This is the third installment in our series, From Eden to Easter: Life and Death in the Garden. Each day throughout Holy Week, we will take a special look at the gardens and wildernesses of Scripture, and in particular, these scenes' connections to Christ's redemption won for us on the cross.

Every earthly kingdom meets its end. All empires crumble and fall. But from the beginning, the kingdom of God, which Christ would rule, was said to be eternal.

The seemingly small, the particular, the previously overlooked, magnifies in importance.

The death and resurrection did indeed really happen. They are accomplished historical facts, and by them, so too is the forgiveness of our sins and justification before God.

The number forty calls to remembrance narratives of God’s great acts of redemption, but also our conformity to and participation in those narratives.

Dear hearers of the word of God, you are finished. You cannot be the same now. All that is ended, over.

Maundy Thursday is your big night. For the Passover Lamb is given for you, given to you.

By mandating the promise, Christ states something stronger than just an invitation.

What is undoubtedly true, however, is that St. Peter wasn’t left outside. He wasn’t left weeping. He was restored, as am I, as are you.

If the season of Lent is a journey, Holy Week is the destination.

A set of Holy Week poems written and published first by Tanner Olson on his website, writtentospeak.com.

The gospel of Jesus’ coming out of death and the tomb alive so that we might be restored to our identity as God’s children establishes the most enduring reality there is.