The End Is Not the Beginning
I don’t like getting lost. I don’t particularly imagine that anyone actually enjoys the experience of being lost, but I know how very uncomfortable I get, and how moody I act, when I’m not exactly sure where I am. Of course, GPS has solved a lot of these problems—I have come to almost enjoy some mechanical voice telling me where to go. Even with GPS directions, however, there are times where I’m not exactly sure which direction to go, how to get where I’m headed. But I do know this, if I’m on a trip and I’ve taken the wrong road, I don’t often think that the solution is to go back to the beginning and start over. Usually, I try to get back on track by aiming at my objective again and finding my way back to the right road. Think about it—if you’re on a journey of any distance, and you get turned around mid-way through, the answer is not to retrace your steps all the way back to where you started, but rather to try to get back to the initial path.
According
to the biblical account, the Garden of Eden was a glorious place, filled with
the wonders of God’s presence, His blessings and His love. Adam and Eve were
created to flourish there, to experience the joys of God’s goodness and to bask
in His grace. We know that is not how things turned out—that because of their sin,
the Garden was lost to them. Humanity has lost their way, stumbling in the
darkness, no longer experiencing Eden in its full glory.
But, what
we don’t always recognize is that the Garden of Eden was not our intended
destination in any case. As marvelous as it was, Eden was never intended to be
our home.
While
vividly portraying the Garden of Eden as an idyllic place, filled with the
goodness of God, the overarching scope of the biblical story finds us in God’s
presence, not in the Garden, but in New Jerusalem, the City of God, heaven
itself. Eden was the starting point, and what a beautiful place to begin! But,
the ending was always intended to be something even greater. God’s plan for
humanity was not to be idle in the Garden but to work it, develop the richness
of God’s gift, to “be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it”
(Genesis 1:28).
By
creation, we were launched on a path to a place even more marvelous than the
Garden of Eden; we were launched toward heaven itself, the City of God. True,
it didn’t take long for us to get knocked off course. In our sin, we quickly
found ourselves lost, adrift in our journey. Our destination remains the same,
but we have lost our way.
But what,
then, is redemption? There have been theologians, so captured with the ideal
Garden, so enamored with the pre-Fall existence, who have asserted that
redemption is a return to Eden. What has Christ done on the cross? Through His
sacrifice and gift of grace, we are restored to the initial place of blessing,
we can indeed go back to Eden. But that does not seem to be God’s plan.
Our
Creator desires for us to dwell in His presence—but, that is not in Eden, but
in Heaven. We were created to go on a journey, from God’s goodness to His
glory, from the Garden to the City, from one stage of blessing to an even
greater one. Redemption is the restoration, not of Eden, but of the journey.
Our destination remains the same—God’s eternal presence, the worship at His throne,
the everlasting gift of eternal life. All these are ahead for us; not behind us
in Eden, as glorious as that was, but ahead in Heaven, where we will be with
our Savior forever!
A
glorious picture of our future is found in Revelation 22. For Sunday, ask
yourself:
1. Why is
our eternal presence captured by the image of “the river of the water of life”
(vs. 1)? Why is a river a good picture of God’s eternal blessings?
2. Make a
list of the benefits of this river of life. What might each imply? Where do we
find a present example of them?
3. In
verse 4, we are told we will see God’s face. Why is this remarkable? See,
Exodus 33:20. Since we can see God’s face in Heaven, what has changed?
4. Also
in verse 4, God’s name is said to be “written on our foreheads.” I’m assuming
this is not literal. So what might these words be intended to
communicate?
5. Christ
is the light of the world (see John 8:12). Verse 5 picks up on this,
eliminating the need for any external light, since Christ is present. What
might it be like to have Christ’s light shining on all things?
6. How
does verse 7 connect to the opening verses of Revelation (1:3)? What is new,
added here?
