East of Eden

Tuesday, 19th February 2008

The title of today's post is actually the title of a song made popular by my favourite secular artiste of the 1980s from Scotland called Big Country.

This was also where God banished Adam and Eve to after they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We read in Gen 3:24 "After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."

Having eaten from the wrong tree, Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from the other tree as well. And God placed 2 of His angels as well as a laser to guard it.

The next time cherubim were mentioned in the Scriptures is in Exodus 25, where God told Moses to "make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover". The covering of the Ark of the Covenant was called the Mercy Seat. Under the Old Covenant, God's holy presence was represented by the Ark, which was the only furniture that was placed in the Holy of Holies. We read further that subsequently when the Temple was built, the Ark was placed "beneath the wings of the cherubim" (2 Chron 5:7).

There was also a curtain that was placed between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and the Chief Priest could only enter into the presence of God once a year, on the Day of Atonement.

When Jesus died on the cross, this curtain was ripped from top to bottom and this was recorded in all 3 synoptic gospels (Matt 27:51, Mk 15:38, Lk 23:45).

This symbolically paves the way for us, the New Covenant believer, to have direct access to God Almighty. I remember singing the following song as a youth entitled "Within the Veil"

Within the veil
I now would come
Into the Holy Place to look upon Thy face
I see such beauty there, no other can compare
I worship Thee, my Lord, within the veil

Besides there being the cherubim, the path to the tree of life was also protected by a flaming sword.

We read in Zech 13:7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the LORD Almighty. "Strike the shepherd..."

The sword arose from its location of blocking the way to the tree of life to strike our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

Which means to say that what were preventing mankind from eating of the tree of life no longer do so, because of Jesus' finished work. Hallelujah!

We therefore need not remain in the "east of Eden" as it were, but can now freely enter Eden to partake of the tree of life! Amen?