Published: June 25, 2023 | Speaker: Tim Freitag | Series: God as Creator - Part 7 | Scripture: Genesis 1-2
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uh uh yeah Revelation 21 in fact in verse 22 we're told of Revelation and Revelation 21 is a is an example that people often point to as uh
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the the connection in fact I mentioned it in our very first study the connection between Eden and the cosmic establishment of all of these things at the beginning in Genesis and the um
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consummation of the ages in the end when God establishes the New Jerusalem and the new Heavens the new Earth you see all of these things and we're told in Revelation 21 verse 22 there is no temple in the city because the Lord God
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Almighty and the lamb are its Temple and so the argument being made in the no Camp is the presence of God here in the
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Genesis 22 is more is more Akin or more like 22 oops 21 22 I'm not dyslexic
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no I actually am team doesn't get verse argue the exact opposite there's no temple building
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right because the lamb the Lord God are the temple yes and personally I'll just skip to the end in
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some respects in this I'm more in the yes camp yes camp for several reasons but I think Chuck is right this is still happening in revelation 22
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21 God is dwelling he's meeting with his people the entirety of that creation is that Temple because he is the temple similarly we're going to read later
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we're told in in First Corinthians are we not we not our bodies are a temple why are our bodies a temple he says our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit God dwells in
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Us in that way so where God dwells where God is that is the temple that is his um place a number of
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argument um GK Beale among the most prominent TD Alexander Daniel Hayes John Walton Meredith Klein some of you will know some of these names all of these men have argued for Eden as
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a temple level that if you want to get into semantics about the definition of a temple you
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could maybe get into a real technical argument about this doesn't meet the technical qualifications of a temple I think the most important part of what we're looking at here
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if we establish these two anchor points of Eden and the New Jerusalem which is effectively as we talked about in our first lesson the it's on this line stretched between these two ideas did you have your hand
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Limited in some aspect it seems that that is the argument being made yes that there's some limit to those that is there is a difference here and part of it is you see the way that it's
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interacted with especially in the profits there's an acknowledgment that this is not this and that this is what we're hoping for
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well we'll go through the argument for it as a temple and you guys I guess can tell me at the end if you're convinced you're not convinced perspective we have the Tabernacle and then the temple
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and so many theologians think of Temple from that perspective outward as opposed to seeing the temple in the ancient world as the place where
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God meant man and then looking at the Tabernacle in the temple or inward so you take those beads and there they become the central
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definition and then you look out at the others and say oh no no no that's not a temple so it's a matter of perspective right I think their perspective is wrong
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and that is part of what's Happening my contention in all of this would really be to say
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and I think hopefully you'll see by the end of this morning's lesson as we go through the the number of references
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an immense amount of reference Back to Eden that God is whatever he did here whether you want to call that a temple or not was fundament
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fundamental foundational literally to the way that he was going to meet and commune with man from then on that what is happening here in in Genesis 2 making man putting him in the
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garden walking with him there is the undergirding principle of what he's going to do throughout it's what he's going to we talked about this in The Exodus study Exodus study the effort that he goes through from
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Genesis 3 when this break is severed to the Tabernacle just to get that built so that he can come down and dwell with his name among his people is clearly
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if not the central aim it's right up there in the top three aims of what God is doing in revelatory history of making his name to dwell with his people on the Earth
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okay page two
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saying that Eden has a place where God dwells they can't equal a temple because it doesn't look like
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the temple That Was Then created that doesn't fall because the entrance of sin has changed the landscape quite literally yeah that's fair
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um I'm gonna borrow some headings from be old this morning since his is by far the most extensive argument and argument and in large measure from my comparative
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his headings capture every other heading that I found in the other authors so we're going to use some of his he has a couple that frankly didn't convince me um as to the weight of their argument so I'm going to skip most of those this
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morning for in the interest of time but if you want to you can read his book The Temple in the mission of God and and go through all the headings but I think he's right and I'm going to take the
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majority of the headings that I think are useful to us the first one is this one that we're currently discussing but Eden
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of the presence of God and that where God goes where God dwells that is that is the place that becomes the temple um he makes reference to this idea and and
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we're not going to go into the details of the Greek we don't have or or the Hebrew and in this case specifically it's the Hebrew um but he uses this uh this phrase this
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idea of the walking back and forth there is a um reference here in actually I need to go
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back to Genesis three I'm gonna stop here Genesis 3 um the man and his wife heard the voice of the Lord God Walking In The Garden in
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the breeze of the day and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God Among the Trees of the garden literally in the Hebrew it is the walking to and fro it's sort of reflexive that he's it's almost like pacing he's going back and forth he's
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circumlocuting through this space we read also in um
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Leviticus 26 in verse 12 he says I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians I
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broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk in uprightness the same exact formulation of the verb here and um as far as I can remember from from looking at it in the Hebrew the only
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places that that verb appears in that format is in reference to God moving among or with his people which is the argument being made here that that same motion we read in in beginning of
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Genesis 3 is the same motion that we read here read here um when he says I will I will walk among you literally it's I will walk to and fro among you or with you
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Deuteronomy 23 in the instructions to use the toilet outside of the camp um when tells us in verse 14 for the Lord your God again walks to and fro among
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your Camp to protect you and deliver uh your enemies to you you can't must be holy lest he see anything unclean then turn away from you and then in second
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um in in reference to that Tabernacle in verse 6. verse 6. the Lord says to him for I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt until
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this day but I have moved about that's that same walking to and fro with a tent as my dwelling
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so the place where God meets man the place that God that Adam walks and talks with God and communes with him um place of communion
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um we read in First Corinthians 6 do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you who you have received from
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God you are not your own you were bought at a price therefore glorify God with your body that God dwells there God has put his spirit in you that is why you are a temple you are a temple because
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God dwells there God meets with man in
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priest when we read in Genesis 2
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that the Lord God took man and placed him in the garden to cultivate and keep this is one of those places Beale gets a certain amount of pushback from those who have engaged with this arguing the
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the Hebrew here whether it is or it isn't because In fairness this word here cultivate can mean just that it can mean our agriculture it can mean you're cultivating the ground but it is the
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same word that is used later for the priests when they are given their instructions and how to work in the temple how to inhabit it you could almost make this argument in the in the reverse order that those priests are
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told to cultivate they are told to cultivate the spirituality the health of Israel in their service in the Tabernacle Adam is told to work and to keep here in
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fact we read earlier in here do we not as we read in verse 8. no I gotta back up further verse 5.
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verse 5. Moses tells us as he's writing here he says now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth nor any plant of the field had sprouted why for the Lord God had not yet sent rain upon the Earth and
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there was no man to cultivate the ground that God's intention all along in the creation was that there would be a man to work that man would work and serve in it that man would do a
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physical and spiritual work acceptable to God that he would serve God in this capacity and so Beale is is drawing a connection or making an argument that the service
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that man is doing in the garden the cultivation and keeping of it is analogous is the template is the forerunning of what we are told that the
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priests are meant to do in their more limited scope in the temple in the Tabernacle that they he served in he guarded he took care of this first temple
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his third Point unless there's a question about that one his third point that he argues here
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the first guarding cherub is established at Eden now I debated about whether I could read all of Exodus and all of Genesis this morning to give you the the background here or I should say these two chapters
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but as you read in um well I'm going to go to our first reference which is where he's picking up in Genesis
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um chapter 3 verse 24 when we're told after Adam has sinned man has fallen sin has entered God expels them from his garden he sends them out
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and he places you told in in verse 23 the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken and so he drove out the man and stationed cherubim on
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the east side of the Garden of Eden along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the Tree of Life as we read the the details in the
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establishment of the Ark of the Covenant and we read the details later in the um the temple establishment of the holy of holies there are those details of the chair you've been imagery we don't see
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the manifestation of the Angels but we see the imagery referencing the Angels guarding that that sin cannot enter into the presence of God that sin cannot March in there into that space we read
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in Ezekiel um this is not the right one
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I've lost my reference um Ezekiel 28. verse 14 he says you were anointed as a guardian cherub for I had ordained you you were on the Holy Mountain of God and you walked among the fiery stones from the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness
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was found in you by the vastness of your trade you were filled with violence and you sinned so I drove you in disgrace from the Mountain of God and I banished you o Guardian cherub from among the fiery stones
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fiery stones we look also again at in reference to
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Ezekiel 28 14 it is in the midst of a judgment upon the king of tire and there's a lot of debate about exactly who is meant to be the Cherub in this instance there's there's a lot of different opinions about where that's supposed to
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right that's what I was thinking of yeah The Veil The Veil The literally the separation the the guard of the veil between where the worshipers could go and only that high priest and only in
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those specific circumstances could enter back in you think also of Revelation 21 let me see if I can find my
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in Revelation 21 and 22 as we read that end of the ages and the establishment of the new heavens and the new Earth
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right that's what I was looking for in the end of 21 where we read that reference of uh as we looked at in in Genesis 1 when talking about light I saw no temple in it the Lord God Almighty in the Lamar It's Temple the city has no
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need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb the Nations will walk by its light the kings of the earth will bring their Glory into it in the daytime there will be no night there its
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Gates will never be closed and they will bring the glory in honor of the Nations into it into it the gates are wide open but nothing unclean no one who practices Abomination and lying shall come into it
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but only those whose names are written into the Lamb's Book of Life so you have a parallel then between the the city the
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I'm going to put them here city of Revelation 21 22.
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again we have established from Genesis 3 the concept that there is a guard there is a watch set that the uncleanness cannot enter into the most holy sanctuaries of God both in the
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Tabernacle aspect of it there is no allowance for for uncleanness to enter into the holy of holies similarly in Revelation 21 where that whole city is
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now consecrated by God he has a guard he has a watch set that nothing unclean can enter into its Gates argument being made here that this establishment this guarding cherub is
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related to that it's what's setting that model that mode that we're going to see later in the Tabernacle 0.4 that he argues for here
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lamp stand again when talking about those now I gotta find where I was
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when we read the establishment of the instruments in the temple and we read the lamp stand here we're not explicitly told that one is a model for the other
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so put the weight on it that it it that it Bears however we read in Exodus 25 here you are to make a lampstand of pure hammered gold it should be made of one
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piece including its base and shaft its cups its buds and petals six branches are to extend from the sides of the lamp stand three on one side and three on the other there are to be three cups shaped
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like almond blossoms on the first branch each with Buds and petals three on the next branch and all for this and the same for all six branches that extend from the landstand and on the lamp stand
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there should be four cups shaped like almond blossoms with Buds and petals and for the six branches that extend from the lamp stand a bud must be under the first pair of branches a bud under the second pair about under the third pair
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the buds and branches are all to be of one piece with the lampstand hammered out of pure gold seven lamps make seven lamps and set them up in the lampstand so they
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illuminate the area in front of it you can go on from there but the argument being made here is in the Garden of Eden we have the tree of life we have the tree of the
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knowledge of Good and Evil we have the illumination of the mind of man by eating of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil we have the establishment of the lamp here that is meant to be
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shown with fruit bearing blossoms on it and then finally you're going to have a bunch of references both in the messages to the churches but also throughout we can look at here in again in revelation
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22 where we see the river flowing out of Eden nope that's the river flowing out of Eden where's the river in well I've got it open and this in Revelation 21 uh verses 1 and 2 he
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says I saw the new Heaven and the Earth 22 showed me a river of Water of Life clear as Crystal coming out of the Throne of God and of the lamb and in the
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middle of its Street on either side of the river was the Tree of Life bearing 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations so
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this concept of this Central tree of this Arbor that God has established that has some function for his people is there again I've erased my my string in
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beads but it's there from both anchor points and the beads in between God has established the arbor this tree this symbol here interestingly out of those that wanted to push back on Beale this
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is one place that all of the other commentators said yeah that's fair so I thought that was interesting Aaron
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with his seeing of it is incomplete we see the completeness in in Revelation where there is no temple in stone the river's there right Ezekiel sees the water
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issuing from under the threshold of the Temple I think it's one of the strongest the river is so we're going to pick up the river as one of these points that's that's a good point and it is here and
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there's there's actually several references for the river um for whatever reason he put one other reference in between um which is the sort of formative imagery
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of Israel's Temple I'm going to skip over that one and move on to the waters but he talks about the imagery of the um and if you have a chance to read it it's
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worth reading he actually has a shorter version of his book rather than the temple in the church's Mission which is like 500 and something Pages he's got a a one volume thing that's more
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specifically about things called Eden to the ends of the Earth anyhow um you look up deal it's one of his books he has a slightly shorter Treatise on it that's worth reading anyhow his point being we can read in
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um Ezekiel you can also read in Isaiah and some of the other places descriptions of the temple even in First Kings descriptions of the temple as having lushness imagery of garden and of
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bearing of fruit and a flowering and that that lushness and and prosperousness of it that the flourishing of the earth of the garden is imagery that keeps showing up in the
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Furnishings of the temple and of the Tabernacle and that's one of the things that God's doing with it so I'm just gonna list that point here
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formative I said I was going to skip over it and then I talked about it
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um I think it's somewhat early in First Kings but there's reference to that imagery if you want to go look at the reference
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to pick back up on Aaron's point though his stated his stated headings number six is the source of the
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we have the issuing of the waters um which I have here in Genesis chapter 2 verses 10 and 11 and he talks about the flowing of the river of out of Eden to water the garden and from there
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branched into Headwaters there's a lot of argument about which direction I think Moses is intentionally obfuscating so nobody goes to try to find the Garden of Eden we're not Indiana Jones here
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Direction right which is another point that we're going to get which is the the Eastward facing if we get that far which I'm going to try to get us there in the next five to ten minutes as we run out of time this morning
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a couple of other references though in Ezekiel back to your point Ezekiel 47 um as he's describing the the angel the
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messenger that that carries him to see these visions of the temple he says the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple and I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east
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the east for the temple faced East the water was coming down from under the south side of the temple south of the altar um he brought me out of the north gate and led me around outside to the outer gate Facing East
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and there I saw water trickling out of the South Side um he tells us later
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yeah so there's there's more going on here with the waters but he talks about the waters there um we also have in Revelation 21 or 22 1 and 2 the water that we've already read
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about this morning the water the river that flows in the middle of that and we also have an interesting reference in the Psalms in Psalm 36 near the end of that psalm
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as the psalmist is describing the administrations of God to his people even in the midst of the wicked he says to them I'm going to pick up in
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verse 7. how precious is your loving devotion oh God that the children of men take refuge in The Shadow of Your Wings they Feast on the abundance of your house well what is the house of God
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the temple right what is God's house it's the temple they Feast on the abundance of your house and you give them to drink of the river of your Delights literally in the Hebrew that is you they drink of the river of Eden or
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the rivers of your Eden um for with you is the Fountain of Life in your light we see light there may even be a reference there some people want to go on a digression back to the lampstand
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so sources of waters that's another argument here um distinct connection between Eden ezekiel's vision of the temple that final establishment of the cosmic
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dwelling on in revelation 22 the precious stones I'm gonna just really whoops I don't know why I'm doing green now but we're doing green
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foreign as we read in Chapter 2 the precious stones that were in that area we read them again in Revelation 21 as he's
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describing the city coming down
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so he talks about in verse 15 the gold and the measurements of it sorry Verse 18 the material of the wall was Jasper the city was pure gold like clear glass in Revelation 21 the foundation stones
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of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone he he lists them all out here the 12 gates or 12 pearls he talks about all of the gold and the the stones there
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when we read again in um Genesis 2 not only the waters but he also describes the gold and the Abundant gold that is in that land around Eden and he talks about the stones and the
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various stones that are found there there's also connections made between the stones that are specifically called out again in the Furnishings of the Tabernacle the stones used in the creation of the vestments for the
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priests or Onyx and gold those things that we find again called out specifically in Genesis 2. so connections back there um the other piece here and I'm going to
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just list these out because we are running out of time and we can discuss them more if you want but hopefully the evidence the preponderance of evidence has convinced
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you that there is reason to associate I don't think any of you were unconvinced before I started but
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the mountain Motif again in Ezekiel 28 um he talks about being taken to the mountain and the the seeing of the mountain there
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we also saw it there in 47 when he says I was brought back again to the mountain we know that the well actually when Ezekiel is describing here in
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28 as he's thinking about this setting he's talking about being on the Holy Mountain of God is where we read a reference or an idea that that Eden has this mountain in it
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we have of course Mount Zion we have in Exodus 15 Exodus 15 uh you will bring them and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance plant them on the mountain of your inheritance
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the place O Lord that you have prepared for your dwelling the sanctuary that your hands have established
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again out of Ezekiel you have another reference there to the mountain and the Facing East
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but I'm gonna move on from here so I'm going to just list our couple here the mountain Motif and then the Eastward facing entrance facing entrance and hopefully you can recall
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from our Exodus study that that was meant to face East and we see that also with the temple and we see it with ezekiel's temple so we have the Eastward facing entrances there but I think one of the the most
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important thing to me and this is actually not one of the headings that deal has in his work here but it's heading I'm going to add to it which is
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where the image of God it's placed
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tie-in so we looked at the establishing of creation and the establishing of the garden and that we have that Capstone of it is the making of man where do you keep the image of your God will you keep it in a temple and the
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Egyptians would have known that because the Egyptians just came out of a land with a lot of really spectacular temples and images and images Aaron another thing
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whereas here in guard to this proceed Angels appear until sin has marred the whole Affair and man is cast out right
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yes so the the couple of things here just as we're closing this morning God makes him God places him in the garden if you cast your mind back to what we read in in Genesis 2 that God
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forms him somewhere we're not told exactly but he forms him of the ground and then he puts him into the garden he intentionally places him there and I think there is reference also um this is
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one of the things Chuck brought out in his Genesis study there's reference later to Abram being called out of UR of the chaldees into Canaan that God took that man that singular and moved him
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placed him for a purpose we see also with Moses that God took him took Moses out of Egypt and placed him in Canaan we read a bunch of references of Canaan in
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that sort of edemic you know when we read the promised land and the flourishing of the land there are people who argue that Eden must have been in Canaan because of how great canaan's
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physical land Prosperity is at this time again I don't think we're intended to know but the point of all of this is there's intensive reference of the later Tabernacle and temples and indeed even
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the New Jerusalem Back to Eden which marks Eden out as this special model or progenitor for god of what it's what he intends to model where Man meets with
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God to to worship him and to dwell together with him and I skipped to my last reference here in Hebrews in fact we have at the beginning of
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Hebrews 11 the reference we talked about a little bit in previous studies and Chuck had last week in the the sermon the excellent sermon talking about um the creation he tells us in Hebrews
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11 verse 3 by faith we understand that the Universe was formed at God's command so that what his scene was not made out of what was visible we have of course that glorious Hall of Faith but then at
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the tail end of that down here in 13 he tells us tells us all of these people died in faith without having received the things that were promised however they saw them and welcomed them from afar and they
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acknowledged that they were strangers and Exiles on the earth now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own if they'd been thinking of the country they'd left they would have had an opportunity to
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return instead they were longing for a better country a Heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them and that is that City in Revelation 21
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22 that we've referred to over and over again there's an escheology escheological aspect of this again we stretch out that timeline of the Biblical history and we're holding Eden
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on one hand in the city of Revelation 21 22 and the other and the Tabernacle the motifs of the glories of the blooming of Eden all that stuff hangs on that line
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as reference that God is doing something with these particularly throughout his revelation we are way past time so I'm going to close in prayer and you all all can throw your questions at me after I
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guess Our Father we do thank you for the glory of your Revelation and the glory of your creation we thank you that we can be partakers of it that you have changed us and molded our hearts to be able to
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glorify you to truly honor you as God father we long to see so many around us joining in we long to see your glory covering the face of the Earth as the
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waters did at that very beginning we wish to hear your name blessed from every lip and see every knee bow in obeisance to you
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but father we ask that you would start with us today that you would work us and mold us in our hearts even though we have been saved still the work in us to mold us and shape us into the image of
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our father is ongoing in our in our sanctification is in progress father we ask that you would work in US truly let us follow you more closely see
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you more clearly honor you more greatly that your name would be magnified and lifted up today that you will be glorified by the things we do here and that you would be pleased to accept our
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worship as a sacrifice in your sight