The Garden of Eden and Jerusalem

As I have continued my journey in the study of scripture, I have begun to be impressed more and more that there is a connection between the Garden of Eden and Jerusalem. I began to reach this conclusion after thinking about why God would have chosen Jerusalem as the one place on planet earth that He would directly connect to His name.

1Kings 11:36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.

When He called Abram, there was a specific place that God promised to give him as a possession for his descendants, the land of Israel. When He tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac, it was on the mount later to be known as the temple mount in Jerusalem. When He sent His only Son Jesus as our Redeemer, He was sacrificed as our Passover lamb in Jerusalem. Over time I began to think that this place was directly associated with God’s purpose for man since creation. And where did He place the first man of His creation? In the Garden of Eden.

It was also interesting to me that Jerusalem seemed to have other circumstantial evidence pertaining to this train of thought. I remember hearing Chuck Missler point out at one time how all language from Jerusalem going East read from right to left, while all languages west of Jerusalem read from left to right. It’s like there are directional arrows pointing toward Jerusalem. Yes, you could choose other places along that longitudinal line, but not from the perspective of the Word of God. Also significant in scripture, is the defining of east, west, north and south as determined from the position of Jerusalem or Israel. There is a quote predominant on the home page of that declares the Jewish tradition that Jerusalem is the center of the world.

"As the navel is set in the centre of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world...situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the holy place, and the foundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded."
Midrash Tanchuma, Qedoshim.

I also remember a verse standing out to me in my reading of Ezekiel.

Ezek. 5:5 ¶ Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

And this verse in Deuteronomy.

Deut. 32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

It was like there were several pieces of circumstantial evidence that would support the significance of the location of Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

Much to my surprise I discovered from listening to Jimmy DeYoung recently that he very firmly believes that they occupy the same piece of land. He brought up another piece of scriptural evidence that I had not thought of before. Ezekiel 28 is a passage of scripture concerning the king of Tyre. This “king” is identified as one who had “been in Eden the Garden of God” and was “perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” This is obviously not referencing the human king of Tyre at that time; it was making reference to the spiritual force behind the throne of the earthly king of Tyre, the entity we now identify as Satan. The scripture only records three intelligent beings as dwelling in Eden—Adam, Eve and the serpent. Scripture is clear in identifying the serpent.

Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan….

In context with the positioning of the king of Tyre in the Garden of Eden, Ezekiel 28 also makes reference to “the holy mountain of God.” In the study of scripture one usually finds that scripture defines itself. As the prophet Daniel is praying on behalf of his people, we find that he makes reference to God’s holy mountain.

Dan. 9:16 O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain….

The prophet Isaiah also identifies Jerusalem using this same terminology.

Is. 66:20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

This just affirms my belief further that Jerusalem and the Garden of Eden are one and the same in the mind of God. I think the preponderance of the evidence is too significant to overlook.