God Dwells Among Us

 

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.