The Edenic Temple
The Temple: Now and Forever • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Temple: Now and Forever
Garden of Eden
Tabernacle after Mt. Sinai
The Temple of Solomon
The Temple in Ezekiel (God leaves, vision of future)
The Temple of Zerubbabel/Ezra
The Temple of Herod
The Temple of Jesus
The Temple of the Holy Spirit
The Temple of God opened (Rev. 11 & 15)
The Temple of God in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21-22)
What was the Garden of Eden?
How does it foreshadow future temples?
What was mankind’s role in Eden?
The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Hebrew word “Eden” is a name related to the words for luxury, delight, or softness. It is an appropriate name for what we would consider “paradise”.
Adam wasn’t just in Eden, but a garden in it. Gardens provide food. But for kings, it allowed them to control nature. Gardens are cultivated places of enjoyment.
God “caused to grow… every pleasing tree”. God cultivated his garden.
Two trees in particular grew: the tree of life in the middle and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Life and wisdom. Life and how to live it. Nourishment for body and soul. ..
A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. 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. The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
A single river splits to 4, watering the whole earth.
Pishon’s location is unknown, but likely Persia or India in the East.
Gihon is either the Nile or similar or a spring in Jerusalem. It is in the West.
Tigris is the northern Iraqi river.
Euphrates is the southern Iraqi river.
Gold, precious stones, water… these appear in later temples. This is the global temple.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, lament for the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord God says:
You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every kind of precious stone covered you:
carnelian, topaz, and diamond,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and emerald.
Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold;
they were prepared on the day you were created.
You were an anointed guardian cherub,
for I had appointed you.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
From the day you were created
you were blameless in your ways
until wickedness was found in you.
Through the abundance of your trade,
you were filled with violence, and you sinned.
So I expelled you in disgrace
from the mountain of God,
and banished you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud because of your beauty;
For the sake of your splendor
you corrupted your wisdom.
So I threw you down to the ground;
I made you a spectacle before kings.
You profaned your sanctuaries
by the magnitude of your iniquities
in your dishonest trade.
So I made fire come from within you,
and it consumed you.
I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of everyone watching you.
All those who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you.
You have become an object of horror
and will never exist again.’ ”
Mountains in the Bible are places of:
Divine presence (Mount Sinai, Mount Zion)
Revelation (e.g., the Ten Commandments)
Sanctuary/Temple (Jerusalem's temple was on Mount Zion)
Cosmic order — where heaven and earth meet
The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
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.
Adam was a priest before God.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Eden, on a mountain, was the dwelling place of God on earth. God’s purpose on earth (adamah) was to dwell with Adam. “Adam” literally means “earthling”, or to be more theological, “one formed from the ground”. God breathed life into the nostrils of his own image. Adam was the “statute” or “image” of the god in the temple. God’s temple could not contain graven images, because Adam (mankind) is the image.
Pagan temples have statues of the gods… and the living God has a statue of himself in his temple… mankind.
He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.
East is the symbolic direction of exile. God leaves the temple to the east (Ezekiel 11:22). Babylonian exile was to the east. Adam, Cain, Babel, and more are exiled to the east.
Jesus enters the temple from the east (Luke 19:29). God will enter from the east (Ez. 43:1-5).
A cherub (plural cherubim), was a throne guardian in the ancient world. It’s the stereotypical winged angel. They are present at the Ark, tabernacle, and temples.
A flaming sword is divine (fire) justice (sword). It is not a fence, but an active, whirling result of sin.
How does the Edenic Temple relate to the Gospel?
Shows complete satisfaction of body and soul.
Previews the restoration that salvation will bring.
Shows God dwelling with his people.
