One might ask, what has the Garden of Eden to do with the crucifixion? ‘A great deal’ would be my reply, for it is here that the Messiah was first promised, and it is here that the crucifixion became necessary. Moreover, the geography of Genesis 2 and 3 become important to locate the actual site of the crucifixion! How so? The Tabernacle and later the Temple of God was modeled after what the scriptures tell us about the Garden and Eden itself.
We are told in Genesis 2:8 that God planted a garden in Eden toward its eastern boundary. Moreover, this was where God first placed the man (Genesis 2:15), and it was here, where the Lord periodically met with Adam (Genesis 3:8), and also where the Lord came to meet with him after man had rebelled (Genesis 3:9). How is this connected with the Tabernacle or Temple of God? Well, first of all, Eden represents Jerusalem, while the Garden represented the Most Holy Place in the Temple. It was where man was able to appear in the presence of God. Secondly, mankind was cast out of the Garden and God’s presence, and two cherubim were placed at its entry to guard its gate. This is symbolic of the veil in the Temple that separated the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence was said to reside, from the Holy Place, where mankind’s representatives came to pray.
Next, the Bible informs us that Cain and Able had built an altar to sacrifice to God, and this is representative of the Altar of Sacrifice in the outer courts of the Tabernacle/Temple. When Cain became angry, because his sacrifice wasn’t accepted by God, the Lord told him, if he did well, he would be accepted, but if not, then there was a sin offering waiting for him at the gate, vis-à-vis to Eden/Jerusalem, which would have been eastward from the Garden. In other words, there was also an altar there, eastward at the gate of Eden, and east of the Garden. After Cain had killed his brother, Able, he was cast out of Eden (Genesis 4:14) and dwelt eastward in the land of Nod, which means wandering (also exile, unrest).[1]
The picture we have here is mankind’s steady and increasingly rebellious journey away from the Presence of God. But, eastward, at the entrance to the land of Eden, vis-à-vis Jerusalem, there would be an altar, which would permit man to rejoin God in fellowship. By transposing Eden’s geography to Jerusalem in the first century AD, we would find the Temple complex looking eastward toward the Mount of Olives. Moreover, we would also find located upon Mount Olives a third altar, which Paul mentions in Hebrews. It is where the ashes of the beasts sacrificed upon the Altar of Sacrifice were taken, and it is where the red heifer was slain (Hebrews 13:11). Finally, it is the place where Jesus was crucified (Hebrews 13:12), which is the place where we are called to go to bear his reproach (Hebrews 13:12), for we have no physical city of God, vis-à-vis Eden/Jerusalem, anywhere in this world. God’s Presence is with Jesus, outside the camp (Hebrews 13:13), and outside the gate of Jerusalem and her Temple. It is also the place where folks who are wandering in exile, whether Jew or gentile, could come to rejoin God in fellowship. All that is needed is to come to the cross and receive Jesus’ sacrifice as one’s own. He is the Messiah and Savior of the world (John 4:42; 1John 4:14).
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[1] See Fausset’s and Easton’s Bible Dictionaries and the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature.
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