God’s sacred

God’s sacred spaceship and man’s stewardship Lessons from Eden, Ancient Israel & Jesus

Bridget Mburu

“Perhaps like most people, I wasdecadesintomywalkwith God before I started to get some semblance of understanding of His Holy Scriptures and their relevance throughout history and today. To me, the Old Testament was a bunch of strange laws, wars, various lists and parades of dead people’s names, and difficult to understand prophesies. The New Testament- minustheGospels - was a bunch of do’s and don’ts. Therefore, I pulled verses out of context and tried to live my life by these randomlyselectedinstructions andpromises.

God is faithful! ButGodinHismercyarranged for me to start attending a Bible teaching church where I encountered a women’s Bible studyteacherwho wassowell versed in the Bible and it’s teaching,thatIwas mesmerized. My mind was struggling to keep up with everything I was learning, so much so that when the class ended, I went straight home and took a nap. It was like I had eaten a heavy meal, except this wasspiritual,notphysical.

Notonly that,but the realization of how Biblically illiterate I was, was astonishing. After processing some of what I had learned, I contacted the Bible teacher and asked her to coffee and said to her, “I want to learn the Bible like you. Please help me!”Andshedid.Thusbeganmy journey of learning and unlearning and growing and tryingtopracticewhatIlearned. I learned about who God is, who I am in Him (my identity in Christ) and themes in the Bible whichIneverknewexisted.

The Bible finally, finally, started making sense. No longer did I read the Bible out of obligation or to get a “hit” to help me navigate whatever situation I was going through, but it came alive! I realized thatin the Bible, God is telling a continuous story which points to Jesus; that the OldTestament isfoundationalto understanding the New Testament; and that like Adam and Eve and ancient Israel before us, God is continuing Hisstorywithyouandmetoday.

The Bible finally, finally, started making sense. No longer did I read the Bible out of obligation or to get a “hit” to help me navigatewhateversituationIwasgoingthrough,butitcamealive! IrealizedthatintheBible,Godistellingacontinuousstorywhich points to Jesus; that the Old Testament is foundational to understanding the New Testament; and that like Adam and Eve andancient Israel beforeus,GodiscontinuingHis-storywithyou andmetoday.

● ThereasonIprovidethebackgroundaboveistohighlighthow the theme of this article is the fruit of that learning and unlearning and how the theme is helpful in framing and transforming how we live our lives today. That theme, traced from Genesis (Eden) to the Promised Land to the New

JerusaleminRevelation,isthis:God’sSacredSpacesandMan’s

Stewardship. This theme is based on the premise that God repeatedly creates a sacred space for Him and man to dwell together (temple), with the aim that man is to partner with

GodasastewardoverGod’screation(aspriest,prophet,king), how man repeatedly sins and fails, but ultimately how God does not give upon us and insteadfinds a way to redeem our failures.Let’stracethistheme.

● 1.Eden:God’sFirstSacredSpace&Man’sStewardship

● Weknowthatinthebeginning,God,bythepowerofHisWord andSpirit,createdthe heavens andthe earth.Hethencreated asacredspacecalledtheGardenofEden,whichwasasetapart spacefromallcreation.

● He placed Adam (Note: “Adam” means mankind) in Eden and deputized man to have dominion over (steward) His creation on earth (Genesis 1 & 2). However, we know what happens nextinGenesis3:mansinsandisexiledfromEden.

● The sacred space, the Garden of Eden, was a dedicated space outofalltheearth,forGodandmantodwelltogether,inother words,atemplespace.GodisarelationalGodaswewillseeas we trace this theme, and He therefore wants to dwell with/in man. He repeatedly makes His presence available to man in each sacred space, but man’s sin repeatedly breaks that communionandpartnership. ● How do we know that God was dwelling with man in Eden when we don’t read about any worship, Bible study or prayer sessions? Well, we read in Genesis 2:15-22 (ESV, emphasis mine) that God “ …put him (Adam) in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it…Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man toseewhathewouldcallthem.

Andwhateverthemancalledeverylivingcreature,thatwasits name…So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man,andwhileheslept took one of his ribs andclosedupits placewithflesh.AndtheribthattheLordGodhadtakenfrom themanhemadeintoawomanand brought her totheman. ”

So here we have God putting man in Eden, bringing every animal to Adam forhim to name them,andtaking a rib outof Adam’s side to make woman and bringing her to Adam. That communicates intimacy: touching, talking, partnership and…presence!

● How does God command man to partner with Him in stewardingHis creationinthisEdensacredspace?Otherthan the examples of partnership we’ve already looked at above, consider this in Genesis 1:28-31 (ESV, emphasis mine), “And

Godblessedthem (AdamandEve).AndGodsaidto them,“Be

fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on

the earth. ” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plantyieldingseedthatisonthefaceofalltheearth,andevery treewithseedinitsfruit.Youshallhavethemforfood.Andto everybeastoftheearthandtoeverybirdoftheheavensandto everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. ” And it wasso.AndGodsaweverythingthathehadmade,andbehold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning,thesixthday. ” ● The earth and all its fullness belongs to God, and He assigns manasastewardoveritandabeneficiaryofitsbounty.

● How do we know that God was dwelling with man in Eden when we don’t read about any worship, Bible study or prayer sessions? Well, we read in Genesis 2:15-22 (ESV, emphasis mine) that God “ …put him (Adam) in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it…Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man toseewhathewouldcallthem.

Andwhateverthemancalledeverylivingcreature,thatwasits name…So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man,andwhileheslept took one of his ribs andclosedupits placewithflesh.AndtheribthattheLordGodhadtakenfrom themanhemadeintoawomanand brought her totheman. ”

So here we have God putting man in Eden, bringing every animal to Adam forhim to name them,andtaking a rib outof Adam’s side to make woman and bringing her to Adam. That communicates intimacy: touching, talking, partnership and…presence!

● How does God command man to partner with Him in stewarding His creationinthisEdensacredspace?Otherthan the examples of partnership we’ve already looked at above, consider this in Genesis 1:28-31 (ESV, emphasis mine), “And

Godblessed them (AdamandEve).AndGodsaidto them,“Be

fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on

the earth. ” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plantyieldingseedthatisonthefaceofalltheearth,andevery treewithseedinitsfruit.Youshallhavethemforfood.Andto everybeastoftheearthandtoeverybirdoftheheavensandto everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. ” And it wasso.AndGodsaweverythingthathehadmade,andbehold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning,thesixthday. ” ● The earth and all its fullness belongs to God, and He assigns manasastewardoveritandabeneficiaryofitsbounty. ● Let’s also take a look at Genesis 2:5-9 (ESV, emphasis mine), “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plantofthefieldhadyetsprungup—fortheLordGodhadnot causedittorain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—then the Lord God formedthemanofdustfromthegroundandbreathedintohis nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the

East,andthere he putthe man whomhe hadformed. Andout ofthegroundtheLordGodmadetospringupeverytreethatis pleasant to the sight and goodfor food.The tree of life was in themidstofthegarden,andthetreeoftheknowledgeofgood and evil…The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ”

● Okay so what happened to end this happy fellowship and partnership? Well, we learn the whole devastating saga in

Genesis3.Basically,oneofthecommandsGodgivesmanisnot to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of God and Evil (Genesis 2:17), which man disobeys, causing him to be exiled fromEden.RememberthatEdenwasasetapartsacredspace, sowhenmanisexiled,helivesoutsidethatspace.

● Aquickpointofnote:beforeGodexileshim,Godcoversman’s sin through a blood sacrifice. Hmm…doesn’t this cause us to think of the Mosaic Law given in the wilderness and later, of Jesus’ownatonementsacrifice?EventhoughexiledfromGod's sacred space, God still has a purpose for man, and He makes provision so that man is able to fulfill his purpose of stewardingGod’spurposeinpartnershipwithHim.

● 2. The Temple in the Wilderness and in Jerusalem: God’s Second Sacred Space & Man’s Stewardship ● Many generations after Adam and Eve are exiled from Eden, we read in Genesis 12 that God calls a man named Abraham and tells him to go to a land that He will show him, which has come to know as the “Promised Land”. According to

GotQuestions.com: “The promise of a land for God’s people

beganinGenesis12whenGodappearedtoAbram(Abraham)and toldhimthathehadbeenchosentobethefatherofmanynations. GodpromisedtoblessAbramandleadhimintoalandthatwould belong to his offspring as a lasting heritage. God later confirmed this promise to Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:3) and then to Isaac’ssonJacob(Genesis28:13). ” ● We have here a sort of redo of Eden whereby God selects a human to represent mankind, and creates a “Promised Land” sacred space on earth where God will dwell in the temple amongHisselectedpeople.

● In Genesis 46, Jacob, his 11 sons (Joseph is in Egypt at this time) and their families leave the Promised Land because of famineandheadtoEgyptwheretheyarereunitedwithJoseph.

The nation of Israel, God's set apart people (having grown from Jacob’s 12 sons), spends 400 years there until God rescues them from Egyptian slavery through His steward,

Moses, and the Israelites start their journey back to the

PromisedLand.

● Duringthecourseofthisjourney,giventhatit’sbeen400years ofEgyptianinfluenceonthenationofIsrael,Godcontinuously seeks to reestablish His relationship and vision for mankind through this set apart people (a holy nation). God not only dwellsintheirpresencethroughacloudbydayandapillarof fire by night, but He also gives them instructions of stewardshipandpartnership.

● One of the first projects He has for them is to build a tabernacle, in the midst of their tent formations in the wilderness. In Hebrew, the word for tabernacle is “Mishkan”, which means “to dwell”. The tabernacle is to face east (Eden faced east) and put in it: the Ark the Covenant also known as the Ark symbolizing God’s presence, His Word in the form of the 10 commandments which He gave to Moses, imagery resembling theGardenofEden,andothersacredinstruments.

Exodus 25 provides details on what exactly was inside the tabernacle. ● Godalsoappointsatribeofpriestsandahighpriesttomediate between Him and the Israelites with sacrifices and offerings, including atonement for sin. Once again, we see that in order for man todwell in God’s holy presence,God makes a way for sintobeatonedfor,justasHedidinEden.

● While the Israelites are still in the wilderness, God issues this command to them in Leviticus 20:22 (ESV, emphasis mine), “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and dothem,thatthelandwhereIambringingyoutolive may not vomit you out. ” Just like in Eden, we have God appointing a sacred holy space for Him and His people to dwell, and gives them instructions as to how to live in that space. Also like in

Eden, God makes it clear that the set apart people will be exiled from that sacred space should they disobey His commands.ThebooksofLeviticus,NumbersandDeuteronomy givedetailsontheinstructionsGodgives.

● Note: In addition to the “Promised Land”, the land which God gives to the Israelites is also called the “holy land”. See Psalm 78:54(ESV,emphasismine),“Andhebroughtthemtohis holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won. ” And

Zechariah 2:12 (ESV, emphasis mine), “And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again chooseJerusalem. ” ● After 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites arrive in the

PromisedLand,withthetabernacle,whichcontainstheArkof theCovenantandanon-portablephysicaltempleiseventually builtatGod’scommandbyKingSolomon.Notlongafterwards, thePromisedLandissplitintotwokingdoms:theKingdomof

Israel to the North with Samaria as its capital city and the

Kingdom Judah to the South with Jerusalem as its capital city.

ThenorthernkingdomofIsrael isconquered bytheAssyrians and the exiled. Later, the southern kingdom of Judah is conqueredbytheBabyloniansandtheJudahitesareexiledand thetempleisdestroyed.TheprophetsIsaiah,Amos,Hoseaand

MicahallprophesyabouttheseeventsurgingIsraeltorepent.

● Once again, what happened to end this happy fellowship and partnership? Well, while there are moments when Israel lives faithful to God’s commands, there are other moments when they fall into sin and corruption. In spite of God repeatedly sending prophetstowarn themthattheywill be exiledifthey continue in sin, the people do not repent and are conquered and exiled. God had no choice but to act on His promise to vomit them out as He said in Leviticus 20:22 (ESV, emphasis mine), “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. ” ● Asapointofnote,oncetheJudahitesreturnfromexileafter70 years,theydoinfactbuildanothertempleinJerusalemduring the Persian Empire. This is the temple that existed during Jesus’ time on earth. The Persian Empire is succeeded by the

Greek Empire and then the Greek Empire is succeeded by the

Roman Empire. However, this temple is also destroyed by the

Roman Empire. To this day, no physical temple exists in the

PromisedLand.

● 3. The Church (Us), God’s Third Sacred Space & Man’s

Stewardship

● Is the third time the charm? Will man finally get things right and be the temple and be faithful to the covenant partnerstewardrelationshipGodcreatedhimtohavewithHim?Well,

I'm afraid as we’ve seen, humans just don’t have a good track record. But God in His mercy, sends a sinless Man, His Son

Jesus, to be the perfect example of communion with Him and

Steward of His will on earth.Jesus is literally the embodiment of God’s perfect vision for mankind. The vision which Adam and Eve, ancient Israel, and us today, could never and can never realize. Let’s look at the ways Jesus redeems mankind’s failures.

● (1). Through His death and resurrection, Jesus becomes the perfect atonement, once and for all, for man’s sin. This is the story of the Gospels in the New Testament. This is how we obtain our justification, our right standing with God. Not becauseweareorcaneverbesinless,butbecauseJesusasour ● representative is Himself sinless. Simply put, when God looks atus,those whoareinChrist,Hesees Jesus,notoursin. Jesus usheredinanewcovenant!Hallelujah!

● (2).Godhaspromisedin1stJohn1:9(ESV)that“Ifweconfess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ” This is all because of Jesus’sperfectsacrifice.

● (3).Jesus,afterHeascendsintoheaventobesitedattheright hand of God the Father, sends His Spirit to indwell all those who believe in Him, so that not only are they His temples, God’ssacredspace,butsothattheyareempoweredtosteward

His perfect will on earth. God knows that mankind cannot be perfect stewards of His will on earth without being empoweredbyHisSpirit.Imean,isGodbrilliantorwhat?

● (4). Through the Holy Spirit, three main things are accomplished:

● ThefirstisthatGod’spresencedwellsinus,thosewhoareset apart by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. We are God’s Mishkan, throughtheindwellingoftheHolySpirit.Goddwellsinusand we dwell in Him. Individually, we are "mini temples”.

Collectively as the Body of Christ, we are the temple, a holy nation,composedofbothJewsandGentiles.

● The second is that we are each given various gifts to do the work of God’s kingdom. The list of these gifts can be found in

Romans 12:6-8, 1st Corinthians 12:7-10 & 28, Ephesians 4:11, and 1st Peter 4:11. Ever wonder how you can go about doing the work of God’s kingdom? A good place to start is by looking at the gifts of the Spirit which you have been given.

● And the third thing accomplished is that God is able to make us into His image and likeness. This is accomplished through the process of sanctification, wherein when we obey and submit to the instructions in His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we produce Fruit of the Spirit which reflects, or images, Jesus. The Fruit of the Spirit is listed in Galatians 5:22 as: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness,

self-control. As the Holy Spirit sanctified us, our hearts are changed to desire the things which God desires, i.e. the desire to please God. Our minds are renewed so that we have the mind of Christ.Having the mind of Christmeans that we start toperceive things from His perspective, instead of leaning on our own understanding. Our heart and mind posture changes to one of humility & servanthood to glorify God, versus pleasing fulfilling ourfleshlydesiresandglorifyourselves.

1stCorinthians6:19-20(ESV)says,“Ordoyounotknowthatyour body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.SoglorifyGodinyourbody. ”Thepurposeoftheindwelling presence and work of the Holy Spirit is not our glory, agenda, culture, perspectives, thoughts, feelings and so on, but rather, it’s forGodtobeglorifiedinandthroughus.

So yes, God’s vision in Eden is fulfilled. Through the death and resurrectionof Jesus,notonly are we temples,with Goddwelling inusandusinHim,butwearealsoempoweredbyHisSpirittobe His image bearers and stewards, reflecting Him and being stewards of His kingdom on earth. Through His indwelling presenceandthe gifts andFruitofthe Spirit, we are His partners and stewards of His will on earth in our function as priests, prophets and kings. In every situation, good or challenging, our frameworkisthis:GodiswithusandGodisempoweringustonot onlydoHiswill,buttoreflectHim.

Asgoodasallthatis,anditis,Godisnotdone!Weareafterall,in exile on earth, as 1st Peter 1:17 and 2nd Peter 2:11 tells us. But thereawaitsusaNewJerusalemwhichwillbeforalleternity.The book of Revelations chapter 21 paints a picture of this New Jerusalemforus,whichI’mgoingtohavetogetintoanothertime sincewehaveenoughtoprocesswiththeabove.