1. What You Never Noticed About the Garden of Eden (Part 1)

All right, here we are. Hello. How's it going? So good. We're jumping into our podcast. And I'm excited about it. We're doing a podcast on, I guess you could say biblical theology overall, where we are tracing, exploring connections and themes throughout the Bible. Sometimes that'll be across the whole biblical story as an overall narrative. Sometimes it'll be exploring things just in a particular book. But it's going to be a lot of fun. Biblical theology sounds like a much veger thing than it actually is. How would you define it? Well, it sounds like you're just saying like theology that comes from the Bible, which is true. It is true. But it's like, how does the Bible do theology over time? So if you dropped theology onto a timeline instead of just like, took bolded points and you were like, how does this picture get painted across the canvas and like a chronological? It's like narrative theology basically. Yeah, it's like, I would, the way that I think about it is like, how does this theme organically develop across the biblical story? As opposed to like, I want to do a study on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and then I'm going to go and find every single place in the Bible that makes mention of or talks about the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to bring all that scripture together to try to formulate my doctrine. That's kind of a less organic way of doing it. That's often called systematic theology as opposed to biblical theology. I want to see how the theology of the Holy Spirit develops across the book of Genesis. Yeah. Or across the story of the scripture as a whole because you do find that there is a progression of understanding and revelation in the minds of the of the biblical authors and how God has revealed all kinds of things to humanity over the time the Bible was written. Yeah, there's two basic assumptions. One that the Bible is constantly having a conversation with itself. It's like that big chart. I always want to know where that chart came from. You know, with all the colorful lines. Yeah, the one that Jordan Peterson posted like last year. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's great. No, it's cool. I just always want to know who made that and where they got it from. Yeah. But the Bible is constantly referencing itself and talking about itself. And also the Bible has one succinct overarching story. There's a meta narrative to scripture. Yes. And everything finds its place in that in that story. In that story. And so for the first several episodes, we want to look at that big picture story from a few different angles. So we'll be kind of tracing the story from start to finish from Genesis to revelation, from original creation to new creation. A handful of times over as we look at a few different important themes in the biblical story as it relates to God and as it relates to humanity. And then after that, maybe we'll do some explorations of particular books. We're not really sure. But we're starting this podcast with no end in mind. And there's no shortage of things to talk about. It's true. And you and I like to talk. Also true. So it's going to be great. So episode one, we want to talk about how God's presence is the point of being human. And God's presence is a big point in the biblical story overall. And so let's jump in at the book of Genesis. I'm going to get my Bible out. I can't believe I started a Bible podcast about my Bible. Oh, here it is over here. Sick. All right. Where do you want to begin? Genesis chapter two. Okay. So Genesis chapter two in verse 10. You got to tell me about this river. Okay. So the text says that a river watering the garden flowed from Eden and from there that is from the garden. It was separated into four headwaters or four rivers. So there's this. I'm going to use an obnoxious word here. There's this tripartite picture here in the Genesis narrative. Wow. Yes. So good. So good. I'm borrowing that from G K B E O and his book on the temple and the church's mission where he talks about how the original creation story has this tripartite structure that later gets echoed in the structure of the Tabernacle and then Solomon's temple. And so in that tripartite structure, there's three layers. Obviously the prefix try. You have the innermost layer, which is Eden. You have the layer outside of that, which is this garden. And then you have the layer beyond that, which is the waters flowing out into the rest of the world, into creation generally. And what's cool is you have this river that flows out of Eden. So out of the central most layer to water the garden. It's the river that causes the garden to flourish. And then that splits off from the garden into four directions that ultimately brings the flourishing of the garden out into the rest of the world as long as humanity does its part in gardening alongside that river. We'll talk more about the gardening piece in the next episode. But for now, the river is symbolic of the presence of God. Okay. What's the connection? How do you get the presence of God from the river? Well, water, living water is a major theme throughout the rest of scripture that is developed by the biblical writers as symbolic of God's presence, not to jump ahead. But obviously when you get to Ezekiel's temple in the book of Ezekiel, he has the water coming out from the temple that represents the presence of God everywhere it goes. It brings life. But also in the central most layer, Eden itself is talked about in scripture as like the mountain of God and mountains in Old Testament theology are often thought of as the meeting place of heaven and earth of God and man coming together. And Eden is described as that mountain, I believe actually again in Ezekiel 28. And so the picture is like, Eden is this garden temple mountain place where God dwells. God comes down to dwell in the midst of his creation. And then out of that, let's call it a throne like the footstool of God's throne where he connects with the earth comes the river. And so the river is symbolic of God's presence coming out of Eden. And then it waters the garden, which is where man and woman are. And God's made it a flourishing place. He puts them there. And so their existence from the beginning is dictated by their closeness to the river. Okay, cool. So then, Beal that you brought up, we read about this together, he goes at a great length to about everything that's ever been said ever. And he goes to a great length to demonstrate that the Bible all over the place is consistently speaking of Genesis with temple language. Right. Even with the river, the temple is expanding, he goes and he talks about Egypt and all these other nations and the way they think of, they would think of their temples as a sort of cosmic touch points between heaven and earth that the people who built them were meant to expand and expand and expand. And the river is this sort of outward expansion like God's presence going to the ends of the earth. But within the garden, there's two really cool indications for us in Adam himself that helps us understand that the garden is a temple and temples are about the presence of whatever God that they're built for. Right. That's the basic idea. Yeah, you go to the temple because that's where the God is. You know, you go do stuff for the God there. Right. Adam is spoken of two really unique ways. He's we're told that he bears the image of God. Yes. And that with him, everybody bears the image of God, every human being bears God's image. Right. And that is temple language. Right. Because people would build temples and then create images of their gods. And image is like another word in this might kind of freak some people out, but it's another word for idol. Yeah. Yes. It's the picture of the God. It represents the God. Yeah. And but not just represents. It also believed that it in some sense manifested the presence of that God. Right. Like that God was actually in the idol. Yes. In the image in some unique way. And so Adam is spoken of that way as as like an image in a temple of Yahweh. God has built this temple and then created images of himself. Yes. In the temple. Yes. And so Adam's very presence in the garden is a sign that God's presence is really the point of the garden and the point of creation. Yes. Yes. And Billy even talks about from this is just coming to mine right now how the whole picture of the tabernacle in terms of the lights and how the candles would reflect upon the sky. Right. It's basically like a microcosm of the whole universe. Yeah. He feels a bit like a conspiracy theory. A little bit like the candles would have reminded them of the stars. Yeah. Don't you see? Yes. But I think there's something to that in the sense that all of creation is gods. And God inhabits the heavenlies. Right. The heavenly realm and the earth belongs to him as well. And there's like the I think he even uses this picture like the high points the mountains are like the footstool of his throne coming down. Is it like even the arc of the covenant? Right. It comes like the footstool of God's throne where he's like connected to the earth. As he rains from heaven to middle schoolers recently. - Oh, how'd that go? - Just to imagine that. I'm trying to explain with the arc of the cover it is. - Right. - And I'm like, "Well, it's this cool box from Indiana Jones." (laughing) But I was at Disneyland yesterday and we rode Indiana Jones for the first time in a long time. That is a great ride. - It is a good ride. And also the line is awesome. - Yeah, the walkthrough? - The walkthrough? - Honestly, oh yeah, like that's actually awesome. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Okay, I thought you were making a sarcastic remark. - No, no, no. - On long it is. - No, real. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Okay, I'm like, the real walkthrough. - They keep you entertained. - It's great. - And the line yesterday was not that long. - Yeah, if I wasn't a preacher, I would be Indiana Jones. - You posted that recently on the Instagram. - And I just have come to terms with that as a fact about myself. But I'm like, you know, it's also, it's like a footstool and they're like, "What?" And I guess, oh God's like thrown is in heaven. - In the place where he rests his feet. - Is the arc? - Is the arc. - Is this kind of-- - It's like an ottoman. - Yeah. That's cool too, where Bill talks about like the, the tabernacle and then the temple in Israel is meant in many ways to resemble the garden. Like there's, I always used it as, when you read about Solomon's temple, he has the only sort of like art that really stands out is there's all of these engravings of like fruit and palm trees. - Yes. - And I always would tell, use that as an argument in high school for why tattoos were okay. 'Cause I was, they were like, "Well, your body is a temple." So you can't, I'm like, "Oh, wow." - Well Solomon put engravings in-- - On the original temple. - The original temple. - His temple. - So why can't you put-- - Exactly. - Right. - What if I get palm trees tattooed? Is that biblical and okay? - That's interesting. I always pointed to like the Lord of Lord's King of Kings on Jesus as thigh. - Yeah, classic. - Well Jesus has a tattoo in revelation. - I told my dad that once. He looked at me like I was crazy. - Yeah, I read that one in Instagram comments all the time. Like how did everybody learn this? Where did everybody get this from? - It feels like a very rebellious Baptist thing to say. - Totally, yeah. - Okay, anyways, so Adam bears the image of God. - Yes. - He's also spoken of as a priest. - Yes. - In priestly terms, all throughout, throughout Genesis and then elsewhere. Specifically, there's that language of guard and keep. - Guarding and keeping. - Guarding and keeping the guard. - Exactly. - That's what Adam and Eva are meant to do. They're supposed to guard the garden. And what you learn is the story progresses. Is they're supposed to guard the garden from the entrance of the serpent, from impurity coming into the garden. - You might say the presence of the serpent. - Okay. What do you mean by that? - Well we're talking, keep the presence of God and guard the place where God is present from the presence of the evil one. - Great. - And then also to keep, which is basically to work the land, to continue to make it fruitful and flourishing. And again, we'll talk more about gardening next time. But the whole idea is that the river has to be there. Like if you don't have the river, then the garden can't flourish. And if you don't continue to stay near that water source, then you're gonna get further and further away. And the land will get less and less fertile. And so, the land will be there. And so God's presence is central. Adam and Eve there is priests. That guardian keeping language gets picked up later in the scriptures to describe the activity of the priests in Moses's Tabernacle and in Solomon's Temple in the book of Numbers, specifically it says that they garden keep the Tabernacle. - Yeah. - And so that again alerts us to the fact that this really is priestly activity that Adam and Eve are practicing. And therefore Eden and the garden is an image of a temple. - Right. - Which makes it a place that centered on the presence of God. - Correct. - Yeah. - Absolutely. And so that story I continue as you go throughout scripture that God's presence really is the point. One of the things that I learned recently as I was studying the book of Exodus is how much God's presence is the point of the Exodus story. So as Israel are being freed from Egyptian slavery and God brings them out, oftentimes we think about the story of Exodus as a story of liberty. That is the central point of the Exodus story that we are set free by God. And that is absolutely a major theme. And then other times we think about the story of Exodus as the story of God giving his law. This is where God comes down. He meets with Moses on Mount Sinai. There's the giving of the Ten Commandments and God's law is given to his people in preparation for them to go into the Promised Land. So we think about the Exodus story as a story of law. But then ultimately where the story goes is not to just liberty, not just to law, but ultimately to the life of God's presence. Coming down the mountain, down Mount Sinai to be with his people and to inhabit this really elaborate tent, this tabernacle that God has instructed them not just to build, but how to build exactly so that his presence can come down. And that's where the story of Exodus ends. It doesn't end just in their freedom. A lot of times we think Christianity is just about being free. It doesn't just end in here's how to live. A lot of times we think the Christianity is just about here's a set of moral principles and codes to live by. Ultimately ends in, hey my presence is coming down the mountain and I want to be with you guys. And again, that's the point of Christianity and that's what the biblical story is emphasizing again and again, God's presence wants to be with us. So you'd say that there is in this this sort of charismatic emphasis from people like us on the presence of God. Yes, I think it's well founded. Yeah, it's all throughout the Bible. It's sort of at the center of the Bible story. So maybe charismatic don't even realize what they're grabbing onto when we talk about the presence of God and living and pursuit of and a desire to be near God in his presence. We don't even realize that we're tapping into the big story of the Bible. Yeah, but we are. Yeah, it's really cool. God is charismatic. Apparently. (laughing) The Bible is charismatic. Yeah, God wants to be near us. It has become a trope, but God really does desire relationship. He desires nearness to us. And that is the single most distinguishing factor about Christianity compared to all other kinds of religious practice, which at bottom really are about the performance of certain activities to please the God. Yeah. And the story that the Bible is telling is quite a bit different to that. There is stuff that goes along with this relationship. There is religious activity that is entailed in it for sure. Just like every single relationship has things that make it work and things that please the other. So that's a part of it. But the fundamental reality is nearness is related. Okay, so this is cool. Sort of just to round this off and then we'll keep moving forward. What I think is cool about the Adam priestly connection is Adam is sort of like, he means just means man, right? So it's archetypal of all human beings. So if Adam is made for the presence of God, then so are you and I. And everybody else who's ever existed. Everyone's real reason for being alive in some sense into some extent is to live in, to thrive in the presence of God. Yeah, exactly. And so when we lose that, when the fall happens, I've often talked about and thought about what it means to continue to bear the image of God in a fallen world. And as you've helped fully pointed out, we maintain it, we retain it, but in a sort of, in a messed up way. But we lose entirely. So we maintain our part of our dignity in that we continue to bear the image of God. And we still signs that the God who made us. But when we lose completely due to the fall is our priestly calling. That's gone, which is why we need a new high priest. We need a second Adam who walks perfectly in his priestly function so that we can become a nation and a people, we can have a priesthood. We can, the whole church can be priest again, and we can live in our, getting ahead of myself to the recreation. But that is what the gospel does. Is it invites us to be priests like Adam was supposed to be? Exactly. Again, yes. And that only serves to emphasize how important the presence of God is to the biblical story. Is the fact that you and I are recreated as priests through Christ, our high priest. And you've talked about this in some of your sermons really, really well about how understanding salvation is best done when we contrast it with what we lost in the fall. So if we're recovering priesthood, then certainly we must have lost priesthood. And access to God's presence in the way that God intends. Like the way that the Old Testament narrative seems to tell the story to me is-- because oftentimes people will draw this really, really strong contrast in talking about God's presence and the sinfulness of humanity that God can't even come close to a sinful human or that sinful humans can't come into the presence of God. And I don't get that because there is a biblical data that would seem to point in that direction. And at the same time, the story of the Old Testament is that God makes accommodations for humanity to be able to come into his presence. That's the whole sacrificial system in the book of Vitticus. And God is making a way for us to come near, which ultimately prefigure and point to how Christ makes the ultimate way for us to not just come near, but to remain in the presence of God. And in fact, with God's presence too now, and have it. And that presence described as rivers of living water. Rivers of living water. Soaring out of us. Look at that. Right? Yes. Yeah, that's cool. I do-- I often try to help people make the distinction when they think of why we're far from God because of sin. And they sort of speak of it, like, well, God really doesn't like that. Like God's like, he can't come close to you. Because it's more of the reverse situation that people understand that. It's less about God being like, oh my gosh, I have to say it from sin. And more like, hey, what you've become because of sin, the full access to me thing doesn't work, which is why the accommodation is necessary. Yes. Full or maybe another-- word to say would be sustained. Yeah. It's like, okay, so, you know, a great example is the story of Exodus where Moses is receiving the instructions for how to build the Tavern apple and Israel and Aaron are down below and they're building this idol. They're building this other image, which they say, by the way, is to represent Yahweh, if I'm recalling the story right, like they're constructing another image to worship. And God's pissed. God's really mad about that. That's a horrible, sinful thing to do. They're already breaking the covenant that God has made with them just moments prior. And Aaron is like, Moses comes down and Aaron's like, it just happened. It just, we threw the golden to the fire and out came this calf. And that's often how idolatry ends up happening. It's like, well, it's just kind of drifting along in life. And then the next thing I know I ended up worshiping this thing that doesn't deserve to be worshiped. But in any case, what's notable about that point in the story is like God doesn't abandon them. Yes, there is consequence. But the story still ends in God coming down the mountain. Triple consequence. Talk about it. It's melted down. Moses makes them drink it. Has to leave bites. Anyone who doesn't worship the calf, he has them run through with two assorting each hand. Inslee. And then God sends a plague. Yes. So the triple punishment. So there's serious consequence. And God still comes down the mountain. Right. So are you an iconoclast? You think images of Jesus are bad? Oh gosh. I'm not going to comment. So I think that's important. And the other example that is pointed out to me is the story of Isaiah. So I can Isaiah chapter six when Isaiah has this this vision of the most high God who is high and lifted up. He's he's rom and he's Nisa, the two Hebrew words that figure prominently. And Isaiah is theology. And and Isaiah knows he says, whoa is me. I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Like he recognizes his sinfulness. And certainly God recognizes Isaiah's sinfulness. And yet there's God. Yeah. He's drawing near. In fact, in a way that ultimately prefigures what Christ does through the cross. Isaiah like falls down like a dead man. And God sends a seraphim literally a burning one with a hot coal from the altar. Like if you're if you're in the presence of God and you're going, whoa is me. I'm a dirty sinful person. And then God sends a burning one like an angelic being with a burning hot coal. The what you're thinking is I'm cooked. Yeah. Exactly. You're thinking I'm going to die. He is going to cook me. He's going to cook me with that hot coal and his burning self. But God doesn't do that. He touches Isaiah's mouth and he purifies. Yeah. Isaiah looks to this error from and says here it comes eternal conscious torment. That's what he said. Oh, God. Yes. Yes. Exactly. And but then God purifies him. God heals him and makes him holy. And so there is this reality that there is a separation between sinful humanity and a holy God. But there's also this reality that this holy God really wants to draw near. Yeah. This is a Zekiel does something really similar throughout his book. What's really cool about a Zekiel, it's pretty dark throughout a lot of the book. And the Zekiel is prophesying to the believers in Jerusalem. God keeps picking him picking him up by his hair and teleporting in the Jerusalem. It's a whole thing. And he keeps like walking through walls and stuff. It's awesome. That guy got some of the craziest prophetic visions. I'm asking for those kinds of words and knowledge these days. Wow. Just I don't want to have to eat food cooked over. Don't know that. Yeah. So maybe not. Yeah. And I like to talk to my wife. So yeah. And I do. Yeah. Anyway, there's a lot of reasons to not want to be a Zekiel. For sure. Big big man Z. But what's cool is he sort of brought. He prophesized and says that he's seen the the presence of God. Leave the temple. Yes. And the people begin to mourn. Yes. Because this is really bad news. Yes. That's not supposed to happen. It's not. And they thought it could never happen. Right. Exactly. There's security. God will never. Of course, he won't leave the temple. And there is what's cool. I think is that there is this recurring phrase throughout the book of his Eq. First of all, I think God refers to his Eq is the son of man almost a hundred times. So no one is ever more personally addressed and more often addressed directly by God than his Eq. Nobody. So God and his Eq have this sort of face to face. Diologues throughout the book. There's also this phrase that comes up constantly. And then they will know or then you will know that I am the Lord. You will know that I am the Lord. And these two conflicting themes, if you are paying attention for them, you can't help but see that all throughout his Eq. The book is about God's transcendence and his imminence at the same time. And how both of those things have to be acknowledged together. And if you treat God as if he is not transcendent, you might lose his imminence. And that's what happens. Yes. But the very very. You disregard his holiness. Yes. If you treat him as common. Exactly. You'll lose his nearness. Yes. So his Eq has these visions where he sees people surrounding the area of the temple doing acts of idolatry. And as he moves, each subsequent vision moves closer and closer to the holy of holies. And what he sees is more and more important and blasphemous. And so as he moves closer to the presence of God in the vision, the people are less and less aware of the transcendence of Yahweh. So God's presence leaves. But the very very last chapter of the book is this prophecy. And it will be said God's presence is in her of the city of the temple. And so even in the face of such a dramatic reason for God to leave and never come back, that's not the story. But the book of Ezekiel ends on this solid promise that we the city will be called and God is in her and God is with her. So it's just like beautiful. You know, even in the face of all the reasons to leave divorce Israel permanently. God is like, no, I'm leaving for now. Here I am out here in the wilderness Ezekiel. I'm still long to be present when these people when you go back send them back ready to be in my presence again. It's cool. Yes. Yes. I really love that. And I'm just thinking not to how in Ezekiel chapter two, while Ezekiel and the Israelites are by the canal in Babylon, Ezekiel has this introductory vision. And he sees the wheels within the wheels. He's seeing God's throne. The aliens. The aliens. The ancient aliens. Exactly. As Joe Rogan would would like to bring up. But he has this vision. Of God's throne. And the whole the whole like tension there. The whole point there is like God is shown up in a place where he's not supposed to be. Yeah. Like he left the temple in Jerusalem. And now they're in Babylon. They're like in they're an enemy territory. And his throne is mobile. His throne is mobile. He's he's coming in on his holy wheelchair. Yeah, he's like a what's his like from X men. What's the good main guy? No, Magneto the other one. Charles Xavier. Xavier. And his cool omnidirectional wheelchair. That's what it is. That's the throne of God. Yes. Above the canal in Babylon. Yeah. So it's like God's presence again has showed up where he's not expected to be because he's in pursuit of his people. And Ezekiel as the son of man, the son of Adam becomes this representative of God's presence being reintroduced and ultimately finding a tomb again in the temple. So Adam and therefore all of humanity have experienced some kind of expulsion from the presence of God. Yes. That's the and something needs to be done about that. Yes. That only God can do. Like God has to do like even the living physical sacrifices are a grace. Like it's like God's way of going here. I'm going to make this available to you so that you can host my presence in at least some kind of limited way. It's sure I'll take a goat. Yeah. Sure. Yes. I'll throw you a bone. Yes. Send that goat off into the wilderness where the demons live. Right. So Adam's been expelled from the presence of God in the garden, which is a temple. And through that we've lost part of the point of what it means to be human. Yes. Which has left us in a pretty shabby, busted up state. But God wants to do something about that. So the big idea of the Old Testament is God and the New Testament has got accommodating to what we've become, meeting us where we are we might say and making it possible for man to be in the presence of God. Yes. Like that's the big story. My favorite thought on this is as the day of atonement, which is at the center of the book of Ezekiel. It's sort of like the big we think of the Passover. But in the mind of Leviticus, it's like the most important day in the religious calendar. Yep. Because it's the day that decides whether or not God is going to keep on being present with Israel. It's one commentator I read described it as like these Israelites would have thought of the day of atonement as having these like cosmic implications. That if they don't if the high priest doesn't go into the Holy Holy's purify and keep it clean, then God's presence will leave not just Israel but the earth. Because God's presence on the earth is determined by whether or not Israel keeps the tabernacle clean. So if they don't, then the touch point, the meeting place between heaven and earth will be broken. And that doesn't just affect Israel. They're meant to be the sort of like the custodians. A kingdom of priests. Yes, exactly. And that messes things up for everybody. And so they were keeping God's presence with them. What's really cool is the same commentator wrote that the the high priest on the day of atonement, the he would take off all of his fancy you know, guards is ephod and is turban and with the medallion and everything. Which Adam is described as wearing in Ezekiel 28, which is cool. The exact stones from access twenty anyway uh. but the high-preach would take all those things off and he would put on just linen garment. He posits that perhaps it's meant to appear to be a burial shroud. And so the Israelites understood that when you died you met God. And so he was imitating that. He walked in as though he were a dead man. And that's what he went in to me God. And then he takes it step further to David. And when he says David, when he takes off his clothes and he's dancing, he is, it says though David, when he's bringing the Ark of the Covenant back into the city, he would have been dressed the way that a high priest would have been dressed in the name of a tell me he would have been dressed like a dead man. And I think that's fascinating. It's almost like there's this cool prefiguring of Jesus Christ coming out of because the Ark of the Covenant is the presence of God, Jesus Christ coming out of the incarnation, coming out of the tomb and all of these dead people with their burial garments still on following him out. It's like that Joshua story in the book of Zechariah God taking off the old garments and trading them. Why? Because we he's a grave robber. God has taken us out of these tombs and we yeah it's cool. The whole like doorway to Christianity is it starts we start by dying. And then we rise again with Christ. Anyway, that's like the way to the presence of God from the beginning in the Vitticus 16 with David is like the way is death, the way is to become a dead man. And for us now the way to become a home of the living God a a well of living water is to die. To die. So cool to take a back cross. So David, I'm really central. Yeah. I just had a bunch of fun. I felt like there was just like a there was that was a bunch of realizations I was happening live. That's going to happen a lot on this podcast. Yeah, I was just like, whoa, I'm seeing things right now. It's just cool because we are prepared, but we are minimally prepared. And so we're leaving a lot of room. Minimally prepared would be. There's a lot of notes here. This is not a lot in my book. Well, you couldn't like. Well, that looks like my sermon notes. Not yours. They look anything like my. Not not even there's not enough color coordination. You had some thoughts about someone 10 and right, Melchizedek. Yeah. Do you want to talk about that? Yeah. Sort of. Yeah. So like David. Well, I mean, David obviously has a it's so acts 15. The Jerusalem Council James. Is it the Jerusalem Council? Yes. James tells us that this is the prophecy from Amos that the tent of David David restored. Which the tent of David was not the same thing as the Tabernacle. The the Ark of the Covenant had long not been in the in the Tabernacle, which means there was no place that the nation of Israel religiously was coming to meet with the presence of God. Yeah, this is kind of I guess ton of like to ground people in like Israel's history. This is kind of transitioning from judges to kings. Yeah. Moses's Tabernacle has not been adequately cared for. And so David has constructed this tent. Yeah, the Phil scene stole it. Right. And then they got a bunch of tumors or something. Yes. And so then it just ends up at some guy's house. Right. Well, a couple guys house. A couple guys. Yeah, there's it's a long story. But David is like we need the presence of God in the midst of the people. This is what we need. He knows that. And so he's sacrificing and bringing. And David in that sense is a pre a foreshadowing of Jesus being the the king priest. Right. So we know in the New Testament Psalm 110, which talks about what's the exact quotation that you have it open? I do have it about Christ. Yeah. I've made you a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Yes. Actually, oh, here we go. Yeah. First floor. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. And just I guess to give some necessary context going back to verse one, the Lord Yahweh says to my Lord Christ, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a foot store for your feet of the Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion saying rule in the midst of your enemies. That's what Christ is doing right now. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle, a written holy splendor. Your young men will come like do from the morning's room. You are a priest. You kingly figure who's seated on the throne. And Melchizedek is this weird strange obscure figure from the book of Genesis. Right. Who shows up to Abraham and is like, you are my priest, Yahweh. Also, I'm the king of Salem. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. King of righteousness, King of peace. Yeah. I'm going to bless you, Abraham. And then he disappears. Yeah. And everyone is like, is that Jesus? Right. And then he shows up again here in Psalm 110. Yeah. And I believe one or two other Psalms from memory. I don't have those memories. So I know least he shows up in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews. Right. Well, I think what's cool. So I think it's Peter in the book of Acts that he literally describes David like a prophet. He literally said David was a prophet, which is cool. Yes. And Jesus interprets this Psalm as being about himself, which is the way that consistently the New Testament uses the Psalms. Because the Psalms aren't the same thing as like messianic prophecies from the prophets. But they're more like Jesus fills them up. And they're more truly about Christ. They can truly be about something else, but like Psalm 22. Yeah. They have like fuller meaning. Yeah. And so we can imagine David writing this thinking of himself as a priest in the line of about because it actually is the King of Jerusalem. He's the first King of Jerusalem. He establishes Jerusalem as his capital. And he's the first to bring the presence of God there. Like he has to see some sort of thematic overlap between him and the obscure figure from Genesis. And it's a pre-figuring of what Christ would do. Right. Yes. And ultimately what we all do in Christ when we get restored to our Kingly, priestly role, because we are the Kingdom of priests that Peter talks about in heaven. Yet David sees like it's the way things have to be as the presence of God has to be at the center of Israel's life. And the same is the case for the Church. The presence of God is what makes things tick. Like it's what makes being the church work. It is the point. Yeah. Being a people of this presence. The church is the temple. Yeah. The church is the tabernacle. And there's language to describe the church all throughout the New Testament, particularly in Paul's letters. That the pick the church as God's temple. And that concept doesn't exist in a vacuum that exists within this whole biblical story of God's presence, being the point of being human, to interact with this presence. And even now we are interacting with the presence of the Lord in a way that pre-figures what is to come where we will have an even fuller completely unencumbered interaction with the presence of the Lord in the new creation. But let's back up for a moment. And because we're I think we're missing something really central. And let's talk about Christ. Yeah. And how Christ solves this problem of our removal from God's presence. Right. So we should probably just start with John chapter one. Do I tell us about Skanu? Skanu. The first thing I want to say is that I don't know how to pronounce Skanu. But it's the Greek word for tabernacle. So in John chapter one and verse 14, it says that the word was made flesh and dwelled in our midst or Skanu or tabernacled in our midst. So the whole idea is that Jesus has come as the tabernacle. He's come as the meeting place between heaven and earth, between God and man in his flesh. He is God incarnate, God and fleshed, and in the person of Jesus a new and permanent tabernacle has arrived. Yeah. Where God's presence dwells in its fullness on the earth and where God's presence draws near to those who look to him and believe in him so that the connection between humanity and God can be reestablished so that humanity can come perfectly back into God's presence because Christ himself is that union between the divine and the human. Right. And we have in Christ and in his atoning work, we have a permanent Passover and a permanent day of atonement. He, we become, you know, he does the high priest's effort, the high priest goes in like a dead man and he makes atonement for the nation and he comes out and Israel gets another year of peace in the presence of God. In Christ, he, you know, he does the high priest stuff, literally dies and rises again and makes it possible for the presence of God to come in to remain with us, to stay with us. Which gives Jesus then throughout the gospel sort of an interesting relationship with the temple in Jerusalem that gets him in quite a bit of trouble. It does because he's saying, I'm now the place to come and get clean. Yeah. I'm now the place to come and unite with the presence of the Lord, not that really fancy temple that you have built over there. Yeah. I'm the place to come in to see the Father. Yes. In fact, there's this one of my favorite things in Beale's temple book is this idiom that it that pops up throughout the biblical story in old and New Testament about idols or temples being made either with human hands or made without human hands. And to say something is made with human hands is is a biblical way of saying that thing is idolatrous. Yeah. So like even Paul will talk about the act of circumcision as an act that is made with human hands. And it's it's I'm reading that is kind of like Paul saying like this act that you're trusting in so much it's literally a man made a handmade idol that you're trusting in there. - That's crazy. - It's a crazy thing. - I always so relieved that I don't have to preach to audiences that Paul had to preach to. - Yeah. - Like I don't have to talk about circumcision as nearly as often as that guy did. - I feel like the Lord is calling you to the Jews. - Interesting. - Yeah. - Really? - Yeah. - All right, Galatians. So, Romans here I come. But in any case, that made with human hands image is contrasted with a temple made without human hands. So like Isaiah 2, Micah 4, Daniel 2, there's this picture of really off the dome. - Yeah. - Just list those off. - Man. - I think about this concept quite a bit. And some of you have to check me on those. I'm pretty sure I'm right. But there's this concept of this little rock that's cut out and the text will say with in Daniel 2 without human hands. And then that little rock grows into this mountain that fills the world. It's the kingdom of God. - Yeah. - And so it's this picture of without human construction, just something purely, divinely cut out that grows throughout the world. And that image ultimately gets picked up as the mountain is the place of God's temple. It's the meeting place of heaven and earth. And Jesus is that, he is that temple cut out without human hands. He's divinely brought about into the world. And in him the church is formed not by human structure or effort, but because Christ has brought the church forth in and through himself through his own incarnate humanity. And this is now the temple that is filling the earth. It's the mountain that's filling the earth with the presence of God because we are that growing temple. - This is what's cool about doing biblical theology is that you can find this really important motif throughout the Bible. That's just an afraid about hands. - Hands. - That if you're not paying attention, you won't even realize that this is this thing that keeps coming up. It's the Bible expressing approval or disapproval for something, saying that something's come from God or it's not come from God. You gotta pay attention to stuff like that's really cool. It's like these cool, it's like the movie National Treasure but you're reading the Bible. It's awesome. It's like I'm flipping over the Declaration of Independence and putting hot lemon juice on it. You know what I'm talking about? Let's go Nicholas Cage. Okay, here's the thought that I'm having just now. Life, so tell me what you think about this. So really interestingly, we've talked about Jesus saying his whole quotation about you'll have rivers of living water flowing from deep within you. Interestingly, he says that in the temple, which is very deliberate and not just in the temple, but he says it during the festival of booths. The festival of Tabernacles of tents. And so literally the whole nation of Israel would have been, well, many people would be coming to celebrate this festival camping, intense, resembling the time of when they were traveling to the wilderness. Yeah. And Jesus is the, he has tabernacled among us. And it's in that particular week during that particular moment that Jesus stands up in the temple. And it's the one time of the Gospels I can find anybody talking about Jesus' volume. And it says that he stood and yelled aloud. Right. And now I just need to read it. I wanna like say the whole thing. He, does he reference Isaiah 55 there? That's the whole like common you without bread. He doesn't mention bread. Well, yeah, but there's the, okay. John 737. On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me as the scripture has said, "We'll have streams of living water flow from deep within him." He said this about the spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the spirit for the spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. So people are literally like camping in tents. And here's Jesus saying, you know, you can have the presence of God, you can have the presence of God within you. You can be like in Paul's language and in First Corinthians, you can be a temple, a tent of the spirit. Exactly. And Jesus' audience here in this moment, unmistakingly would have heard his words about living water and would have thought of a Zikiel temple. And because they understood this temple theology, they would have thought of the original creation story as well with Eden. Jesus is making a radical claim here to say like, "I am the holy place, the most holy place out of which the river of God's presence flows. I am the new Eden. I am the new temple." And whoever believes in me, out of them, will flow rivers of living water. They're gonna become temples. They're gonna become dwelling places of God's presence. And so like, and you mentioned Paul's thought, this is something that features a lot in the book of Second Corinthians, is this idea of us being homes for the spirit of God. And so Paul will say in Second Corinthians five, we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. So he's talking about this eternal temple that we have to look forward to. Meanwhile, we groan longing to be clothed in instead with our heavenly dwelling. Because when we're clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, speaking of our present bodies, we groan in our burden because we do not wish to be uncloed, but be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now, the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose, this purpose of being a temple without human hands, who has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. So the spirit is what we've received as the down payment that signals the what we have to look forward to, which is even more of God's presence. God's presence has been put in us, the church now, as the temple of God. And so then Paul will say in the very next chapter in chapter six, don't be yoke together with unbelievers, with impurity, with unrighteousness. What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What do fellowship with, can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Bileol? What is a believer having common unbeliever? And what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. We are the place of God's presence. That's validated by the fact that we have received the Holy Spirit. In other words, like in Paul's mind, this is really important. In Paul's mind, the demarcation about the church is the fact that they are the home of the presence of God on the earth. That's what makes the church the church. Even more than their outward behavior, even more than the ethics that they live by, is the fact that they are the dwelling place for the presence of God on the earth. And that dwelling, that hosting of God's presence points to where God intends to take the story of His people, which is again the completely untampered with experience of His presence dwelling with them and them dwelling with Him. - Yeah, I think that fact that what's most, the most important truth about the church is that we are where God is basically. - Great. - That's where we get what in many evangelical circles, you get the sort of the three ranked priorities of the church, which in our church we say, the glory of Christ, the beauty of the bride, the glory of the city, which is built upon this whole tripartite structure of Eden and the tabernacle that we are first here to be with God. We are in relation to that to garden, to beautify God's dwelling place, and then ultimately to extend that beauty outward into the world, just like Adam and Eve were meant to carry the garden into the rest of the world, by following that four directional river for being the biblical number of the whole earth. - So where do you get your mission statement from, a cathedral? - The Bible. - The tri-partite structure of the tabernacle. - Oh, that makes sense. - Oh, duh. Why didn't I think of that? - Obviously, but each of those things has a connection to the presence of God, right? Like, worship has to be our first priority because how else do you respond to the fact that God is present? Everyone who's not on earth, who's in God's presence, is worshiping. So it's like, duh. Then the whole, the beauty of the bride, is the other way. We recognize as immanence by worshiping and as transcendence by transforming by allowing Christ to change us so that we can be people who really can continually grow and belonging there, really fit and are being transformed by the presence of God, or conformed to the image of God again. And then the good of the city is the, let's extend the boundaries. It's our responsibility if the connection point between heaven and earth is the church. Well, we'd like to make people not just earth people, but heaven people as well. So like, let's bring them in, let's bring them to where the presence of God is, and let's be living, breathing, walking temples that can minister in the spirit wherever we are, because wherever we are, we have the presence of God. Exactly. And this is the big idea between about Christians being priests, priests have a two directional ministry, a ministry upward towards God, and they have a ministry outward towards man. And the outward ministry is the extension of their upward ministry. What they receive by being in relationship with God is what they are meant to give to their fellow man, both to one another in the church, and to those who do not yet know the Lord. Yeah, that's awesome. Yes, it is awesome. And so that all then wraps up in the new creation at the end of the Bible and the book of Revelation and chapters 21 and 22. John has this picture that is stunning and beautiful. You have Australian inflections but without the accent sometimes. I do. John is stunning. I'm like, dude, it's funny to hear an American accent with Australian inflections. Oh, my bad. That's so great. My bad. That's interesting. So John says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. This will, they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. This is all temple imagery. So it starts with John seeing a new heaven and a new earth, which like we talked about before, there's this like cosmic paradigm in the mind of the ancient people where really all of creation is understood as a temple. And then that picture gets developed into verse two. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which is obviously the city where Israel's temple was coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Israel is often referred to as the bride of God throughout the Old Testament. And then verse three, and I heard. So the first two verses were I saw and then verse three is and I heard. And one of the the common literary devices that takes place throughout the book of Revelation is that what John hears interprets or explains what he sees or sometimes vice versa. So like a very common example of that is when John hears about the lion of the tribe of Judah in Revelation chapter five. And then he turns to see the lamb. So the the lion that he hears about is explained as the lamb. Oh, this like conquering one conquers by being the lamb of God by going to the cross. And that's that's how you understand what conquering means in the book of Revelation. And so here's the same kind of idea. John sees the new creation, New Heaven's New Earth. He sees the the temple city, the Holy City coming down out of heaven. And then he hears verse three, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. God's temple is now among the people. In other words, what he sees is explained by what he hears. And basically what John is seeing is a whole new temple coming. And the temple is new creation. The whole thing has it has ended as it began where God's presence now dwells amongst us people in a completely uninhibited form. Isn't it funny? Like people have all of these crazy theories about heaven and all of these questions about what heaven will be like. And all revelations seems to want to do is be like, everything's going to be remade. And the really important part is that God's presence is going to be there. Correct. We're like, okay, what else? It's like, what else would you care about right now? Like this is like the big thing. Yes. And what would it look like to live your life perfectly in tune with the presence of the Lord? Like how beautiful would the entirety of your life be? You're working your relationships? How awesome would all that be if God's presence was central to the way that you lived? Did you see Lennon McDonald's bracelet post? I have to confess I saw the first two slides of it. And then I think I moved on. Okay, it was hilarious. Sure. One of the bracelets that was made in genius had like 18 letters. Like it was like a long, long, long acronym. And is that real? He made it. But the bracelet itself, I mean, yeah, it's real. Okay. He really got it made. Oh, he got that bracelet. Yes, he had some make it. And the acronym is like, what is the Holy Spirit doing? And how can I partner with it? One of the things that I love about Landon is how committed he is to his own bits. Like it actually doesn't surprise me that he went on and had this bracelet made. It's awesome. It's artistic. It's incredible. But like that's what you're saying. Like he's like, I'm not content with just WWJD. Right. I'm like, the spirit is here. He's doing something. And it's always possible for me to join in and participate in it. Yes. Right. Exactly. And we have that perfected to look forward to. And we live in a now and not yet scenario until we wait for the second coming of Christ in the arrival of this new creation temple. Yeah. But even in our waiting, we we must be committed to being a people of the presence of God. Because without his presence, we miss, we miss, hey, we missed the point of what it is to be human and be in Landon's language. We can't partner with God. And so like even in Ephesians 5, when we can begin to wrap it up here, this has become a sort of paradigmatic picture for me when I think about the church where Paul says in verse 15, be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Understand what God wants. What do you mean by that, Paul? Well, don't get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery, to dissipation, to wastefulness. In other words, Paul is saying here that your drunkenness is a way of living unwisely it. It wastes the day. And you're not able to make the most of every opportunity. Instead, be filled with the spirit. In other words, be a temple. And that's a prevalent theme throughout the book of Ephesians where Paul talks about earlier in this letter how the church is the temple of the living God. I'm thinking of the end of chapter 2 in him, Christ, you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. So Paul already made like the theological point that the church is the temple. And here he gets really practical. He's saying, Hey, like don't waste your time on drunkenness or whatever other thing, doom scrolling, numbing yourself. And here's how. Verse 19. And in the Greek, Clinton Arnold in his commentary on Ephesians talks about this really, really well. And he points out how in the Greek it's be filled with the spirit by speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns and songs from the spirit sing and make music from your heart to the Lord. So it's like Paul is saying, Okay, be filled with the spirit. And here's how to do it. Be a charismatic, right worship a lot, sing songs and hymns and songs and hymns and spiritual songs. And by that, you'll actually will be filled with the Holy Spirit in your corporate gathering. And you will be able to then live out healthy home lives, instructions for Christian households, husbands, wives and children. And you'll be able to ultimately conduct spiritual warfare. You'll be able to take up your post in this expansion, this extension of God's presence throughout the world, because you first prioritize being a people of His presence. Yeah, when you first and foremost find, it's like we think of what Adam has lost tragically and what we have regained as now priests. And then we begin to think of ourselves that way. But I am a priest to God. And more than a volunteer at a church, more than a musician or more than a barista at my local coffee shop, more than a, you know, an investor on Wall Street or whatever it is, you have to Christian understand first and foremost yourself as a priest. And knowing it's to check them self out from that responsibility. Correct. Christ has died and risen again to make it possible for us to engage in the Christian priestly ministry to God. Like that's what we're called to do. Nobody gets to, you know, sort of sign off or slip under the radar on that one. So that means everybody has to take worship seriously. And to worship biblically, to worship the way that God has asked us to. I think that's really cool. It's like building a life that's centered around being aware of the presence of God. And living as living in faith as if that is really true because it is. It's like brother Lawrence. That's who I think of the practice of the presence of God in all the daily ordinary activity. Right. Like that book was transformative to me because he's sort of the, for like someone who I'm 22, I had my like young charismatic sort of lapses which is like, just needs to be crazy all the time. That's what means to be charismatic means everything's got to be crazy and really, really, really emotional time. And then eventually that's sort of wanes and you stop feeling so feely. And it's like, now what? And so then I read brother Lawrence and I was like, oh, wow. This is way cooler than what I'm doing. This guy just loved God. This guy just maintained and kept himself in the presence of God all the time. And Paul anticipates that, right? So like you might read those verses that I just quoted a moment ago and go like, okay, am I just supposed to spend all of my time singing? Like is that how I'm continually filled with the presence? But actually Paul elaborates on it with a few other things. Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So practicing gratitude to God throughout our days is another means by which we're filled with the Spirit. And then verse 21, this is really, really important. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. So in my relationships, in my, you know, you're 22. I'm I'm almost 37, I'm your pastor and And yet Paul says, "Hey Jake, the way that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit is if you take a servanthood type posture towards Elijah. If we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, because who is Christ? Christ is the ultimate servant. He's the one who went to the cross." Oh my gosh, we didn't even get to this, but there's a whole connection in Scripture between the cross and the giving of the Spirit. Like the Spirit flows out of Christ's side as the Spirit plunges through him as he hangs on the cross. The giver of the Spirit is the one who goes to the cross. It's like the Spirit comes pouring out. Yes, exactly. Right, 100%. The veil is torn literally. Yes. And the Spirit comes pouring out. And that is the moment where the Centurion goes, "This is the Son of God." Yeah. In Mark's Gospel, there's this Messianic secret that travels all throughout. The only person who ever hears that Jesus is the Son of God in Mark's Gospel is Jesus Himself. Like even at the baptism scene, it can contrast it with other Gospel accounts where the crowd hears God say, "This is my Son." And the language, "This is," can notes the idea that like, "Oh, people heard that." In Mark's Gospel, it's "You are my Son." It was like a private conversation between the Father and the Son. And because Mark is emphasizing this Messianic secret all the way throughout his Gospel, if I'm not mistaken, even when Peter has the revelation of who Christ is at Cesaria, Philippi, I don't think he uses the language of Son of God. But anyway, at the cross, when Jesus is dying, that's when the first person in Mark's Gospel goes, "Oh, this is the Son of God." It's like, "You can't know God apart from this cross." And you can't know the giver of the Spirit apart from knowing the God who would do such a thing as God will cross. And in the same way, you and I can't be stewards of the Spirit unless we, in Paul's language, submit to one another out of reverence for the ultimate serving you. So there's a way in which guarding and keeping the presence of God means cultivating humility. Exactly. Because if you can sort of rise above or the presence of God is in pride. Or you in doing so would become like Satan. Yeah. And if so, if you won't shrink, if you won't enter like a child and stay like a child, you'll sort of, and this is in heavy quotation marks, outgrow the presence of God. As your head puffs up. There stops being room for God in you. Yes. Speaking very metaphorically there. But that's the way that we continually live aware of the presence of God is by being really humble. Exactly. And that goes back to God's warning to Adam and Eve in the garden. It's like, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't try to know reality apart from me. Don't think that you can even do that. Don't think that you can somehow craft a better way to be human. That's right. A rightful activity that ultimately leads to your downfall. Instead humble yourself. Submit to me and the way that I have structured reality which ultimately has founded upon your dependence upon the river. Yeah. And if you stop trying to depend on the river, then you will only be led into barrenness, into unfe- for this, into thorns and fistles that will come out of the earth. It's like a dodgy theme park, lazy river. We're just coasting along and the rest of God. I was in a lazy river once in the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. We spent several summers as a child vacationing in Las Vegas. I don't know why. One time I was on the lazy river and what I thought was a pine cone. Oh. I don't know why. Okay. So so that we don't end the episode there. I'm going to read a verse, you've been reading Revelation. Give us give us end us off with a brief victorious encouragement here from Revelation chapter three verse 12. Which church would God be saying this to? Sardis, I don't remember. The one who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from God. We'll also write on them my new name. We can be pillars in the temple of God Jesus says. Awesome or no? Super awesome. The best thing ever. There's no better thing to be than to be, obviously, it doesn't literally mean pillar, but to be posted up in God's presence in this temple. And that's what we have to look forward to. That's what we're supposed to practice now, which we do through our belonging to a local church. And through mutually submitting to one another, preferring one another above ourselves, outdoing one another, showing honor and living in self-giving sacrificial love. And that's how we both receive more of the spirit and give more of the spirit away. Amen. Amen. Thanks for listening to our first episode on the big idea of God's presence. Everybody. Let's go. We'll see you soon. See you next time. Bye.