His abode under the stars

 In Jesus’ day, the Garden of Gethsemane, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, was sought by citizens of Jerusalem for rest and relief from the sun.

The same author and composer of the classic hymn Dwelling in Beulah Land (“I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky”), Charles Austin Miles (1868-1946), is responsible for the great gospel hymn, In the Garden.

Miles was asked in 1912 to “write a hymn poem that would ‘breathe tenderness and bring hope and rest for the weary'; Miles, visualizing Mary Magdalene at the Garden, brought forth the words":

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses

And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

He speaks and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing

And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there

None other has ever known

*****

In the last week of Jesus Christ’s life before He was crucified, He went into the temple in Jerusalem, as Malachi foretold, cleansing it and casting out the money-changers.

Presenting Himself as the priest, Christ temporarily restored the temple back to God’s intended purpose for it, teaching in it daily.

“He’s the ‘interpreter of the ways of God,’ as G. Campbell Morgan once said. He’s teaching in the temple and the people hear Him, and this extends to the last day of His life," explains Richard Jordan.

“Luke 21:37: ‘And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.’

“From this, we know Christ didn’t spend His nights in Jerusalem, but went outside the city up on the Mount of Olives and slept under the stars.

“The point is there’s no place for Him; not in the beginning of His life in Bethlehem and not in the end in Jerusalem.

"The leadership of the nation has rejected Him so finally He withdraws Himself from public preaching to the masses and educates only His disciples for the ministry they’ll have after He’s gone. He instructs them, ‘Don’t go tell them I’m the Christ.’ It’s that withdrawal stage."

(new article tomorrow)