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- The entrance of Eden was from the east, the direction of the sunrise. And it was situated upon a hill.
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- It was elevated. It was upon a mountain. And as you enter it, you would smell the most delightful abundance of scents.
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- In fact, all of your senses would be alive with delight. Everything that you smelt and looked at and heard and tasted and touched in the garden, in the life that's teeming there in the garden, you would be mesmerized by the size of the fruit in the garden, the gourds and the melons growing effortlessly out of the fertile ground.
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- The complicated and beautiful patterns on the large open flowers would mesmerize you as well as the soft, deep green of the padded lilies therein.
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- And the tall, fruitful palm trees would dazzle your mind. The rich colors of the pomegranates would seem only to enhance their already heavenly taste.
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- You are in Eden. You would see the animals. You would see that they are subject to you.
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- And then the rushing sound of a river would capture your attention.
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- You would hear it in the distance, and then you would search for it. You would follow the sound over the crest of the next hill with the thick, cushioned grass under your bare feet.
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- And then you see it, a river flowing down out of Eden to water the garden.
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- A river flowing down to water the garden. And as you approach the clearest, bluest water that you have ever seen, you kneel down with no pain in your knees or your back, mind you, and you drink to perfect satisfaction.
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- And as you look up, you not only see the beauty of the plants and the animals, but you see the wealth of the place, the precious stones that are kept there, so much gold perfectly reflecting off of the surrounding hills, the warm rays of the gentle sun.
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- And your eyes glimmer in their glow. And as you walk, soaking in the glorious glow of the place, a divine friend takes your hand and walks with you.
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- He leads you deeper into the midst of the garden to the most glorious sight yet. Your jaw drops with amazement as you approach the tree of life, shining with brilliant colors, so bright that the area around it seems to be dimmed in light of its own brightness, like a lampstand.
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- He says to you, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
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- You stand now in Eden, the temple garden. Notice that the
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- Lord builds this place. He is the divine architect. He was intimately involved in every detail.
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- And when he has finished his work, he rests. He rests after having subdued the chaos of the unformed world.
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- He's taken dominion over it. He's filled it with life. He sees that it is good, and he rests.
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- Notice also that he rests, dwelling among his creation, walking with them in the cool of the day.
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- Eden is a sanctuary wherein man meets with his creator. Notice finally something very important in Genesis 2, verse 15.
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- See that the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
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- There are three significant words that I need to call your attention to in this verse. The first word to look at is the word put.
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- The Lord God put the man in the garden. Now the word that is usually used for put in terms of placement is not the word that is used here.
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- Instead, the word that is used here is typically translated as rest. This word occurs in Exodus 20, verse 11.
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- The Lord says, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
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- God built this sanctuary for rest, and just as God rested, so he rests
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- Adam in the garden. Adam is reflecting the sovereign rest of God in Eden.
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- But it isn't a rest that is inactive. It isn't a duty -less rest.
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- Adam has responsibility, which brings us to the other two important words in Genesis 2, verse 15.
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- Adam is put in the garden to do what? To cultivate it and to keep it.
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- And there are other significant places we're coming to where those words are translated as serve and guard.
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- And in this context, here in Genesis 2, verse 15, they cannot refer to agriculture alone.
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- Adam is given the command to increase the garden's fruitfulness and to keep watch over it, guarding it from contaminants and from enemies.
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- So here you are, put in the garden of God, and from the hill you look out, and you see that the land beyond the garden is unkept and chaotic, in need of subduing, in need of cultivation.
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- And you realize that you are resting in what is only the first phase of God's plan, the first phase of this sanctuary, of what it is intended to become.
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- God's design for this temple garden is that through the dominion of Adam, who serves as priest and king, its boundaries would be extended over the face of the entire earth.
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- He had work to do by subduing the chaos of it. So just as God did his work of creation, so Adam is to do in his work of cultivation.
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- You see the task at hand as you stand there in the garden, and you've probably had the familiar feeling of being excited to get to work.
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- As you stroll in the cool of the day, your divine friend places his hand on your shoulder as you approach a certain tree, and he commands, from any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
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- From the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. An intruder shows up.
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- He speaks deceptively and twists God's word. As priest of the temple garden, it was
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- Adam's duty to guard it, to keep it, to keep watch over it. He should have slaughtered that snake.
