Today we began to ‘wander into the Garden of Eden’ on the Preterist Power Hour. We had a great group of teachers together and began to talk through Genesis 2 (not exhaustive at all!). You can review the session and sessions to follow below.
12/16 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKH5xvPGi60&t=4s
1/2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZupaMMqKWY
1/9 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ1Rf4kEYTo&t=32s
1/13 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzPSSkMJEio
Some notes from today & through Genesis 2:8-25:
“You can never lose sight of Genesis” – Sam Frost
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noted in his studies on the Old Testament, “One must consider the Old Testament in relation to all the civilizations of the ancient Near East”. He also further asserted, “It is my opinion that ‘Biblical criticism’ and ‘Biblical archeology’ will serve to justify the position of the Church in modern culture, especially int the face of modern youth who are taught to ‘weigh and consider’”.
“God’s act of creation consists of the imposition of order upon the mass of undifferentiated chaos”. – Walter Bruggerman
Presuppositions
- A picture – artist had something in mind, however, understands that different minds see different things
We must understand foundations, let’s say what the picture is not and cannot be, however, also allowing for diverse perspectives, highlights, and ideas.
- Defining Genesis “creation” – ANE “temple text”/liturgy; historic/ancestral, apocalyptic, prophetic, covenant, legal, etc.
(Falll Back To Genesis resources)
Genesis 1
- Temple Text/ Liturgy
- Covenant/ Suzerain Treaty
- Prophetic/Apocalyptic days
- Covenant Template/ Symbol Package
- Law/ Legal
- Historical/Ancestral
- Image of God/Adam
- 7 Day Mantra
- Reign/Rest/Rule of God – “Good”
Rebekkah Giffone – Yawhe’s Cult Statues
thinkhardthinkwell.wordpress.com
“What was done to the image was considered to be done to the deity; the destiny of the image was directly related to the destiny of the deity”.
- “The story of the Scriptures is to be a ‘keeper of the garden’”. – Frank Viola
“Throughout the Bible, from the Garden of Eden to eternity, God’s world is often portrayed through metaphors of a garden, and God’s people are often portrayed as a fertile gan”. – Ray Vanderlaan
Genesis 13:10; Isa. 58:11; Jer. 31:11-14;
- Garden = Kingdom; God’s people
“The garden is Adam’s just being born”. – Tim Martin
”A maturity story”
We should rely upon the theology of Jesus to help us decipher the garden scene”
“We have seen in our discussion of Genesis that Adam’s commission in Genesis 1 was to be carried out by his serving in the Edenic Temple, managing it in an orderly manner and expanding it’s boundaries. In fact, we have seen that the reapplication of Adam’s commission to Noah, the Patriarchs, Israel, and end-time Israel, was also inexorably linked to the beginning of building temples and expanding them. Therefore, it should be no surprise that Christ also initiates the building of a new temple, once again performing the duties that the first Adam failed in executing. At various points in the Gospels, Christ indicates that the old temple is becoming obsolete and He is replacing it with a new one”. – G.K. Beale, The Temple & The Church’s Mission
Genesis 2: 5 – 25
v. 5 – no shrubbery, no plants, no rain, no man to cultivate (formless & void)
v. 6 But a mist rose to water
v. 7 – Lord formed man of dust from ground, breathed, living being
https://mianogonewild.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/man-of-dust-genesis-ancient-near-eastern-origins/
v. 8, 15-20 – Adam (cf. Job 31:33; Hosea 6; 1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12-21)
“Covenant/kingdom man”; Adam = Israel; Garden of Eden = covenant
“Adam as the new man”. – Dallas, Better Understanding the Bible
Adam is NOT the only person in the garden (trees, beasts, etc.)
Garden & tree language = inner courts of Temple/ covenant
v. 9 – out of the ground trees
v. 10 – a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden (Eden & garden distinct); became 4 rivers
v. 15 – Adam as priest/king
‘Dominion mandate’
Num. 3:7-8; 8:25-26; 18:5-6
1 Chron. 23:32; Ezek. 44:14
v. 18 – 25 – A helper? What’s this all about?
cf. Ecclesiastes 4:12
v. 19- 20 – “Naming”
Adam’s “covenant mission” – Tim Martin
(“Cattle, birds, beasts, etc)
See, Daniel series (coming soon)
v. 25 – “Naked and were not ashamed?
Tim Martin – “A maturity story”; “A new born baby”
cf. line days of Genesis 1 up with Genesis 2
Day 7 rest = naked and unashamed; good, no night.
cf. Genesis 39 & the story of Joseph
(temptation, nakedness, clothing, etc; notice the parallels)
“Culture & Covenant” are the 2 pictures scene in Genesis 2-3. – Dallas
Unclothed (cf. Genesis 3:7, 10-11, 21)
Ezekiel 16 -history of Israel; a baby is born
cf. Genesis 2 constrated with 1 Cor. 2-3; Eph. 3:10
Now, in Christ, as the mature Church, we are to be as wise as serpents
“In order to bear fruit, each gan requires ongoing care – not just from one farmer, but from everyone who farmed ganim on a particular hillside…In order for each family to have a “well watered garden”, cooperation was essential. The ganim were and and are successful only if the community works together. Without cooperation, for example, cascading water during the rainy season could break through the wall of one gan and destroy others below it”. – Ray Vanderlaan
From Beyond Creation Science;
“…the structure of Revelation is designed to reflect the created order of Genesis 2: man first, then woman. This should not surprise us because Jesus presented Himself as the “bridegroom” during his ministry (Matt. 9:15; 25:1-13; John 3:27-30). The imagery of Jesus Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride (Eph. 5:26-27; Rev. 19:7) is a prominent teaching in the New Testament”.
“Paul sees much more in Genesis than mere history”.
“The many New Testament references to Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, and to the Church, the bride, are all rooted in the prophetic nature of Genesis 2”.
Further notes as we study on the Preterist Power Hour, especially with the insights of Dallas Kobylka;
Genesis 2:21-25 – Eve was of the people of Adam
- Genesis 24:1 – “country and relatives”
- Judges 9:1-2 “bone and flesh”
- 2 Samuel 19:11-13 – “brothers, bone and flesh”
- 2 Samuel 5 – “bone and flesh”
- 1 Chronicles 11
- Numbers 36:7
Genesis 2:23
- cf. Genesis 1:26-28
- Genesis 5:2 – “man”/ a nation before being named
- Jacob became a man/ a nation named Israel
- “Woman” means “out off man”/ a helper
- Numbers 3:5-7 – Levities, helpers
- Numbers 8:17-19 – ‘rank and file’ being established
- Proverbs 18:22 – wife, gift, covenant marriage
- Numbers 8:21-22 – helper, wife,; preparing for covenant marriage
- cf. Revelation 22:14-1; see also, Numbers 18 on the duties of the Levities.
God placed the stars in the sky. God placed the man in the garden. We see God’s government/kingdom details in the ‘naming’ and dominion mandate. We see the priesthood, helper, details in the garden imagery/ temple imagery, as well as the helper out of the man imagery, especially as applied to Jesus Christ and His Church. See, John 14:16, 26; 20:22; 1 Corinthians 6:17, 19.
“Everything in the garden is prophetic of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”. – Tim Martin
Edward Howell – Genesis 1:1-3 – https://thinkingthroughtheologyedhowell.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/the-creation-in-genesis-11-3/
Well-Watered Garden blog/Miano – https://mianogonewild.wordpress.com/2022/12/08/isaiah-resurrection-reality-what-now/
God’s Garden – Tim Martin – https://timmartinteaches.wordpress.com/2022/04/14/1st-sermon-upload/
Better Understanding The Bible YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@betterunderstandingthebibl830/playlists
Ward Fenley resource – Exploring the Garden Scene
http://www.newcreationministries.tv/exploring-the-garden-scene.html
POWER OF PRETERISM 