Genesis 2:

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul 

8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed

Adam, the divine masterpiece in creation, was the reason for the fever-pitch activities of creation which started all the way from Genesis chapter one. The elements were created to sustain him. Light, vegetation, water, air…. The architecture of the earth was perfect when placed in orbit, so perfect in beauty that the sons of God, dazed, shouted for joy. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding…. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38: 4-7). The words the morning stars in this passage form a parallel distich with the sons of God. In Hebrew poetry, the two have the same meaning. Thus we are looking at certain beings that must have been in existence before the coming of man. Certainly these were angelic beings appreciating and excited at the architectural beauty placed in space.

When the Lord God had done with setting in place all man would need to live, he pronounced before the Godhead who were all as God involved in creation, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). Then God went on to form of the dust of the ground, breathed unto his nostrils… Finally, God put him in the just planted garden.

In God’s earth was Eden. In Eden, God planted eastward of it, a garden. It’s described as the garden of the Lord (Genesis 13:10; Isaiah 51:3). A margin of Genesis 2:8 casts this garden as the garden of God’s delight. This garden recurs several times in the Old Testament and, each time, it is mentioned with delirious excitement. Then again it comes as the peak of excellent beauty of creation. All through the Old Testament, it’s the highest experience a man, even Adam and the morning stars or sons of God could attain to. No any other experience went anywhere near it.

In the New Testament, it has a complement in paradise.

It’s the place of the utmost wisdom expected of man and a place of fellowship with the divine essence, a place of training to attain divine nature – attaining a stature that moved away from the state of the rawness of innocence to the excellence of the knowledge of God. This was a place where man was to come to the stature of being indwelt by God.

This is Christ and the bliss of life. The garden is a person, a person of delight of God. The garden of God in Eden was where man would need to be copted into the Godhead in fellowship. The Lord Jesus Christ was so much of his Father that he intoned: “I and my Father are one.” Another time, he said, “What I see my Father do, I do.” He said yet another time, “I’m not alone; my father is with me.” He was the Father; the Father was Him. “Believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me….” (John 14:10). This is the goal of life; this is the raison’detre of man. He should come to this space in the garden of God, eastward of Eden.

The garden hides some mysteries that are not yet clear. It’s a place of wisdom, yes. But a vailed being of stature, of wisdom way beyond man’s stature, was said to have been in Eden. This being is said to be wiser than Daniel, in possession of secrets and he attained riches by his wisdom. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God….Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth…Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast crested, till iniquity was found in thee… (Ezekiel 28). Evidently then, Eden holds a mystery. But the garden of God in Eden was a type of Christ, in whom all of creation should hold together.

Father thank You for Christ, the reality of the garden of God in Eden. He has moved from the shadow and type to substance. In Him we fellowship with the Godhead. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. In Him we live, we move and we have our existence.

Thank You, Lord