Eden, The Garden of God

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good... ”

From these opening statements in Genesis we are told a lot about God and His plan and purpose in the universe. Note the words “very good”. These words are essential to understanding what God planned originally, and therefore, the key to knowing where we are going. Because God is unchanging and unchangeable, whatever He planned in the beginning, He will accomplish in the end. And how could He do otherwise, if He is the allknowing, all-wise, and perfect God? To change His plan would mean that His original plan wasn’t perfect, that there was room for improvement. If that were the case and God had made a mistake, then He would not be God.

Since He is, there is no question that whatever He started was perfect, and therefore, whatever He finishes will be perfect.

In studying the Bible as a whole, one will see consistency from Genesis to Revelation. One will note the continuation of some basic themes from beginning to the end. The parallels of these two books are amazing. We begin in a paradise which has no curse and we finish in a paradise in which the imposed curse has been lifted. We start out with the tree of life and this same tree is present at the end. The first Adam was put out of God’s presence because of sin, but when the tabernacle veil was rent, man was allowed back into God’s presence. The first marriage took place in Eden and the last book tells of the marriage of the Lamb. Let’s look at these themes in more depth and, in doing so, connect these parallels to see where God’s plan is taking us.

God started with a very good creation, a creation where no curse was present. Ezekiel 28:13 refers to it as “Eden the garden of God”.

There, God’s presence was immediately and intimately known, a place of infinite beauty and enjoyment that can only be described in earthly language as “a beautiful paradise or garden”.

In the early chapters of Genesis, the book of beginnings, we are introduced to the institution of marriage. The first marriage was that of Adam and Eve. They were the first bride and groom and therefore, because of the law of first mention in the Scripture, this teaches us everything we need to know of what God means when He says “bride”. God took Eve out of Adam’s side; in other words, Eve was built from Adam...the same but distinctly different.

Describing this, the King James Version uses the word “help meet”, which means “a suitable helper” but perhaps the Latin Vulgate best describes what God said as “alter ego” or a second self. While Adam was put to sleep, God sculptured out of Adam’s own rib another self. Adam “slept” so Eve could live. God then presented Eve to Adam. When Adam saw Eve he said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.... ” This person is really me in another form. Adam called himself “Ish” which is Hebrew for “man.” When Eve was presented to him, Adam called her “Isha”, or “woman”. So Adam was saying, “it’s me but different; she is me but distinct from me.” She was Adam’s completer, and God said, “...they shall be one flesh. ” God made them separate for companionship, and then brought them back together for completion: through them He was going to exercise dominion over all things.

Scripture goes on to speak of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. These trees were in the middle of the garden. The tree of life, whatever it looked like, was none other than Jesus Christ; because He is the One who is Life in Himself. According to sacred scripture, there is only One of whom I can partake and live forever. In fact, there is only One who says that He is “...the Prince of life... ” (Acts 3:15) In John 14:6 Jesus clearly said, “I am ...the life.” In the garden of Eden, Jesus himself was available to feed Adam’s spirit.

God was saying, this is My plan: that you live on this earth from the spirit of My Son living inside of you.

God commanded Adam,

“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. ” (Genesis 2:16- 17)

But they disobeyed God and ate of this forbidden tree so God had to banish them from the garden before they could eat of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22)

Because Adam refused God’s good plan, man fell; the fall of man was simply from disobeying God, seeking instead to initiate his own action and do his own thing quite independently of God and of what God said. In doing so, man was opposing Life itself, the very source of life and goodness, and the only thing left was death and darkness. So because of man’s choice he was placed outside of Eden and outside of God’s immediate presence. The garden of Eden did not come under the curse. Instead, man was put outside of it, and cherubim were placed to guard the entrance to the garden to keep man from eating of the tree of life after having eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Bible tells us little about the cherubim, except that they exist to protect God’s Holiness. It is significant to note that we next see the cherubim embroidered on the veil protecting the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. This part of the tabernacle was a perfect cube in dimension, and represented the very presence of God Himself among the Israelite nation. It was so sacred that only the high priest (once a year after making himself ceremonially pure) could enter in to make atonement for the nation as a whole.

Israel was a scale model for God to show what He ultimately had planned for all nations and people. Even the Father of Israel, Abraham, saw God had a bigger plan than just the nation of Israel. Because of this, Abraham wasn’t interested in the land itself. Hebrews 11 says that,

“by faith Abraham lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for Abraham was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Abraham and the others died in faith without receiving the promise...they welcomed the promises from a distance, confessing that they were exiles on earth. ”

Hebrews 11:13-16 confirms all these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desired a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; He has prepared a city for them. Jesus said,

“...Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad. ”

Abraham could never be satisfied with the land of Palestine, for he had caught a glimpse of something better.

Has that something better come? Yes! Ephesians 1:3 says,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places... ”

The heavenly land that Abraham saw is what we call living in the spirit. He saw the opportunity to walk with God, not on sand, and he waited and he died seeing it afar off. Romans 4:13 says that through the righteousness of faith, Abraham was an heir of the world. As children of Abraham, we are heirs of the world also. I Corinthians 3:21-23 confirms it, saying,

“Therefore let no man glory in men.

For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. ”

We who choose to “believe on Him” are the true children of Abraham. In Christ, we become the true Israelites. All things belong to us. Galatians 3:29 states, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. ” The New Testament tells us repeatedly that we’ve been given an inheritance. This promised inheritance is in Christ Jesus. Peter says (1 Peter 1:4) that in Christ, we have “...an inheritance incorruptible ... that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you... " What was he comparing it with? The inheritance of the Old Testament: a piece of land, a shadow, or picture of that which was to come which would never pass away. The old inheritance could not fully restore fellowship with God, but the new inheritance does.

Hebrews 12:22-24 goes on to say,

“But ye are come unto Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,... ”

In both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God spoke of a new day when the Holy Spirit living within people would be the signature of a new race. Jeremiah 31:33 states,

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. ”

Further, Ezekiel 36:27 says,

“And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. ”

How was this achieved for us? It was achieved by Jesus Himself, our representative Man, “the last Adam”. To really understand the principle involved here, we need to understand the term, “firstfruit”. The Feast of Firstfruits was a Feast of Israel that marked the beginning of the barley harvest. (Lev.23:10-12) It occurred immediately after the Passover. The feast was on the first day after the Sabbath of Passover. No one would touch the harvest until this feast was celebrated. Early in the morning after the Sabbath, approximately 6 a.m., the priests came out from Jerusalem down to the field of harvest; one priest would take a stalk of barley in his hand while another priest would cut it; that was the sheaf of the first fruit. They took this sheaf back to the temple and waved it in front of God. This action stated that the entire harvest belonged to God. The history of the first was the history of all. The Israelites realized that it all belonged to God. The principle of the first fruit, a principle running all through the Scripture, is that the first stands for all. What happened to those grains of barley happened to all the grains of barley in Israel. So as that one was offered to the Lord, it was as if all had been offered to the Lord. This one belonged exclusively to God, but so did all the rest. Then the rest of the crop could be harvested, because they said; “now it belongs to God”.

Jesus fulfilled this feast. His death fitted in with Passover. Jesus rose from the dead on the morning after the Passover Sabbath. And He rose as the priests were offering the first fruit to God. God reached down at that time and raised Jesus, His first fruit, from Hades. (Acts 2:31 NKJV) Remembering the principle of firstfruit in the Bible, what happened to Jesus happened to us. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t present; neither was all the harvest in the temple. God declared Jesus the Righteous One so that, through Him, we are righteous, too. Jesus was given a new name. He was born Jesus, His title was Christ, His new name is Lord. In the ascension He went to the Father and entered into His presence. So can we! He sits at the right hand of God and rules the world. Now we sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Colossians 3:1-3 says,

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. ”

He rose again; we shall rise again. All that was true concerning Him is true concerning us. His victory is our history.

The word “revelation” as it is used in the Scripture, means “unveiling”. So the book of Revelation is the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It talks about what He has done and who He is now and forever. It’s the revelation of His relationship to the universe. What He started will be finished. It is very significant that Revelation 17:3 says that John was carried away “in the Spirit”. And “in the Spirit” he visited the New Jerusalem and saw the bride. The New Jerusalem originated from God. Revelation 21:2 says,

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ”

Notice this city is holy to God. The word holy means set apart, belonging to another. So it is set apart to God. While cities on earth grow up, note that this city comes down from heaven. John was to measure the city and it was a perfect cube. There is only one other place in the Bible where a cube is mentioned...the inner sanctuary of the temple...the Holy of Holies. The Church (the body of Christ) is the Holy of Holies among men, for Paul said in II Corinthians 6:16 that we (the Church) are the temple of the living God. Literally he said that we are the Holy of Holies. The city has twelve gates made of pearl. The pearl is a very unusual precious stone. All other precious stones are made from heat and pressure, but the pearl is made by suffering and death. All other precious stones derive their value from man manipulating them, either by cutting or polishing them, but the pearl would be ruined if man manipulated it. Its value is derived from itself. Jesus said I am the door, the way, the life. Jesus is the gate, the pearl of great price, but the Church is the city. The gate is part of the Church. A person comes to God only through the Son, having been presented with His finished work. Revelation says, The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

Once again, we find the tree of life present and available to man. Revelation 22:2 says,

“In the midst of the street of it, and

on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ”

Once again Jesus is the food and health of man’s spirit and man is offered God’s fellowship and rest. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, ...and I will give you rest. ” The fruit of the spirit is produced by the Holy Spirit as the believer abides in Jesus Christ. Healing is provided because Jesus lifted the curse imposed by the fall. Galatians 3:13 states, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us... ” Jesus is the only way to be complete, the only way to be restored into the fellowship with God.

That first marriage of Adam and Eve is a symbol of Christ and the Church. Jesus died not only to cleanse us from our sins but also that we, His bride, could have life.

Out of Jesus’ side came blood representing the remission of sin and water symbolizing life. The Church is Jesus in another form: His hands and feet upon the earth as Acts 17:28 says: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being:...For we are also his offspring. ” John 3 says that we are born again or born from above. The Church is that company of people in whom is the very life of Jesus. Only that which is of God can be presented to God. Jesus is the eternal “Ish” and the Church is “Isha”. The two can have fellowship and know each other.

In Revelation it says that the marriage of the Lamb is come. To understand this, we must view it how the Eastern culture of the time viewed marriage. Back then, the first step was betrothal. You sent a well trusted servant to find a woman. He was the matchmaker. Our matchmaker is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit invites us to become the bride. By Hebrew custom, such an “engagement” was as binding as the marriage itself. Betrothal was the final commitment, followed by a period of time before marriage in which they did not see each other. We haven’t seen Christ but we are betrothed. The final step of the marriage was for the groom to come meet his bride. This will be the final step, when Christ comes for His bride, the Church. And together they will celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The purpose of God has been accomplished. Jesus, as the representative Man, has dealt with sin and brought those who believe in Him to live their lives in eternal union with God. The coming of the Holy Spirit stands as proof that Jesus was exalted to the heavens. Ephesians 1:13-14 says,

“...ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. ”

The Christian (being sanctified or set apart by God) now has the down payment. This means that we will receive in full what we have now in part. In other words, if one puts a down payment on something in dollars, then when they are ready to pay for it in full, they will continue with the same currency. One doesn’t start in dollars and finish with another currency.

Right now we wait for our groom who, according to Acts 3:21, “...heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things...” This is the Christian’s blessed hope. Titus 2:1114 says,

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. ”

The grand finale will be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. So now, right now, we overcome sin. At that time we shall be rescued forever from the presence of sin. Right now we overcome temptation; then we shall be taken from the presence of the devil forever. Now we worship God through faith, but then face to face. Now my body is healed by His stripes; then I will have a body that cannot die. Now we have the down payment; then we will have the fullness. Now we are joined to God in our spirits and can say that we know Him; then we shall live in His presence eternally.

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