Published: September 10, 2026 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Biblical Theology Part 3 - The Kingdom of God - Part 4 | Scripture: Genesis 1:1-2, II Cor 4:6
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So, tonight we're going to be uh looking primarily at Genesis uh chapter 2. Um if you're looking at the notes for chapter 4 in your in your text, the the text is incorrect. I think
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it's the same one from chapter 3, and I apologize. Um I've corrected it in the original, but that doesn't help you any. Um but we're we're basically talking about the garden. And you may think,
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what does the garden have to do with the kingdom of God? And on a surface, it it doesn't seem to have anything to do with it until you stand back and and look again
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at the scripture as a whole. And what I call the the language of typology. Now this whole course the three different sessions of this course
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have been advocating a typological hermeneutic of reading the scripture. not an allegorical one, but one that recognizes that the historical events of
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scripture establish a symbolic world in which the rest of scripture comes to light. And even the balance of scripture after
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a particular event like creation or the Exodus, the language of subsequent scripture ends up being the language of that
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event. So Exodus becomes a a linguistic tool that is used by the prophets. It's used by Jesus Christ. It's used by the apostles. Same with the exile. Certainly
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with creation. Tonight we're going to see that particularly in the Gospel of John. Now, we already know that John starts out his gospel with a verbatim quote
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from the Greek version of Genesis 1:1 in the beginning. And so, he immediately orients his readers to the creation
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account. He doesn't stop there. And what I hope we'll see is that the language of typology often speaks of the kingdom without
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using that word. And this is where understanding the typological or symbolic world of scripture
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helps us to understand what the Holy Spirit is talking about even though the explicit words might not be used.
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be used. In fact, we don't actually come upon the first kingdom until Genesis chapter 10. And then we find that we're actually encountering the first empire
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and that is the empire of Nimrod. And we will spend some time, I think next week, Lord willing, talking about the kingdom of of man and particularly Nimrod, uh,
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who is a much more significant character in biblical revelation than he's often given credit for. Um, and so we don't actually hear anything about a kingdom in Genesis 1 or Genesis 2. And and so I
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it might look like I'm making things up by talking about a garden, but I think John is going to come to my rescue and show that it does in fact
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um the the garden, especially the Garden of Eden, of Eden, does represent something, a concept that it was intimately related with the idea of a kingdom.
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shows up in the Psalms as well as in the prophets probably nowhere as vividly in as in the passion account of John's gospel.
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But it's also something that we find prevalent in ancient Neareastern religion or not religion, literature, the connection between a king and a
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garden. Now there's there's terminology that that both in the ancient world and in the scripture the scripture is oriented around this idea of a kingdom and again without actually using
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the word kingdom and I want to talk a little bit about that language.
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The concept again is that we recognize that the scripture is often talking about something about something without explicitly mentioning what it's talking about. talking about. And an initial reading of a particular
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passage may not reveal that. But further reading of the scripture, especially getting into the poetry, but also the prophets, we start to piece it together
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where the actual word kingdom is then used, but used in association not only with a garden, but with the garden. Okay? So, one of these words that I'm
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going to put up here is of course garden. Um but the concept
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is to recognize the theme even if the explicit word is not used. I have to be careful because once again you can get into what's called isogesis. You start seeing things things that
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aren't there and you you can't it's like allegory. you you can do it, but you need to do it cautiously and you need to constantly be
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looking at scripture to confirm the uh connections that you're making. So hopefully I've done that. I'm not going to be able to elucidate all of that in in the class period, but hopefully it's
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in the notes. Looking at the Psalms, looking at Jeremiah, looking at Isaiah, and especially we're going to talk about John, seeing that the Garden of Eden
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was u not just a second creation account, not just a different source material. uh we saw last time that it actually begins the text of Genesis in
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the sense that it begins with the toadote. These are the generations of which then mark off the various sections of the book of Genesis. Genesis 1 then
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being a prologue or or introduction. So we talked about that already. Um, but Genesis 2 is also incredibly important because it brings front and center this
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idea of a garden which later will will have variations on the theme. But in Isaiah 11, for example, we'll read about is it 11 or is
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it five? I think it's 11. Uh, the song of the vineyard, the vineyard that my beloved planted. Okay. and he transferred that vine into that vineyard
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which the the language is very much Genesis chapter 2 where God created a garden and then transferred man into it.
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And so what you see with the Exodus and and the conquest, you see a a reenactment as it were of creation. Now
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obviously it's a corrupt world at this point. So it's not a perfect restoration, but it is a typological one. Okay. So the the land of Canaan, the promised land then becomes and it's
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even spoken of as the garden of God. Okay? It's flowing with milk and honey. Um it's already prepared. You will drink from sistns that you did not he will you
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will draw wine from vineyards you did not plant. You will live in houses that you did not build. See, it's already ready for them. And God takes just as he took Adam and placed him in the garden.
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God takes Israel who is in a sense another Adam another Adam and from which will come the last Adam. Okay, remember what what he says to
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Pharaoh. Um this Israel is my son. So um the typology has its connections and the the garden becomes once again a
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motif a a language or a liturgy as it were for the rest of scripture.
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here are some words that often refer to not only kingdom, but the kingdom. We've already noticed that the the phrase the kingdom of God is it's not it's certainly not prevalent in the Old
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Testament. I'm not sure it's actually anywhere to be found in the Old Testament, but the concept is definitely there. And the idea of God as king is is
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is well established from the very beginning. And so we we but we don't actually come up with a kingdom even in Israel until many centuries after the
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Exodus. And so in coming weeks, we'll we'll talk about those early years of the conquest and of the judges finally leading up to Israel saying to Samuel, "We will have a
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king like the nations around us." and and we'll see that that's actually, you know, that Judges especially is is actually a very incredible book within
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the trajectory in the arc of Revelation because we see that as you read through Judges, you end up almost at the same chaos that existed
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before God said, "Let there be light." And many commentators have noticed that judges definitely spirals downward. Not only the judges themselves, but the
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situation in Israel and its apostasy spirals downward spirals downward and it's setting the stage for David.
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for David. So none of these things stand in isolation. They are all part of the one book, the one author and they all tie together with the theme and and as I
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said as we began this session um if not the major at least one of the major themes of biblical revelation is God's kingdom. So, um, the the words that are often
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used, well, one of them is mountain. And again, I'm going to talk about not only the biblical revelation, but I'm going to throw in the the contemporary
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environment that all of these things happened in the ancient near east. And and before I do that, this is a little bit of a a sidebar, but we've talked about this before. what what value is ancient
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history and archaeology to biblical studies? Okay. Um, and I think this is something that every Christian needs to work through there.
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There's certainly a branch within Christianity that finds no value whatsoever in any extra biblical research or information that it cannot
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shed any light on our understanding of scripture. And I respect that view mainly because I mean it's kind of hard to argue with a view that stands just firmly on scripture.
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There are other views that say that that everything coming out of the pagan world is of nature corrupt and wrong. But that presents a problem. And we
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talked about this when we talked about the similarities between the covenant of Sinai and the Hittite Suzaranti
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treaties. And there are those who who deny any similarity between the two. But there are times when the similarities are just too plain to deny. And that this is one
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of them in my opinion. But there are others. The liberal view is to say that yes, this was the general view in the pagan world of the ancient near east and Israel borrowed from it. And so they're
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saying that the Babylonians and the Egyptians and whatever they came up with, they were original and the Israel the Israelites just borrowed. So these are different perspectives and this is why I think it's important.
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I do think that we can gain from the additional knowledge that archaeology has discovered, has uncovered. And I
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think it's helpful for for me at least, it's helpful to see that the um the covenant with Israel at Sinai comes in the form of a souari treaty.
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Did Moses borrow from the Hittites or was this simply a standard legal procedure of the time?
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Does everything in scripture have to be humanly original? humanly original? Can there be nothing in scripture that has any parallel or comparison with the rest of the world? I think if we agree that all men are
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descended from one, there will be similarities. that God mediates his inspiration through human vessels and we can see that in scripture because the identity
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or the um the character of the individual authors is by no means uniform. Isaiah is different from Jeremiah who's different from Ezekiel, right? They're they're you can see their almost their
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personalities and yet they are inspired by the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit. And so I think it's it's to be expected that there will be some commonality not because Israel has
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borrowed but because all of mankind has one origin and therefore we all draw from the same well. Now the streams that passed down through
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history are all of them corrupt. We maintain that the only stream that is not corrupt is not corrupt because it has been given directly by revelation by
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God. That's the scripture. Okay? Much of the Israelite writing and Jewish writings aren't worth the papyrus they're written on.
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much of the rabbitic writings, the apocryphal writings, they're not worth anything in terms of truth because the Israelites were just as much members of a corrupt human race as the rest of us.
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Okay? So that there are similarities I think is something that we can accept without fear because everything has to be held against the word of God and
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because that is the only infallible truth and the only reason it's infallible is because it's God breathed. It's not transmitted by human oral tradition or written tradition. At least
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that's my perspective. So I think it is it is interesting to see the similarities because this is the world in which God
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worked out his revelation. He didn't drop it on plates of gold in reformed Egyptian. Okay? He didn't do that sort of stuff. He wasn't a scam artist. He
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mediated his revelation through living human beings. human beings. That's how he did it. I mean he revealed himself in his image Adam because
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ultimately he was going to reveal reveal himself in the last Adam his son. So it was all purposeful and I think we can accept without fear that this this whole
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thing was re was revealed through the instrumentation of a human society that in and of itself was no more infallible than any other human society of that
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time or since except when God moved holy men as Peter says to write his word. Okay. So that means his word
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is the ultimate measure against any extra biblical evidence that we might find. Um but it also means to me that we don't just throw out archaeology, throw
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out the the the original documents that we found or the fact that the ancient
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concept heavily involved the idea of high places. throw out the try to say this word you wrote twice and I highlighted
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pseudapigria no we don't throw out the pseudapigria um I don't I mean I think you just read it like it's not Bible um well yes it's it's it's kind of the
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writings and the Catholic Church accepts them as can we do not nor do the Jews um but they are they are very valuable for I I find that, you know, for the
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intertestamental period, they provide a great deal of historical evidence that we would otherwise lack, the Mcabes, for example. But I also find that you you
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see the Jewish understanding of their scriptures in these writings just like you would in Christian um songs, right? You'd never say that a Christian song, a
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Christian hymn is inspired, but that hymn is telling you something about the author's theology. author's theology. Okay? And and I think that that there's
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a benefit to that. It's it's like a commentary just in a different form. Okay? So I do think that and I've quoted from the pseuda pseudapigria in my notes
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because the concepts that we're talking about I I I feel like the church in general up until the last maybe 50 years
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has lost sight of the symbolic world of scripture. The pseudapigria actually has that.
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Now sometimes they carry it a little bit too far kind of like origin did in the early Christian history and you read it and say well you're you're inhaling. Okay. Um but nonetheless in general you
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can see that they understood their scriptures in a much more symbolic way than even the Sadducees did. So even the even in Jesus's time there were those
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who were just straight literalists and did not catch the s symbolism of scripture but they might have seen it in um in one of the of the pseudapigrapha.
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So no I don't think we throw it out but I don't think we ever treat anything like like we do scripture. And we talked about the development of the canon and how important it is that that it was
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never it was never authorized by any human beings. The Jews didn't get together at Jamnia in AD90 and say this is the Bible. Nor did the Christians in AD 325 say this is the Bible. All they
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did was recognize the letters and the books, the prophecies that had long been recognized as inspired. And I think that's the work of the Holy Spirit. That's a historical evidence of the work
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of the Holy Spirit. Okay? And so God has given us, that's what canon, the word canon means, rule, like a ruler. God has given us the metric by which we measure
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all these other things. Some of these pseudapigria is closer to scripture than others. Just like some Christian songs are closer to scripture than others. Does that does that explain how I stand
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on it? So when I read the archaeological discoveries, first of all, I've never found them to do anything but confirm the testimony of scripture, but also I find that they expand my
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horizon as to the world in which Moses lived. Now I mentioned this when we talked about the susaranti treaties. The similarities between the covenant at
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Sinai and the Hittite Suzaranti treaties is now widely accepted across both liberal and conservative biblical scholarship. But what the liberal scholars have
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failed to do is to take the step that would be necessary based on when the Hittites were actually around which was around 1700 BC not 1200 BC.
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Liberals believe that Moses the the books weren't actually written by Moses but they were written around 1,200 BC and later. The fact is they were written 500 years earlier which is the date you
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come up with if you look at the scripture. So here we have an extra biblical discovery of a civilization that for a long time people thought was just a madeup people from the Bible, the
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Hittites. We find out no, they were actually a very broad and powerful empire. And then we find out that they wrote their treaties to the vassels, the
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great king and the vassels that sound a whole lot like the Torah from Sinai. Okay. So the the benefit of that it it doesn't help prove anything in scripture
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but we can use the world's ammunition against them you know and say oh well you agree that this is the pattern of the susaranti treaty of the Hittites which lived around 1700
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not 1200 okay so that kind of places Moses back where we want to put him and not where you want to put him so I think that's a that's a ancillary benefit of
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of the extra biblical material so when we when we do look at this word mountain I mean it's basically a high place now if if you
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look at the topographic map of the ancient near east you have two major ri river rivers the tigris and the Euphrates and within that region you
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don't have many mountains you've got some mountains of the west near Syria and up into Turkey and you have mountains in the east way over in the Hindu Kush but then basically You have a
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relatively flat territory that these two major rivers flow from those mountains down to the sea. Okay. So, where are these mountains? Well, they built their
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own ziggurats. own ziggurats. They built their and it was the kings who built them. is very likely and and I'm kind of uh getting ahead of myself
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by several weeks, but we read in in Genesis 11, let us build a city and a tower that
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reaches into heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves. I am fairly convinced, though I cannot prove it. will not be dogmatic.
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But I don't think that was as much a chorus as a response. And I think if you look at the text, the person who was leading the response
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was actually Nimrod, the first world emperor. In other words, the first ruler of multiple cities.
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multiple cities. And he says, "Let us make a tower that reaches into heaven." So the the union of the religious and the civil was never in doubt in the ancient world. There was
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never an idea of the separation of church and state. Even though usually there was a priesthood separate from the royalty, the king was always recognized as the
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representation of the god or the gods. And oftentime And oftentime god, the national god was somehow worked in to the name of the king himself. And
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so there was there was a unity between the religion or the religious and the civil that you know we rail against today. We you know we don't want anything like that and we really don't want anything like that. But it's
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interesting that this was the millu in which God revealed himself through a people starting with Abram who very interesting is drawn out of one of Nimrod's great cities.
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That's not coincidental. Okay. That's significant. And it's also significant that the writer of Hebrews says that Abraham wasn't looking for another city or he
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could have gone back to where he came from. He was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. Okay? So city is another major term.
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In the ancient world, the city was was always the seat of royal power. And an empire was nothing more than multiple citystates that were held under sway by
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one ruler. So you had petty kingdoms which you had all around Israel. And what they were were basically one city and the territory around that city that
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that king controlled. Genesis 14, we have the war of the kings. Okay, the four kings against the five kings. The king of Sodom is one of
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them. And then out comes the king of Salem. He's not part of the war, but that's MelkiseDC. And then you have God's king, although he's not called a king, but he has an army. Okay? And he
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comes out and rescues his nephew. This is Abraham. So he he has a large army and he actually fights in a war of the kings. But he's not called a king. He
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doesn't have a kingdom. He doesn't have a city. a city. That's another very significant incident in scripture along this trajectory. First, that's actually along the
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trajectory of the kingdom of man. And we spend a lot of time in the Old Testament with the kingdom of man. Not just in Genesis up to Genesis chapter 11, but
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also the visions of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. Okay. The kingdom of man is a necessary backdrop for the re revelation of the kingdom of God. And we we'll get
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into that. But that I'm trying, you know, just saying that the city, this is how Augustine saw it when Rome was sacked in AD 410.
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He spent the next 16 years writing his magnum opus, the city of God. And in that, it's essentially a commentary on Genesis and on the Old Testament. He
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lays out the the um uh the difference the insurmountable difference between the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God. So that's that's
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a very important and and he said it's the city of man and the city of God. So these words are almost interchangeable. Zion is going to become the mountain and the city of our God. Zion is in
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Jerusalem. So city and mountain are often associated. and they're associated with the king. Psalm 24 is an excellent place to see that. Okay. So, mountain,
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city, river. Okay. River is uh another very important um typological word that is associated
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with a great kingdom city. Now, rivers flow downhill. They flow out of mountains. Rivers are also sources of life. um all human population even to
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this day. You can look this up tonight on Google map. Just look at the whatever it is Google Earth, okay? And you can see that mankind still lives very close to fresh water. With all our technology,
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we still live close to the water because without water, we can't really live. Um and and so that's that's the way it was in the ancient world, and it hasn't changed in 7,000 years. But the one who
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controlled the river was the most powerful person in in the region. And of course that's the king. So rivers were were another was another important word. And also this might not seem very
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neareastern um art and and um chronicles. The idea in in in the in the portraitures of the
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kings, there will almost be a large and very overwhelmingly fruitbearing tree because the idea of a tree is that not only of
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stability but also of provision. This of course is closely united with the the last one garden.
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This really shows up in a lot of ancient imagery from all of the ancient e ancient neareastern and even eastern kingdoms like China. You have a
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tremendous amount of imagery that associates royalty with gardening and with a tree or a forest of trees.
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even into the Middle Ages, the idea of the king's forest or the idea of the king's garden, this is not just a little vegetable patch out out back. This this was something that was um it was a
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source of great pride and prestige, the royal garden. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was Nebuchadnezzar's hanging gardens.
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Because a garden speaks some very important principles. We think of kings as warriors and without a doubt they they are that's how
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that's how kings win their kingdoms is by fighting but a fighting king is not a settled king. A fighting king is still
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at risk of losing his kingdom. A settled king is one who like Nebuchadnezzar goes out onto his balcony and says look at this Babylon that I have made.
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and God strikes him down and he ends up seven years in the wilderness like an animal. Okay, but that's a settled king. That's a king who has who has firmed up his rule. And what does he do? He builds
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I think it does connect to David not being allowed to build the temple because he was a man of blood and the temple is supremely the garden of God. the imagery um and the accents that you
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read about in the temple as with the tabernacle are all reminiscent of the garden of Eden. Okay. The the the um weavingings in the in the tapestries,
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the pomegranates that that are sewn in and made of gold and brass and whatever. Um it is all very gardenike because it is uh reminiscent of the garden of Eden.
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So yeah, I think it does tie to that. So the idea of the garden I I think is the idea
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of peace and stability. A, as I said, a king at war doesn't have time to plant a garden. But a king at peace with his realm under control, that's what they did. And
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there's a great deal of evidence, some of it's quoted in the notes, but there's a great deal of evidence that this was common practice in the ancient near east for kings. Oftentimes the gardens were walled. Often times the gardens were
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were grown on man-made mountains in the midst of the royal city. Okay? So these things get combined. Of course, they had to be irrigated while the city is
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usually near a river. the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Indis, but that's where the water would come from. Um so all of these things come together under the opaces of a ruling monarch and they were
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symbolic of his power and of his um of his scope because not only was he powerful militarily
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powerful militarily in the pagan world. A king with a large garden park garden park was manifesting was manifesting the favor of the gods because the park
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represented prosperity represented prosperity and fertility. and fertility. Again, these were not just gu vegetable patches. These were elaborate gardens with both fruitbearing trees and plants
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but also all manner of different they would bring plants from other parts of their realm because that it would be like a managerie of plants because that again spoke of the extent of their
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realm. So again these are the words that you see in scripture frequently and they're often together. often together. You know who will go up to the Lord? who
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you know that's the mountain. Okay. Uh so the the the city Zion, the mountain, these are all tied together. The river that flows through it that makes glad
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the city of God. Well, there's a river that flows through Eden and then divides into four other rivers. So there there's a river in Eden. Uh which means if the river is if there's four rivers flowing
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out of the river in Eden, Eden must be I think water ran downhill then like it does now. And so Eden must have been on a high place. And I think that's the
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residual memory that caused the pagan successors to that memory to worship their gods where in the high places.
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And even in the Middle Ages, where did we build our cathedrals? On the high places. Means the idea is the higher you are, the closer you are to God. I obviously it's not true but
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it's a very u ineterate idea. It's it's well planted in the human psyche. Okay. So these are these are all words that together form a complex
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a complex that speaks of kingdom and of rule of both reign and realm without even mentioning the words. Okay. So
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that's kind of the summary of this. you've got
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and I think this idea of of words as I said earlier really lies at the heart of the typological hermeneutic. Learning to recognize
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common sets of words that are used in different not only different places in scripture but more importantly different genre of scripture. You find it in the
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narratives. You find it in the in the wisdom literature and the poetry. You find it in the prophecy. You find it in the apocalyptic like Revelation and Ezekiel. You find these complex of word
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not necessarily all of them but several of them and they all point to the same concept and that is kingdom. Okay. So it it is a complex that that means kingdom.
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And often, well, I should say both positively and negatively, it can be used by the psalmist to speak of the kingdom of God, both again his his reign, his power, but
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also his realm, the scope of that power. But you can also read it in the kingdom of man in Nimrod, for example, and his tower. Okay? And again, I'm I'm going to
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take the position, and you need not you can read Genesis 10 and 11 and either agree with me or disagree, but I'm going to take the position as we move through that section of scripture that Nimrod
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is highlighted because he's the first world emperor and probably the motive force behind the Tower of Babel. Okay? Um he's kind of a prototype of the
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kingdoms of man and of the of the powerful human empire that will then be succeeded by the Babylonian the Assyrian the Meo Persian the Greek the Roman
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that's all going to work into what will eventually become the visions in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. But they had their beginning way back. What what is the you know after killing his brother?
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What was the first material thing that Cain did when he was banished from the presence of God? He built a city. Now if you read that passage closely,
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you think you think he had a wife and a son. This does not a city make. Okay, you need a city for three people.
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Well, obviously time has passed and people have actually and this is not even in the text so I you know I can't but we know from the text that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters right
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and those sons and daughters married and they had children we know that there's an entire descent of um Adam and Eve that were completely white wiped out by the flood right not
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just the descends of Cain but all of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve except for the line of Seth which was in one man and his sons and their wives. His wife, you know, eight
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souls, okay? But all of the other descendants of Adam were wiped out, right? Which means they did not walk with God. They did not call upon the name of the Lord, which we first read in
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association with Seth, not with Cain. So I think it is reasonable to surmise that many of these other descendants of Adam and Eve and Eve took to Cain as their leader.
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But I think it's significant in the text even though it doesn't elaborate it and on the surface of it it seems to say too much with too few words. The first thing he did was built a city.
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The city becomes a center of human power and a center of human rebellion. And I think to large measure, and Augustine would agree with me, it always
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has represented that that the city whose builder and maker is God is far more spiritual than it is material.
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It is the the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven. It is in fact the church, the bride of Christ. And there's no earthly city. As I said two weeks ago, there is no human government, any
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form of human government in any age or in any place that even remotely approximates the kingdom of God. They are different by kind, not just degree.
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And and I think that's a very necessary preconclusion to this study because we our tendency is to try to um use analog.
40:01
Oh, this is like when no actually it's not [clears throat] like it's not like any and that's where the church has often gone horribly wrong is thinking that a particular form of government
40:13
somehow approximates the kingdom of God on earth. It it does not and every attempt to do so has been horribly misguided and often tragic. So um
40:27
the the city of man There's so many different ways the scripture refers to the city Babylon the [ __ ] That's one that kind of sticks out. Okay. But it's pretty hard to find
40:40
any positive reference to a city an actual physical city that is in itself like Jerusalem or Zion. And usually it's Zion we're reading about
40:50
unless it's obviously typological and symbolic. You your cities are Babylon, Sodom, and Gomorrah. Okay. Uh Nineveh, you know,
41:01
your cities are cesspools of human corruption and rebellion against divine authority. That's that's the city. So these words they're they're kind they
41:14
form a complex and and I I maintain, you know, we talked about those who believe that the kingdom of God is purely his reign over people's hearts. We talked about the the historic view
41:26
that led to things like the crusades or the idea of European Christendom and that is it is a physical realm. It's a physical territory over which Christianity dominates through the Holy
41:38
Roman Emperor through the pope. Okay, those two views are extreme opposites and extremely wrong. But I think they both
41:51
being most insidious in error contain germs of truth that the kingdom of God is most certainly
42:04
the abstract concept of his reign, his rule. But I also think that we see and we will see that there's never been a kingdom that didn't have a realm.
42:15
That realm may not actually consist of physical territory. It may only consist of a people. Abram and Abraham was Abram. Abraham started when he was Abram
42:29
was definitely considered by his his contemporaries, his neighbors as functioning as a king. He was a tribal king and he had an army but he had no
42:40
realm. He had no land. So he was a weird thing. He was a nomad king. But but I think the concept of kingdom has to have both reign and realm.
42:53
Not necessarily in equal. In fact, I think reign precedes realm in actual manifestation. And I think that statement
43:03
kind of gives away the punchline with regard to the relationship of the church and the kingdom that we are very much in a period of rain not realm
43:16
but the realm will come and it will be the entire earth and the heavens. Um there is an aspect of realm today
43:27
but it is not territorial in in the manner of medieval christrysendom or of the uh the holy lands and and utramare the the the Christian kingdom of
43:38
Jerusalem and all that idea that that was that was messed up. Okay. It also has nothing to do with political parties has nothing to do with red state blue state. Okay. Every move in that
43:51
direction is is a move in the direction of error and sometimes dangerous error. We I think we it's very important that we understand that that the idea of rain
44:02
is primary to realm. Does that make sense? Any questions, comments?
44:18
Yes, I believe. But I also believe that the realm is the whole cosmos but Christ's consumate reign 1 Corinthians 15 is not
44:28
yet manifest. So I believe his reign is expanding through the power of the gospel. His realm will be made manifest at the
44:48
two. Good for you. No, that's fantastic. Okay, because I always thought for a long time I just I never really thought about it. But you think about creation and you think about the Garden of Eden
44:59
and it's very easy to think that they were co-extensive, were co-extensive, but they were not. And that's what's so important about Genesis 2. That's where we're headed right now. He said he he
45:10
planted a garden east of Eden. East of Eden. That's a direction, which mean it wasn't all of Eden. Okay. And we should have gathered that
45:20
from Genesis 1 when God said to man or he created man to do what? Subdue the earth. What's that all about?
45:31
You think about that. What do you mean subdue the earth? The kingdom of God was supposed to expand out of Eden through the procreation of God's image, man.
45:45
And I believe, and this is a obviously it's a hypothetical that has no bearing. Um, if man had not sinned, the garden in its sense, the garden would have
45:56
expanded without interruption from Eden. The garden of Eden, however, would have remained the center. It would have remained the place where
46:08
God walked with man. And this concept of a place where God walks with man, then goes into the tabernacle, then goes into the temple, then goes into the church.
46:19
Okay? There is a place, and this is maybe the realm that we talk about, the physical realm where God and man meet in grace. If Adam had not fallen,
46:32
what would the earth have become but a garden? And what will be the earth in the new
46:42
age if not a garden? Right? I mean the curse was that the garden or the earth would refuse to yield up its bounty which implies that
46:55
it was willing to yield up its bounty before man plunged it into corruption. Right? So the the I think what scriptur is teaching us is that Eden was a
47:07
particular place on the earth that was not co-extensive with the whole planet but that man was to expand from
47:17
by being fruitful and multiplying and subduing the earth. God dwells.
47:29
Um Zion is another word for it in scripture. Yes. Zion is another form of it especially in the Psalms. Zion is as much a concept as it is a physical mountain and a very important concept
47:41
that we will get into because it's tied. Who to whom is Zion tied in terms of humanly speaking?
47:52
H David. Yeah. Zion is tied to the king. Okay. But the king is simply a representative of the great king. Right. And so, yeah, Zion, Zion is a form of
48:04
Eden. The temple is also a form of Eden. And and what I what I'm saying is is that this is this is the realm. There's like a uh well actually the word and
48:15
I've used it before but um
48:26
uh there are a lot of scholars that disagree with the concept I'm about concept I'm about to present and I don't know why I don't know why they're bundy's in an unundle because it's it's it's very common in ancient writings and
48:38
it it can be seen in especially discussions of Zion in the Psalms and that is this this idea of an axis
48:55
which is an axis of course is the is the thing around which everything spins. It's the center of the earth
49:24
It's where God and man meet in grace. It it is a center point. And I maintain that Eden is that axis mundi. And and that would fit very well with much of ancient cosmology
49:36
that believe that there was a point at which and even the Psalms where it talks about bend the heavens and come down and the Lord coming down even in the prophecies coming down on Mount um on
49:47
what is it? Mount um olive the Mount of Olives. Okay. the the idea of God coming down. The idea of the gods coming down that that was that it was a very
49:58
important concept in ancient religion that God the gods were normally separate from man but there was a place at which
50:08
God touched down and that was invariably the temple. That's where they would build the temple and often had tremendous rituals to find the place.
50:19
Well, how is that different than Jacob encountering God at Bethl is the ladder and the angels going up and down the ladder and he says surely God is in this place and he built an
50:31
altar and named it what? The house of God. Okay, so that there there's that mindset that while God is is ubiquitous, God is everywhere. He's omnipresent.
50:42
He's not omnipresent in a manner like the temple where he walks and talks with his people and communicates with his
50:53
people. He doesn't do that everywhere. He's still in control of everywhere, but he has and so what what is the axis mundi of a king? Well, it's his throne
51:06
room. Now, heaven is God's throne room and earth is his foottool, but that's all the same really. The throne and the foottool were part of the same piece of furniture.
51:18
And so that the the whole concept of where God sits and where God resides is the idea of eventually the whole earth.
51:28
But in the in the creation of it, in the unfolding of God's plan, he never he never intended that his creation would be ruled
51:40
be ruled but through man. He never intended to rule creation directly but only immediately through his image.
51:54
Now he always intended that that image would be fully and finally taken up by himself in his son eternal God. Okay, Jesus Christ. But the
52:08
last Adam is the fulfillment of the purpose of the first Adam, not the remedy for the mistake of the first Adam. That's where we get it wrong. We think that God sent Jesus because Adam
52:20
screwed up. screwed up. And I know it doesn't sound right, but Adam screwed up because God was sending Jesus. I know that doesn't sound right and
52:30
there's a lot of theology is probably wrong with that statement. [laughter] Okay? And so I don't want to go into it too deeply. I think I'll get in trouble. But I I I think we do have the cart before the horse when we think that God
52:40
responded to Adam's sin by coming up with the plan of sending his son. No. He had planned to glorify himself in his image, his son from before the
52:51
foundation of the earth. Which meant he had always planned to govern and rule his creation immediately through man.
53:02
Which is why Eden is not co-extensive with the earth. The whole purpose of creation was that God would rule his creation immediately through his image
53:13
and his image would extend the glory of God out from the axis mundi to the uttermost parts of the earth which is exactly what Jesus said would happen with the preaching of the gospel.
53:26
Talking about the focal point
53:47
better for you that I go so that the helper may come. That's better. But it's not a focal point. That is right. Uh it is not a focal
53:58
point. It is decentralized and that's an important point in the church because the church is the fuller manifestation of the intended purpose of creation and
54:11
of Israel. It was never just as Eden was never meant to be the only place. But we can take Eden and we can say okay Eden now Canaan.
54:24
Now, Israel was not supposed to go out into all the earth, but their witness was. Okay? They they were to live with God in that central place, but their witness
54:35
was to testify of the grace and glory of God to all the surrounding nations. And then we can move from there. I believe we can go from there to Pentecost
54:46
and God came down. The difference being is that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, now the message goes out to the to the whole this gospel. The
54:58
gospel of what? The gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the ends of the earth and then the end will come. The gospel of
55:09
the kingdom. I think it's an amazing phrase because it's just shows that's what's all it's always been about this. It's really been about the kingdom of God through man.
55:32
right? It gets wider as it goes. It covers more and more. and more. Yeah. The river, the river of Ezekiel. And we'll what I'm going to what I'm planning on doing these are really kind
55:43
of we're just in Genesis. Um in several weeks, I think it's week seven. We're going to look at um basically going from Sinai through Joshua the
55:55
conquest through judges to the point at which the people say to Samuel we will have a king. From there we go Saul, David, Solomon.
56:05
All right. So the looking at it kingdom-wise, it it really the scripture overlays this idea of the development of the concept of the kingdom of God very nicely and Ezekiel certainly. But okay,
56:19
Ezekiel has a river flowing out of the temple that gets wider and deeper as it goes. But Jesus says, "Those who believe in me, out of them will come rivers of living water." Okay, rivers show up. And
56:29
what is in the city in Revelation 21 and 22? A river along each side is the tree of life that gives the leaves give give healing to the nations, right? Like,
56:41
wow, this it's all there. Okay, it's just it's beautiful. It's just like a tapestry and we're following one, you know, one thread of it. But I think this is a the kingdom is a far bigger part of
56:54
it. Now, what I think has happened to much of Christianity is we've been convinced that Israel is a major theme in biblical revelation.
57:07
No, it's a subthe. It's not a major theme. It has its time. Now the people are still there and we can get into you know I've said that before they they God's calling is
57:19
without repentance but its purpose is finished in the coming of Messiah. Okay. So we we we look at the wrong
57:30
things and then we try to fit the rest of scripture around the wrong trajectories. Kingdom is is much broader. The son of man is much broader than Israel.
57:43
Just think about
58:06
Yes. The centralized aspect of the axis bund and I was actually heading there. The the the centralized where God and man meet in grace. Well, that ultimately
58:26
this is Jesus Christ. This is where God meets man in grace. And there's no place else. And so yes, it's decentralized in the sense of a geographical location, but it is still centralized in the person of Jesus
58:38
Christ, which means it's centralized in his body. So it's decentralized in the spread and the growth of the church, but is still centralized in the body of Christ, the church, where God and man
58:51
meet in grace. Bill being punished essentially and then God relents in the punishment.
59:03
Uh I I think that that we see David in the census succumbing to the to the mentality of the kingdom
59:14
of man. of man. And that shows us that even though God has answered the demand of the people and given them a king after his heart as
59:28
opposed to the one that was first after their heart. Okay? A king who fulfills the prophecy of the scepter not departing from Judah and a king with whom he makes
59:40
an everlasting covenant. 2 Samuel 7. In spite of all those things, this ain't it. Okay, this isn't it.
59:51
And David shows there he betrays his own heart as he has in other matters too. We can get, you know, you know what matters I mean. Um, but he betrays his own
1:00:02
desire for making a name for himself, which is what a census does. Okay. Um and and I think yes I think that ties into all of this and and that will come
1:00:13
out when we talk about the Davidic period of the kingdom of God. These things had their glory and they had their purpose but they were never the full extent.
1:00:30
Yes. Yes. That's a good point. So even out of that judgment comes grace because God's purpose is not thwarted by our mistakes. But our mistakes are very important. Not
1:00:41
not that they needed to happen or shouldn't have not happened, but they're very important in biblical revelation because they show us that every step of the way God's un un he's unveiling his
1:00:52
purpose and his plan, but this isn't quite it. Okay? So when we'll see that with the conquest for example when all fall before Israel most of the time okay
1:01:02
and even in the first chapter of judges and then everything goes down the toilet it just spirals downward into chaos um and so we come have to pick up the
1:01:13
pieces again and so you have that we saw this in the second session of biblical theology you have that pattern of of exile and then exodus I'm sorry yeah
1:01:24
exile and then exodus this there's there's being you're thrown out of the garden and we start to draw back through Abram or Abraham, okay? And then Israel is Abraham's descendants go down into
1:01:35
Egypt. That's a form of exile. They end up in in bondage there. And then the exodus and then of course Israel goes into exile. And the the exodus from that
1:01:49
exile hadn't fully occurred until the advent of Christ the Messiah, which is redundant. Um because that's what it means. All right. So, let's let's turn
1:02:00
to um John because I want to spend some time talking about John. And if you have your Bibles, turn with me to John 18. Now John's gospel is clearly different
1:02:13
from Matthew, Mark and Luke. They are called the synoptic gospel because um scholars believe that what they're doing is just giving a synopsis
1:02:24
or a summary of the events of Jesus's ministry. Now, that is a very porative title and we use it for convenience, but
1:02:34
there's a tremendous amount of theology in the synoptics. Okay? We we say that there's synoptics because what we're really doing is we're recognizing that they have a different format
1:02:47
than John. Okay? That's all. They have a similar format, but we need to be careful that by saying synoptic, we don't minimize the the theology that's
1:02:57
revealed there. um and just say, okay, this is just, you know, a record of events. But we go to John, and John is, you know, obviously different. And as I mentioned, he he starts this out by
1:03:09
going back to Genesis, but the passion account is is unique among the four gospels because in several places in chapters
1:03:21
18, 19, and 20, he makes a point to mention that the things that are happening are happening in a garden.
1:03:38
And on the face of it, there's no obvious significance to that statement, but he makes it over and over again. It's not like he mentions it once,
1:03:49
he mentions it several times. And I think that those who recognize the connection between John's account of the
1:04:00
passion and Adam's and Adam's fall in the garden are recognizing John's purpose that he he there are other places in
1:04:11
John that we can show that he's his he's he his framework the framework for him laying out this particular gospel is the framework of Genesis. the first chapters
1:04:22
of Genesis, but he also brings in, for example, he's the one who says before Abraham was, I am. Okay? And and he he talks about some of the things that
1:04:32
happened with the water from the rock. And uh so, but Genesis especially is a major overlay or framework for John's
1:04:43
gospel. And so, when you recognize that, again, that's typological hermeneutic. You're reading the scripture the way John read his scripture. and you recognize that he's not simply giving an interesting
1:04:55
horicultural aside to the events of the passion. That would be a waste of ink and he's not doing that. So, in John chapter 18,
1:05:12
we read of the garden of Gethsemane. John chapter 18, first um three verses. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the ravine of the Kidedron where there was a
1:05:24
garden into which he himself entered and his disciples. Now Judas also who was betraying him knew the place that Jesus had often uh met there with his
1:05:35
disciples. Judas then having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees came there with
1:05:47
um with lanterns and torches and weapons. So we start out with the garden of Gethsemane. Now that's actually mentioned in the other gospels. That's
1:05:59
where we get the name. John doesn't mention the name Gethsemane. And I think that's also significant. He says there was a garden. He that's how he's going to refer to it
1:06:10
in chapter 18, chapter 19. And then finally in chapter 20, there was a gardener. And he's the only one who mentions that.
1:06:21
But he doesn't say it's the garden of Gethsemane or the garden of Joseph of Arya, you know, or the garden of Golgtha. He doesn't mention any names. He just says there was a garden. And I
1:06:32
think that's that subtle echo that we've talked about before that we we just we just hear it faintly and yet fairly strong. There was a garden and what
1:06:42
happens in this garden
1:07:16
Now we know from the other gospel accounts what what happened. We don't read in John that he spent time in prayer. Uh that's a very important. That's why the synopticses are are very vital. They provide not only data that's
1:07:29
missing in John, but they they help flesh out the theology even of John's gospel. So he spent time earnestly in prayer, praying as it were with drops sweat as of blood coming from him,
1:07:41
asking that this cup might pass from him, but not my will, but yours be done. Now, this isn't a garden, okay? This is this is the garden of of
1:07:51
Eden over again. This is the temptation of Adam over again only it's going to turn out differently. Okay. Jesus is now at the
1:08:02
point at which he is voluntarily submitting himself submitting himself to all the divine punishment brought about by what the first Adam failed to
1:08:15
do in the first garden. So this is the res the restorative garden. This is the garden which and I'm not going to maintain that it's all the
1:08:25
same garden. John doesn't so I don't think there's any need to but I think that that would complicate the typology if you if you realize well the garden at Gethsemane is not the same garden in
1:08:35
which Jesus was crucified. Oh okay. Well that wasn't important to John. He's not dealing with geography here or even topography. He's dealing with typology.
1:08:51
passes through the Lord. He's in a garden. He's in He is right. He He is Axis Mundi. So where he is is the garden of God. But and and I think it would be uh
1:09:02
distracting and and misleading if John had done that. But I think there's a purpose. I you know I'm not sure that and I've said this when we talked about
1:09:13
echoes. It's hard not to see that an author consciously cites a passage and its author. Okay? As it is says in Isaiah.
1:09:23
Okay. All right. That was conscious. Even an illusion is usually conscious. All right. So that if I say it was the best of times and it
1:09:35
was the worst of times. Okay. Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens. All right. There's an illusion, but I'm doing it consciously. Echoes are often subconscious.
1:09:48
So, I'm not saying that John was like, "Oh, no. I could use this. I'm going to say garden." No, I think he's so immersed in the revelation of God through scripture that he recognized
1:10:00
what's going on. He didn't recognize when he was witnessing it. He was asleep. But now that he has the Holy Spirit, he
1:10:10
he he remembers what happens, but in floods all of scripture and he sees why it was a garden.
1:10:22
And so that's why he says there was a garden there. There was a garden there. He doesn't tell us which garden that it was. Now it does appear that the next
1:10:32
two events do occur either in the same garden or very close by. But all right. So the garden of Gethsemane we know
1:10:55
and I I write it this way for a reason. Jesus wrestles with the will of his father because I think that we have more here um we we have more the idea of
1:11:07
Jacob than we do of Adam. When we read the account of the fall in Genesis chapter 3, we don't see a whole lot of resistance on the part of Adam, do we?
1:11:17
We read, "And she took and she ate and she gave to her husband who was with her and he ate." Wow, that was tough. You really fought that one hard.
1:11:29
Okay, way to go, Adam. You really worked up a sweat resisting the tempter. No, Jesus is showing us what it means to resist the devil.
1:11:40
And he does it with drops of blood. Uh, and he's perfect. I mean, he's without sin. Well, so was Adam. Sorry, at the time. So was Adam. Okay. So you you have
1:11:52
a reenactment as it were, but also a
1:12:07
There's a phrase, I don't know where it came from, came from, but it's often used in the corporate world. There's nothing left but the
1:12:21
Usually comes out of a meeting. Uh that somewhat applies although there was no screaming because he was led silently as a lamb to his slaughter. But when he came forth from Gethsemane, the deal was done, wasn't it?
1:12:35
There was nothing left but the actual doing of the deed. But as far as he was concerned, he was dead in a sense. He laid down his life in Gethsemane. He
1:12:45
gave up his spirit on the cross, but he laid down his life in Gethsemane. Okay. And so that that's that's where Adam failed and he failed very quickly.
1:12:56
But Jesus through great uh what does the writer of Hebrews say? Um ow how does he put it? Anybody help me here?
1:13:06
I'm getting confused with what Paul says about groanings. Too deep for words. But um the writer of Hebrews talks I think about Jesus in the garden.
1:13:18
Oh, I probably won't be able to find it.
1:13:47
I'm sorry. I'm not finding it. I thought it was in the Hebrews chapter 2, but it talks about what Jesus suffered in the garden. Verse five. Verse five. Oh, okay. All right. I'm not even in the
1:13:59
right chapter. right chapter. Yes, there we go. Thank you. In the days of his flesh, he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from
1:14:10
death. And he was heard because of his piety. Okay. So that that's Gethsemane and and so that's that's the reenactment of of the fall but but the restoration
1:14:23
of man because now man has been sorely tempted once again and he says no not my will but yours be done and he gives up
1:14:33
his life. his life. Moving on then to John 19 um [clears throat] verses 41 and 42 of John
1:14:46
19 we read now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden
1:14:58
and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was
1:15:08
nearby, they laid Jesus there. Uh, this seems pretty much to unite the crucifixion and the resurrection
1:15:18
occurring in the same garden. I mean, it says that, but again, just the way he says it, in the place of the crucifixion, there was a garden, and in
1:15:30
the garden, there was a tomb. Why don't you just say near where he was crucified there was a tomb? I mean, you could do that and probably your grammar teacher would have you do
1:15:41
it because it cuts out words, right, that are extraneous and unnecessary. They're not unnecessary. Okay? Because what was Jesus hanged
1:15:54
upon? A tree. A tree. Now, it's it's implied, isn't it? But we do know that cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. And Jesus bore the curse upon himself
1:16:07
because Paul says for cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. Now it was a cross. It was a crucifix but it was called a tree by scripture. So you you
1:16:18
have then in John 19
1:16:34
You have both the place of his death and of his burial and ergo his resurrection are in a garden. It's almost as though John sees the entire passion event
1:16:46
from his betrayal to his resurrection as taking place typologically speaking in Eden in the very place where God
1:16:58
walked in the garden and said, "Adam, where are you?" The very place where Adam was tempted, succumbed and fell. So where mankind was
1:17:09
subjected and creation was subjected in a garden that God had planted, mankind and creation are now redeemed in a garden.
1:17:20
a garden. That that the connection I think is irrefutable. Okay. So the crucifixion and the resurrection take in the same place and once again mentioned twice
1:17:34
mentioned twice a garden very simply and I don't you know I hope you don't think I'm making too much of this um I
1:17:46
don't think I am. Not every certainly not every commentator of John 18:1, 19, and 20 pick up on this. Actually, more modern commentators are
1:17:58
seeing it seeing it because typological hermeneutics is finally coming back into biblical studies. The idea of biblical theology is is making great inroads in modern
1:18:10
biblical studies, and I'm I'm glad to see it. But I think for many many generations, we were just looking for the facts. the facts. And frankly, the mention of a garden in
1:18:20
these passages does not seem to shed any meaningful light on the events that are taking place. So I think rightfully to
1:18:30
an extent at Gethsemane, we focus on his prayer. Okay? Or we focus on Judas's betrayal with the events that are taking place. And and that's fine. But I don't
1:18:42
think any scripture should be simply anything in scripture should be simply ignored. And something as anomalous and seemingly meaningless as a mention of a garden
1:18:54
probably isn't anomalous or meaningless is what I'm saying. Okay? That that John is inspired. is inspired. It means the Holy Spirit is causing him to use the mention of a garden without
1:19:06
naming that garden and to do it again in the next chapter. And then finally, we get to Mary. Now, that's already significant because in the ancient
1:19:17
world, the testimony of of a woman was inadmissible in any legal or binding court. So, this is again kind of backhanded
1:19:27
proof that scripture is not man-made because if this if scripture had been made by the church, to whom would Jesus have first revealed himself?
1:19:39
Peter. I mean, come on. And if the Pope doesn't see him first, something's wrong. But in the ancient world, he would not have revealed himself to a
1:19:53
woman. There's just no way around that. You, if this is made up by the church, it was made up by a bunch of idiots because it just wouldn't do that. But, you know, John 20, it's Mary who's the first to
1:20:06
see the risen Lord, right? So there's the there's a garden and and again here we have full.
1:20:39
Yeah, we know what town he's in. That's right. He because the town really doesn't matter. But he's he's going through this town. He's in Bethda. He's in, you know, he's in Capernium. And but he goes up to a mountain to pray, you know, and and uh again, I I don't want
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to make too much of the mountain, but it was it was his practice to go up into a mountain to pray. Okay. So that's kind of giving sanction to the idea of the
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high place which is again doesn't mean that Jesus was borrowing from the pagans because the high place was Zion and Zion as I said was as much or more a
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spiritual concept as it was a physical location. Zion was the mountain of god. Now the decentralization because he was the son of god and the mobile axis mundi Zion
1:21:27
was ever was wherever he was. So in a sense whatever mountain he was on was Zion when he was transfigured he was manifestally not where
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Moses and Elijah knew where to show up. Good point. Because both Moses and Elijah were I mean I don't know. Did Elijah ever get the Horeb?
1:21:51
Yeah. Yes, he did. That's right. Right before. Of course he did. Uh yeah. How can I forget that? Get up you whiner. [laughter]
1:22:02
I have 7,000 bail. You know, come on. Yeah, that was Horeb. That was that was Sinai. And that ties into the the the transfiguration, which although I think that's Matthew, but it's still it's not
1:22:14
physically Sinai where it occurs. And yet Moses and and uh Elijah GPS got them right to where they needed to be because Jesus is Sinai. Jesus is Zion. You know,
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he becomes Axis Mundi wherever he may be. And I think that's still true today. Okay. So Okay. So it's go ahead.
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My kingdom is not of this world. Yes. Not of this world. It's not right. And and he says my kingdom is not of this world. It is no longer. And again you just I think you mentioned the
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woman at the well. You know I'm not I'm not worshiped. God is not going to be worshiped on Zion or or on Gerazim. You know God is looking for worshippers in spirit and truth. In other words, those
1:23:02
who worship in me are the true worshippers of God. He now becomes the the mobile Zion, the mobile Sinai. I think that works into the idea of the law of liberty that that he is
1:23:14
everything that was that was fixed in time and place. He is now fully and eternally immortally in himself. So that that that um and so it's but it's in a
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garden. Now, finally, John 20. Uh, again, this seems like a very odd um statement to record.
1:23:38
What is the meaning of this? Verses 14- 16 of John 20.
1:24:02
When she had said this, she had she had asked the um angel, "Where where's the body? They've taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and beheld their beheld Jesus
1:24:14
standing there, and she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her,"Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? supposing him to be a gardener.
1:24:27
She said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
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Verse always cracks me up. I mean, just it's so vivid. It's so powerful. Jesus said to her, "Mary, that's it.
1:24:56
and her eyes were opened. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rebeloni," which means teacher, just turned and said, "Mary." It's it's this idea of a mistaken identity. But Jesus, but John has a a
1:25:09
common uh trope in his letter, in his gospel, and we see it in several places, but it's where somebody speaks more than they know. Kaius, Pilate, you know, and
1:25:21
he says he prophesied even though he didn't know it because he was high priest that year. You know, this idea of speaking more than they know. Mary was speaking more than she knew.
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And John is putting an absolute exclamation point on his echoing of Eden because who was the first gardener of
1:25:47
Eden? Adam, he was placed in the garden to tend and to keep it, which two words in Hebrew would later in numbers describe the function of the Levites in the
1:25:58
temple or the tabernacle. They were to tend and keep it. So the first gardener was Adam. The last gardener was Jesus.
1:26:11
He's back in his garden as it were. Okay? And and Mary is not prophesying and she doesn't understand what she's saying, but nor did Caiaphas and nor did
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Pilate. But she says, supposing him to be the gardener, what does that add to the dialogue?
1:26:34
Unless we recognize the connection John is already making to the Garden of Eden. Unless we recognize the connection he's already making between Jesus in the
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garden where he is praying, he is tempted, he resists the temptation and submits fully to the will of the father where for that reason he is crucified
1:26:56
and because of that submission he is raised from the dead and in the risen form she looks at him and thinks he's the gardener and in fact he is. He's
1:27:09
not. She's not really misspeaking or mistaking his identity. She's actually again speaking more than she knows. So
1:27:20
in in this passage, Jesus is revealed
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the gardener. But when we tie it all back together and these complex of words and the fact that we're in a garden, then we come to the conclusion that Jesus is the king.
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He He is the absolute fulfillment of the primary intention of the creation of man in God's image. He is God's vice regent.
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He is king of the universe. Matthew says it differently. Matthew records Jesus saying, "All authority has been given me in heaven and earth." That's the same thing. In the ancient world, the
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gardener with a capital G was the king. And so, he is the gardener. He is
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the king. Let's close in prayer. Father, again we thank you for your word, for the richness and depth of it, for the the way that it just paints such a a beautiful portrait, a tapestry woven
1:28:33
together in threads of gold and silver and revelation. and revelation. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he did go to the garden, that he resisted the tempter, that he submitted
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to your will fully, that he laid down his life as a ransom for many. We thank you that you did not let his body undergo decay, but he was raised
1:28:56
from the grave in that same garden in which he was killed. And we do thank you that he has taken possession of the true garden of God. He is the gardener. He is the king. He is our Lord. And we give
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you all the glory and the praise for him and in his name. Amen.