The hope we have is not to get through the flaming sword of those cherubim or to go back into those places where those two special trees were. God will accomplish the goal of the garden. It will be through Christ’s work—the glory of what the church’s future is in Christ—but also a new creation that the Lord will bring about at his second coming. This means the garden aims at the hope that is to come.

Look Ahead

Our hope is not a return to Eden. Eden is a paradise that we can read about not just in Genesis but in the reflections of later Scripture. Clearly, what a special place this was. The plan of the Lord, though, to bring his people into everlasting fellowship with him is not going to be Eden 2.0. The garden itself was designed by the Lord to aim at a global project.

The reason it was only part of the world and for the image bearers to be fruitful and multiply within it, it’s going to be for the goal of expanding those borders and to image the glory of God throughout creation.

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