There are major differences between the garden and later sanctuaries. One of the end-goals (telos) for these homes was how big God wanted the respective locations to be. God places Adam and Eve in the garden and they were to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). Year after year children would be born and acre by acre the world would be edenized as God intended (Isaiah 45:18). They were to subdue (kavash) the earth by force. This implies that outside of Eden the world wasn't fit for habitation. God's garden sanctuary was meant to be expanded worldwide. As priestly image bearers, they would continue to serve (avad) the Lord and guard (shamar) the bigger and expanding garden-temple of Eden as the earth was harvested for many things. God did not tell Moses to add square footage to the tabernacle. The temple did not grow either. Adam and Eve's failure as priests seems to have derailed this plan, but God had planned different forms with different functions for this plan until it was realized.
Israel, like Adam and Eve, would be priests before God as a priestly nation. The realities of blessing and fruitfulness in the garden of Eden were passed on to Noah (Genesis 9:1,7) and then to Abram and Sarai (Genesis 12:2-3, Genesis 22:17-18). The idea of worldwide subduing (possess the gates of enemies) and expansion (all the nations of the earth) are present as well. It's important to see the initial plan of God in Scripture and its forward progress through the connection of words and ideas. This helps us see a unified redemptive storyline in Scripture as it pertains to Christ. As God created a world for Adam and Eve, and created a new world for Noah, God has now called Abram and Sarai to be a new Adam and Eve in a new land where He'd dwell with them and their descendants. Those promises are repeated to Abram's son and grandson, Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4, 24) and Jacob (Genesis 28:3-5, 35:11-12). This language of being fruitful and multiplying comes to fruition in various stages (Genesis 47:27, Exodus 1:7) and aides our theological interpretation of the events. It's one thing to understand what happened (natural reading). It's another thing to understand the purpose of what is happening (theological reading).
Under the leadership of Joshua, corporate Israel, subdued (kavash) the promised land (Joshua 18:1) and set up God's tabernacle home. This subduing the land and evicting rebellious Gentile nations was part of their priestly duty to serve God and guard His holy temple land (Psalm 78:54) like Adam should have done with the serpent. Israel was supposed to remain undefiled before the Lord. While Israel had a priesthood for the tabernacle/temple, regular Israelites were non-temple priests. Israel was to guard (shamar) God's covenant (Exodus 19:5-6) and to serve (avad) the Lord (Exodus 23:25). But God's priestly kingdom continually rebelled against Him with idol worship and child sacrifice. They defiled and polluted the temple (Ezekiel 8:1-18). Thus, they were evicted from His garden land and temple. This full eviction came through Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 586 BC. Although we see a return their homeland starting in 538 BC (recall the book of Ezra), to this day Israel has never fully recovered from their exile in 586 BC. But in Christ their exile is over and they have been exodused back into God's presence with Gentiles.
EDENIC SANCTUARY
Although exiled, the prophets hold out hope for Israel. There'll be a time when the nations shall flow to the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2). The Messiah will establish His worldwide kingdom and the church as the living temple of God. This happens via preaching of the gospel. Isaiah tells us that the Lord will due creation work (bara) over Mount Zion (Isaiah 4:1-6, Genesis 1:1). We see creation and sanctuary in view since Eden was on a mountain. In this New Zion God creates a cloud, smoke and fire which reminds us of the wilderness and Exodus. There God was with Israel and led them by a cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13:21). His glory cloud was upon the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34). Isaiah describes a canopy (chuppah) which also means bridal chamber. Here Christ weds His bride. In Eden, Adam and Eve were wed. In the New Zion, the Second Adam, Christ, is wed to the church. Ezekiel's vision in 40-48 of a restored-paradise style temple on a very high mountain is the same as Isaiah's, which the apostle John mentions in Revelation 21:10. The newly created and restored Jerusalem comes down from heaven. In other words, it's of heavenly origin, not earthly. In Ezekiel's vision an expanding river of life flows from God's throne (Ezekiel 47:1-12) which is what John sees in Revelation 22:1-2. There are trees with fruit and leaves for healing on the banks in both visions. Leaves were used to cover nakedness in Genesis. Leaves are now used for healing. The death and pain brought upon us by eating the wrong fruit in garden will be replaced by only good fruit forever.
Remember that protology determines eschatology. Revelation looks like Genesis because Genesis looks like Revelation. God always had the end in mind. When prophets wanted to give a picture of Messiah's salvation, sometimes they spoke in terms of a new exodus, sometimes a new creation, sometimes a new Edenic temple. Sometimes they fold all three into one.
A WORLDWIDE CITY
The expansion of a worldwide Eden is often expressed in terms of drawing the nations to Zion. We don't always catch this in Scripture. Isaiah 11:9 helps us to see that the holy mountain of God (the new Eden) is the earth where all of God's animal creatures dwell together in peace and humans are full of the knowledge of the Lord. The prophet Daniel says the same things but in his own unique way (Daniel 2:1-45). The stone that destroyed all the kingdoms of the earth overtakes the earth and becomes a great mountain. This is the kingdom priests (royal priesthood) of God--the church, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles. Daniels reference to mountain filling the earth reminds us of the "filling of the earth" in Genesis. Genesis 1-2, Isaiah 65:17-18 and Revelation 21:1-2 follow a pattern of focusing on creation in broad terms, then narrowing down to Eden/Jerusalem. This helps us to see that God's agenda in all of Scripture is one and the same. The geographically specific, spatially limited sanctuary in the OT is replaced in the new creation by a city that fills the entire new world. Everything typified in the OT will finally be materialized. The Holy of Holies (cube shaped) is replaced by the New Jerusalem which is the only other cube in Scripture. This tells us that God's home, God's dwelling place is now with all of mankind, not just Israel. Will be king-priests that rule with God as we see him face to face with His name on our foreheads (Exodus 39:30-31, Revelation 22:4).
In John 2:19-22 Jesus says that He is the temple that would be torn down and resurrected. John also tells us in 1:14 that Jesus tabernacled in flesh. In our unity, baptism into Christ, we die with Him and are resurrected with Him (Romans 6:3-10) as living stones (1 Peter 2:5). The church is now part of God's new creation, the Christ-temple, in this old creation as we await the consummation of this new creation. The day has arrived when we no longer worship the Lord on the mountain of Samaria or the mountain of Jerusalem (John 4:22-24). Rather, we worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth all across the world. This is the ongoing work of the new covenant until it is completed.
THE BIG STORY
Revelation 21:3-5 says that the Lord is making all things new. That work has begun. We are participating in it now as new creations in Christ. May the Lord Jesus return soon to finalize the rest of His promises.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. If you walked into a building, how would you know that someone lived there?
2. What do you think the furnishings of the temple teach us?
3. What are some similarities between creation and the tabernacle?
4. How does seeing the words of blessing, fruitfulness and multiplication help us to connect the stories of Scripture?
5. What did Adam and Eve do as priests that later priests did? How did they both fail? What does this have to do with Jesus' cleansing of the temple? What, if anything, does all this has to do with church discipline?
6. What does it mean that Adam and Eve were to Edenize the world?
7. How is Genesis 9 and 12 a reboot of Genesis 1-2?
8. What do Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Revelation 22:1-2 have in common? What's the connection to Genesis 1-3?
9. How is the expansion of God's kingdom explained in Isaiah 11:9 and Daniel 2:35? How does this fulfill Genesis 1:28?
10. How is the expansion of Eden or an expanding temple fulfilled through the work of the Spirit (John 1:14, 2:9-12, Romans 6:3-10, 1 Peter 2:5, Ephesians 2: 20-21)?
11. Why can't we just have a natural reading of Scripture? Why must a theological reading be extracted?
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