beginning, was the word and the word was with God and he was with God in the beginning. Jesus says I am the living Word. But then Jesus and God, as you look at them in the deity with the Holy Spirit, and it says very clearly that.
Speaker 2:It says that God walked in the call of the garden. So there had to be two feet, there had to be a pair of trainers, there had to be legs, there had to be a pair of trainers, there had to be legs, there had to be a process of this walk. Jesus was in the call of the garden. So Jesus was in the first garden, jesus was filling the extremities of what was created in the first garden. And he says, as he walked in the call of the garden and God said Adam, where are you? He wasn't really outside the eyesight of God, because God sees all. But God used the power of word to communicate to the human race. Adam, where are you? And he says, I've hidden myself in your garden. Something coming out of this.
Speaker 2:So the Bible says that God walked in the cool of the garden and he called out but if this triune godhead, this god that is all-compassing, all king, all savior, fully god, fully invisible, how can an invisible god communicate with a human being? Because the Bible tells us that Jesus was at the beginning of time and actually it was Jesus walking in the physical realm, but God, because God is Jesus and Jesus is God. So suddenly we find that Jesus is in the first garden and then suddenly we hear Jesus in the second garden, but in the third garden, the borrowed tomb that was carved out of the rock he was laid, wrapped up. You'll find that Jesus was wrapped twice, not at the beginning of time, but when he was birthed and the word became flesh, made its dwelling among us. And the Bible says that his mum wrapped him in swaddling clothing the second time.
Speaker 2:The scripture reveals that they wrapped him. They wrapped him in the burial cloth. But then the scripture also mentions something else about the burial cloth. See, he was wrapped by the human race when he came in and when he was buried. But when he rose, the scripture says that the burial cloth had been folded up by itself. So he undone.
Speaker 2:What Joseph of Arimathea did? He unwrapped death. He unwrapped sickness. He unwrapped sickness. He unwrapped disease. He unwrapped it. How did he unwrap this? The Bible says that the grave clothes were folded up by themselves. Even the cloth of death moves when God breathes in.
Speaker 2:There was no one in that tomb but Jesus. There was no one to unwrap him, but God. There was no one. So Mary, his mum, wraps him.
Speaker 2:Seconds after birth, after the crucifixion, after he said it is finished, they went to the cross. And who else was at the cross? Who was that insignificant, that powerful figure, insignificant in salvation but significant to the action? Someone wrapped him. Someone wrapped him. Who wrapped him? Someone wrapped him. Who wrapped him up? Two characters that wrapped him up. Very interesting the one that wrapped him, and the bible says that they wrapped him and they, they carried him. Now we got to understand that. We got a few minutes. I know we're running over here, but it's very important because religion and the world is banging on about Lent when Lent will not get you saved. It might get you to lose a pound or two because you've given up chocolate, but we don't understand what we're doing. I'm just giving it up because of Lent, but Lent is so tiny, it is insignificant in the salvation plan.
Speaker 2:When you look at the burial of Jesus Christ and I don't have time to flick over the scripture, but the best place to read it is in the burial of Jesus let's read it. Actually, let's go to the Gospel of John 19. And it says in verse 19,. Where are we? 24? So this is what the soldiers did. It says, near the cross Jesus stood his mother very interesting, all that sort of stuff. So he's at the cross, he's on the cross at this moment.
Speaker 2:You go up a little bit further than the death of Jesus. We read about the death of Jesus in the gospel of John, chapter 19, and you come further down, verse 28, all the way through, and it says, uh, let's read what it says there. Verse 28 uh, knowing, knowing what, knowing what of all, has now come. Uh, to complete, now that the scriptures will be fulfilled. So he is the old testament and the scriptures will be fulfilled. The only time the scriptures will be fulfilled is when he said it is finished. So as we quickly read this through, it says I am firstly, a jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked it on a stalk, on a sponge, and they put it in his mouth. And the hyssop plant. Very interesting. Where do you find the hyssop plant? You find it when God was referring to take the hyssop and put the hyssop where In the blood and then paint the blood over the doorpost. See, you can't work this stuff out.
Speaker 2:Over 63,000 cross references. The greatest book in the world is telling us that it is the blood of Jesus that is redemption, not Lent, not the physicality of the cross. So what we find here, and as we come down a little bit further as quick as I possibly can, and it says there once he received the drink, jesus said it is finished with that. He bowed. He bowed no one took it. No devil killed him. No soldiers killed him. He bowed no one took it. No devil killed him, no soldiers killed him. No pilot, no Herod, no human being took Jesus off the earth.
Speaker 2:It says so that the scriptures would be fulfilled. What that he spoke would be fulfilled. What that he gave the world would be fulfilled. Gave the world would be fulfilled. So he was fulfilling his text, no one else, but he was just proving that this is me. And it says with that he bowed his head. And he bowed up his head and gave up his spirit. So there we see what, the Spirit of what, the Holy Spirit. So again you find theological depths and teaching that Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit, his Spirit, the Spirit of God, father, son, holy Ghost. So what do you find at the cross? The deity, but in the image of Jesus. So God was at the cross, jesus was at the cross, the Spirit of God, the Scripture, the triune, godhead, the deity was at the cross of Calvary. But we see it through the visualization, the physicality of Jesus. But then Jesus gives us a glimmer again that Jesus and the spirit was where At Genesis, chapter one, and the spirit was hovering over the surface as we quickly press on because we've got to come to the table.
Speaker 2:And it says now it was the day of preparation. And it says the day of the Sabbath. And it says there, because the Jews didn't want him, the bodies on the cross, during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate, can we break his legs, take him down, all that sort of stuff. The soldiers therefore came, broke the legs of him. That is scripture. They are only breaking the legs because the Bible tells us already in advance. It tells us very, very clearly what it says there that not one of his bones will be broken, but he's referring to the other. It clearly tells us. It clearly tells us not one of his bones will be broken. And it says there the body's taken down. But when the soldiers come to Jesus and they came to break the legs of the first man that was with Jesus, and it says but when they come to Jesus, that they found that he was already dead, that he did not break his bones, so his bones wasn't broken, the structure wasn't broken. That's broken. The structure wasn't broken. That's important. The structure wasn't broken. But we understand. The Bible tells us that.
Speaker 2:Instead, one of the soldiers what did they do? Punch at his side, pierced his side. He is the rock of all ages. What happened when Moses struck the rock, the crack, the first time? Water flowed. What happened when they punctured his side? Blood and water came out, because water was first, because water was giving them life. Are you thirsty? That's why Jesus says are you thirsty, I can give you living water, and we use the analogy of the well. But Jesus is saying I'll give you water. That is beyond what you'd understand, because the Bible says water and blood flow together in the puncturing of his side. So we have the coming together. That's what the cross does.
Speaker 2:And as you go further on the text you will find and it says there, and they give testimony to that. And as you go further down later on, joseph of aram and fear asked that he can take the body of jesus. Now, uh, joseph was a disciple of jesus, but secretly. Because then, when it says their permission to take him down the body, he was accompanied by who? The man that was told something you must be born again. We could spend years just in this text alone. So Joseph the disciple was accompanied by Nicodemus.
Speaker 2:So what we have is the lawgiver, the Torah, the Old Testament carrying the new. Oh, my goodness, when you think about it, the Old Testament was showing you that the old and the new are carried together. There is no separation. And why I refer as Nicodemus? Because Jesus said you are Israel's teacher. So you have the Old Testament like this, at the cross carrying Jesus. Now, that was not a good sight to see. You can imagine that them two characters were covered in the blood, head to toe smothered in the blood of Jesus. Isn't that interesting that Nicodemus represented the Lord. He said you have every Nicodemus, you are representing the old scripture and the Bible says a disciple. So you have the new and the old at the cross. I've got to think, I've got to bring this to a point.
Speaker 2:Three gardens, two carriers. Now, who carried? And where did they carry? They was carrying everything that we understand. They were carrying living word. They were carrying the autonomy, the physicality of Jesus Christ. So Nicodemus was the lawgiver carrying Jesus. The disciple was the New Testament, the creator of heaven and earth in the physical realm, and they laid him to rest.
Speaker 2:So suddenly we find that Jesus was wrapped at the beginning of birth. He is wrapped by the Old Testament giver and that Old Testament giver was given the word you must be born again. Then suddenly he gets it. He comes to this time in his life where he carries who he represents and they lay him to rest. But he was wrapped. What did Jesus say to Lazarus? What did he say to the environment? Take the grave clothes off. What was he, referring to Jesus, says I am the resurrection. No one can hold. Death has no power. Oh death, where is thy sting? They come into the table. They lay him in the borrowed tomb in the garden. He is wrapped in the shore, he is wrapped up, but then we hear the scripture says he's not here, he is risen. We don't find that a human being unwraps Jesus. The Bible says that the grave clothes Were wrapped up by themselves. That is significant.
Speaker 2:The way the napkin is on the Passover table, it all runs together the burial cloth, the napkin. Why is it wrapped? Why is there an empty seat? Is it waiting for the prophet? No, it's waiting for the return of Jesus Christ, the master. The master. The burial cloth. The napkin is at the Passover table because the king is coming. Let me tell you, as I close, this the king is coming and where's he coming to? To you. So at the Passover table we have something else that's introduced the napkin that was just there, representing the burial cloth of Jesus. Because the Passover table is beyond human understanding. It is not made up just because that's how it's made up. It is made up because of the herbs, it is made up because of the four cups. It is made up because of the napkin. It is made up because of the lamb shank. It is made up because the Bible tells us we're at the table.
Speaker 2:May God bless every one of you tonight and as we take this bread. This has nothing to do with Catholicism, nothing to do with religion. This has nothing to do with the wills of dead religion. This is the bread of life. This is the cup of redemption. You are redeemed. You are a child of the living God. You are saved. No matter what your noggin tells you, no matter what your brain is telling you, you are saved.
Speaker 2:And as Jesus was in the garden, his brain was telling him I want out of here. Have you ever heard the terminology? I want some escapism. Jesus said can I escape this? So, father, bless this bread that symbolizes the body of Jesus, not religion. The body of Jesus. I break this bread according to the word. I dip. I break this bread according to the word. I dip it in the cup according to the word. It becomes sop according to the word, and I take it in remembrance of him. Bless this bread in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:So what Jesus was doing at the table? He was bringing the bread that was symbolic to the body. He was bringing the blood. He was bringing it together. He's bringing it together. Lord, will you cleanse me of my sins, from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet. Wash me in the Amen, because it's all about the blood, the word of God underneath the fabric that the 40 authors wrote about that the 66 books are about. What is it about? Redemption. The whole book is about redemption, about blood.
Speaker 2:The Bible says there's only one high priest and it's not the Pope, it's not the leader of the Church of England, it's not the leader of Elim, it's not no leader of any satanic movement. There is only one God, there is only one King, there is only one Holy Spirit, the deity. Jesus says I am the head of the church, the kingdom. So as we come to a close tonight, I pray that we will just think and ponder on the three gardens and the significance of the burial cloth, the significance of the fall of the garden. The 50-50 garden, the garden of Gethsemane, the garden that was a tomb that was borrowed of the garden. The 50-50 garden, the garden of Gethsemane, the garden that was a tomb that was borrowed in the garden. No, no one had been laid in, that no one took the grave clothes off him. He was wrapped up, first at birth, second by the man that got the greatest message in the world you must be born again. And no one unwrapped him. A mystery to the human race, because the Bible says the grave clothes, what he was wrapped in, were folded up by themselves. Even cloth dances to the voice of God, even cotton and fabric moves. You can imagine God saying unwrap my son. And imagine that out of nowhere, with no human intervention, suddenly, out of nowhere, the cloth was just dancing to the tune of salvation and the cloth undone itself and it wrapped itself up and it was placed where he laid and the angels one the head, one at the foot said what are you looking for religion? There's no Lent here, because Lent doesn't exist. What are you looking for religion? Because religion keeps Jesus on the cross. And they said he's not here, he is risen, so you serve a risen king. Religion keeps him on the cross because once you realize he's not on the cross and you accept he's not on the cross, we come to surrender and religion can't surrender to Jesus. God bless every one of you in the name of Jesus. We're out of here here. Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for the free gardens, but, lord, we thank you for the garden that is the heavenly garden. So, lord, we thank you that the grave clothes were folded up by themselves, that that cloth, just by itself, Took itself off of Jesus. Thank you, jesus, that that cloth came off of you by itself and wrapped itself up and Jesus walked out. God bless you, father, bless us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to us today on Reverend Ben Cooper's podcast. We hope you found inspiration and guidance in today's audio. Remember the journey of faith is a continuous one and your questions and thoughts are important. You can send us a text or an email and we will get back to you. So, wherever you are around the world, thank you for listening to our podcasts and radio ministry. For more information about our ministry, please find us on pastorbencoopercouk. Please support us with prayer. Also, you can sow a financial seed into this ministry. You can also leave us a legacy to support and continue the work of this radio ministry. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with others who might benefit. Until next time, stay blessed.
