If someone were to find the Garden of Eden, what would it look like? Where would one begin looking, and does anyone know in general, where the Garden was located? Even, if one fell upon the place by accident, would he be able to enter it (cp. Genesis 3:22-24)? Everything is a guess, isn’t it? I don’t know about my reader, but most of my guesses about things and people are wrong. I need some good information, landmarks if you will, or a decent map in order to get myself to a place I wish to go, but somewhere I’ve never been before. Is it possible, then, to find the Garden of Eden, and, if we could, is it important? Surprisingly, I believe anyone who wishes to find it can do so, and many have found it, some unawares!
Notice what the text says, “The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:8). The garden faced east, just like the Temple of God at Jerusalem faced east. Many Biblical scholars have found striking similarities between the Garden of Eden and the Temple of God, at Jerusalem. I discussed some of these similarities in my previous study,[1] which leads me to believe the Garden of Eden isn’t a physical place, which we might find with a map. Rather, it is a place that Jesus spoke of, vis-à-vis the Kingdom of God, which he told the Jewish authorities lay within mankind, in one’s heart (Luke 17:21)!
In the Garden the Lord caused every tree that was pleasant to the eyes, and good for food to grow out of the ground there (Genesis 2:9). In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus spoke of a man’s heart being the ground, in which the word of God was planted. The sower goes forth and sows his seeds in hearts described as, the wayside, rocky ground, ground with thorns, and good ground (Luke 8:5-8). The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11), and Jesus goes on to disclose what happens to the seed in the various hearts where it fell.
In other words, God speaks to us, just as he spoke with Adam and Eve long ago, but many folks aren’t affected by his word (the wayside hearts), while others may initially receive the word of God, but for various reasons don’t really embrace it and make it a part of their lives (the rocky hearts, and hearts full of thorns). These are the folks who find they really can’t come into God’s Presence (Genesis 3:22-24). Nevertheless, there are those whose hearts are compared to good ground, and they yield fruit in their lives according to the word spoken to them by God or the man sent by God.
Paul compares hearing the word of God to folks in the Temple of God, who listened in the context of the Law and in the context of the Gospel (2Corinthians 3:1-3). We who listen through Christ are enabled by the power of God to bring forth fruit in our lives, leading to eternal life, because we partake of the Table of the Lord (life’s experiences) as did Christ (the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden; cp. 2Corinthians 3:4-6). However, those who listen according to Law (the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, find themselves alone, understanding everything according to their own worldview, and go through life unchanged, because the glory of God is hidden by the veil (2Corinthians 3:7, 13-15), which is torn away only in Christ’s death (2Corinthians 3:14; cp. Mark 15:38). Only by turning to Christ does one have true freedom to behold the glory of God, in the looking glass of Christ, and, thus, be changed into the image of God by the Spirit of God, who is Christ (2Corinthians 3:16-17; cp. Genesis 1:26-27).
The rest of the description of the Garden of Eden is kind of mysterious. It speaks of a river going out of it, which parts into four other rivers (Genesis 2:10-14). Two of the names of these rivers we know, while two are not known. Nevertheless, even the two we know, may not be the original rivers prior to the Flood! They may merely be named after something Noah knew. Ezekiel spoke of a river that would flow out from under the altar of new Temple in four directions (Ezekiel 47:1-20; cp. Genesis 2:10). Jesus spoke of rivers of living waters bubbling up out of his (Jesus’) heart, which was to satisfy the thirst of men (John 7:37-38, cp. Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13).
Notice what mankind was told to do, once he was placed in the Garden (Genesis 2:15). He was told to dress (H5647) it or work it and to keep (H8104) it, or protect it. In other words, he was to place a high value upon what he found in the Garden. Paul puts it this way: we are laborers with God (1Corinthians 3:9). Our foundation in Christ has been laid, but we need to be careful how we build upon that foundation (1Corinthians 3:10), because as we labor (1Corinthians 3:13-14), our work yields gold, silver, precious stone (valuable, permanent things) or wood, hay and stubble (temporary things, not so valuable). Our labor will be tested by fire, and what remains is our reward (1Corinthians 3:15), and all this pertains to the Temple of God, which we are (1Corinthians 3:16-17).
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[1] See my previous study, The Garden of Eden
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