God in the Garden

Introduction

Do you have a favorite place you have gone on a vacation? Where is it? Now, when you get back from your vacation what do you bring with you? Probably some type of souvenir. Why do we bring back souvenirs?

-It reminds us of a time where things felt better, where we didn’t have worries, where everything was “good”.

When you think of where God “lives” where do you think?

-We think of “heaven” this place that seems far away from us.

-In the Bible, after the fall, this will also be the case. We can think of the “ladder” to heaven that Jacob see’s and it gives us this idea of a place we can’t reach.

What we read in Genesis 1-2 is how God dwelled with His people, how He will dwell with His people both in the OT and now, and how in the future God we will be able to be in the fullness of His glory.

Genesis 1-2 teach us that God desires to dwell with His people forever.

This all starts on the 7th day of creation.

It says that God “rested”.

But does God need to rest?

-No. It gives us some word clues as to what is happening. It tells us that god “blessed” and “declared holy” the 7th day. We saw last week how God had made what was chaos and created order, but now we see how God has not just made order of His creation but has made it “holy” and “blessed”.

-Notice that there is not “evening and morning” discussed here. It implies that creation is now intended to enjoy this perpetual rest provided by God. Sin will cause issues with that, but that is what God intends.

-What we see is God is enjoying His creation and what has been completed. God wants his people to enter into divine rest.

-”It is a rest of achievement, a completion of His work, not inactivity” just as Jesus will be “seated” next to the Father.

-Exodus 20:8–11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.”

“God and his creatures share in the celebration of the good creation, and God’s people are enjoined to enter into the rhythm of work and joyful rest. Embracing God’s sabbath rest meant experiencing the sense of completeness and well being God had accomplished at creation in behalf of all human life” (Mathews).

-This is significant because in a world of chaos, God says “my people can rest in my holy and blessed creation.”

Why do we need to rest?

-Resting on this day means we trust that God can provide for our needs even when we aren’t doing anything.

-Our culture has a lot of issues with this idea of rest. In fact, to take a Sabbath could be considered an act of resistance against a culture of workaholics. Where you work 24/7, and it comes before family, trying to achieve more and more, always trying to gain more and more.

-This means our lives should not be defined by how any things we have or how much work we can god.

-Rest is also not just to “re-calibrate” so we can do more work. Rest is defiance against our constant desire to be productive. It is resting even when there are things to be done. It is a rest to enjoy God and in obedience to God.

-It reminds us that work will never be able to fill us, only God can fill us with Himself and with His good creation.

-We saw last week that Genesis 1 is a polemic, we described this as an argument against something else. It is God’s argument that He deserves all worship while these other gods deserve none.

But something else bigger is also on display, it isn’t just about rest on the seventh day of our week, rather Genesis 1-2 is revealing something that will point His people back say “we want that God.”

What we see in Genesis is God’s desire to “dwell” with His people. A story seen throughout Scripture.

-We have the Israelites in the wilderness, and there was a place called the tabernacle. What is the tabernacle? It is the place God dwells amongst His people. That His presence is confined to.

-Then there is the Temple that Solomon builds.

-Then after the temple is destroyed the next place that we know God “dwells” is among people in Jesus. That God has come to be with His people.

-Specifically God’s church, because what does the Bible tell us about when the church gathers together?

-Then after that, the New Heavens and the New Earth.

But it all starts here, in the Garden, the place God desires for His people to come back to.

Exodus 33:14 “And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.””

-God wants them to come back to the perpetual rest.

This tells us three important links.

The Garden is the first “divine sanctuary”

Moses is points us to many examples of parallels between the Garden and the tabernacle..

Both had their gates in the “East”

Both are guarded by cherubim

Exodus 25:18 “Make two cherubim of gold; make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.”

The lampstand in the tabernacle represents the tree of life. The temple will also have many decorations that reflect flowers from trees and tree-like elements.

Exodus 25:31–35 ““You are to make a lampstand out of pure, hammered gold. It is to be made of one piece: its base and shaft, its ornamental cups, and its buds and petals. Six branches are to extend from its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side and three branches of the lampstand from the other side. There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a bud and petals, on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a bud and petals, on the next branch. It is to be this way for the six branches that extend from the lampstand. There are to be four cups shaped like almond blossoms on the lampstand shaft along with its buds and petals. For the six branches that extend from the lampstand, a bud must be under the first pair of branches from it, a bud under the second pair of branches from it, and a bud under the third pair of branches from it.”

Adam and Eve are told to “keep and guard” the Garden. The priests are told to “keep and guard” the tabernacle.

Numbers 3:7–8 “They are to perform duties for him and the entire community before the tent of meeting by attending to the service of the tabernacle. They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and perform duties for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle.”

Genesis 2:11–12 “The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there.”

Gold and onyx are referenced about 100 times in building the tabernacle in Exodus.

Exodus 25:7 “and onyx along with other gemstones for mounting on the ephod and breastpiece.”

Exodus 25:11 “Overlay it with pure gold; overlay it both inside and out. Also make a gold molding all around it.”

The Lord “walks” in the Garden just like He will do in the tabernacle

Leviticus 26:12 “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.”

What we see is that in day 7, God’s “rest” is God building a place to “tabernacle” with His people that He has completed and now He gets to establish as the place He will reveal Himself to them. The Ark will be God’s “footstool, a place where God’s presence is extended to earth.

It is a place that represents God’s rest

Exodus 39:43 “Moses inspected all the work they had accomplished. They had done just as the Lord commanded. Then Moses blessed them.”

The tabernacle is a model of the entire universe

“The outer court symbolized the visible earth (both land and sea, the place where humans lived); the holy place primarily represented the visible heavens (though there was also garden symbolism); the holy of holies stood for the invisible heavenly dimension of the cosmos where God dwelt” (Beale).

The tabernacle used colors of the sky; blue, purple, and scarlet. The lights in the tabernacle symbolized the sun, moon, and stars. Then the “veil” between the inner room and the holy of holies looked like a “panorama of the heavens”.

so in building the tabernacle they were “filling the world with the knowledge of God’s glory”.

-Exodus 31:3 “I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft”

-It reminds God’s people of His purpose in the world.

-God desires to dwell throughout the holy earth.

Other culture viewed their temples as “microcosms of the world”.

so what we see is the Garden as a sanctuary for God’s people. Why is it like this?

The Garden represents God’s dwelling place with His people.

If the Garden is the prototype for where God enjoys presence with His people, it would certainly be the starting point for later when God’s people look to be with Him again.

Since we see that Adam and Eve hold a “priestly” status in the Garden, this will be the point that we see priests again must be holy in order to be in His presence again.

God desired from the beginning for the whole earth to enjoy His presence.

The tabernacle is where Moses will frequently meet with God

Later, when the temple is built in Jerusalem, the city will be the place people pilgrim to in order to enter God’s presence. The city will be seen as a place of abundance, protection, beauty. That the nations will come to “find salvation” in the holy city.

Isaiah 65:17–18 ““For I will create new heavens and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind. Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.”

Isaiah 60:2 “For look, darkness will cover the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the Lord will shine over you, and his glory will appear over you.”

Isaiah 60:19–20 “The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the brightness of the moon will not shine on you. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor. Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not fade; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over.”

Now, we as the church are considered God’s dwelling place

Ephesians 2:19–22 “So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.”

1 Peter 2:4–5 “As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

we see the change that is made is that God now doesn’t just dwell “among” His people but “within” His people.

But this points to an even greater reality, that we wait for the “New heavens and the new earth”

Hebrews 13:14 “For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come.”

The Garden is the first holy ground

Where God dwells is “holy ground”, the problem is, that sin has left us unholy.

The place of God’s dwelling in the tabernacle will be called the “holy of holies”. In order to enter into God’s presence one must be “cleaned” from their sins.