Genesis 2:8-23
Eden is a garden-temple
Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth.” The ‘heavens and earth’ means the
entire universe. The entire universe is considered the temple since God’s
presence fills the whole creation. God is the creator and therefore the king of
the universe.
God assumed a position of kingly
rest in it on the seventh day—the Sabbath Day, demonstrating his sovereignty
over his creation. This scenario manifests God’s transcendent presence in that
he is not bound to any earthly dwelling place, but above and beyond all
that he has made and distinct from it.
However, God also wants to dwell
with man in a unique earthly location—the temple,
for God longs for human beings to enjoy an intimate relationship with him in
his presence.
Genesis chapter 2 tells of
the first sanctuary—Eden, a temple-garden.
Garden of Eden means an enclosure and Adam was placed by God in it, feeling
secured and safe with all the provision, including a helper and companion, Eve.
Both Adam and Eve lived in an
intimate relationship with God and in harmony with nature and animals. There
they found absolute rest and acceptance in an absolute blissful state.
Gen 2:15 says Adam’s job in Eden
is “to cultivate it and to keep it”, which means “serve עבד and guard שׁמר”. This phrase is often referred to priests
who “serve” God in the temple and “guard” the temple from unclean things from
entering it (Num 3:7–8; 8:25–26; 18:5–6; 1 Chr 23:32; Ezek 44:14).
And הִתְהַלֵּךְ is used for God’s “walking back
and forth” in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:8). The same word describes God’s
presence in the tabernacle (Lev 26:12; Deut 23:14; 2 Sam 7:6–7).
So in Eden, God is the king and
Adam is the vice-regent or priest who bears the image of God. Adam is to trust
and obey God’s word, which means submitting to God’s rule in fulfilling his
priestly duty to serve and glorify God.
In so doing, he will remain in
Eden to receive the blessing and life forever, failing which he will be blocked
from the tree of life (Gen 3:2—24) and die (Gen 2: 17; 5:5). To live under
God’s rule in the temple-garden means to enjoy his presence and his blessing.
However, Adam and Eve failed in
their priestly task when they succumbed to the serpent’s temptation and
disobeyed God’s command. They transgressed the boundary to act as if they were
God, wanting to decide for themselves what is good and evil by eating the fruit
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
This human act of “playing God” has
been the nature of sin ever since.
Then Adam and Eve were expelled
from Eden (Gen 3:23—24), losing the blessing of being in the intimate presence
of God. Consequently, the whole humanity and creation entered into curse
instead of blessing, and became contaminated and enslaved by sin.
Later, God placed two cherubim
to “guard” Eden (Gen3:24) and this resembled Israel’s temple where two cherubim
figures are stationed hovering over the “ark of the covenant” in the “Holy of
Holies”.
The “tree of life” in Eden was
likely modelled by the golden lamp stand located outside the “Holy of Holies”
in the temple.
The garden-temple is just like
the tabernacle, decorated by gold (Gen 2:12; Exod 25:3) and precious gems stone
(Gen 2:21; Exod 25:7). We know that as the entrance to Eden faces east (Gen 3:24),
the entrance to Israel’s temple faces east and is located on mount Zion (Exod
15:17); and the eschatological temple of Ezekiel also faces east (Ezek 40:6)
and is located on a mountain (Ezek 40:2; 43:12).
There are four rivers flowing
out from Eden (Gen 2:10), likewise the end time temple described in Ezek
47:1–12 and Rev 21:1–2 is said to have rivers flowing out from within.
In sum, as shown above we find
close parallel between Eden and Israelite temple imagery where God dwelt with
man, had fellowship with man, granted man rest (Gen 2:1—2;2:15), blessed the
people (Gen 1:28) and received man’s service and worship (Gen 2:25).
Eden is the prototype of temple,
a place we dream for, the final hope of paradise we long to get to, yet remains
as a distant dream.
We also notice that Gen 1:28
says, “And God blessed them . . . Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,
and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky,
and over every living thing that creeps on the surface.”
This is the first pronouncement
of God’s blessing to man and it also contains a commission to man. Adam was to
extend the geographical boundaries to the Garden of Eden until Eden extended
throughout and covered the whole earth.
This means that God’s presence
and glory were to “fill” the entire earth by the works of his faithful royal
priestly image bearers. Ever since Adam's failure, God has been at work to
re-establish his kingdom and to call a people back into fellowship with
himself. He wants us to enjoy the goal of creation, that is “rest in God’s
presence”.
In this regards, we see that once
out of Eden, God preserved a line of faithful remnant such as Seth, Enosh,
Noah, Abraham and other patriarchs, and passed on to them the Adamic
commission. They are said to engage in “call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen
4:26), “walk with God” (Gen 5:24) and building of small sanctuaries, results in
God appearing to them (except in Gen. 12:8; 13:3-4); also "pitch a tent
" on a mountain; build "altars" and worship God, where they also
"call on the name of the Lord," probably also include sacrificial
offerings and prayer, at the place where these activities often occur, for
example "Bethel"—the "House of God”.
The combination of the above
elements is an allusion to the cultic practice of Israel tabernacle and temple.
So we see that God’s presence
has not ceased to be with the faithful remnant and their informal sanctuaries
in Genesis, a scenario which points to Israel's tabernacle or temple whereby
God is said to dwell in the midst of his people.
Israel’s Tabernacle and the
Solomon Temple
God’s unique presence with his
covenant people is formally called a “temple”. The preparations for the temple
began at the Exodus.
The first “temple” was the
tabernacle building which began at Mt Sinai, a portable construction (Exod 24,
38:21; Number 3:25). God instructed Moses how to construct the tabernacle, the
tent in which his presence was to be focused among them as they travelled
towards the Promised Land.
The tabernacle was the place
where God dwelt in the midst of this people (Exod 25:8) and gave his people
divine revelation (Exod 25:22).
Through sacrifices offered and
mediated by priests, the peoples’ sins atoned (Exod 29—30). God is the king and
laws were given for the people to obey. Now God’s people are under his rule
again and are thus able once more to enjoy his presence collectively.
God’s people, the Israel nation
is the priestly kingdom (Exod 19:24), ultimately through Israel the world would
be blessed.
The tabernacle was featured in
three sections—the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the Court. The ark of
the covenant and over it the mercy seat and the cherubim were situated in the
Holy of Holies. The lamp-stand, table of showbread, incense altar were situated
in the Holy Place; and altar of burnt offering and bronze laver were housed in the
Court (Exodus 40:1—11).
The tripartite
feature reflected a miniature model of God’s huge cosmic temple that
was to dominate the heavens and earth at the end of time. The Holy of Holies
represented the invisible heavenly dimension, the Holy Place represented the
visible heavens, and the Court represented the visible sea and earth, where
humans lived.
After the Israelites settled in
the Land and at the time of Solomon’s reign, the first temple was permanently
built, bearing many similarities to the tabernacle. From this place God dwelt
among his people, revealed his will and poured out his blessing upon his
people.
It is natural that the overall
purpose temple imagery is linked to God giving "rest" to Israel's
king from his enemies (1 King 8:14—26).
Besides, Gentiles could be
joined to the people of God only by coming to the temple, for it was here that
God chose to deal with those who seek him (1 Kings 8:41—43).
The temple reminded Israel of
the same task that Adam should have carried out but failed, Israel was to
execute: to “multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28) by expanding
the local boundaries of the temple to include the entire earth. That is to
spread God’s presence throughout the entire earth, from Holy of Holies to the
Holy Place and then the Court.
However, Israel wrongly viewed
the temple to be symbolic of their election as God’s only true people and that
God’s presence was to be restricted only to them as an ethnic nation.
However, we know very well that
God is not bound to his earthly dwelling. God’s presence in the temple
could not be taken for granted or as guaranteed (Jeremiah 7). As God had chosen
to dwell there, he could leave it if his people disobeyed him (Ezek 10), or
even allowed his temple to be destroyed.
Throughout Israelite history
from wandering in the wilderness and living in the Promised Land, they had most
of the time exhibited disbelief and disobedience to God. As a result, they
were driven out of the land and brought into exile as Moses had forewarned
(Deut 9:4—5).
The exiled prophet Ezekiel said
that though God had exiled Judah and Benjamin to Babylon, "yet I [Yahweh]
was a sanctuary for them a little while . . ."(Ezek 11:16) This suggested
that the presence of the Lord, which gave essential meaning to the temple,
continued with the faithful remnant in exile to form an invisible temple for
them until they could return and build the second temple.
The same embryonic temple-building
pattern occurred when the remnant of Israel returned from Exile to build the
temple. They included:
(1) "Built the altar of the
God of Israel" on the foundation of the former temple at Mount Zion (Ezra
3:2-3).
(2) They began to offer burnt offerings
(Ezra 3:2), and they worshipped through the playing of music and by praising
and giving thanks (Ezra 3:10-11).
(3) They also referred to the
structure as "a house to our God" (Ezra 4:3).
However, like the Solomon
temple, Israel's second temple fell short of the ideal description of an
eschatological temple as Exodus 15:17-18 and 2 Samuel 7:10-16 and subsequent
prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel foresaw, for example the new-temple (more
magnificent than the first) promised in Ezekiel 40—48.
The post-exilic prophets,
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi addressed this issue of “falling short” by
prophesising that a great future day of perfect restoration will come.
So now the hope is rested upon
some future time God will act to bring about the eschatological temple presence
alongside with his kingdom and the salvation of his people.
Jesus Christ is a temple
Jesus and the church have
finally done what Adam, Noah and Israel had failed to do in extending the
temple presence of God throughout the world.
Jesus, the obedient last Adam,
as God incarnate is God’s presence on earth, continuing the true form of the
old temple, which in OT era foreshadowed Christ’s presence (2 Sam 7:12–14; Zech
6:12–13).
Jesus’ repeated claim that
forgiveness now comes through him and no longer through the sacrificial system
of the temple means that he was taking over the function of the temple as
evident by the ruined veil at his death.
The symbolism is powerful. The
door to God’s presence is now wide open for all who will go in: “…..we have
confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and
living way opened for us through the curtain.” (Hebrews 10:19—20)
Jesus also repeatedly referred
to himself in the Synoptic gospels as the “cornerstone” of the temple (Mark
12:10; Matt 21:42; Luke 20:17).
Luke-Acts through Stephen’s
frontal attack on the temple and the aftermath of believers scattering to the
Gentile world, depicted the loyalty to the temple of Jerusalem being replaced
by the loyalty to Jesus.
John 1:14 says Jesus is the Word
became flesh and made his dwelling or “tabernacled” among us. And in
John 2:19, Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up.’ He actually pointed to his body (John 2:21).
Jesus standing in the temple
courts, declared, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever
believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow
from within him.” (John 7:37—38)
This declaration alluded to
Ezekiel’s promise of the new temple, from which a river would flow, bringing
life to all (Ezekiel 47). Jesus is the temple and the water is the Spirit he
gives to all who trust in him.
Christ’s followers, the church
is a temple
As the Lord Jesus, the true
temple of God has ascended to heaven; God continues to live in this fallen
world. His temple now is a holy people. When we believe in Jesus, we become a
part of Jesus and the temple.
Paul reminds us: “…..your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God
(1 Cor 6:19).” God also lives within us as a Christian community, in 2 Cor
6:16: “….for we are the temple of the living God” (and so likewise Eph 2:21–22;
1 Pet 2:5; Rev 3:12; 11:1–2).
Ephesians uses the temple image
for the universal church where Jews and Gentiles formed the new temple (Eph
18—20), both having unhindered access to the sanctuary of God’s presence.
Christ is the cornerstone, the
source of church’s life and growth and the building can grow into a holy temple
(Eph 2:21). God condescends to dwell in his unfinished and imperfect church.
1 Peter 2:4—8 tell us that Christ
is the cornerstone, the source of the church’s life and growth. Believers are
‘living stones’, exhorted to coming to Christ. They altogether form a
‘spiritual house’, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ.
Jesus the new temple also says
that the Holy Spirit will take his presence into the entire world through
the preaching of the gospel (Acts 1:8). And inasmuch as people are gathered to
the Saviour, there is also the new temple.
Jesus died for our sins, not so
that we could sort out abstract ideas, but so that we, having been put right,
could become part of God’s plan to put his whole world right by extending the
Temple-presence.
That is our mission now, before
Christ returns. How much are we embarking on such mission?
So as Christians, we know God’s
presence is with us by his Holy Spirit; the church is God’s temple on
earth. So let us fulfil the role of the temple, expand God’s presence
throughout the earth so that the world can be put right.
The New Heavens and New Earth is
a city- temple
In the epistle to the Hebrews,
the writers say that Christ the high priest has entered into the heavenly
shrine (Heb 9:11—12; 6:19-20; 8:2) which is ‘true’ and its earthly counter-part
as ‘shadow’ or ‘copy’ (8:5; 9; 24).
Such heavenly temple is the
setting for the drama played out in Revelation chapters 4—20.
It is also depicted as the
consummated condition of the New Heavens and New Earth in Rev 21:1-4,
“Then I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the
sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a
loud voice form the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with
man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will
be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
21:22-23 says, “And I saw no
temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives
it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
This New Heavens and New Earth
is a temple-city where the barriers separating worshippers from God are removed
completely that they enjoy uninterrupted communion with God similar to the
divine presence with his people and the rest of creation in Eden (Gen Chap 2).
In sum, the New Heavens and New
Earth in Rev 21:1–22:5 are a temple—which equals God’s presence—encompasses the
whole earth. It is built through the finished works of Christ and continuation
through the people of God which will consummate in the New Heavens and New
Earth that will come down from heaven and fill the whole creation.
Only until then the
eschatological goal of the temple of the Garden of Eden dominating the entire
creation will be finally fulfilled, taking us back to the beginning, to the way
everything was designed to be in the first place: a new Eden.
God’s people, the church now has
a mission to shine as the light of the world, through witnessing Christ’s
redemptive works in this dark world and building for God’s kingdom here and now.
In 1 Pet 2:4–5, Peter addresses
Christ as a “living stone” in the temple and his people are “living stones” who
as a “royal priesthood” (allusion to Exod 19:6) are to “proclaim the
excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light.”
In this respect, to experience
God’s temple-presence, we must believe in Christ that he died for our sin.
Three days later he resurrected and he now reigns as the Lord God. God’s Spirit
will dwell in us just as God dwelt in the sanctuary of Eden and Israel’s
temple.
We are to be as priests to offer
ourselves as living sacrifice to serve God, believe and obey God’s word, and
with a prayerful heart witness to the world to win lost souls and strengthening
them for priestly service to God.
As a result, the boundary of the
temple presence of God will be extended and until Christ returns, it will be
further enhanced and extended worldwide to be the New Heaven and New Earth.
