Return from Exile and the Renewal of God's People E-Book

Nicholas G. Piotrowski

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Short Studies in Biblical Theology
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 290

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Accessible Guide Explores Humanity's Exile and the Hope of Atonement God's people, once resting in his divine presence, now toil in exile. The theme of humanity's expulsion and wandering begins with Adam and Eve, but echoes in events throughout the Bible. Emphasizing the pain of separation from God, exile stories also highlight the hope of resurrection and creation's imminent restoration back to the Edenic state. In this addition to the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series, Nicholas G. Piotrowski traces the theme of exile throughout Scripture, giving readers a renewed appreciation for redemptive history and atonement in Christ. Sharing from his 15 years of study, Piotrowski connects the journeys of Abraham, Joseph, and Jesus with tabernacle imagery and other types to illustrate recurring themes of exile from Genesis until the new creation. This accessible volume helps believers understand their own exile and rejoice with the hope that they will one day worship in God's holy presence. - Brief and Easy to Understand: Piotrowski's clear style makes this theologically rich guide accessible for students and teachers as well as new Christians - Comprehensive: Asserting that the return from exile is the Bible's principle drama, Piotrowski examines stories from the Garden of Eden to Mount Sinai, the Land of Canaan, and the new creation - Part of the Short Studies in Biblical Theology Series: Other volumes include Resurrection Hope and the Death of Death; The Sabbath as Rest and Hope for the People of God; and Sanctification as Set Apart and Growing in Christ

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“Nicholas Piotrowski masterfully shows how the themes of exile and exodus, death and resurrection pervade the Scriptures and develop the biblical storyline climaxing in Christ and his church. Come read of the one whose tribulation and triumph were foreshadowed from the earliest pages of Scripture and whose story culminates in his people’s renewal in the garden-city of God.”

Jason S. DeRouchie, Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Nicholas Piotrowski has authored a gem. Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People is a trustworthy exposition of the Bible’s storyline, filled with beautiful layers and rich connections. This book will prove a blessing and source of joy to God’s people, enabling them to know and enjoy their Bibles more deeply!”

L. Michael Morales, Professor of Biblical Studies, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary; author, Exodus Old and New

“For most readers, grasping the overarching story of the Bible is challenging. How do we best understand the grand story that spans the Old and New Testaments? Through exploring the interrelated themes of exile and restoration, Nicholas Piotrowski offers a helpful and insightful way of comprehending the story that begins with exile from God’s presence in the garden of Eden and ends with humanity’s restoration to dwell with God in the end-time garden of Eden, the new Jerusalem. This is an excellent resource that incorporates the best recent research on the Bible yet is written in an accessible style.”

T. Desmond Alexander, Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies, Union Theological College

“Nicholas Piotrowski is quickly taking his place at the forefront of next-generation research on one of the fastest emerging interests in biblical theological studies: exile. Concise yet filled with profound insights, Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in an integrated biblical theology. I only wish I had read it before preaching my last sermon series!”

Nicholas Perrin, Senior Pastor, Corinth Reformed Church, Hickory, North Carolina

“Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People is one of the most accessible and sensible studies to date on the theme of exile. Nicholas Piotrowski reminds us that the biblical writers consistently equate death and life with exile and the return from exile. Death is the result of separation from the triune God’s life-giving presence, and true life can thus only be found in the presence of God through the work of Christ.”

Benjamin L. Gladd, Executive Director, Carson Center for Theological Renewal; series editor, Essential Studies in Biblical Theology

Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People

Short Studies in Biblical Theology

Edited by Dane C. Ortlund and Miles V. Van Pelt

The City of God and the Goal of Creation, T. Desmond Alexander (2018)

Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World, Thomas R. Schreiner (2017)

Divine Blessing and the Fullness of Life in the Presence of God, William R. Osborne (2020)

From Chaos to Cosmos: Creation to New Creation, Sidney Greidanus (2018)

The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross, Patrick Schreiner (2018)

The Lord’s Supper as the Sign and Meal of the New Covenant, Guy Prentiss Waters (2019)

Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel, Ray Ortlund (2016)

The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church, Justin A. Schell (2024)

The New Creation and the Storyline of Scripture, Frank Thielman (2021)

Redemptive Reversals and the Ironic Overturning of Human Wisdom, G. K. Beale (2019)

Resurrection Hope and the Death of Death, Mitchell L. Chase (2022)

Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People, Nicholas G. Piotrowski (2025)

The Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God, David S. Schrock (2022)

The Sabbath as Rest and Hope for the People of God, Guy Prentiss Waters (2022)

Sanctification as Set Apart and Growing in Christ, Marny Köstenberger (2023)

The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer, Andrew David Naselli (2020)

The Son of God and the New Creation, Graeme Goldsworthy (2015)

Work and Our Labor in the Lord, James M. Hamilton Jr. (2017)

Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People

Nicholas G. Piotrowski

Return from Exile and the Renewal of God’s People

© 2025 by Nicholas G. Piotrowski

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design and illustration: Jordan Singer

First printing 2025

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8767-2 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8770-2 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8768-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Piotrowski, Nicholas G., author. 

Title: Return from exile and the renewal of God’s people / Nicholas G. Piotrowski. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2025. | Series: Short studies in biblical theology | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2024013465 (print) | LCCN 2024013466 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433587672 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433587689 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433587702 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Sin–Biblical teaching. | Exile (Punishment)–Biblical teaching. | Redemption–Biblical teaching. | Bible–Criticism, interpretation, etc. 

Classification: LCC BS680.S57 P56 2025 (print) | LCC BS680.S57 (ebook) | DDC 220.6–dc23/eng/20241101

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024013465

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024013466

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2025-02-10 11:37:42 AM

For Cheryl,

my nearest and dearest fellow pilgrim

Contents

  Illustrations

  Series Preface

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

Part 1: Exile and Death

1  Adam and Eve out of the Garden

2  Abram into Canaan

3  Priests into the Tabernacle

4  Israel into the Land

5  Israel out of the Land

Part 2: Return and Resurrection

6  Prophetic Voices into the Future

7  Jesus on the Way

8  Jesus into and out of the Tomb

9  The Church into the World

10  The Lamb’s Followers into the Garden-City

  Conclusion

  General Index

  Scripture Index

Illustrations

Figures

Figure  1 The bookends of redemptive history

Figure  2 Cherubim guarding the way back into Eden

Figure  3 Biblical episodes of exile and return, part 1

Figure  4 Biblical episodes of exile and return, part 2

Figure  5 The tabernacle complex

Figure  6 The westward approach of the high priest on the Day of Atonement

Figure  7 Biblical episodes of exile and return, part 3

Figure  8 The temple complex and westward approach of the high priest

Figure  9 Biblical episodes of exile and return, part 4

Figure 10 Biblical episodes of exile and return, part 5

Figure 11 Narrative structure of the Psalter, books 1–4

Figure 12 The eastward departure of the Lord’s glory at the dawn of exile

Figure 13 Narrative structure of the whole Psalter

Figure 14 Biblical episodes of exile and return, part 6

Figure 15 The foreshocks of return from exile

Figure 16 The mainshock of return from exile

Figure 17 The aftershocks of return from exile

Figure 18 The ultrashock of return from exile

Figure 19 The full picture of the Bible’s return-from-exile theology

Table

Table 1 Developments and reversals of Genesis 1–3 in Revelation 20–22

Series Preface

Most of us tend to approach the Bible early on in our Christian lives as a vast, cavernous, and largely impenetrable book. We read the text piecemeal, finding golden nuggets of inspiration here and there, but remain unable to plug any given text meaningfully into the overarching storyline. Yet one of the great advances in evangelical biblical scholarship over the past few generations has been the recovery of biblical theology—that is, a renewed appreciation for the Bible as a theologically unified, historically rooted, progressively unfolding, and ultimately Christ-centered narrative of God’s covenantal work in our world to redeem sinful humanity.

This renaissance of biblical theology is a blessing, yet little of it has been made available to the general Christian population. The purpose of Short Studies in Biblical Theology is to connect the resurgence of biblical theology at the academic level with everyday believers. Each volume is written by a capable scholar or churchman who is consciously writing in a way that requires no prerequisite theological training of the reader. Instead, any thoughtful Christian disciple can track with and benefit from these books.

Each volume in this series takes a whole-Bible theme and traces it through Scripture. In this way readers not only learn about a given theme but also are given a model for how to read the Bible as a coherent whole.

We have launched this series because we love the Bible, we love the church, and we long for the renewal of biblical theology in the academy to enliven the hearts and minds of Christ’s disciples all around the world. As editors, we have found few discoveries more thrilling in life than that of seeing the whole Bible as a unified story of God’s gracious acts of redemption, and indeed of seeing the whole Bible as ultimately about Jesus, as he himself testified (Luke 24:27; John 5:39).

The ultimate goal of Short Studies in Biblical Theology is to magnify the Savior and to build up his church—magnifying the Savior through showing how the whole Bible points to him and his gracious rescue of helpless sinners; and building up the church by strengthening believers in their grasp of these life-giving truths.

Dane C. Ortlund and Miles V. Van Pelt

Acknowledgments

The first person to I’d like to thank is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the new Adam, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the great high priest, the temple-building Son of David, the end-times servant of the Lord, the Lamb that was slain, the Spirit-giving risen Messiah. In short, he is the one through whom we return from exile. Because of his great salvation I have something to write. All power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing to him (Rev. 5:12)!

Second, I am deeply thankful to my wife, Cheryl, to whom this book is dedicated, for her tireless support. I have been studying and writing on the topic of return from exile for nearly all of our married life. I hope this distillation of my efforts is illuminating and edifying to you, my nearest and dearest fellow pilgrim.

Third, I am grateful for all the support I receive from the Indianapolis Theological Seminary board and staff. To have such devoted Christ-followers surround me is a daily encouragement. When I need to write they give me the space. When they ask, “How’s it going?” they tolerate the vague answer, “It’s coming along.” And for this book, I am particularly thankful to Jonathan Zavodney for his editorial assistance.

Miles Van Pelt, Dane Ortlund, and Kris Holroyd read the entire manuscript and provided insightful feedback regarding its content and argument. Jenny-Lyn de Klerk provided trenchant editorial support. Eric Swanson proved a very fruitful conversation partner. Tommy and Precious Johnston graciously provided a sanctuary to get away to write. I am grateful and humbled to colabor with all these brothers and sisters.

Introduction

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth together. Is that not the message of Genesis 1–2? In the garden of Eden we see a place unlike anywhere else: the abode of God and the abode of humanity are coterminous! God walks with humanity. God talks with humanity. God gives food, laws, guidance, instruction, marriage, work, nature, dominion, and a mission to humanity. And in it all, Adam and Eve are “blessed” (Gen. 1:22). There is no curse. No death. No sin, guilt, or shame. There are only the happy and harmonious relationships between God and humanity, between husband and wife, and between humanity and creation. God is at rest, and humanity is invited into that rest. If they would “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (1:28), then they too would enter into God’s sabbath rest. It is, therefore, not hard to conclude that the Creator’s purpose for humanity is that they would enjoy the creation, enjoy each other, and enjoy the Creator himself in a state of rest, and that that rest would be principally experienced as the blessing of his presence.

That seems a long way from us, however. Life is inherently unrestful. The creation is “groaning,” Paul tells us (Rom. 8:22), “subjected to futility” (8:20). Our work, therefore, is by the sweat of our brows, and childbearing and childrearing are mixed with pain (Gen. 3:16–19). Our relationships with each other are fraught with all manner of strife, jealousy, anger, and selfishness (Gal. 5:21). And worst of all, humanity is at enmity with God (James 4:4). How did all this happen? What framework do we have for understanding history, the state of the world, and our own individual lives in such terms if we were created for rest?

The short answer is “Sin.” Our rebellion against the good Creator is the root cause of all misery and death in our world. But we can say more. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were expelled from the garden of Eden, that place described above as the cohabitation of God and humanity. They were exiled from the garden. They were exiled from God. Genesis 3:24 reads, “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” Our unrestful lives, therefore, are not merely the natural consequences of living against the grain of the Creator’s will but, more precisely, punishment for our rebellion.

Moreover, the Creator tells Adam and Eve that “in the day” that they disobey his word, they “shall surely die” (2:17). Yet when they disobey (3:6), they, strictly speaking, do not die. They are merely evicted. They lose the blessing of life in the garden as it is replaced with life in a world of curse and pain (3:17). That is certainly a kind of death insofar as it is a significant downgrade of the intended human experience in creation. Such life outside the place of God’s presence, therefore, is aptly described as “death.” And after this metaphorical death, Adam and Eve later do literally die (5:5).

They also lose the chance to enter into God’s rest. Had they obeyed both the prohibition (2:17) and the command (1:28), they would have entered into God’s rest and enjoyed the blessed life forever. They would have been renewed into an eternal state. But now Adam and Eve are outside the garden and made to toil, not rest.

Yet the good news is that God “subjected [the creation] in hope” (Rom. 8:20). At the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21, we encounter an awe-inspiring description of that hope when God says, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5). Just as creation began with the heavens and the earth together, so too the end-goal of all things is “a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1) where—as in the beginning—God and humanity dwell together. William J. Dumbrell says, “Clearly, the Bible moves between these two poles” of heaven and earth.1 In fact, the very first words uttered in this tremendous vision are “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (21:3).

In the end, God and humanity share a place to live! If God’s plan in the beginning was to dwell with humanity, then no sin or exile will stop that grand design. And what is life like in the immediate divine presence? The very next verse in Revelation 21 tells us: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (21:4).

Tears, death, mourning, and pain are precisely the sum of human existence in a state of unrest. If such experiences are the mark of life exiled from the presence of God, then we see here exactly what we would expect upon our return to the divine presence: the eradication of such unrest. And in their place, we find the book of life, the water of life, and the tree of life. It is clear: this is the place of true and permanent life. The purest human experience is enjoyed upon our great end-times return from exile! The end of all God’s purposes in creation and redemption is that humanity comes home.

Thus, exile from and return to God’s presence mark the beginning and the end of the Bible and therefore bookend all of redemptive history. In other words, God’s acts of salvation begin and end with redressing this great problem of humanity’s expulsion from the presence of God. T. Desmond Alexander summarizes, “The very strong links between Genesis 1–3 and Revelation 20–22 suggests that these passages frame the entire biblical meta-story.”2 Our removal from and return to the pristine creation comprises, therefore, the Bible’s principal drama (see fig. 1).3

Figure 1. The bookends of redemptive history

Thus, it is not surprising that we see smaller episodes of exile and return throughout the Bible.4 We will see throughout this book the great relevance of such return-from-exile episodes as they form a string of interlocked redemptive-historical events, creating a constant thematic hum under the rest of the Bible’s content. God’s people are always going into or coming out of some sort of exile.

In chapter 1, we will look carefully at Genesis 1–3 to observe certain key features of humanity’s blessed state in the garden of God’s presence and their loss through sin and exile. Chapter 2 will consider how Genesis 4–50 is still focused on paradise lost and how humanity can return. Chapter 3 will look at the experience of Israel’s exodus and the role of priests in symbolically bringing humanity back into the presence of God. Chapter 4 will continue to look at the exodus and see how the land of Israel was a type of the new Eden, for in the promised land God’s people enjoy rest again in his presence. And chapter 5 will consider Israel’s historic exile (forced deportation) in the sixth century BC. Overall, these chapters form part 1 of the book, which is titled “Exile and Death.” Though there are many symbolic returns from Genesis to 2 Kings, humanity’s general direction is that of moving further away from the divine presence until it appears that all hope of restoration is lost.

The second part of this book is called “Return and Resurrection” because even from the lands of exile, the Lord starts to bring humanity back to himself. Looking at the Psalms and the Prophets, chapter 6 will explore why the Bible’s visions of future restoration involve so much creation imagery as well as how the Gentiles are included within Israel’s destiny. Chapter 7, then, will look at the birth, life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus Christ as the first tremors of return from exile. Chapter 8 will zero in on how Jesus Christ vicariously endured exile in his death and returned to God’s presence in his resurrection, opening up the way for all in him to experience—even now!—God’s presence and new life. We will then, in chapter 9, reflect on how Christians experience the seismic waves of Jesus’s end-of-exile work and how the universal church is the temple of God—the Spirit-filled dwelling place of the Lord. Finally, chapter 10 will take us to a climactic vision in Revelation where we will see the new heaven and the new earth described in the language of the garden of Eden. There, “we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17).

Throughout this study, other biblical themes will emerge and affix themselves to this advancing exile-and-return plotline. Two themes do so right from the outset: creation and life. Judah, the house of David, and the temple will also play key roles, as will doctrines such as atonement, regeneration, perseverance, and (most importantly) resurrection. Thus we will see that the exile-and-return theme provides a narrative structure that brings a high level of conceptual coherency to these many diverse biblical teachings.

Overall, the interpretive convictions that draw all these matters together is an understanding of what theologians call “typology,” the recognition of patterns in the Bible that show how people, institutions, and events in the Old Testament prefigure the person and work of Christ—all that he is and everything he accomplishes.5 My hope is that you will marvel at the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God in his gracious purposes to bring his renewed people back from exile through Jesus Christ!

1. William J. Dumbrell, The End of the Beginning: Revelation 21–22 and the Old Testament (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001), 166.

2. T. Desmond Alexander, From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic and Professional, 2008), 10.

3. Roy E. Ciampa says exile and return shape “the main structure of the biblical narrative.” Roy E. Ciampa, “The History of Redemption,” in Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity, ed. Scott J. Hafemann and Paul R. House (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), 257. See Hendrik J. Koorevaar, “The Exile and Return Model: A Proposal from the Original Macrostructure of the Hebrew Canon,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 57, no. 3 (2014): 501–12.

4. C. Marvin Pate et al. call the cycle of sin, exile, and restoration the Bible’s “rhythm,” “refrain,” and “central storyline.” See C. Marvin Pate, The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004), 19–27, 278–84.

5. See Nicholas G. Piotrowski, In All the Scriptures: The Three Contexts of Biblical Hermeneutics (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021), 20–27, 180–89.

Part 1

Exile and Death

1

Adam and Eve out of the Garden

At the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword.

Genesis 3:24

I never saw so drear, so rank, so arduous a wilderness!

Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is renowned for its imaginative depictions of the afterlife. Yet it is also layered with autobiographical allegories. Dante was expelled from his beloved Florence, and from his exile he wrote this epic poem. He begins by portraying himself “astray from the straight road,” having “wandered there from the True Way” and now “alone in a dark wood.”1 He is surrounded by leopards, lions, and wolves “at the far end of that valley of evil whose maze had sapped [his] very heart with fear.”2 Certain of his imminent demise, Dante is lost and beset with “fright whose agony had wracked the lake of [his] heart through all the terrors of that piteous night.”3

Such was the feeling of his life in exile. But in Dante’s subsequent journeys, his personal anguish is transposed to describe the condition of every man. All humanity is in this state of exile. The very first line of his Divine Comedy thus begins, “Midway in our life’s journey. . . .”4 He is expressing the condition of us all. Closer to our own day, Oliver Sacks wrote,

All of us have a basic intuitive feeling that once we were whole and well; at ease, at peace, at home in this world; totally united with the grounds of our being; and that then we lost this primal, happy, innocent state, and fell into our present sickness and suffering. We had something of infinite beauty and preciousness—and we lost it; we spend the rest of our lives searching for what we have lost.5

Where do these impulses come from? Why is this sense of homelessness so common? Is this just a psychological malaise? Or are these feelings grounded in something concrete, something historical?

It turns out that, indeed, there is an actual historic ground to human sentiments of lostness and wandering. There are of course many immediate causes of this, and for each person and in each case those immediate causes differ. But all those causes are themselves symptoms of the ultimate human dilemma: we were fashioned for a particular environment, a specific home, and we have been expelled.

Life inside the “Garden of the Lord”

As I mentioned in the introduction, Genesis 1:1 sets the context for the rest of the biblical narrative. It not only tells us that it was God who created the heavens and the earth “in the beginning” but also gives us a larger framework to interpret the rest of the Bible. The Scriptures are, therefore, the drama of heaven and earth—how they were once connected but have been torn asunder and what God is doing through history to reconnect them. This may seem like an overstatement, but the rest of this study will bear it out.

For now, we start with this: Adam and Eve were originally created, and always intended, to live with God. Once creation is complete, God “plant[s] a garden in Eden” and places Adam in it (Gen. 2:8, 15). This is where God wants Adam to live together with Eve, his wife. And it is where God lives too, for Eden has all the markings of a temple. While it has no walls or doors or altars, it nonetheless serves the same function and is described like the tabernacle and temple in Israel’s subsequent history.6 The Lord “walk[s]” there (3:8; cf. Lev. 26:11–12). It is located on a mountaintop (Gen. 2:10–14; cf. Ezek. 28:13–14).7 It is surrounded by gold and onyx (Gen. 2:12), the stones associated with Israel’s tabernacle and priesthood (Ex. 25:3, 7; 39:6, 13; 1 Chron. 29:2). And Adam is told to work and serve, keep and guard it (Gen. 2:15)—all verbs used for Israel’s worship (Ex. 20:5–6; Deut. 10:12–13), specifically that of priests in the tabernacle (Num. 3:7–8; 8:26; 18:5–6).8 We can say, therefore, Eden is an arboreal temple designed for worship.9 And a temple is the house of God, the place where he lives within the created order (1 Kings 8:10, 27). Thus, the garden is the dwelling place of God even more than the dwelling place of humanity.10 This is clear from the fact that when Adam and Eve sin, they are the ones who have to leave, not God.

This has huge ramifications for understanding the purpose of humanity. It means we were designed and intended to live with God. There is no sense in Genesis 2 that Adam and Eve are meant to live anywhere else but in God’s arboreal temple. This is humanity’s true home, the place where we were born and where we belong.

This also means that Eden is the nexus between heaven and earth. If God lives in heaven and in the garden of Eden on earth, then Eden is both in heaven and on earth. It is the cosmic crossroads, the place for humanity and God to cohabitate. Thus, God created the heavens (his abode) and earth (our abode) together. And the point of contact is Eden.

The result is that in this place, Adam and Eve are happy. In Genesis 1:28, it says God “blessed” them. In the same verse God gives them meaningful work to do. In 1:29, God gives them everything they need for food. In 2:18–23, God gives them each other, specifically in the bonds of marriage. They have all this and, just as significantly, they have no shame (2:25). It bears repeating that, most importantly, they have God himself with them in the garden (3:8). God’s assessment of all this is that it is “very good” (1:31).

Let us look specifically at Genesis 1:28 and the work God has for his image bearers. They are told, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” In essence, Adam and Eve are told to do the same things God himself had just finished doing! In Genesis 1:2, the earth is “without form and void.” It has no shape and nothing in it. The subsequent verses describe God redressing exactly that: he shapes and fills the earth. After achieving this, God rests on the seventh day.11 This, of course, in no way implies that God is exhausted. Rather, “rest” in this context means that God is now enthroned in his temple because the created order is now formed and filled.12 Thus, in Genesis 1:28, when God tells Adam and Eve to “fill the earth and subdue it,” he is commissioning them to act like him. In so doing, as Adam and Eve are themselves fruitful and multiply, they will increase the image and glory of God all over the earth, thereby expanding the borders of the garden of Eden and making the entire earth God’s glorious dwelling place.13 The space that intersects heaven and earth will grow to cover more and more of the created order until God’s holy presence is everywhere. In this way, the entire planet will become God’s sacred abode, a global temple.14

Since this command was given to our first parents on the sixth day, there is thus an invitation and promise that they too will enter into God’s rest when they finish their work.15 God completed his work and rested. Adam and Eve will enjoy the permanent experience of resting with God when they too complete their work. If, as mentioned above, “rest” means enthronement in his temple, then, by extension, Adam and Eve are kings and queens over the earth and on their way to eternal coronation. There is, therefore, in Genesis 1–2 a promise of glorified permanency, an exalted experience in the presence of God after all the work of multiplying, filling, and subduing—expanding God’s garden—is done.16That is humanity’s calling—our role and purpose in the world.

This, however, is only the positive command and promise. There is also a negative command and a threat. Adam is not to eat of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (2:17). In exercising all the dominion God has just bestowed on him, there is one domain that is left exclusively to God: the authority to decide what is right and what is wrong.17 In short, ethics remain solely God’s prerogative, “a decision God has not delegated to the earthling.”18 If, however, Adam reaches out and takes what is not his, the opposite of rest will result: “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (2:17). Adam will not obtain a permanent coronation in the temple-presence of God but will perish.

Pulling all this together, we see how the garden of Eden was the nexus between heaven and earth, the dwelling place of God and humanity. What other than life, blessing, and happiness could possibly pervade such a divine setting? And in this place Adam and Eve had work to do: expand the garden’s borders so that all creation would someday climactically become the place of God’s glorious abode. This was their act of worship. If Adam and Eve completed this work—without transgressing the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—they would have entered into God’s sabbath rest, an enthroned glorified permanency in God’s eternal temple-presence.

Life outside the “Garden of the Lord”

It is readily apparent, however, that human history is not a story of obedience to God. It is not a story of rest. Rather, we are sinful. We are outside the garden with a death sentence over us all.

In Genesis 3:6, Adam and Eve take and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and immediately feel the shame of their guilt (cf. 2:25 and 3:7). The next feeling Adam and Eve have is fear (3:10). This is a sad turn. Adam and Eve were blessed by God and happy. Now in one act, guilt, shame, and fear disturb their relationship with God and with each other. To these realities, Genesis 3:7 simply says, “Then the eyes of both were opened.”

Humanity’s calling is also disrupted by this sin. They were charged to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (1:28), but because of their disobedience, God has “multipl[ied]” the pain of childbearing (3:16). They were also charged to “subdue [the earth] and have dominion” (1:28), but now God says to them, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” (3:17). Yet it is important to note that while the Genesis 1:28 commission is greatly frustrated, it is not abandoned. Humanity is still called to these tasks, only now it will be with pain and “by the sweat of [their] face” (3:19).

Critically, this all occurs outside the garden of Eden, outside our home. Genesis 3:22–24 reads,

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Several matters demand our attention here. First, in verse 22 we see the Lord’s concern that the man not eat of the tree of life and live forever. This shows that although life forever was very much part of God’s original purposes for humanity—God planted that tree of life, after all—it was Adam and Eve’s to enjoy only after completing their work and obeying God’s word. Now, because they have not completed their work and have ignored the prohibition, they cannot attain to that glorified permanency. Instead they will return to the dust (