Out of the Garden, Into the City
We are all immigrants.
Anthropologists who study the migration patterns of early man have concluded that humans originated in modern-day East Africa and spread throughout the entire world. Before the flood, there may not have been continents, but humans may have spread throughout a single land mass on foot. Today more than 7 billion human beings live on every square inch of land.
The Bible speaks of migration but not in terms of continents. When the Bible speaks of the migration patterns of humanity, it does so from the garden to a city.
The Lord God planted a garden in Eden for the first human family (Genesis 2:8-17). There were no farms. No bush of the field for small plant had yet sprung up in the land for God had not caused it to rain and there were not enough hands to work the crops (Genesis 2:5). There were no cities, although they were inevitable in God’s command to “subdue” the earth (Genesis 1:28). Genesis describes a wild garden planted by God to sustain humanity and provided with every need (Genesis 2:9).
Sadly, Adam and Eve did not keep the commandments God gave them. They ate the forbidden fruit and consequently were banished from the garden God had intended for them. The curse that was brought upon the earth because of their sin essentially made the garden impossible (Genesis 3:17-19).
After the flood, God repeated his command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). At this time we begin to see an inclination in humanity to build cities. Maybe the first cities were built because of a feeling for a need of security. Ancient cities were fortified and protected by armies. This drew people out of the countryside into fortifications where they felt safer.
Eventually, God chose to make a city the focal point of his residence, Jerusalem, the city of God.
There was something special about Jerusalem. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress” (Isa. 65:18-19).
The redeemed will dwell in eternity with God. But will they dwell in a garden or a city? The answer is both!
Notice the similarities between the heavenly city and the Garden of Eden:
In both are found gold and precious stones (Genesis 2:12; Revelation 21:11, 19 – 21).
Both have rivers (Genesis 2:10; Revelation 22:1 – 2).
Both have the tree of life (Genesis 3:22 – 24; Revelation 22:2, 4; cf. 21:4).
Both are said to be creations of God: the garden was “planted” by him (Genesis 2:8); heaven is said to be a city “built by God” (Hebrews 11:10).
What does this incorporation of the garden in the city mean? It means that heaven combines the restoration of what he intended in the Garden of Eden with the redemption of what we have achieved through our partial obedience to the command to fill and subdue the earth. Heaven is wonderful because in that place God will not only restore the beautiful garden he created for us in the beginning, but he will also redeem our small achievements and make them matter as a part of his city.
Drew Kizer