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The Vision of the Power of
Eden
Power
of Eden 
Geoffrey Bingham
This which I now share
with you was what God gave to me in a dream, in a vision,
in a time of plenty within my soul when I had long gone
mourning for the church-and no less for my own soul-which
though blessed has gone into dryness in many places,
and is restless for the true peace of God and the full
motions of his glory for such are to His people where
the Spirit dwells in power for the fulfilling of the
eternal will of God. I saw much in my vision and it was
the renewing of what I had seen hitherto, long ago, and
it was coming again.
And I saw as I have
before, but then not in this measure, that when God created
Man He created him in great glory even unto the very
image of Himself, in all holiness, righteousness, goodness
truth and life. Man was the living of His fullness and
as such reflected the these elements of His being in
wonderful acts as he fellowshipped with God in the Garden
and looked across the vistas of time where he was to
transform the world, as even now the River of God was
beginning to water the whole earth and bring forth its
vegetation to nourish the animals of the home and the
field. I saw that out Eden this River was flowing.
What caught my eye
and deeply moved my heart was the rising of the water
of Eden to go out to cover the earth. Eden was, so to
speak, the rising of the universal River, the mountainous
headwaters, destined to cover the earth as the waters
cover the sea. These waters are the glory of God, for
that was what I saw in Eden-as many have seen since that
time, the mighty gathering of the headwaters to burst
across the world. I saw that glory not only in the vegetation,
in the animals, in the birds, the fishes and all sea
creatures, but mostly in Man who was noble above all
things.
It was as though he
dwelt on a fertile mountain, the place of a great Garden,
the place of holy communion with His Maker the great
God of covenant, and he rejoiced with his wife in that
place and envisaged the strange and wonderful life that
spread out before him.
Beyond the garden was
land, hills and plains, savanna where the feasting animals
roved and dwelled, the sky being filled with fowl and
the rivers and oceans with swarms of sea-creatures.
I had read this story
many times before, and always the sickening heart as
the Serpent triumphed over the guileless woman and the
man who saw ever greater vistas for his spirit than those
provided by his maker. In the sickness of my heart I
felt the horror of human disobedience, and I had the
witness of my own heart to the infection of Adam sent
down through the ages of human living.
In times past I had
not seen the power of the River of Eden. I had not seen
that those waters gathered to flow out across the world
whether Adam would let or whether he would stay, and
I saw, now, in this vision, that these waters towered
high and that when the Man was cast out of the garden
lest he eat of the tree of life and live-live that foolish
life he had chosen-live in it for ever. But I saw the
waters were not lowered and the power and the force of
them did not die or abate, not even in the presence of
deep sin.
Sin, I saw, can have
no effect on God. Indeed the waters banked, and as the
gates of the Garden closed the waters began their way
across the whole world. The life of the son of Adam-the
cursed Cain-I thought might have stayed that River and
through the horror of his evil, cause it to wane and
diminish but the very life of the other son, Abel, was
of the very water beginning to flow, for the River would
ever rise in the hearts of the faithful and the land
around them would be Eden showing itself afresh, bringing
with it all the splendour of God in His rich attributes.
I saw in that dream
that the headwaters indeed held high their heads and
flowed on, and I saw one such as Enoch walk with God
and then be not, so far as this world is concerned, for
he was taken into the glory, Likewise the faithful kept
sight of the glory though about them much seemed the
cause of sadness and even fear. They were given special
sight to see that the River was ever flowing, though
sometimes so silently that its sounds were muffled, and
sometimes-when the eyes of human sight beheld the lands
as though there were no River flowing. Yet it did flow-on
and on. I saw the River of faith-for I shall call it
that-the faith of men and women who desired no personal
fame, no recognition by human spirits but only by God
that they might do only His will. How many suffered for
their faith! How deep their suffering! How often their
cries when all around them seemed barren, as in a doomed
and infertile land. Indeed the high headwaters of all
that is God's Edenic glory for man never ceased their
flowing. I saw across history the men and women of faith
such as Melchizedek and Jethro, appointed priests to
people of faith. I saw the patriarchs of the former times-Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, Moses the meekest man on all the earth,
the prophets and the proclaimers, the River rising high
in their days as though about to break over the whole
world, for in one sense they had-in Abraham the father
of all the faithful and Sarah the new Eve as the mother
of all who live in faith.
In my vision swift
memory came to me of what had been said through His prophets,
of the times of refreshing which were to come to the
whole world. The River of God is full of water but it
flows in blessing where humanity has come back to that
faith which was even before the fall of Adam, or they
come back to the faith of Abel and Seth, Enosh and Noah,
Abraham and his descendants. During all this time the
saints were crying 'Glory!' for in His world-wide temple
of creation all cry 'Glory!' The others, those whose
birth was of the rebellious Adam only, cried 'Darkness' for
they feared the light of glory, and they cried 'Glory!' for
they worshipped the darkness and called it light. In
their bitterness they made bitterness to be sweetness,
and true sweetness to be bitterness. When the prophets
scorned them and said, 'You say "Peace! Peace!" where
there is no peace'' then they killed them in their anger,
but the River rolled on apace, not as a trickle, nor
even as a low flow, but high as though to show the proud
majesty of the Creator of the River. Yet it flowed on
unseen as though it were not flowing at all, as though
Eden had not spilled out its powers on to the world,
as the River of Man were the true and proper river..
Then he came-the prince
of all men-the erstwhile creator of all things, the One
working with the Father and with the mighty Spirit-he
came, and in him the headwaters rejoiced and lifted their
heads even higher, and the river awaited only the faithful
death of the Proper Man and the great rising from the
dead, and it knew that its hour had come. As he ascended
it prepared itself for the flowing such as the world
had never seen and such as the prophets had ever proclaimed
and the saints had ever prayed for.
After his ascension
it was the time for the Spirit to be poured out. This,
his river, had ever flowed, but now the tide of love,
holiness, righteousness, goodness and truth, burst across
the world in Edenic beauty and love and power, and men
and women gasped at the glory of the beatific vision.
This was the appointed hour called Pentecost. They cried
aloud their wonderment at the mighty works of God. Behind
the darkness which man in his desperation had called
light there had been brilliant glory, and now it shone
forth. It shone forth on the Day of Pentecost when Eden,
in all its powers, came to the city of Jerusalem. On
that day there was a River, the streams whereof made
glad the city of God-the Bride, though unseen-and also
the Tree of Life-once seen as the gallows of Christ,
and named as the Tree of Death by those in death. This
now seen to abound in rich fruitfulness and the fragrance
of its flowers was greater than any aroma the world had
known. The leaves of its trees were to be the healing
of the many nations.
Now the dry places
were filled with water. Barren savanna, parched deserts,
fruitless orchards and infertile land now knew abundant
fruitfulness. Into this world in which the nations lived-some
in rich fruitfulness, some in partial fruitfulness, and
some in barrenness-came the River.
I saw in my dream that
all my mourning, and the deep mourning of others was
not rejected by the Father of the faithful. He-their
Creator and Redeemer-understood that those who mourn
now, not only for their own sinfulness but also the for
the sad sinfulness of the world-yes, those who weep in
the dark days and the black nights-will soon rejoice
and shout for joy. Their mourning will be turned into
dancing and they shall glow and shine with the refreshing
oil of joy as they cast aside the their sack cloth for
the garments of delight for the River is ever flowing. The
River of Eden is ever flowing.
It is flowing
across the whole world-who has ever stayed its flowing?
Two millennia have not caused its flow to cease. Who
can withstand the River of God? Who can defeat the fecundity
that comes with its flow. Dark powers think they have
succeeded and rejoice in what they see, but they see
now-they who would shrink the River to a puddle-that
the River is undefeatable. True, to the eyes of human
reason much seems to have gone the way of evil, but to
the eyes of faith even the dark failures of Man have
a meaning beyond reason's reasoning for evil cannot stay
the powers of the River. The dry places are blossoming-many,
many of them-and the Tree of life who is Christ himself,
is bringing redemption. Many are drinking of the waters
of salvation. Nation after nation is hearing the word
from the faithful, and those nigh unto death are nigh
unto life and the prospect of the eternal Eden is here
before them-even now in this hour whilst the rage of
hell is against those who hear and believe. Because of
this rage many are dying, and many will yet die, but
they will be accounted among the holy faithful. Yet I
see in my vision and know in my heart, that the River
rolls on, flows on, sometimes rushes on and the fruits
of the Cross ripen on the ubiquitous Tree of life for
it is ever there on the banks of the River, and its leaves
ever heal even the nations of the world.
I saw, too, that the
community of Christ, the people of God, the ecclesia,
have often failed to live fully in the waters of life,
choosing other streams, other flowings which dry up and
leave their followers in the misery of barrenness and
infertility. Like me they need this vision of never failing
waters. They need to see the saints and the prophets,
the apostles, the teachers, the martyrs and the labourers,
all sustained in life and energised in love by this River.
They need to see that in the darkest hours of the church
the River has ever flowed. they need to see the faithful
who for witnessing have scorned the temptations of delight
and pleasure and ease. The vision of God makes them restless
in the presence of these, for they have desire a better
City-one built by God, eternal in the heavens.
Ah! It was then I saw
the faithful men and women across the ages, those who
died in beginnings of persecution, those who pressed
on to strange lands with their message of life. I saw
the light of the Reformation flickering at first, then
broadening into fuller light until it was glory which
broke through the darkness. I saw the servants of God
take the land that had been lost. I saw the age of the
Evangelical Revival, the quickening of missionary obedience
and missionary compassion, the clash of the Kingdoms
as the armies of God under the Warrior Christ fought
the battles which are taking captivity captive, and liberating
the peoples of the world.
Most of all I saw that
Eden is no place of an idyll, no resting place for personal
pleasure, no harbour for dalliance, and no solitude to
escape the harsh reality of the world and its present
life. Eden is with us! It is with us as the waters tower
high above all things, and surge onwards, never being
thwarted, bringing its life-giving powers and its healing
for the Adamic peoples. I see that the church is all
the time being brought to fruitfulness. The power of
the Spirit flows where he wills and the gifts he bestows
bring us to richness of life, and to the maturity of
love. Without the gifts and bestowals his people are
helpless. All honour one another before the God of glory
who gave them old honour at Creation and new honour through
His Son.
Say not, 'These
days are coming. Let us be glad and rejoice!' Say, rather, 'The
River is flowing, for the headwaters are breaking across
the world, and they shall do their great works, and they
shall surge on and on until the commission is fulfilled,
and man shall see, with his eyes of faith that the glory
of the Lord has indeed covered the earth as the waters
cover the sea. Meanwhile His people will abandon their
unworthy ideas of somehow sustaining His church and enlarging
it, and getting for it the kinds of honour and glory
that appeal to fleshly men and women, and they shall
watch the River rising in their assemblies until the
people walk ankle deep, then thigh deep, then shoulder
deep, until they swim in the never ceasing glory, and
in their persons that shall marvel that the very River
of God flows from their bellies also, so that they share
in glory of it all with the hungry and the thirsty in
spirit.'
Then shall come to
pass that which is written in the prophets and longed
for by men and women in all ages, that is, that the Eden
of God has been flowing through all centuries, and most
powerfully in the Christ himself, and most gloriously
in his Cross-not only to one crucified thief there, but
to all who will come to faith in him. This River is the
Spirit of the Messiah and the Spirit of the Father, and
the Spirit of the true People. Those of the People translated
to the City of true delight will then gaze with wonder
at this vast River of delights flowing through all eternity,
and they shall never cease praising Him Who is Father
of all, and Who wrought such wonder and delight in and
through His Messiah. So they will see that He has ever
delighted in them and welcomes them into the home of
His own Godhead, for this is the true Eden.
These are the things
I saw in my dream, in my vision, and so after many days
peace came to my heart, as I pray it will come to yours
and to all His elect Family.
G. Bingham, 4th September
2000, Kingswood.
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