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ប្រតិចារិក
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So, when you make plans to spend time with your loved ones, you need to know when you will meet them, right? That's one of the kind of fundamental aspects of having a meeting, is you need to know when. And although it can be difficult, we have to make time in our schedules for this time together. Still though, We can put all that effort into managing our schedules and overlook something just as important as when we meet, which is where we meet, right? For fellowship together, we must remember that we need both time and place. And in Genesis 2, 4-14, God shows that He has met that twofold need for us to have communion with Him. We previously considered in Genesis 2, 1 to 3, how God made us in His image to be properly ordered toward the time that we spend with Him, according to His consecration of the Sabbath. And having established that time for us to commune with Him, In Genesis 2, 4-14, God builds a place for us to have communion with him as well. So the main point today as we consider this passage is that God provides a place for his people to have communion with him. God provides a place for his people to have communion with him. We're gonna consider this in three points. The provision, the priest, and the promise. So first, let's think about the provision. Okay, so this point walks through Genesis 2, 4-9 to show some significance to why God groomed this garden. Fundamentally, the construction and placement of the Garden of Eden marks God's abundant provision in providing His covenant people with a place for communion with Him. And each successive verse builds the story to this point. So, have the text in front of you, because I am going to walk through this. And so, verse 4 reads, These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." So Genesis repeatedly uses this phrase, these are the generations of, as a structural device. It gives us essentially the original chapter headings, right? So at 5.1 we read, this is the book of the generations. of Adam. At 6.9, we read, these are the generations of Noah. And so this little phrase appears 10 times in Genesis and at 2.4, it signals that the prologue has ended and properly chapter one began. And this first chapter focuses on the first events of human history. This section, then, rewinds slightly to give us more detail about what was described as the sixth day of creation. Which is not an unusual feature, actually. Throughout, especially the Old Testament, it's a common Hebrew device that you would rewind the story, tell it again from a zoomed-in perspective. But... We can move ahead with some of these details of the story. Verses five and six narrow our attention from the whole universe to a particular land. Do you see that? The first sentence in verse five, when no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up. This provides us context. God had made the plants. He had created them, we've read about that already, but they had not yet sprouted in this particular land. So they exist, but they had not yet grown here. Which is important because it avoids suggesting that Genesis 1 and 2 contradict about the order in which God created humans and plants. So verse five then though, to dig into this, states two reasons why plants had not grown in this land. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, this land, and there was no man to work the ground. So first, God had not yet caused it to rain on this land, in this place under discussion. We saw in Genesis 1, 6 to 8, right? I argued that there was describing how God created the clouds as the upper waters, which means, I mean, clouds are there because they rain. And so rain is a normal feature of creation and plants need rain. that it had not rained in this land actually also indicates the time of year. I think this is so fascinating. So in the ancient Near East, the summer was the dry season and winter was the wet season. So God, as believers understand, God brings rain. In this case, in the winter. So the second, and then following on that, the second reason that plants had not yet grown in this land, besides the fact that there wasn't rain yet, was that the people had not irrigated it. God hadn't created them yet, so it was difficult for them to provide irrigation at that point. But, okay, the twofold problem of no rain and no farmer then receives a twofold solution. All right, verse six shows that the sixth day was near the wet season. A mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. Okay, so when Archbishop Usher suggested that creation happened on the evening before October 23rd, 4004 BC, he was perhaps at least right about the season, according to verse four, even if we might think that the rest is a bit too precise. But the Hebrew word here for mist occurs in only one other place, And it helps us understand what it means. So, Job 36, 27 and 28 reads, And so, right, we see from Job that this mist in Genesis is basically a rain cloud. that God made rise, as they do, to water the ground. That's what's going on. After all, in the text, we saw that the problem was not a lack of general water, but the stated problem was a lack of rain. And so the text, the text's point though, is to signal something is about to happen. Anticipation builds, as the text suggests, the approaching wet season, which entails the beginning of growth and of new life. Right? Verse 7 satisfies our anticipation of what is coming and shows that the expected new life is human life. As God creates the first man, Adam. Verses eight and nine then show that after creating Adam, God planted a garden in Eden and put Adam there. So interestingly, I don't think we often notice this. God made Adam somewhere else. Eden is also a larger place inside which God made the garden. And then God took Adam from the other place and put him in paradise. God, but what's significant about that? Well, we see certainly that God didn't leave his people, Adam, to make their own dwelling, but made one for him, made it abundant for food and provision. And he guided him there, which tells us something profound. about the nature of God as our provider. He has always built a home and always made provision for his people, even from the beginning. Adam was a real person and so would need a real place to dwell. And God was good in making that place for him. The provision was God's gift of a wonderful home in which his people would dwell. That brings us to our second point, the priest. Okay, so the previous point was simply about how God gave a home to Adam. But this point looks more closely at what the purpose of that home was. So specifically, The Garden of Eden was the place of blessed communion with God. Christians know that God is present everywhere. We fully acknowledge that, but we also know that God makes himself specially present in blessing in certain places and times, as was the case in Eden. So the description of Eden's location in verse, you know, even though I know better, as soon as I read this text, like I'm on, you know, my iPad looking at the map as if one doofus on Google maps is going to settle a debate that's been going on for centuries about where this is. But I think that these things are important to consider because the description here in verses 10 to 15 provides evidence that the garden was a place of special communion with God. Right? So, we can factor in one other thing from outside Genesis 2. So, Ezekiel 28, 13, and 14 describes Eden as God's holy mountain. So throughout scripture, this is important, because throughout scripture, God uses mountains for special covenantal events, like covenanting with Israel on top of Mount Sinai, or securing the new covenant in Christ's death atop Mount Calvary. Eden, is another mountain where God made a covenant to provide his presence in special blessing. In Genesis 2, 10 to 14 though, the description of Eden's location marked it as a real place somewhere, but more so is given to us with abundant flowing water. And Ezekiel 47, 1 to 12, makes a clear association between abundant water and God's temple. Certainly these were four real rivers, even though we no longer know where the Pishon and Gahan were, but most mentioned them to tie Eden closely to temple imagery. And further to that, 1 Kings 8, verse 65, 2 Chronicles 7, verse 9, describe a temple dedication service. And do you know how long those took? Seven days. I think that's so cool. We can add more to that. The stones, noted in verses 11 to 14, draw connections to the place of worship. In Exodus 28, which we read, verses 6 to 10, in verses 6 to 10, God commanded Israel to make the priestly garments using a lot of gold and onyx. Undoubtedly, there were many natural resources near Eden, but Moses recorded gold and onyx, which forges a link between Eden and the priestly role. The only other place besides Genesis 2.12 where scripture mentions Bedellium is Numbers 11, verse 7, as a description of manna, which was God's provision as he traversed the wilderness with Israel. And lastly, one more bit of biblical information. In Genesis 3, 24, God appointed Cherubim to guard the Garden of Eden after Adam's sin. But Cherubim functioned throughout scripture to guard God's presence in the tabernacle, Exodus 26, in the temple, 1 Kings 6, and atop the Ark of the Covenant itself, Exodus 25. So in other words, to draw all of this together, the description of Eden's location marked the garden as a special place of worship. a place where God met his people, spoke directly with them, and walked with them in unbroken and perfect fellowship. Adam was then a priest in God's first temple. Priests could enter directly into God's presence and commune with the Lord, but were also meant to work and to keep the temple as God commanded Adam to do with the garden in chapter two, verse 15. God built Eden, not just so that Adam would have a home, since that could have been anywhere. God built Eden in that place, in that location to market with his presence and put Adam there to be the priest who had communion with God in the Holy of Holies. That brings us to our final point, the promise. So what have we done so far? We saw how God made provision for Adam by making a place to dwell, but this garden was a place of special communion with God where Adam was the first priest. We should not, however, think of this special place of God's presence as a permanent limitation. That's the drift, I think, isn't it? Why would God limit his presence to this one special place? Well, it wasn't meant to be a permanent limitation, but an opportunity for the priesthood of humanity made in his image. The garden, as a place of communion with God, in fact, still remains a promise for us, as we will see. Because remember, in light of this concern about the limited presence, remember that one task that God gave Adam as the priest who worked and kept the garden temple in Genesis 1.28 was, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it. The priestly task to work and keep the garden also meant to expand the garden so that it covered the earth. In other words, the place of God's special presence was meant to fill the world. It was an opportunity for Adam's ministry in multiplying God's image with Eve and turning the whole world into sacred space for God's image to commune with their God. The problem, as we all know, is that rather than making the world into a place for the sacred, Adam made the world into a space for the sinful. God, who is infinitely holy, cannot justly stand to allow those who are wicked into his blessed presence. And just as Adam sinned, he cast us all into wickedness. And not only were we represented by him, but we have followed his example. Just like Adam should have killed and cast out the serpent who wickedly invaded the sacred space, so too God owes death and ejection to everyone who violates the terms of the covenant that he made with his image bearers. For the God who is inherently good, His righteousness demands that He end the presence of any wickedness before Him. That means that everyone stands under God's impending curse. If you have sinned, if you have broken God's law, if you have fallen short of righteousness at all, if you have failed to reflect God's image perfectly, then you wobble under a death sentence daily for this life and the next. And yet God has given a stay of execution for now. Instead of killing Adam and throwing his corpse out of Eden, in his goodness, he exiled him back into the world. And that is where we too wander, exiles and pilgrims who were made for more, but linger in our lostness. And yet, there is a promise of restoration. Even in Israel, God renewed the promise of a place for communion with him. Psalm 46, four and five, describes Jerusalem in Edenic terms. There's a river. whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High, God is in the midst of her. In the fullness of time, though God sent forth his Son to bear the curse of the law and redeem us who were under that curse, in Christ. God has made communion with him in that special way, globally accessible. Yet not because the kingdom is yet physically present, since Christ's kingdom is not of this world, but present spiritually in the church. As the church gathers, Matthew 18, 20 reminds us, right? That where two or three are gathered in Christ's name, He is among us. Confirming that even the smallest church is a genuine church, truly in communion with God. The emphasis being that wherever the church gathers, Christ is present to commune with them. God provides a place for us to commune with him in the church. But his presence is not tied to one city, one temple, one building, or one garden. The church is the place for communion with God, not as walls or a steeple, but as the formal gathering of God's people in worship. God consecrated the time of the Sabbath to promise us His communion, but He has also promised us a place to meet Him in His people as we meet in Christ's name under the proclamation of the word. Christian, God has always built a home for His people. And God still builds a home for his people. We don't mean a house, we mean a home. No matter where you are from or what your biological family is like, God builds the church so that you would be among your everlasting family. God has made a place for communion with you by meeting you personally in this group called the church. But that place is among other believers. God, God shows you that he is with you by placing other Christians with you. The place for communion now is then very literally a community. In this place for communion, in the church, together as God's new creation garden, we may be individual trees, but like any garden, we are meant to grow together. feeding off the same nutrients provided by the same gardener and lending a hand to one another as we grow in the same place. So I want to encourage you actually very practically and very pointedly Would you sign up to participate in these groups of six for fellowship after our service? This is a really difficult season for Christian fellowship, and especially for some who have had more difficulty accessing other believers regularly. So again, you may feel that you don't need that fellowship. I think you're probably incorrect about that, but regardless, other believers still need you. So please invest your time that you might help others grow, Since God's place for communion has always been surrounded by abundant running waters, as the living waters from God's word stream into your ears as we gather, make the opportunity for it to flow back out of your mouth to someone else as we disperse. Because very simply, since the church is our home, it should also be the place where we are loved as well. And in that, still, even above that, that the place we have now is our home with God, there is still the further promise for a place for communion with God that remains ahead of us. Our current place is spiritual and so able to be present anywhere. One day though, God's people will again have a spiritual place and a physical place for communion, but it too will be universal. As Exodus 39, 8-14 describes, when Israel made the priestly garments, okay, we read about how God commanded them to make them. When Israel made them, they included other stones in addition to gold and onyx in their construction. And Revelation 21, 18-21 associates all of these stones in the priestly garments with the new Jerusalem. the global new creation garden. God's dwelling place will be with his people, but his people will inherit the earth. And so while communion with God right now is possible anywhere, one day it will be everywhere. Adam was supposed to fill the earth and subdue it. to extend the garden across the world. God's presence, initially limited to Eden, would fill the globe. Where Adam failed, Christ succeeds. When Adam should have killed the serpent, Revelation promises us that Christ will kill the dragon. Those who remain in their sin will be thrown into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. But those with faith in Christ, those who have run to the Savior for forgiveness and for reconciliation with God, for us, the world will be God's temple. The whole earth will become the sacred space where God dwells with his people, the place for communion, so that everywhere we will bask in the full splendor of our God's loving presence. Let's pray.
A Place for Communion
ស៊េរី Extraordinary Days
Part 6 in this series. God provides a place for his people to have communion with him.
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រយៈពេល | 31:22 |
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អត្ថបទព្រះគម្ពីរ | និក្ខមនំ 28:1-29; លោកុប្បត្តិ 2:4-14 |
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