TUESDAY
Yesterday we saw that the temple is a theme traced through all of Scripture. It begins in the garden of Eden and ends in the New Jerusalem city coming down from heaven in Rev. 21-22. The subtitle for our campaign is “sacred space between the garden and the city.” Between should be read temporally as the time between the garden of Eden and the New Jerusalem. This week we are exploring the first representation of sacred space in the Bible—Eden.
Eden literally means “land of pleasure or luxury.” There are tons of clues in the first two chapters of Genesis that would cue the reader into thinking of Eden as a temple. Most of these are lost on us in our modern culture because we don’t live in a culture of temples anymore. However, the original audience would have readily understood these inferences. The most notable day is day 7 of creation.
Genesis 2:2–3 (NIV) 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
On this John Walton writes, “Deity rests in a temple, and only in a temple. This is what temples were built for. We might even say that this is what a temple is—a place for divine rest.”* Walton goes on to explain that resting in the temple in the the ancient world implied that the deity was assuming his throne and taking command. So, God resting after creating the cosmos implies that he is taking his rightful place as ruler of all creation and beginning his reign.
Genesis 3:8 describes God “walking” in the garden in the cool of the day. In Leviticus we read:
Leviticus 26:11–12 (NIV) 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
The same word occurs in Deuteronomy 23:14 where God is said to “walk about” in the camp of Israel. In 2 Samuel 7 God tells David that he has been “walking about” in a tent (the tabernacle) for his dwelling. Ezekiel 28:13-18 also depicts Eden as a temple with Adam as a priest (more on this tomorrow). The entrance to Eden faces the east (Gen. 3:24) just as the entrance to the temple in Jerusalem faced the east (Ezek. 8:16; 40:6; 43:1-4).
Furthermore, the tree of life and the river of life are themes carried forward into the tabernacle and the temple as well. We will look at those the rest of the week.
These images of Eden as a temple communicate some really important truths for us as the people of God.
- God is ruler of creation.
- God wants to dwell with us and walk among us.
- Obedience to God’s way is the path to flourishing in his creation.
- In God’s presence humanity finds purpose and satisfaction.
Today, let’s look at the first two. The rest of the week we will explore the last two. God has created all of the cosmos, therefore, it all belongs to him. As Abraham Kuyper has said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’” Literally, this is God’s world and we are just living in it.
This truth helps us hold onto things more loosely. When we say things like, “My house,” or “my car,” or “my money,” what we really mean is that these all ultimately belong to God and we are just caretakers or stewards of them. This helps us not be owned by our stuff. This also helps us trust that, even when situations look bleak, God will not abandon his creation. In the midst of wars, genocide, famine, among many other mass evils, God will one day return to make all things new and restore creation to its rightful order.
The second truth is really important and speaks to the character of God. There is nothing intrinsic to God and nature that requires God to be with us. He just wants to. The picture of him walking in the garden in the cool of the day is a beautiful picture of God’s presence with us. God truly loves us and he truly wants to be with us. In a world of isolation and loneliness this is a beautiful truth to cling to—God wants to be with you.
*John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), 71.
Additional Content
“The garden of Eden is not viewed by the author of Genesis simply as a piece of Mesopotamian farmland, but as an archetypal sanctuary, that is a place where God dwells and where man should worship him. Many of the features of the garden may also be found in later sanctuaries particularly the tabernacle or Jerusalem temple. These parallels suggest that the garden itself is understood as a sort of sanctuary.” - Gordon Wenham found in John H. Waltons, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2009), 81.
Reflection
In your loneliest times, cling to the truth that God wants to be with you. When you are tempted to despair at the evil in creation, cling to the truth that God is on the throne and he will not let goodness be overcome in his creation.